Policy Specialist Consultant - National ONLY

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. 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.

Under the direct supervision of the Women’s Political Participation Programme Manager, UN Women seeks to recruit a competent consultant to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth study on the Lebanon Feminist Platform that was established over two years ago in Lebanon following the Beirut blast of August 2022. The study will utilize feminist methodologies to explore the trajectory of the platform, including its genesis, growth and development, interactions, activities, and ways of working and will include oral histories of the founders and members. The main aim of this study is to contribute to the documentation and understanding of feminist movements and feminist activism in Lebanon and to preserve and archive feminist history in real time and with the engagement of engaged feminist activists. Under the overall guidance of the Representative and daily direct supervision of WPP Project manager, and support by WPP Programme Assistant, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

Duties and Responsibilities

The candidate selected for this consultancy will be expected to document the history of the Lebanese Feminist Civil Society Platform in real time. The proposed research will employ a feminist methodology which emphasizes feminist epistemology and shifting the emphasis on women’s lived experiences as the source of knowledge. As such, we will be using qualitative approaches with mixed methods to meet the research objectives effectively and the responsibility of this person consists of:

• To comprehensively examine and document the process and interaction of the feminist platform in Lebanon.
• To document and analyze the activities, strategies, and initiatives undertaken by the platform members.
• To identify the positionality of the platform within feminist and women’s movements, activism, and ecosystem in Lebanon.
• To document and preserve the oral histories of the founders and members, thus providing a textured understanding of their experiences and perspectives.
• To contribute to the existing (albeit limited) body of knowledge and historiography of feminist movements and activism in the MENA region.

To be able to accomplish the above the consultant is required to conduct the following:

1. Literature Review:

• Conduct an extensive review of existing literature on feminist movements, activism, and coalitions/networks in Lebanon (past and present). This will contribute to the theoretical and contextual framework for the study.

2. Data Collection through:

• Oral Histories: Conduct in-depth interviews with the founders and members of the feminist platform as well as UNWomen (the secretariat of the Platform) and potentially with consultants who have performed specific tasks for the Platform. This will allow us to gather their individual lived experiences, motivations, challenges faced, and the platform's impact on their lives and activism. These interviews will be audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis.
• Documentation/content Analysis: Examine available documents, such as platform reports, meeting minutes, newsletters, statements, and social media content, to understand the platform's activities, initiatives, outreach, frequency, etc.

3. Data Analysis:

• Thematic Analysis: Analyze all the transcribed interviews and documents using thematic coding to identify recurring patterns, themes, and key insights related to the platform's formation, activities, challenges faced, and impact.
• Intersectional Analysis: Apply an intersectional lens to the data, considering factors such as gender, class, geography, age, and sexuality to explore the diversity and complexities within the platform and its activities.

4. Develop and validate the final report: the consultant is required to develop a full validated report that covers the following aspects:

• Comprehensive documentation of the process, interaction, activities, and impact of the feminist platform in Lebanon.
• Insights into the challenges faced by the platform and its members, as well as their strategies for overcoming them.
• Identification of key themes and patterns in the oral histories, shedding light on the personal experiences and motivations of the founders and members.
• An analysis of the platform's impact on feminist movements and activism in Lebanon.
• Contribution to the historiography of feminist movements and activism in Lebanon.

Deliverable

Expected completion time (due day)

Payment Schedule

Literature Review Literature review and content analysis (5 expected working days)

After 1 month of signing the contract

16% of total payment

Creation of research tools (5 expected working days)

After 2 months of signing the contract

16% of total payment

Data collection (10 expected working days)

After 4 months of signing the contract

36% of total payment

Data analysis (5 expected working days)

After 6 months of signing the contract

16% of total payment

Report writing and validation (7 expected working days)

After 8 months 2 weeks of signing the contract

16% of total payment

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: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Excellent knowledge of the work of the Lebanese Civil society Feminist Platform in Lebanon
• Strong knowledge of the region
• Excellent networking skills
• Ability to perform qualitative and quantitative policy research.
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• Ability to write policy papers, research documents, briefings.
• Strong knowledge of networking dynamics in Lebanon and the region.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in History, human rights, international relations, or other social science fields 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:

• At least 5 years progressively responsible experience in designing and managing programmes and advocating for feminist issues, ideally with some experience in developing countries.
• Experience in conducting research.
• Experience in network coordination and building is an asset.
• Experience working with, and building partnerships with governments, donors, and civil society organizations internationally and in the field.
• Experience working in the Mena region is an asset.

Languages:

• Written and oral English and Arabic is a must.
• French is an asset.

Application:

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Personal CV and P11 form (P11 can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc)
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.

The above-mentioned documents should be merged in a standalone file including all them, since the online application submission does only permit to upload one file per application. Incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification.

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.)

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