Gender Justice in PNG: Domestic Challenges & Global Strategies for Empowerment

Volunteering

Overview

Engage in gender justice research focusing on women's empowerment in PNG.

You have:

• Educational background in gender studies, international law, public policy, sociology, or a related field.
• Experience in literature review or academic research (strongly preferred).
• Familiarity with gender issues, development, or legal reform in the Pacific region is an advantage.
• Excellent analytical reading and synthesis skills.
• Strong command of English, both written and reading.

Contract

This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.

MDF is a leading internationally recognised NGO based in Lae, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. It is committed to empowering communities—particularly youth and women—through participatory approaches including research, cultural expression, and policy engagement. One of MDF’s core mandates is to promote gender equality by ensuring women are equally represented in decision-making processes and benefit from all community development projects.

This assignment contributes to MDF’s ongoing efforts to advocate for Ending Violence Against Women and Promoting Human Rights, in line with SDG 5: Gender Equality. It will also complement MDF's long-standing collaboration with the UNV platform to engage volunteers with expertise in research especially in knowledge generation and public policy development.

Through this gender justice research project, MDF aims to: - Identify and document structural and cultural barriers to women's empowerment in PNG. - Examine the compatibility of local practices with international human rights standards, including CEDAW. - Propose strategies that are context-sensitive and grounded in both global best practices and the lived experiences of PNG women.

The final report will serve as a foundational resource for MDF’s community-based advocacy, programme design, and government engagement work, reinforcing its commitment to evidence-based interventions.

All activities will be conducted entirely online and will focus on academic and policy-based literature reviews, with the possibility of supporting relevant case study summaries to enrich the analysis. Each Online Volunteer will be assigned a specific focus area within the broader gender justice theme.

Volunteer 1: International Legal and Human Rights Frameworks - Conduct a literature review on international conventions such as CEDAW, UN Sustainable Development Goals (especially SDG 5), and global human rights mechanisms. - Summarise academic and institutional sources on how these frameworks apply to or influence PNG’s gender policies.

Volunteer 2: Domestic Gender Challenges and Sociocultural Norms - Identify and synthesise case studies (if available) that reveal the lived realities of women affected by systemic challenges. - Provide a thematic analysis of sociocultural and legal barriers to women's empowerment in PNG.

Volunteer 3: National Policy Initiatives and Institutional Responses - Examine national strategies, legislation, and donor-funded programmes targeting gender equality and women’s participation in PNG. - Conduct a literature-based evaluation of the success and limitations of these efforts.

Volunteer 4: Comparative International Strategies and Adaptation Potential - Identify and review literature on successful women’s empowerment initiatives from other countries in the Pacific or Global South. - Analyse which aspects of these programmes may be relevant or adaptable to PNG’s sociocultural and legal landscape.

Educational background in gender studies, international law, public policy, sociology, or a related field.

Experience in literature review or academic research (strongly preferred).

Familiarity with gender issues, development, or legal reform in the Pacific region is an advantage.

Excellent analytical reading and synthesis skills.

Strong command of English, both written and reading.

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 1 year ago - Updated 11 months ago - Source: unv.org