Consultant to support the development of a Strategic Plan for 2021-2025 for Zimbabwe Republic Police Women’s Network

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National 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 between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

UN Women Zimbabwe Country Office is implementing a UN Secretary General Peace Building Fund (PBF) project. The project seeks to build peace in Zimbabwe’s transition through three broad based and interlinked output areas namely promote citizen engagement under the Transitional Stabilization Programme, with emphasis on promoting meaningful participation of women and youth; improving dispute resolution services and social protection mechanisms design in marginalized and at risk communities; and advancing national healing and reconciliation efforts. The goal is to contribute to the creation of an environment conducive to peaceful co-existence, trust and citizen participation in development processes. The importance of recognizing women as equal partners in development and peace processes is critical. This therefore calls for strong institutions that can facilitate access to justice with strong capacities in service delivery, participatory planning, gender and conflict sensitive development, strategic foresight, risk assessment and scenario planning with emphasis on promotion of women’s leadership and participation. Hence the drive towards institutional strengthening of justice sectors through support of initiatives such as the ZRP Women Network on gender sensitive peace and security for improved safety and development in Zimbabwe.

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 active participation of women and girls in shaping their future, based on a recognition of their dignity and capacities, is posited in several global policy frameworks as a basic condition to promote gender equality and women’s rights. SDG 16 “Peace, Justice and effective, accountable, inclusive Institutions” and SDG 5 “Gender Equality and Empower all Women and Girls” are understood and implemented together, as interdependent and synergic goals. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts to build effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Rationale

The police is a key state institution that has a crucial role to play in prevention and response to violence against women and girls in all spheres. In 2012, the ZRP Women Network launched its first Strategic Plan, which was followed by the next edition in 2015. The Strategic Plan seeks to consolidate gains previously achieved by the ZRP Women Network in its determined effort to enhance co-operation, coordination, sharing of best practices, as well as expert knowledge in the implementation of the ZRP Women Network Strategic Plan. The Plan also seeks to expose challenges anticipated in executing the Women Network mandate and proffer possible solutions there to. Most importantly, the Women Network’s thrust is to promote harmonious working relations between male and female members of the service, an important component in fostering quality service delivery. Since the launching of the Plan, the Zimbabwean Police Service has made some positive advancements towards gender mainstreaming, but further efforts are needed. In this regard an evaluation and revision of the Strategic Plan is needed before the current one expires by the end of this year 2020.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objective of the consultancy is to undertake an evaluation of the implementation of the 2015 ZRP Women Network Strategic Plan, including achievements, challenges and gaps; review current Plan and context developments; and revise and update the Plan. The consultancy will have a deliberate focus on identifying lessons learnt, good practice, and implementation gaps from the first five years of the Plan’s existence to inform and improve a revised Plan. The review and revision process should address both the internal practices of ZRP relating to personal and administrative questions – recruitment, retention and promotion of women as well as issues of gender harassment etc.; and the external policing practices that relate to interaction with the population, including in the context of regional/international peacekeeping or peace support operations.

Under the supervision of the UN Women Governance Programme Specialist and the ZRP Women’s Network team, the following tasks will be carried out:

1. Undertake consultative and planning meetings with ZRP leadership, senior management and relevant staff as well as identified key stakeholders (reference group) to be engaged in the process, in close collaboration with ZRP;
2. Develop state of implementation tool and conduct desk research, consultations, and interviews on the level of implementation of the current Plan;
3. Facilitate a consultative multi-stakeholder meeting on implementation status of current Plan, including progress, challenges and lessons learnt;
4. Review the current and emerging policy, legal, and institutional context, including existing policies, laws, strategies and institutional frameworks/arrangements of relevance to ZRP, security sector reform and gender/women, peace and security;
5. Revise and update the current Strategic Plan in line with current realities, including operational framework to enhance implementation, monitoring and reporting;
6. Facilitate a validation workshop on the above-mentioned revised Plan and incorporate inputs into a final document.

The selected Consultant will be expected to complete the following key-deliverables within the indicative timeframe:

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Deliverables

Indicative Timeline

1

Inception report (including workplan, methodology, and tools for implementation review)

5 days

2

Draft implementation assessment report

5 days

3

Consultative workshop for implementation assessment report

1 day

4

Situational analysis report on current and emerging policy, legal, and institutional context

5 days

5

Draft revised Plan

4 days

6

Validation

1 day

7

Final revised Plan

4 days

Competencies

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:

http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced degree in Law, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, Development, Peace and Security or related field or a related discipline

Experience:

• Strong and sound knowledge of women’s rights including national, regional and international human rights and governance frameworks;
• At least 5 years of relevant experience at national or international level in gender or related strategy development and/or implementation;
• Previous experience in the area of gender and security sector reform in Zimbabwe;
• Strong understanding of the security policy and legislative environment and institutions in Zimbabwe;
• Proven experience in mobilizing stakeholders, leading and facilitating workshops and consultative processes;
• Previous experience in conducting gender audits and assessing and developing institutional gender policies;
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is an asset
• Experience working in the UN system is an asset

Language:

• Excellent written and verbal command of English;
• Knowledge of a local language is an asset.

Technical knowledge:

Proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Word.

Application:

Your application should include a cover letter (max. 1 p.), CV (max. 2 p.) and an example piece of your writing.

Please note that applications without a completed and signed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

UN Women Personal History form (P-11) can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment.

UNWOMEN is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence