Local Consultant to Formulate UN Women Mozambique Humanitarian Response Strategy (2021-2025)

Contract

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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 women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates 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, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates 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, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women has made significant contributions to furthering the cause of gender and seeking to put gender equality and women’s empowerment at the centre of the humanitarian response in Mozambique. UN Women has been working towards (1) strengthened the capacity of Coordination bodies (Reconstruction Cabinet, MGCAS and INGC) to plan, implement, coordinate and monitor implementation of a Gender Responsive Humanitarian Action, Resilience Recovery and Reconstruction and (2) enhanced access and control of sustainable livelihoods, economic opportunities by vulnerable women and young women heads of households and those affected by gender-based violence and early marriage in the context of humanitarian action and conflict.

UN Women oriented by the Humanitarian Country Team has been actively involved since the emergence of the cyclones Idai and Kenneth, Chalane and Eloise, participating in the main clusters and discussions, with relevant government representatives, women’s organizations and CSOs as well as development partners, to coordinate and provide technical inputs for the adequate attention to gender issues in the humanitarian as well as recovery and reconstruction periods.

Up to date, most of the CO interventions were ad hoc and based on the overall guidance at global level, UNCT plans and Strategy Note. With the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the country and surmounting evidence that gender dimensions are among the key factors explaining the vulnerabilities of women and girls a stand-alone Gender and Humanitarian Strategy would help guide the Entity’s tailor-made response, assist clarify the niche for UN Women’s focused interventions. The document will also assist in establishing a communication platform with key stakeholders, including resource mobilization purposes for a period of five years.

The development of a stand-alone humanitarian response strategy Is aligned to and seeks to respond to the Annual work plan activity 4.1.1.30 "Formulate the humanitarian Strategy to inform the CO approach in humanitarian Actions"; the Mozambican Government priorities (PQG 2020 - 2024), Post-Disaster Recovery Programme (PREPOC); the UN Women Global Strategy (2018-2021); Africa Strategy (2018 - 2021) that intends to ensure that «No Woman and Girl is left Behind» as Africa implements and strives to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – particularly Goal 5: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. It further allows UN Women to coordinate its actions in achievement of the Africa’s Agenda 2063 Goals and Aspirations striving for «An Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children» (Aspiration 6). UN Women strategy underscores not only the immense benefits of empowering women and girls, but the inherent value of women’s rights, and empowerment as a women’s human rights imperative.

Reporting to the Programme Officer within the Country office, the Local Consultant will be responsible for formulating the Humanitarian Strategy to inform the UN Women in Mozambique approach in Humanitarian Action. He/she will work under the overall guidance of the Country Representative and coordination with the Regional Specialist on Humanitarian.

Objectives of the assignment:

Goal: Develop the country office stand-alone humanitarian response strategy (2021-2025) to guide UN Women’s approaches.

Specific objectives:

• Assess the external and internal factors affecting gender in humanitarian response in Mozambique.
• Define UN Women’s niche and most effective approach toward mainstreaming gender and putting women’s empowerment at the centre of humanitarian action in Mozambique.

Scope of Work:

The Consultant will be responsible for achievement of the UN Women’s results on:

SP Outcome 5: Women and girls contribute and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and from humanitarian action.

The post will be based at UN Women office in Maputo. However, due to COVID-19 containment measures the consultant is expected to work from home complemented by in-person presence at office as required, government and stakeholders’ events and data collection meetings.

Technical assistance will be extensive to the management of all day-to day logistics related with formulating the humanitarian response strategy to inform the CO approaches to Humanitarian action. Specific duties are described below in Description of Responsibilitie:

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Preparatory work:

• Gather the information to understand and identify GEWE issues, challenges and trends in humanitarian action that will shape and affect UN Women's strategy.
• Review political, economic, social, climate and legal frameworks that could affect the achievement of the humanitarian response strategy.
• Undertake a desk review of key policy documents, legal frameworks and international standards on humanitarian action, gender equality commitments and Mozambique government priorities.
• Perform consultations with relevant stakeholders on humanitarian action and gender equality.
• 2. Drafting the Humanitarian strategy
• Conduct a historical review on UN Women Mozambique CO interventions on disaster risk management and humanitarian action both at coordination level, research and operational level will inform the design process by providing lessons learned on what works and what needs to be improved on the ongoing approaches. A review of UN Women’s interventions in neighboring countries with similarities with Mozambique will also be considered.
• Define the Core competences (what is UN Women fundamentally good at doing?) and business processes.
• Define the objectives/goals for the country office humanitarian response.
• Define clients for UN Women interventions (humanitarian coordinating bodies? CSO/CBOs, crises affected women and girls? Others?)
• Define effective/efficient approach and indicative interventions.
• Define Internal processes (what procedures need to be in place) for effective, speed delivery of UN Women Mozambique services on humanitarian action? To support our services, how and where must we excel in our internal processes?
• Define People and knowledge (in what ways must UN Women Mozambique staffing, and knowledge assets be maximized to execute the strategy?)
• Define Financial resources (in what ways must UN Women Mozambique maximize its budget acquisition and budget allocation?).
• Include Indicative Interventions/Initiatives where UN Women's comparative advantage for the Strategy can be excelled.
• Define clear and measurable Strategic Initiatives to be aligned to the objectives.
• Answer the following questions for their inclusion in the final strategy document initiatives will be assessed against the following questions: will the Initiative make a significant Impact In achieving the objective set? Is the objective far from being achieved? Is the Initiative the most effective and efficient option? Does UN Women Mozambique have the skills, knowledge, and prior experience to complete the Initiative? Does UN Women Mozambique have the capacity (staff-time, roster of qualified consultants, funding, committed partners, etc.) to Implement and manage the Initiative?

Deliverables

1. Individual work plan and proposed approach to design the Strategy.
2. Inception report on Humanitarian Response to inform the CO approach in Humanitarian Actions.
3. Report on Humanitarian Response to inform the CO approach in Humanitarian Actions including capacity building to stakeholders.
4. Designing and implementation of the strategy on the Humanitarian Response to inform the CO approach in Humanitarian Actions.

5. Final Strategy Document on the CO approach in Humanitarian Actions.

6. Work Schedule:

Nr

Activities/Deliverable

Estimated time

Payment Percentage

1

Inception report on Humanitarian Response to inform UN Women Country Office approach in Humanitarian Action (including methodological elements and schedule)

5 Days after signature of the contract; by 15th May 2021

15%

2

Preliminary document on Humanitarian Response Strategy delivered

15 working days; by 15th June 2021

40%

3

Final Humanitarian Response Strategy to inform the CO approach in Humanitarian Action

By 30th June 2021

45%

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

Functional Competencies

• Functional Competencies
• Good understanding of national context including the development plans; social protection mechanism and the gender equality situation.
• Strong analytical skills on gender and humanitarian actions.
• Strong communications skills in spoken and written English.
• Strong drafting skills and ability to produce a variety of reports and knowledge products for different audiences and purposes.
• Ability to produce impactful and measurable strategic initiatives.
• Strong commitment to knowledge-sharing within a multicultural environment.
• Capacity to deliver the intended services.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, Development Studies, Humanitarian Aid, Economics, International Relations, or any other relevant field.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of experience and record of accomplishment policy reform in the area of Social studies, gender and Humanitarian Aid, poverty reduction in the context of Mozambique.
• Proven experience with Humanitarian Aid analysis and mastery of quantitative and qualitative analysis and methods.
• Knowledge of legal and policy frameworks on disaster management and risk reduction in Mozambique and international humanitarian standards.
• Experience with Humanitarian Response in Mozambique is an advantage.
• Experience working in other countries in East and South Africa is an asset
• Experience working in the UN System is an asset

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English and Portuguese (written and spoken) is required.

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.