UN Women: Individual National Consultant - Evaluation Consultant/s, Home-Based – Retainer.

Background:

Background/Context

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. 

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) is the United Nations (UN) entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women1. Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Per its triple mandate, it aims: (i) To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms; (ii) To help Member States implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society, and (iii) To lead and coordinate the UN system’s work on gender equality, as well as promote accountability, including through regular monitoring of system-wide progress. 

UN Women, through its Strategic Plan 2026-2029, delivers programmes across four thematic priority areas that contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment: 

• Women’s Leadership and Decision-Making
• Women’s Economic Empowerment in Resilient Communities
• Women and Girls Free from Violence
• Women, Peace and Security, and Humanitarian Action

The UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office is based in Suva, Fiji and works alongside over 20 other UN agencies in the region and in 14 countries: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The Fiji MCO is undertaking several evaluations and requires national consultants to support the conduct of these evaluations. 

UN Women in the Pacific region is currently seeking a proficient National Evaluation Consultant/s on a retainer basis, to support evaluation team leaders in the conduct of evaluations. Interested candidates are to specify the Pacific country they are based and language proficiency.

Description of Responsibilities / Scope of Work

The objective of this retainer consultancy is to establish a roster of qualified National Evaluation Consultant/s who can be engaged by UN Women to support the implementation of decentralized and corporate evaluations undertaken by the Fiji Multi-Country Office (MCO) in the Pacific.

The consultant will be contracted on a retainer basis, enabling UN Women offices and presences within the Fiji MCO portfolio to directly engage relevant national evaluation expertise as required. This arrangement allows UN Women to retain the services of the consultant based on organizational needs, alignment with the consultant’s expertise, and availability, in accordance with UN Women’s Consultant Contract Policy. 

The contract will run from April/May 2026 to April/May 2028, for up to a maximum of 100 working days over the duration of the contract, noting that UN Women does not warrant the full utilization of the maximum number of days.

Under the overall oversight of the Regional Evaluation Specialist for Asia and the Pacific, the consultant will contribute technical and analytical expertise throughout the evaluation cycle to ensure that evaluations are conducted in accordance with UN Women evaluation standards and quality assurance requirements.

Specifically, the objectives of the consultancy are to:

1. Strengthen the implementation of evaluations conducted by the Fiji MCO by providing technical and operational support across all phases of the evaluation process.
2. Contribute to rigorous and evidence-based evaluation design and analysis, including document reviews, portfolio analyses, stakeholder analyses, and the development of evaluation methodologies and data collection tools.
3. Support inclusive and human rights-based evaluation processes, including stakeholder consultations, interviews, and focus group d