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.

In 2025, the global community will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), and 10 years of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.

States are called upon to undertake comprehensive national-level reviews of the progress made and challenges encountered in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly. Governments should collaborate with relevant stakeholders at all levels of preparations for the 2025 review to benefit from their experience and expertise.

National reports should cover trends, achievements and remaining gaps and challenges, as well as future plans to accelerate implementation at the national level. The regional commissions will use the national reports to prepare regional synthesis reports over the course of 2024. Regional review processes include the preparation of regional reports and the organization of regional intergovernmental meetings by the United Nations regional commissions.

The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) will jointly organize the Regional Review Meeting on the 30-year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in the UNECE region and its alignment with the 2030 Agenda in Geneva on 21-22 October 2024.

Furthermore, in the lead-up to the Regional Review Meeting, UN Women ECARO will organize a series of consultations including multi-stakeholders consultations, civil society and youth mainly focused in programmatic counties (where we are) to prepare for and inform the Beijing+30 review process key milestones.

The review takes place around key multilateral and intergovernmental processes and moments, including the global review of the SDGs at the 2024 High-Level Political Forum (July 2024) and the 2024 Summit of the Future (September 2024).

Duties and Responsibilities

Within this framework, UN Women ECARO is seeking the services of an international consultant to support the preparations of substantive documentation for the series of consultations that will be held in the lead-up to the Beijing+30 regional review process, including the Regional Review Meeting.

The consultations will result in the development of a series of outcome documents describing key achievements, gaps, and challenges regarding implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and suggesting recommendations and the way forward from a broad range of stakeholders. The documents will also reflect the linkages between the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the SDGs.

Deliverables

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women ECARO Strategic Partnerships, Intergovernmental and Normative Engagement Specialist, the international consultant will perform the following tasks, which include but are not limited to the following:

• Provide input, review, and edit, among other things, background documentation, conference notes, and thematic papers to inform the Regional Review Meeting.
• Support the preparation of briefs, issue papers, key messages, concept notes, agenda, background documentation and reports of the series of consultations that will be held ahead of the Regional Review Meeting.

Deliverable	Expected completion time (due day)
Draft concept notes, agendas, key messages, and reports for at least 5 consultations	By 30 September 2024
Final edited report of the regional review meeting	By 10 November 2024

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy.

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

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in international development with a focus on gender/women’s rights, public administration, or other social sciences fields relevant to the requirements of the TOR.
• 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 5 years of progressively responsible work experience in gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) in international settings.
• At least 4 years of professional experience in writing, reviewing, editing, and proofreading reports, manuals, and/or other technical documents in the English language, including for and with non-native speakers related to development, humanitarian and/or gender equality issues.
• Previous experience in organizing thematic regional and international forums, webinars, working sessions, focus group discussions on GEWE with a wide range of stakeholders in the ECA region.
• Previous publication of academic research related to GEWE is required.
• Previous professional experience with development agencies and/or UN Women is an asset.
• Excellent analytical skills with strong drive for results and capacity to work independently.

Languages and other skills

• Native-English fluency is required
• Knowledge of any other UN official language is an asset.
• Strong writing and editing skills, and experience in writing large conferences and events reports.

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)

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, colour, 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.)