Background:
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. Placing womenโs rights at the center of its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates UN system initiatives to ensure global commitments to gender equality are translated into concrete actions. It provides strong and coherent leadership while supporting Member States' priorities and fostering effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. ย
In line with UN Womenโs Planning, Monitoring, and Reporting (PMR) Policy, Regional Offices are required to develop coherent and forward-looking Strategic Notes (SNs) aligned with the organizationโs triple mandate, the UN Women Strategic Plan (SP), and Results-Based Management (RBM) principles of accountability, inclusiveness, adaptive management, and learning. The SN must be informed by comprehensive regional context analysis, independent assessments, audits, evaluations, and stakeholder consultations to ensure its relevance and effectiveness. ย
The UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) provides integrated policy advice, technical assistance, and capacity development support to country offices across 12 countries and territories in three subregions: Western Balkans and Turkey, Eastern Europe and South Caucasus, and Central Asia. ECARO also serves as a member of UN Country Teams in five countries where it operates as a Non-Resident Agency (NRA). ย
The current four-year SN (2022โ2025) provides a strategic framework for advancing gender equality and empowering all women and girls in the region. Guided by the corporate SP, it focuses on key areas such as: ย
Womenโs leadership and political participation ย
Womenโs economic empowerment ย
Elimination of violence against women and girls ย
Peace and security ย
Humanitarian action ย
Support to intergovernmental processes ย
In 2025, ECARO will develop its new SN for 2026โ2029, aiming to deliver high-impact results in the final years of the SDGs. This SN will integrate systems thinking and forward-looking analysis to anticipate challenges and leverage emerging opportunities. The ongoing evaluation of the current SN, launching in February 2024, will provide criticalย
data, evidence, and lessons learned to inform the next strategic cycle. The new SN will be based on extensive consultations with regional stakeholders and partners, including UNECE Member States, development partners, civil society and womenโs rights organizations, youth leaders, private sector partners and the UN system.ย ย
Knowledge Management (KM) has been identified as a key priority for the new ECARO Regional Strategic Note (2026-2029). A structured and well-integrated KM Plan will be developed to support the implementation of the SN, drawing on existing functional reviews, learning needs assessments, reports, the Regional evaluation of UN Womenโs support for capacity development of partners to respond to the needs of women and girls in Europe and Central Asia, and other assessments. This plan will ensure that critical data, institutional knowledge, programmatic insights, and evidence-based learning are effectively documented, ย shared, and applied to enhance policy influence, advocacy, and program implementation.ย
As a regional office, ECARO serves as a hub for gender equality and womenโs empowerment (GEWE) knowledge in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. The KM Plan will ensure that internal and external ECAROโs knowledge assets are systematically organized, accessible, and utilizedโby Country Offices (COs) and by UN agencies, governments, civil society organizations (CSOs), academia, and the private sector. ย
Building upon UN Womenโs 2018-2021 Knowledge Management Strategy, this assignment presents an opportunity to modernize and streamline KM approaches by integrating best practices from other UN agencies and organizations. ย
UN Women ECARO seeks an International Consultant with extensive experience in knowledge management, learning, and digital knowledge-sharing platforms to facilitate the development of an innovative, user-friendly, and efficient KM system that aligns with the corporate standards and regional strategic priorities. ย
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II. Consultancy Assignmentย
Under the direct supervision of the ECARO Strategic Planning and Knowledge Management Specialist, and in coordination with ECARO KM Task Force, the Knowledge Management Expert will support UN Women ECARO in designing a structured and innovative KM system that: ย
Maps existing knowledge resources, data repositories, and thematic knowledge-sharing mechanisms at CO and RO levels. ย
Integrates KM into the new ECARO SN (2026-2029), aligning it with the UN Women Strategic Plan and ECAROโs priorities. ย
Standardizes and streamlines KM services provided by the Regional Office (RO) for Country Offices (COs) and external stakeholders, ensuring effective measurement of knowledge generation, dissemination, and application. ย
Enhances knowledge repository infrastructure, including digital platforms (e.g., SharePoint, Teams, Viva Engage). ย
Ensures synergies between thematic areas and Communities of Practice (CoPs) to foster cross-learning and collaboration. ย
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III. Scope of Work: Consultant for Strategic Note Developmentย
1. Mapping Existing Knowledge Resources, Data Repositories, and Thematic Knowledge-Sharing Mechanisms ย
Conduct a desk review of UN Womenโs corporate KM strategies, functional reviews, audits, and assessments related to knowledge management, learning, and data systems. ย
Review KM strategies of other UN agencies and organizations to identify best practices, gaps, and recommendations. ย
Conduct a mapping exercise of: ย
Thematic CoPs, including their work plans, reports, membership, and knowledge-sharing platforms. ย
Existing KM repositories at COs and the RO.ย
Expert rosters across thematic areas. ย
Stakeholder engagement mechanisms for knowledge exchange. ย
South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives on knowledge exchange. ย
Based on the analysis of findings, including ECARO functional review 2023, hold consultations with ECARO thematic teams, the ECALearn Team, and selected COs to identify KM priorities, service lines, and methods to position UN Women as a GEWE knowledge hub at the regional and country levels and support evidence-based policy advocacy and programmatic decision-making. ย
2. Development of the ECARO Knowledge Management Plan ย
Develop a comprehensive KM Plan, aligned with ECARO SN thematic priorities, positioning ECARO as a Knowledge Hub for GEWE. The plan should include: ย
Strategic KM priorities and a structured and streamlined learning and knowledge-sharing mechanism within the RO and COs. ย
An external-facing KM approach to facilitate engagement with UN agencies, academia, feministic think thanks, CSOs, and development partners. ย
Knowledge trajectories for each SN priority area, with clear annual results and structured peer-learning exchanges. ย
A curated plan for developing and disseminating knowledge products. ย
Thematic expert rosters for knowledge exchange and capacity-building. ย
KM performance indicators and metrics to assess knowledge generation, dissemination, and application. ย
Institutional knowledge retention mechanisms to ensure efficient onboarding of new staff. ย
Terms of Reference (ToR) for a regional KM Board to oversee the implementation of the ECARO KM Plan and provide quality assurance. ย
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for CoP-branded engagements, flagship event organization, and KP production.ย
3. Strengthening internal knowledge sharing and digital platforms ย
Develop a structured, user-friendly internal KM system with: ย
Centralized repositories on SharePoint and Teams for knowledge assets, reports, and datasets. ย
Viva Engage channel as an interactive knowledge-sharing platform for internal and external engagement. ย
Improved searchability and tagging of knowledge resources. ย
Develop a taxonomy and categorization system to organize ECAROโs knowledge assets efficiently. ย
4. Strengthen capacity of COs on KM ย
Based on the review of existing CO KM documents, conduct webinar on KM for COs.ย
Provide recommendations to SN-developing COs to inform their SN 2026-2029.ย ย ย
Create a repository of learning materials on KM best practices. ย
IV. List of Key Reference Documentsย
The following documents will be provided by UN Women to the consultant for the assignment (including but not limited to):ย
UN Women KM Strategy 2018-2021ย
ECARO KM Planย ย
Documentation (reviews, assessments, reports, evaluations) related to the UN Women KM processes.ย ย
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Deliverablesย
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Deliverableย
Expected completion time (due day)ย ย
Payment Scheduleย ย ย ย ย
Deliverable 1: Inception Report (review of corporate KM strategies, functional audits, and relevant documents)ย ย
By 15 April 2025 ย