Background

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has placed the achievement of gender parity in the UN System as an urgent priority, both in terms of human rights and as it is essential to the United Nations’ efficiency, impact, and credibility. “The UN, as the principal international standard-setting institution, bears a special responsibility to lead by example and leave no one behind. It has a pivotal role in supporting the full, effective, and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.”

Correspondingly, the United Nations Secretary-General launched his UN System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity (hereafter ‘the Strategy’) in 2017, with the goal to achieve gender parity at all levels across the UN system before 2028. The Strategy touches five key topics: 1) Gender parity; 2) Leadership and Accountability; 3) Recruitment, Retention, Progression and Talent Management; 4) Senior Appointments; and 5) Creating an Enabling Environment. Furthermore, Member States urges the UN System to achieve gender parity. For instance, the General-Assembly, in resolution 78/182, called entities of the United Nations system, in collaboration with resident coordinators and heads of agencies and missions, to significantly increase their efforts towards achieving the goal of 50/50 gender balance in all locations, including at the United Nations country team level. Under the circumstances, UN Women supports the UN System to enhance gender parity and create enabling environments, in support of the Strategy.

An important accountability framework to ensure gender equality is a Gender Score Card Exercise (UNCT-SWAP). The UNCT in Kenya in 2021 agreed to conduct a Gender Score Card Exercise under the leadership of UN Women and the Resident Coordinators Office. Its objective was to assess the effectiveness of the UN Country Team (UNCT) in gender mainstreaming and the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as provide a set of actions that will lead the UNCT in Kenya making improvements in institutional gender mainstreaming. One of the key recommendations include to develop a comprehensive Gender Parity Strategy in UNCT Kenya, in alignment with the Secretary-General’s System-wide Strategy, with specific actions and targets to ensure increased representation of women, including among national staff. Furthermore, as the Secretary-General states, gender parity goes beyond numbers, and it is also about changing organizational Cultures. Therefore, the UNCT in Kenya recommits itself towards accelerating the progress in achieving and maintaining gender parity, through re-focusing the agenda and transforming organizational culture for creating inclusive, diverse, safe and enabling work environments.

In this context, UNCT Kenya hires a Gender Parity Strategy Development Consultant to support the development of a UNCT-wide Gender Parity Strategy. In so doing, the consultant will work with various stakeholders including Office of the Focal Point for Women in the UN System at UN Women, Gender Focal Points and Human Resources personnel from various UN Agencies. Specifically, in consultation with UN Women Kenya Country Office, WFP-Kenya, UNFPA, Gender Theme Group (GTG), Gender Parity Strategy Development Consultant, Human Resources Working Group and the UN Resident Coordinators Office, as well as the Office of the Focal Point for Women in the UN System at UN Women, the consultant will lead on a joint initiative to develop a UN system-wide gender parity strategy with a plan to achieve as well as a plan to maintain gender parity for UNCT Kenya.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of UN Women Kenya Country Representative and direct supervision of the UN Women Planning and Coordination Specialist, and in close consultation with Gender Thematic Group and Human Resources Working Group (HRWG) members, as well as the Office of the Focal Point for Women in the UN System at UN Women, the consultant will do the following:

• Brief inception report including outline of approach and detailed timeline for the assignment and session outline for technical briefing with GTG and HRWG;
• Organize meetings with GTG and Human Resources focal points to gather inputs and present the findings;
• Map resources available in the UNCT Kenya that feed up to the Gender Parity Framework for the UN Kenya;
• Carry out the organizational culture survey – data analysis and develop a plan to improve the ratings aligned to questions/issue areas;
• Develop a consultative and comprehensive Gender Parity Strategy for the UNCT Kenya with a detailed implementation and monitoring, evaluation, and reporting plan by collaborating and liaising with the system-wide network of gender focal points and other networks on data collection, refining the system-wide survey questions, interpreting the quantitative and qualitative data, and drafting. Also align the strategy with various national, regional and global policies and frameworks guiding the UNSDCF. All genders should be represented equally in the participants engaged during the strategy development. The strategy should also ensure that a “system-wide plan is in place for the UNCT to achieve gender parity”;
• Develop an implementation plan for the strategy that includes UN Kenya-wide and agency-specific actions and interventions, with identified budget requirements, timeline, and a monitoring, evaluation, and reporting plan, together with the Resident Coordinator’s Office.

Deliverables:

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 Compitencies:

• In-depth knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues;
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with national and local partners;
• Knowledge and understanding of UN system.
• Excellent writing, analytical, training, presentation skills.
• IT literacy with sufficient use of Microsoft Words, Excel, and Power Point Presentation.
• Very effective at multi-tasking.
• Strong analytical and interpersonal skills.
• Strong initiative-taker.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Focuses on impact and results for client.
• Identifies opportunities and builds strong relationships with client and external actors.
• Participates effectively in team-based, information-sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, Political Science, Development, Public Administration, and any related degree 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 7 years of practical experience of work on gender mainstreaming in development programmes/projects at national and international levels;
• Prior experience with the UN including experience of inter-agency work on gender equality;
• Experience in coordination, technical support provision, gender analysis, communications, and facilitation;
• Demonstrated experience in developing and reviewing strategies and policies on gender equality at institutional level;
• Experience in carrying out the UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard is an asset;
• Experience in developing gender parity strategies or equivalent is an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of another UN official working language is desirable.

All applications must include (as an attachment) a completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form-en.doc

Please note that the system will only allow one attachment and candidates are required to include in the P-11 form links for their previously published reports and articles completed within the last two years. Applications without the completed and signed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Notes:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

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