National Consultant, Women Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action

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.

Despite several attempts to reach a ceasefire for the armed conflict that broke on 15th April 2023 in Khartoum and other parts of the country, fighting continues especially in Khartoum, Darfur with less tensity in other parts of the country. Shortages of food, water, medicine, electricity, and fuel are becoming extremely acute, especially in Khartoum and surrounding areas. In a country where around 4 million children and pregnant and lactating women were already severely malnourished, food shortages—coupled with the temporary suspension of humanitarian aid—have heightened consequences for women and girls, who have been disproportionately dependent on international assistance.

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by the ongoing hostilities. Gender-based violence is a major concern, with an estimated 2.7 million women and girls at risk of gender-based violence before the conflict. New reports of gender-based violence (including sexual violence and rape) are surfacing and being perpetuated due to the disruption of services and lawlessness as a result of the conflict.

Amidst the current crisis, Sudanese women and groups continue to demonstrate high levels of organization and resilience. In some areas across the different regions (Blue Nile, Darfur, the Eastern and Kordofan, Northern and Middle Region) women organized to advocate for peace. These women-led peace initiatives have released statements individually and have collectively agreed upon and drafted ten demands to stop the war.

The women-led initiatives have done credible groundwork in their advocacy for peace, reaching out to regional women-led organizations and networks to support their calls for peace further where UN Women is supporting the facilitation and access to regional and international peace fora. Based on the request of “Peace for Sudan Platform”, UN Women with the Office of the African Union Special Envoy on Women, Peace, and Security, and the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN), held a virtual meeting on 12 May 2023 in coordination with the "Peace for Sudan Platform" to support and amplify their call to end the conflict, highlight the impact on women and girls, and mobilize support to women’s peacebuilding and protection efforts in Sudan.

UN Women’s support to advance women’s role and leadership to end the war. Sudan became a recipient of funds from the Women Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF)in 2021 and additional funding was ear marked for Sudan and managed by UN Women Sudan Country Office. The fund contributes to the following: Impact Area 1: Enhanced role of civil society organizations in advocating for and ensuring accountability on WPS commitments; Impact Area 4: Increased representation and leadership of women in formal and informal peace processes and/or implementation of peace agreements; Impact Area 6: Improved socio-economic recovery and political participation of women and young women in peacebuilding contexts.

In the humanitarian domain, UN Women is supporting setting of accountability to gender equality in humanitarian action. UN Women has conducted Rapid Gender Assessment as well as in-depth gender assessment since the war broke on 15th April to assess the needs of women and effectively engender the situation. UN Women is also supporting women led organizations to effectively engender the humanitarian response and ensure response to victims of conflict related violence.

Reporting to the UN Women Country Representative for Sudan, the consultant will play a key role in observing the nexus between UN Women’s women, peace and security programming and humanitarian programing. Hence, overseeing the WPHF fund, whilst ensuring that UN Women’s support to partners to engendering the humanitarian response also address WPS aspects.

Duties and Responsibilities

1- Provide programme development advisory services on peace processes in the framework of the women, peace and security agenda;

• Strengthen women’s meaningful participation in peace and humanitarian processes including planning and developing of future support including through planning and executing strategic capacity building and technical workshops and engagement with women’s civil society organizations.
• Provide technical and coordination support to the development and provision of policy advice on nexus between WPS and humanitarian action
• Provide technical and coordination support to the development and provision of policy advice on women’s participation in peace processes, at all levels and all stages of a peace process, including through organizing periodic consultations with key stakeholders, including women leaders, human rights experts and UN partners to gather inputs on programme implementation and design, as necessary.
• Keep abreast of the latest global and normative frameworks and guidance on nexus between WPS and humanitarian action, with a particular focus on women’s leadership participation in humanitarian and peace process.

2. Provide programme development advisory services and develop programmes in the area of Women Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action:

• Oversee and manage the design and formulation of program proposals and initiatives; Identify programmatic areas for support and interventions on the nexus between wps and humanitarian action.
• Finalize country strategy documents, programme/ project proposals, briefs, policy dialogue and other documents.
• Organize periodic consultations with key stakeholders, women leaders, human rights experts and UN partners to gather inputs on programme design, as necessary.

3. Manage the implementation and management of the Women Peace, Security and Humanitarian action programme:

• Finalize the annual workplan and budget and manage their implementation.
• Manage the technical implementation of the programme/ project; provide technical advice; ensure synergies with other teams namely WEE and WPP.
• Review the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports as required.
• Provide guidance to staff and partners on Results Based Management tools and performance indicators.
• Lead Project Steering Committee, project review and/or evaluation meetings.

4. Oversee technical assistance and capacity development to project/programme partners:

• Provide technical advice to WPHF and partners working on engendering humanitran action and response.
• Build, manage, and expand relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the Women Peace, Security and Humanitarian action programme; respond to any potential problems.
• Serve as an expert resource to partners on mainstreaming gender into emergency response and peacebuilding.
• Implement and oversee capacity building opportunities and initiatives.
• Provide partners with advanced technical assistance, training and capacity development initiatives.

5. Manage the monitoring and reporting of the programme/ project:

• Manage the process of monitoring the programme/ project’s resources and finances using results-based management tools.
• Finalize quarterly reports and donor reports, focusing on results, output and outcomes;
• Write donor and UN Women reports.

6. Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies:

• Develop and implement partnerships and resource mobilization strategies.
• Finalize relevant documentation on donors and develop potential opportunities for resource mobilization.
• Analyze and research information on donors, finalize substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost sharing.

7.Manage inter-agency coordination to achieve a coherent and aligned presence for Women Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action:

• Provide substantive technical support to the Representative and gender and humanitarian specialist on inter-agency coordination related activities by attending meetings, events, and participating in groups and committees.
• Coordinate with other UN agencies, government departments, donors and NGOs to ensure the projects’ capacity development programme is harmonized and aligned with other in-country efforts.
• Take part in country level humanitarian assessments and any similar exercises related to the RC system.
• Prepare substantive inputs to HRP/ CCA/ UNSDPF and other documents, as necessary.

8. Lead advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts:

• Represent UN Women in meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to nexus od Women Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action.
• Manage advocacy strategies and their implementation.
• Identify best practices and lessons learned to guide programme improvement and strategy planning.
• Lead the development of knowledge management strategies and methodologies and products on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action.

Competencies

Core values:

• Integrity.
• Professionalism.
• Respect for Diversity.

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: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills.
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them.
• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management.
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making.
• Excellent knowledge in Women Peace, Security and mainstreaming gender into humanitarian action.
• Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation.
• Strong networking skills.
• Ability to negotiate and interact with donors, identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, 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.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects, particularly in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Technical experience in Women Peace, Security and gender-responsive humanitarian action.
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is an asset.
• Experience working in the UN System is an asset.
• Experience in leading/managing a team is an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in spoken and written English is required.
• Knowledge of Arabic language is highly desired.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment 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