International Consultant-Support the development of Ethiopia’s first National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (UNSCR 1325)

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. Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system’s 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.

Peace and security represent one of the key thematic areas of UN Women’s mandate. Based on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and nine subsequently adopted resolutions, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda recognizes the gendered nature of conflict and peace. Built on the four pillars of participation, prevention, protection and relief and recovery, it reaffirms the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, humanitarian response, and in post-conflict reconstruction. The WPS agenda stresses the importance of women’s equal participation and full involvement in all efforts to maintain and promote peace and security, urges all actors to increase the participation of women in peacebuilding, and incorporates gender perspectives in all United Nations peace and security efforts. It also calls on all parties to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, in situations of armed conflict.

UN Member States have the primary responsibility to implement the WPS agenda and they are called to do so through National Action Plans (NAPs) or other national-level strategies. In April 2019, Ethiopia committed to develop a National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. The Ministry of Women and Social Affairs with its mandate given on Proclamation No. 1263/2021 Article 36 (1)(a) has a mandate to initiate policies, strategies, and laws for women, youth, children, persons with disabilities, elderly and other vulnerable groups in development; prepare detail programs compatible with the country’s overall

development plan; and implement the same upon approval. Based on its mandate, the ministry has taken the initiative to lead the National Action Plan development with inclusive engagement of stakeholders.

The government set up a national technical committee to facilitate the process of development of the NAP. The technical committee is composed of relevant government ministries and institutions, civil society organizations and international organizations. The technical committee requested UN Women Ethiopia to work as its secretariat in October 2022. A high-level steering committee provides overall oversight for the development of the NAP.

The technical committee has drafted a roadmap for the process and identified needs and areas for support. Consultations will be held country-wide, and the NAP will be drafted based on those findings. UN Women provides technical and financial support to the process. As part of its overall support for this key milestone in Ethiopia, UN Women is seeking the support of an experienced international consultant to facilitate the NAP development process and support key stakeholders, based on best practices.

Objectives

The objective of the consultancy is to support the government of Ethiopia through the leadership of Ministry of Women and Social Affairs, in developing National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security. In addition, the consultancy will have the objective of increasing the capacity of the National Technical Committee and all stakeholders, including the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs and Ministry of Peace, national CSOs etc. to effectively lead the NAP development and implementation of the national Action Plan on Women Peace and Security in Ethiopia

Duties and Responsibilities

The Main tasks of the consultancy are the following:

Design and deliver capacity building trainings on NAP development process.
Provide technical support and guidance to UN Women, MoWSA and NAP National Technical Committee and other national stakeholders on the NAP development process based on best practices and lessons learned globally, prepare framework to guide the consultation process to collect input to prepare draft NAP ensuring an inclusive process. The NAP consultation should be based on the plan developed by MoWSA and follow the roadmap prepared by MoWSA in consultation with the NAP Technical Committee. As a result of this deliverable, the technical committee and MoWSA as the lead agency will have a clear picture of how the consultations can be organized, what is needed as a starting point and what are the different roles in leading, facilitating and participating in the consultations. The technical committee will have the skills and knowledge to orient other engaged people (such as possible facilitators or rapporteurs) in the regions for their different roles in the process. In addition, they will know what the expected outcomes of the consultations are and how the outcomes will be used in the next phases of the process.
Design and deliver capacity building trainings on monitoring and evaluation of NAP on WPS and design the Monitoring and Evaluation framework with technical committee. As a result of this
deliverable, the technical committee and MoWSA will know how to plan and implement effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for the NAP.
Draft the NAP with the NAP technical committee on WPS, MoWSA and National consultant. As a result of this deliverable, the first draft of the NAP is written, building on the outcomes of the consultations. Both consultants will work closely with the technical committee throughout the writing process.
Present the draft NAP during stakeholder consultation.
Finalize and submit the final version NAP which is prepared based on stakeholder inputs and feedback.

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

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Master’s degree or equivalent in gender/women's studies, peace and security studies, peace and development, human rights, social sciences, or related field is required. A PhD will be an added value.

Experience

At least 5 years’ experience working on Women, Peace and Security, gender, peace, security and conflict, NAP on WPS development and implementation and/or other relevant fields
Prior experience in supporting national governments on NAP development is an asset.
Technical expertise and strong understanding of national implementation of UN security council resolutions on Women, Peace and Security, including on supporting political will and engagement.
Demonstrated ability and experience to facilitate capacity-building for adults, senior experts and officials in the areas outlined.
Experience in facilitating interactive dialogues and consultations.
Experience in working in a diversity team is an asset.
An ideal candidate should have creativity, strong organizational ability, capacity to deliver on time, excellent presentation skill and be responsive to feedback.

Language

Fluency in oral and written English is required.
Knowledge of one or more of Ethiopian languages is desirable.

Application procedure and deadline

Interested applicants must submit the following document/information to demonstrate their qualifications no later than 27 April 2023 via email wpsha-ethiopia@unwomen.org with a subject 'application for national action plan'

Technical component:

Letter of interest explaining why they are the most suitable for the work
Technical proposal of no more than 3 pages outlining the applicants understanding of the issue to be addressed in the consultation
Signed curriculum vitae (CV) and filled and signed P11 from UN Women website http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment.

Sample work and contact details of clients for whom you have rendered similar services

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