International Consultant: Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Specialist

Background

UN Women (UNW), 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 centre of all its efforts, the 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, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that the commitments to gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action in humanitarian response plans. As the war crisis in Ukraine continues and its impact on neighboring countries and host communities deepens, there is an increasing recognition among all the key actors that the development and humanitarian challenges arising from the crisis must be met with accelerated action and enhanced capacity. In this respect, UN Women Moldova Country Office is contributing to the United Nations processes to support the efforts of the Government of Moldova, I/NGOs, and UN Agencies on the humanitarian response to the refugee crisis and its impact on the host communities in Moldova.

As part of the country and regional response to the Ukraine crisis, UN Women Moldova CO repurposed and reprogrammed existing funds that helped swiftly respond to the rapidly evolving needs of civil society organizations focused on women’s rights and services. The funds were geared toward supporting women’s mobilization and leadership at the local level, and ensuring their voices and concerns guide decision-making at all levels. It has also helped provide immediate gender responsive assistance to refugee women and girls.

In the frame of overall refugee coordination structure, the Moldova CO provides technical gender expertise and policy advice to refugee response working groups and their members on gender in humanitarian action. UN Women is also contributing to the Refugee Response Plan in Moldova to ensure support for basic human rights and essential services for refugee women and girls, including tailored support to the most vulnerable and at-risk groups of women refugees (Roma, women with disabilities, and LGBIQ+); prevention of and early detection of and referral of GBV; and exploring livelihood opportunities in Moldova for Ukrainian women refugees.

In order to ensure that technical and policy advisory support is systematically provided to the refugee response structure, refugee response preparedness, planning, programming, and monitoring, UN Women in Moldova would like to bring on board an international Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Specialist.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Country Representative, the GiHA Specialist/Consultant will undertake the following duties and responsibilities, including but not strictly limited to:

Policy guidance and technical advice to UN Women and refugee coordination and response actors on GiHA/refugee response in Moldova

Support the development of UN Women action plan on Gender in Humanitarian Action.
Support the development of a GiHA accountability framework in full coordination with refugee response actors and gender focal points (GFPs), if feasible.
Provide gender advisory support to ensure the integration of gender throughout the refugee response cycle including providing gender inputs to the Refugee Response Plan, sector-specific and inter-sectoral plans, contingency plans, etc.
Provide technical support on gender mainstreaming to the refugee coordination working groups members to ensure the content of their response plans highlight and address gender concerns and priorities- and that members have increased capacity to respond to emerging gender priorities.
Regularly review the working groups analyses documents (i.e. Need Assessments, Plans, reports, briefs etc.) to ensure that gender content and sex- and- age- disaggregated data are systematically included.
Participate in processes for reviewing, assessing and vetting gender aspects of refugee response submissions, if feasible.

Capacity building on GiHA and support to gender-responsive localization

Provide technical and capacity building support to women led organizations on GiHA and refugee response processes.
Strengthen the capacity of humanitarian/refugee response workers and gender focal points on GiHA.
Upon need and feasibility, organize and deliver different trainings tailored to different audiences on GiHA.
Support accelerating localization through facilitating/advocating for local women’s organizations and networks participation in refugee response planning, decision making and monitoring/accountability (with a focus on those organizations that work with crisis affected women and girls, including those at heightened risk of violence, exploitation and abuse).

Advocacy and knowledge building on GiHA/refugee response

Participate in advocacy and information sharing working group and the data group and systematically share inputs on GiHA.
Advise the development and develop knowledge products including briefs, fact sheets, statistics, research, policy briefs, gender alerts, etc. highlighting the gendered impact/gendered dimension of the humanitarian crisis on the affected populations. Draft at least two policy briefs on topics that are related to gender in humanitarian action.
Conduct ongoing/periodic context updates and document gender related emerging trends and challenges also as they relate to working group/sector response.
Provide technical advice on the inclusion of SAAD and gender content in sector and inter-sectoral analyses and advocacy messages.
Ensure that gender is mainstreamed in sector assessments, the Joint Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (MSNA) and rapid interagency assessments.

Participate in interagency refugee coordination structures and support coordination efforts on GiHA

Support UN Women Representative and team in chairing the Gender Task Force (GTF).
Participate in the intersectoral coordination group (ISCG), working groups meetings and other meetings as needed.
Represent UN Women in the PSEA and AAP meetings and systematically provide inputs on GiHA to both groups.

Provide support to effective management of UN Women GiHA portfolio

Contribute technically to the development of programme strategies in Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA)/Refugee response, including design and formulation of project proposals and initiatives.
Provide technical support to the implementation and management of the GiHA/refugee response projects.
Provide technical assistance and capacity development to project partners.
Provide technical inputs to the monitoring and reporting of projects.

Perform other duties as deemed needed by UN Women.

Expected deliverables:

Deliverables

Timeframe

A monthly progress update report

By the end of each month (29th of each month)

Notes:

All written deliverables will be submitted in English.

Duration

The initial duration of the consultancy will be 30 days during 3-month period, subject to extension depending on the development of refugee crisis in Moldova.

Location

This is a home-based assignment that does not require relocation to Moldova. In case of ad-hoc need for physical presence in Moldova, travel-related costs will be covered separately by UN Women.

Payment schedule

Payments will be made once a month upon the clearance of the supervisor of the monthly progress update report.

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:

Background knowledge of status of legislation in ECA region including CEDAW and relevant human rights instruments.
Background in gender focused research.
Proven intellectual and practical capacity to understand and interpret different texts and provide a sound synthesis and analysis.
Ability to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.
High level logical and methodical organizational skills.
Excellent oral and written skills in English.

Knowledge Management and Learning

Seeks and applies knowledge, information and best practices from a variety of sources.
Demonstrates a strong capacity for innovation and creativity in providing strategic policy advice and direction.

Judgment/Decision-Making

Mature judgment and initiative.
Proven ability to provide strategic direction to coordination processes.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree or equivalent in law, international relationships, international development, political science, gender/women's studies, 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:

At least 5 years of experience in gender equality and women’s empowerment.
At least 2 years of relevant experience in humanitarian action.
At least 2 years of experience in gender analysis and gender focused capacity building.
At least 2 years of experience working with humanitarian sectors, civil society organizations, international institutions and donors.
Experience working with the UN is an asset.
Experience working in the region is an asset.

Languages:

Fluency in English.
Russian and/or Romanian is a strong asset.