Local Consultancy: Technical support on gender responsive budgeting as part of the NSP-GBVF midterm Review, South Africa, Pretoria

Consultancy: Technical support on gender responsive budgeting as part of the NSP-GBVF
midterm Review.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Background:

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is the UN Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency. UNFPA promotes gender equality and empowers women, girls and young people to take control of their bodies and their futures. UNFPA works with governments and partners to achieve three transformative results: ending unmet need for family planning, ending preventable maternal deaths, and ending gender-based violence and harmful practices. 

The Government of South Africa, with UNFPA’s support, is conducting a midterm review (2020-2025) of the National Strategic Plan on Gender Based Violence (NSP-GBVF), which was approved by Cabinet on 11 March 2020, with a duration of 10 years (2020–2030).

The GBVF-NSP represented the culmination of a social compact between government and civil society to support South Africa in ending GBVF. As such, the plan articulates a comprehensive theory of change for the national response to GBV, outlining government, civil society and private sector’s roles and responsibilities across six pillars: 1) Accountability, coordination and leadership; 2) Prevention and rebuilding social cohesion; 3) Efficient and sensitive criminal justice; 4) Care, support and healing; 5) Women’s economic empowerment; and 6) Research and Information Systems. 

As part of the 5-year midterm review of the NSP-GBVF, the Presidency of South Africa is working on strengthening a ‘whole-of-government’ approach, fostering adequate resourcing of the NSP-GBVF, as well as supporting accountability by the State, through:

Both streams of work are under the direct leadership of the Department of Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation (DPME) - which is the convener of the NSP-GBVF Pillar 6 (Research and Information Systems) - in partnership with the National Treasury’s Government Technical Advisory Centre (NT-GTAC). 

Scope of Work 

(Description of services, activities, or outputs)
 

Under the overall leadership of the Presidency of South Africa, and direct guidance and oversight from DPME, UNFPA is seeking an Individual Consultant to support the work on both streams:

Stream 1: Gender-Responsive Analysis of the South African National Budget, with focus on the NSP-GBVF.

Conduct a detailed analysis of the South African National Budget and departmental expenditures that contributed (directly or indirectly) to the implementation of the National Strategic Plan on GBV and Femicide in the last 5 years.

The analysis will take into account budgets and expenditures incurred by all the departments responsible for implementing NSP-GBVF interventions, categorized as core, fundamental, peripheral, and service points (table below):

Within each department, the consultant will identify allocation and expenditure data that are linked to gender or GBV at the lowest item level of “sub-programs”, and based on this selection will conduct an analysis of spending patterns, size, composition, adequacy, equity, efficiency and transparency of spending in the select sectors and programs; produce analyses of GBVF expenditure data scripts and 'time series' for trends analysis and deep dives for core* fundamental* and peripheral* departments; and derive practical recommendations that can inform and make financial decision-making processes better respond to the needs and targets outlined in the NSP-GBVF. 

Stream 2: Technical assistance for the development and finalization of a dedicated budget tracking tool (GBV-tagging script)

To enable sustained monitoring and accountability of allocations and expenditures undertaken by the various departments to implement the NSP-GBVF, the consultant is also expected to develop a dedicated tracking tool, in close collaboration with DPME and the NT-GTAC).

The tracking tool will take the form of a GBV-tagging script, which will enable the different departments to tag their GBV expenditures in the budget that relate to the NSP-GBVF implementation. Quality assurance & review of DPME’s initial work on GBVF tags/codes that are directly attributable and/or indirectly inferred from public programs/interventions will also be part of the assignment.

The consultant is expected to develop the GBV tagging script for all categories of departments (core, fundamental, peripheral and service points), discuss feasibility with DPME and NT-GTAC, review based on their feedback, and continuously engage with the relevant units within the SA National Treasury to make sure that the proposed features for the tagging system are feasible/implementable.

Duration and working schedule:

The consultancy will be engaged for a period of 4 months between June-September 2025. 
 

Place where services are to be delivered:

Home-based, with frequent virtual meetings held with the Presidency of South Africa, DPME, NT-GTAC, UNFPA and other stakeholders as needed. The consultant may be required to attend in-person meetings in Pretoria, for the GBV tagging script implementation at the National Treasury. Travel is not required for the assignment, but if any exception arises, the costs may be incurred by UNFPA or the Presidency, contingent on criticality assessment, budget and carbon emission impacts.

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirement:

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the team composed by the Presidency of South Africa, DPME and UNFPA South Africa Country Office (GBV Lead).  A work-plan with achievements for the duration of the assignment will be agreed upon with periodic progress meetings required to monitor progress.

The UNFPA Regional Office for East and Southern Africa, through its Middle-Income Country Hub, will provide technical guidance and quality assurance as needed.

Deliverables:

Product 1 (15%): Approved inception report containing a map of the programmes/sub-programmes identified that contribute to the NSP-GBVF, organized by core, fundamental, peripheral departments and service points; and an annotated outline for the NSP budget analyses. 15 June 2025

Product 2 (30%): Approved report containing the analysis of the budget and expenditures for the selected programmes/sub-programs, including spending patterns, size, composition, adequacy, equity, efficiency and transparency of spending in the select sectors and programs; analyses of GBVF expenditure data scripts and 'time series' for trends analysis and deep dives for core* fundamental* and peripheral* departments; and practical recommendations.

Product 3 (15%): Approved slideset containing a summary of the report, its findings, and practical recommendations; and Excel workbook with cleaned background data for all the charts and tables.

Product 4 (40%): Approved script with detailed GBVF tags/codes ready for implementation, and pre-approved by the National Treasury.  30 September 2025.  

Required qualifications and competencies

Education: Advanced university degree in economics, public financial management or a related area.

Required experience:

Desirable experience

Language: 

Fluency in English

UNFPA Work Environment:

UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click here to learn more.

Disclaimer:

Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, visa issuance and other administrative requirements. 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts. 

Applicants for positions in the international Professional and higher categories, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.