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. UN Women is mandated to lead, coordinate and promote the accountability of the UN system for women’s equal representation. Women’s equal representation has been addressed by various international instruments, including the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (1979) as well as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995).

Achieving gender parity is an urgent priority, not only as a basic human right, but also as it is essential to the United Nations’ efficiency, impact, and credibility. The United Nations, as the principal international standard-setting institution, bears a special responsibility to lead by example and leave no one behind.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched the System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity (2017) (hereafter ‘the Strategy’) with the aim to achieve equal representation of women and men at all grades across the UN System by 2028. This Strategy focuses on target setting, accountability, special measures, senior appointments, mission settings as well as creation of enabling working environments.

In this context, UN Women supports the UN System to reach gender parity, based on its mandate to lead, promote and coordinate efforts to advance the full realization of women’s rights and opportunities. Office of the Focal Point for Women in the UN System at UN Women (hereafter ‘the Office’) is responsible for providing guidance to the UN System in support of the Strategy.

As the Secretary-General stated in his Strategy, gender parity is not only about numbers but also about changing the organizational culture. Therefore, the Office has created the Enabling Environment Guidelines and the Field-specific Enabling Environment Guidelines for the UN System that provide guidance and recommendations on how to create enabling working environments, together with good practice examples. Furthermore, the Office has been engaged in the work of the UN Executive Group to prevent and respond to Sexual harassment (formerly known as the CEB Task Force on addressing sexual harassment).

The consultant will work under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the Senior Advisor, in collaboration with other team members. S/he will support the work related to the UN Executive Group on addressing sexual harassment. Furthermore, s/he is expected to support the Office’s work related to leading and coordinating the system-wide network of Gender Focal Points.

In the beginning of the assignment, a work plan will be developed, including expected outputs and success indicators over the reporting period. Informal feedback will be provided regularly.

Duties and Responsibilities

• The consultant will provide substantive support to UN Women’s leadership in the UN Executive Group to prevent and respond to sexual harassment. This will require support to the Senior Advisor and the Focal Point for Women, through presenting ideas for high-level dialogues, organizing events, creating concept and briefing notes as well as other documents, liaising with internal and external stakeholders, including the UN Gender Focal Points, and ensuring effective communication and advocacy. Moreover, the consultant will support the administration and advocacy of the System-wide Knowledge Hub on addressing sexual harassment, which was launched by UN-Women in 2023.
• The consultant will assist in the provision of technical and analytical system-wide support to implement the Enabling Environment Guidelines, Supplementary Guidance and the Field-specific Enabling Environment Guidelines in support of the Secretary-General’s System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity across the UN System, including and especially in the country and mission settings.
• The consultant will also support the work related to the system-wide Gender Focal Point Network, amongst others through organizing online and in-person capacity-building sessions, and other engagements through planning, researching, and inviting relevant speakers, conducting and preparing technical arrangements. The consultant will support maintaining and updating the Gender Focal Point Extranet, a tool for disseminating and sharing gender parity related resources and providing walk-throughs and introductions to new Gender Focal Points, as requested.
• The consultant will contribute to drafting policy papers, background research, and briefing notes as requested and as necessary. S/he will also provide a draft of the Office’s monthly reports, as requested.
• The consultant will support the preparatory work related to the Office’s achievements and progress of the implementation of the Secretary-General’s system-wide Strategy on Gender Parity, UN Women’s Implementation Plan as well as UN Women’s Strategic Plan through coordinating the inputs, in concert with other team members.
• Perform other official duties and ad-hoc assignments as needed.

Competencies

Competencies:

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work: gender equality;

Functional competencies:

• Strong organizational and planning skills;
• Ability to work well under pressure, and to meet deadlines;
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work as part of a team;
• Excellent knowledge of office software packages.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Gender/Women’s Studies, Social Sciences, Political Science, Communications, International Development, Psychology, International Law, or related field.

• 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:

• Previous work experience of 2 years in United Nations’ organizational context and particularly in gender parity and in creation of enabling working environments is strongly preferred.

Languages:

• Proficiency in English is required, working knowledge of other UN official language will be an asset.

Qualifications

• Excellent writing abilities, including drafting, organizing, and presenting information well.
• Demonstrated research skills and knowledge on gender equality.

• Excellent communication skills.
• Familiarity with UN Women’s work, especially related to gender parity, or prior experience with the UN considered an asset.

Deliverables and Timeline: The duration of the consultancy is an initial period of 6 months, renewable pending on satisfactory performance. Payment will be monthly.