Consultant To Develop SIDS Briefs (Homebased)

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 MCO-Caribbean (MCO) covers 22 English and Dutch speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean. The MCO maintains a physical presence in several countries but there remains high and consistent demand for the exercise of UN Women’s integrated mandate across the 22 countries and territories.

The MCO Caribbean 2022 -2026 programme builds on the works of the 2017-2021 Strategic Note with a focus on the Normative Framework (Proposed Outcome 1), Women’s Economic Empowerment (Proposed Outcomes 2 and 3), Ending Violence against Women and Girls (Proposed Outcome 4) and Climate Change and Disaster Risk Resilience (Proposed Outcome 5). All the Outcomes like the SDGs are interconnected and interrelated. Public engagement and events are critical opportunities for networking, sensitization and advocacy.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face unique vulnerabilities that significantly challenge the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet simultaneously, these small islands hold countless opportunities for resilience-building that can propel their progress and achievements. Despite notable progress towards gender equality, SIDS face distinctive challenges that hinder gender equality and women’s empowerment. Achieving gender equality in SIDS demands a strategic, gender-responsive, human-rights based and SIDS-appropriate approach that overcomes their innate obstacles and transforms their vulnerabilities into tools of resilience, innovation, and equality.

The Caribbean SIDS are located in some of the most disaster-prone regions in the world, while several of them are among the 25 most vulnerable nations in terms of disasters per capita or land area. The economic loss caused by these disasters for the Caribbean exceeds $22 billion between 1950 and 2016. Similar to the Caribbean, the Pacific SIDS are amongst the most prone to disasters in the world and are facing the impacts of climate change at an alarming rate, severity and scope of climate disasters. Many Pacific Islands, including Papua New Guinea, Fiji Islands, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, and Vanuatu are ranked in the world’s most affected countries in terms of casualties and disaster impacts on people per number of inhabitants. Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China sea (AIS) SIDS also face significant threats from rising sea levels, warming ocean temperatures, extreme heat and worsening monsoons, that together pose an existential threat for low-lying islands.

Within this context, SIDS’ greatest resources are their people, all their people. By harnessing and investing in their human capital, SIDS can catapult economic diversification, climate resilience, digital transformation, increased trade, and future-proof industries as detailed in the SAMOA pathway. However, in order for these outcomes to be met and felt by all people in SIDS, they must be gender responsive and transformative. That is, for progress to be made, gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) must be mainstreamed within these outcomes and recognised as a standalone goal. By understanding and implementing a gender lens and feminist approach, SIDS can unlock the capabilities and potential of women and girls, and strengthen their communities of men and boys, to be better placed to overcome their innate challenges, fulfil their global commitments.

Across SIDS, women and youth face significant barriers to accessing finance/financing. In the Caribbean region, self-employed women comprise less than 8% of total employment (vs 19% for self-employed men), and women’s businesses are smaller with only 1% having employees (infoDev, 2015). In Papua New Guinea, youth unemployment is three times higher than for the general population. Barriers to women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment due to discriminatory social norms, unequal access to decent work and income, time poverty, inadequate skill sets or financial literacy, albeit other factors, and youth’s access to capital and employment are exacerbated by SIDS high debt-to-GDP ratios and difficulty accessing international aid and debt financing, which hinders the expansion of MSME support, job creation and social protections. Women and youth feel this impact the hardest.

In addition, women are responsible for the majority of unpaid care and domestic work, which results in less time and fewer opportunities to contribute to the formal economy. Women and girls inevitably take on the bulk of care work when care demands increase during times of crises and public and private systems are inadequate and underfunded. Across the Caribbean, twice as many women than men reported increases in home schooling, cooking, and cleaning, and almost twice as many women reported more time spent entertaining children than men (IDB, 2020). Women’s disproportionate share of care work (in and out of crises) poses significant obstacles to their economic empowerment and wellbeing. This unequal amount of care work further contributes to the feminization of poverty in SIDS and hinders gender equality gains. Compounded with a lack of sufficient gender- and shock-responsive social protections and safety nets to support women, and the most marginalised, more women and their families are at risk of slipping through the cracks and falling further behind given their limited access to social protection and safety nets.

Citizen security has become a significant challenge for many SIDS. The Caribbean SIDS experience some of the highest crime rates globally. Gender-based violence is one element of the citizen insecurity, coupled with harmful, yet persistent, gender stereotypes, cultures of silence and insufficient legal frameworks, implementation and accountability mechanisms breed continued violence and under-reporting. For the countries that have prevalence data, an average of 46% of women who have ever been in a relationship have experienced some form of intimate partner violence. WHO data on the prevalence of violence notes seven Pacific Island countries as falling within the highest prevalence for lifetime physical / sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) globally. In the Seychelles, over 54% of women have experienced IPV; in the Solomon Islands an estimated 64% of women aged 15-49 have experienced IPV; 39% of partnered women have experienced IPV in Jamaica and Grenada.

The SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (S.A.M.O.A.) Pathway reflects this in paragraph 27 (h), which speaks specifically to promoting and enhancing gender equality and women’s equal participation, including in policies and programmes in the public and private sectors in Small Island Developing States.

UN Women is collaborating with regional institutions to host a Gender Equality Forum which is one of the five high-level side events being hosted at the Fourth Global SIDS Forum.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the UN Women MCO – Caribbean Representative, with direct supervision by the Planning and Coordination Specialist, Barbados and Eastern Caribbean, the Consultant will collaborate closely with relevant programme staff to write six briefs in preparation for the SIDS Gender Equality Forum.

Scope of Work and Deliverables:

The consultant is expected to deliver the following results:

• Develop a workplan.
• Draft six policy briefs (no more than 5 pages each) on the following areas:
  • Gender Equality as an Accelerator to Revitalise SIDS Economies
  • Transformative Actions to Enhance Environmental and Disaster Resilience
  • Forging a Path to Empowerment, Equity, Inclusion, Peaceful Societies and Safe Communities
  • Strengthening Institutional and Statistical Capacity
  • Inclusive Health Solutions
  • Innovative Financing for Gender Equality
• Integrate feedback from key stakeholders into six policy briefs.
• Support development of draft communique.
• Update policy briefs.

Competencies

Core Values: 

• Respect for Diversity 
• Integrity and Fairness
• 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:  

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge of the social, cultural, legal and political context of the Caribbean.
• Fluency in English and ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Ability to interact independently and as part of a team.
• Technical skill in managing events.
• Analytical and report writing skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in international development, public administration, public policy, or other relevant social science field is preferred.
• 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 15 years’ experience developing policy briefs is required.
• At least 10 years’ experience working on sustainable development and gender equality is preferred.
• At least 5 years’ experience in SIDS is required.
• At least 3 years’ experience with the UN is preferred.

Languages:

• Fluency in oral and written English is required.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

• The consultancy will be home-based.
• The consultant will be engaged for a maximum of 40 working days within the period, 18 March 2024 to 31 July 2024.

Remuneration

• The consultancy fee will be negotiated before contracting. Each payment will be based on a predefined and formal agreement between UN Women and the consultant and will be disbursed based on satisfactory completion of agreed deliverables.
• The remuneration for this contract type is an all-inclusive fee, the organization will not be liable for additional cost or benefits.  Hence, it is the responsibility of the consultant to take out adequate medical insurance for the duration of the contract and it is recommendable that the policy includes coverage for COVID-19 related illness.   The medical coverage should be international when the contract requires missions or international assignment.
• If selected for this consultancy, proof of medical coverage should be presented within the first two months of the contract.

Hardware, Software, And Communication

• The consultant must be equipped with a fully functional laptop, which must run at least Windows 7. The consultants must be reasonably accessible by email and telephone (preferably mobile). The use of reliable, internet-based (Skype or equivalent) is required.

Other:

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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.)