Consultant, Humanitarian Action and Disaster Risk Reduction (Retainer)

Contract

This is a International Consultant contract. More about International Consultant contracts.

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 for women as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Based on UN legislative mandates and the UNW Strategic Plan, the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) is tasked with providing strategic programme development, policy / technical advisory services and quality assurance support to Multi Country Offices (MCOs), Country Offices (COs) and Non-Resident Agencies (NRAs). It undertakes or coordinates regional research and data analysis; advises on norms, policies and strategies for achieving the internationally and regionally agreed goals related to gender equality and women’s empowerment issues. It acts as a knowledge hub at the regional level, collecting evidence on progress and emerging issues and sharing knowledge on innovative approaches and lessons learned in implementation.

With special focus on disaster risk reduction and resilience, UN Women ensures that new and existing disaster risks are mitigated by putting women at the center of disaster risk reduction, by giving them a voice, empowering them as disaster risk reduction leaders and actors, and by building their resilience. Evidence proves that the majority of victims and those affected by disasters are women. Due to the gendered dimensions of disaster risk, women and girls face greater vulnerability and exposure to disasters, yet women remain largely ignored and their capacities, unleveraged in conventional disaster risk reduction and resilience processes.

Reporting to the Regional Advisor for Humanitarian Action, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Climate Change Adaptation, the consultant contributes to the effective delivery of UN Women programmes that directly supports country level work in the RO by providing substantive inputs to policy development, coordination and convening work, programme design, formulation, and implementation. The consultant facilitates the delivery of UN Women’s implementation and ensuring appropriate application of systems and procedures and develops enhancements if necessary. The consultant works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team, UN Women HQ/ROAP/CO/NRA staff, government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation under portfolio.

Duties and Responsibilities

Specifically, the consultant will provide technical support to the following areas, under the supervision and guidance of the Regional Advisor for Humanitarian Action, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Climate Change Adaptation, as well as the Philippines Country Programme Coordinator:

• Support the development of UN Women programming relating to preparedness and response for humanitarian emergencies, and/or climate-induced disasters in the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on the Philippines - especially as relates to the development of the ERC Flagship Initiative, including providing dedicated research support, drafting of concept notes, project proposals and briefs;
• Support UN Women ROAP and the Philippines Country Programme in documenting humanitarian action and/or DRR-CCA project implementation challenges, strategies adopted to overcome the barriers, including determination of field level implementation challenges, risk mitigation measures and alternative strategies to continue implementation, as well as documentation of good practices and lessons learned;
• Provide targeted technical support, surge support, and capacity strengthening sessions/trainings/webinars on ad-hoc basis to UN Women ROAP and the Philippines Country Programme and partners, including Secretariat support to specific coordination bodies co-chaired by UN Women as required, for the implementation of programmes relating to gender-responsive humanitarian action, DRR, and/or climate change adaptation in the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region;
• Provide technical leadership in the development of gender-responsive disaster preparedness and response plans for UN Women ROAP and the Philippines Country Programme as requested by national governments and other UN agencies/bodies;
• Provide technical support to the implementation and management of the humanitarian programme such as inputs to the annual workplan(s) and budget, implementation of regional/MCO/CO/PPO programme activities, as well as coordination of the call/request for proposals;
• Provide inputs to the preparation of donor and UN Women reports relating to humanitarian action, DRR, and/or climate change adaptation, including drafting reports on monitoring missions, programme results, outputs and outcomes;

• Provide strategic inputs to development of Asia Pacific Strategic Note in line with UN Women’s Strategic Plan (2022-2025) and Humanitarian Response Strategy;

• Provide inputs to advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts such as advocacy campaigns/events and the development of knowledge products on gender and humanitarian action, DRR, and/or climate change adaptation.

• Provide additional targeted support as needed for the ERC Flagship Initiative in the Philippines.

Key Performance Indicators

• Timely and quality technical advice and support
• Leadership in area of expertise
• Quality reports and other strategic documents drafted and submitted in a timely manner
• Strong relationships with various partners and stakeholders as well as DRR team members
• UN Women is well represented in important meetings on topics related to expertise
• Contributions to resource mobilization
• Timely and quality knowledge products

Competencies

Functional Competencies

• Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of gender equality and climate change and/or disaster risk reduction
• Excellent networking skills
• Ability to interact with donors, identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising
• Ability to perform qualitative and quantitative policy research
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice
• Excellent analytical skills
• Ability to write policy papers, speeches, briefings
• Strong knowledge of programme development, implementation, results-based management and reporting

Excellent communication and presentation skills

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s degree in social sciences, policy, humanitarian action/DRR, human rights, gender/women's studies, international development, or a related field is required;
  • A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree;
  • At least 2 years of progressively responsible work experience in humanitarian, DRR, environment, climate change, and/or development programme/project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building;
  • Technical experience in inter-agency coordination, preferably in humanitarian action;
  • Demonstrated experience engaging diverse stakeholders, including civil society and governments;
  • Demonstrated technical expertise on gender equality, women’s empowerment, and social inclusion in humanitarian action, disaster risk reduction, and/or climate change adaptation;
  • Experience working in the UN System, in particular UN Women is an asset;
  • Working experience in Asia-Pacific, particularly in Mindanao, Philippines, is strongly desirable;
  • Excellent command of written English, knowledge of other languages in the Asia-Pacific region is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Filipino is required;
• Working knowledge of another official UN language is an asset

Contract period and work location

The Consultant for Humanitarian Action and Disaster Risk Reduction will be based in the Philippines (part-time). Reimbursement for travel, including DSA, will be provided in line with UN Women guidelines. The contract period is from April – December 2023.

Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight [100%]

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Technical Evaluation Criteria

Obtainable Score

Education

• Master’s degree in social sciences, policy, humanitarian action/DRR, human rights, gender/women's studies, international development, or a related field is required
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

1. Experience and skills

• At least 2 years of progressively responsible work experience in humanitarian, DRR, environment, climate change, and/or development programme/project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building;
• Technical experience in inter-agency coordination, preferably in humanitarian action;
• Demonstrated experience engaging diverse stakeholders, including civil society and governments;
• Demonstrated technical expertise on gender equality, women’s empowerment, and social inclusion in humanitarian action, disaster risk reduction, and/or climate change adaptation.
• Experience working in the UN System, in particular UN Women is an asset;
• Working experience in Asia-Pacific, particularly in Mindanao, Philippines, is strongly desirable;
• Excellent command of written English, knowledge of other languages in the Asia-Pacific region is an asset.

50%

Language and report writing skills

• Fluency in English and Filipino is required;
• Working knowledge of another official UN language is an asset

20 %

Total Obtainable Score

100 %

Submission of application

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit an electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org with salila.klongboonjit@unwomen.org in copy, not later than 18 April 2023, 23:59hrs. Bangkok time.

Submission package includes:

• Letter of Motivation
• Personal History Form UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc (live.com)
• 2x writing samples, preferably in areas relating to gender, humanitarian action, or disaster risk reduction.
• Financial proposal (please specify daily fee in USD)

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from Application and recruitment process | About us: Careers at UN Women | UN Women – Headquarters Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes.

UN Women does not warrant that the maximum number of working days will be purchased during the term of the Agreement. The consultant can only be engaged through the issuance of ATLAS Purchase Order, based on the agreed Contract every time the UN Women wishes to procure the service.

UN Women Statement

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)