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.

The second phase of the “EU 4 Gender Equality: Together Against Gender Stereotypes and Gender-Based Violence” (EU4GE) programme seeks to reduce gender discriminatory attitudes and practices between women and men in institutional and community spheres, including unpaid domestic and care work by continuing and upscaling successful initiatives and interventions from the Phase I in six Eastern Partnership countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

Funded by the European Union and implemented jointly by UN Women and UNFPA, the programme provides a unique opportunity to change the social discourse, perceptions and harmful practices on gender equality in the region, and to empower women and girls to fully access their rights and develop their potential.

Working with civil society organizations (CSOs) through sub-grants modality was highlighted as a key enabler of programme success during the first phase of the programme. The programme awarded 29 small grants to CSOs, enabling them to implement projects in all six Eastern Partnership countries. The small grant projects undertook interventions targeting a variety of areas with creative and innovative solutions through social media campaigns, engaging youth and influencers, targeting responsible parenting and fatherhood, working with faith-based organizations, tackling stereotypes in education, promoting women’s economic empowerment and career opportunities in ICT and STEM, etc. An intersectional perspective was also incorporated through projects raising awareness and eliminating discrimination against vulnerable and marginalized groups of women and men, including women with disabilities. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, CSOs from Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia adjusted their work to respond to the consequences of the war and addressed the immediate needs of women and girls that emerged.

In its second phase, the programme will continue working with CSOs on implementing innovative initiatives that address and shift harmful gender stereotypes. Implementation of the sub-grants for civil society organizations will be led through calls for proposals to be implemented at the country level. Under its regional component, the Programme will take stock of the work done through sub-grants during phase I, create a platform for discussing take aways and lessons learnt that will generate recommendations for scaling up and streamlining the work on addressing discriminatory gender stereotypes through partnership with civil society. The programme also aims to explore and create Communities of Practice to foster knowledge exchanges on specific themes and increase know-how from the Eastern Partnership countries (EAP) as well as from other projects and regions.

In this context, UN Women ECARO is looking for an experienced International Consultant to support ECARO with mobilizing partner CSOs of the EU4GE joint programme around innovative challenges and approaches to address discriminatory gender norms. The consultant will be reporting to EU4GE Programme Manager and will work in close collaboration with respective colleagues from engaged country offices.

Duties and Responsibilities

The primary purpose of this consultancy is to support UN Women ECARO and engaged country offices with facilitating knowledge exchange and learning with partner CSOs of the EU4GE joint programme around innovative approaches to address discriminatory gender norms, producing recommendations to scale-up successful initiatives and developing a knowledge product describing the programme’s experience, lessons learnt and recommendations on addressing gender norms through partnership with CSOs.

The tasks of the consultant will include, but will not be necessarily limited to the following:

1. Innovation Workshop (2-3 days, in-person event (with possibility of some sessions being hybrid) location TBC) for CSO partners of the EU 4 Gender Equality joint programme.

Objectives of the workshop:

1. discuss and exchange current challenges and innovative solutions in addressing discriminatory gender stereotypes and social norms by civil society partners of the EU 4 Gender Equality programme (phases 1 and 2) with the aim to facilitate cross-country and cross-regional fertilization and exchanges between the civil society partners;
2. facilitate joint reflections to generate practical recommendations and suggest innovative solutions to achieve transformative and sustainable changes in the specific country contexts;
3. cocreate a vision for cross-country Communities of Practice;
4. strengthen the capacities of CSO partners/grantees in different aspects as required, including on monitoring and reporting of results through standardized monitoring tools

The workshop seeks to create informal networks for knowledge exchange on specific themes, to be further transformed into Communities of Practice (CoP).

This task will include but not be limited to the following:

• Desk review of the programme’s work with civil society during phase 1 and ongoing work/plans for phase 2.
• Develop concept note, methodology and agenda of the workshop. Collect and integrate feedback to the documents from the regional and country programme teams.

The agenda to include but not be limited to the following sections: – Social innovation techniques, tools, resources that can be helpful for partners; – Peer-to-peer review of grantee projects to identify challenges and lessons learnt; – Measuring change – to be facilitated by the Data Consultant who develops the standardized monitoring tools for the programme.

• Lead substantive preparation of the workshop, including design of the sessions, workshop materials, suggested speakers/facilitators etc.
• Facilitate the workshop.

2. Knowledge product suitable for external audience that will capture the programme’s work with civil society partners, lessons learnt, good practices and innovations, recommendations for scaling up and continuation.

Deliverables

The assignment will include the following key deliverables. The consultancy is envisioned to entail a total of 31 working days between May 2024 to December 2024.

1. Workshop methodology finalized, including concept note and agenda, coordination with facilitators/speakers – by early August 2024 – estimation of 10 w.d.
2. Workshop facilitation completed – September 2024 (exact date TBC) – 5 days incl. travel.
3. Workshop Report completed – October 2024 – 3 w.d.
4. Knowledge product produced – December 2024 – 13 w.d

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

All written deliverables will be submitted in English.

This consultancy is home-based. Consultant is expected to provide written and verbal technical support using Teams/email/phone as needed.

As part of this assignment, the consultant is expected to deliver the Innovation Workshop in the location TBC in September 2024. Consultant is expected to be available to attend the workshop in-person. Travel-related expenses will be covered by UN Women separately.

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 COMPETENCIES:

• Excellent knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues.
• Ability to work under pressure and within limited time frames.
• Communicative, results-driven, ability to work in teams.
• Proven networking skills and ability to mobilize support on behalf of UN Women.
• Excellent oral and written skills in English.
• Able to communicate effectively with and relate to people of different cultures, demonstrating an ability to see issues from other perspectives.
• Ability to use critical thinking, conceptualize ideas, and articulate relevant subject matter in a clear and concise way.
• Good inter-personal and diplomacy skills.
• Able to lead, manage, work independently and in a team.
• Good planning, goal-setting and prioritization skills.
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
• Adheres to a human rights approach in engaging with all persons.
• Strong ability to adapt and manage challenges and changes as they arise.
• Proven track record of delivering on commitments.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

Master’s Degree or equivalent professional experience in Political Science, Law, International Development Studies, Gender/Women’s Studies, Economics, Sociology or Psychology or other relevant disciplines.

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of relevant professional experience is required.
• Demonstrated expertise in programme design, implementation, and facilitation of workshops.
• Demonstrated knowledge in and/or experience with social innovation approaches, including design and systems thinking and behavioural insights.
• Strong knowledge and experience in working on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Experience working with UN Women or within the UN system is an asset.
• Experience in the ECA region is an asset.
• Knowledge of the UN system is an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required (written and oral).
• Knowledge of other UN working languages is an asset.

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc )

A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)