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.

Globally, UN Women focuses on six priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation in governance and decision-making, ending violence against women, enhancing women’s economic empowerment, engaging women in all aspects of peace and resilience, making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting, and advancing gender equality in intergovernmental processes. In the Philippines, these priorities are translated into programmes and advocacy efforts steered to support the cross-cutting, high-impact area of women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation in leadership and decision-making across humanitarian, development, and peace contexts. Through its normative mandate, UN Women Philippines is also supporting the country in the operationalization of the country’s commitments to international frameworks, standards and targets, including in further improving the country’s gender-responsive budgeting policy.

In 2022, the UN Secretary-General initiated a comprehensive review of the UN system capacity to deliver on gender equality, identifying the successes and shortcomings of the UN system and providing a set of recommendations to proper gender equality forward. Subsequently, in 2023, a task team and advisory board comprising of 12 UN entities deliberated over the review’s recommendations that culminated in the development of the UN system-wide Gender Equality Acceleration Plan (GEAP), launched in March 2024, marking a significant stride in advancing the Secretary-General’s agenda as outlined in Our Common Agenda and serves as a substantive contribution to the Summit of the Future. With its UN system coordination mandate, UN Women plays a key role in supporting and monitoring the implementation and execution of the GEAP action points. At country level, this will be supported by the development of Country Gender Equality Profiles/CGEP (Accelerator 1.2) and Country Gender Equality Reviews. (Accelerator 3.3).

Reporting to the Country Programme Coordinator, the National Consultant on Gender Equality Acceleration and Localization will conduct technical research, writing and provide capacity building support to the Philippines office in developing the CGEP, policy review of gender mainstreaming legislation and localization of such policies (including the SDGs), particularly the country’s gender responsive budget policy and its implementation, as well as support the office in developing concept notes to sustain and expand its work on GEAP and SDG localization. The consultant will work in collaboration with key team members. The consultant will be supported by the Operations Associate, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

The National Consultant on Gender Equality Acceleration and Localization will perform and deliver on the following tasks:

• Prepare and finalize gender responsive tools for SDG localization, particularly the voluntary local review including needed capacity building for partners and stakeholders;
• Presentation of tools to partners for final vetting and validation prior to publication and distribution;
• Conduct desk and policy review to outline gender mainstreaming legislation and policies, particularly on the country’s gender responsive budgeting (GRB) policy, including its localization efforts providing recommendations and key actions
• Support the drafting the CGEP, following the prepared outline in consultation with UN Women and key stakeholders
• Prepare presentation material/slide deck that captures key aspects of the CGEP and GRB policy paper
• Provide gender mainstreaming (acceleration and localization) technical support for projects and project proposal development and reporting

Deliverables

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

UN Women will provide the National Consultant on Gender Equality Acceleration and Localization with substantive inputs to ensure the completion of deliverables in line with the objectives of the organizations. This is a home-based consultancy, with reporting to UN Women Philippines office as needed. The consultant may access the UN Women Philippines office for printing of relevant documents or when required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.

As part of this assignment, there may be at least one mission related to the scope of work, which will be arranged by UN Women in accordance with UN Women’s travel policy.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to produce timely and high-quality outputs
• Ability to multi-task and work independently with little supervision
• Strong interpersonal, negotiation, presentation and communication skills, including ability to listen actively and respond effectively
• Strong resourcefulness, logical thinking
• Technical credibility in research and technical writing on gender equality and women’s empowerment

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Gender and Development, Public Administration, Sociology, International Law, Statistics 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
• A project/programme management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2® or MSP®) would be an added advantage

Experience:

• At least 2 years of professional experience on gender equality and the empowerment of women
• Strong understanding of gender equality and development issues in the context of the Philippines
• Strong knowledge of the UN system, international frameworks, standards and agendas on gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goals
• Experience in drafting and production of research papers and reports, project development, results-based reporting and facilitating KIIs and consultations/workshops is required
• Excellent analytical skills with strong drive for results and capacity to work independently
• Excellent English communication and writing skills (Samples of previous work may be required)

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Filipino is required
• Knowledge of any other UN official language is an asset

Statements :

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.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.