Background

Background/Context

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 supports state and non-state partners towards the achievement of substantive gender equality in Armenia. In line with national and international commitments, UN Women works on the levels of policies and legislation, institutions, and grassroots, in order to achieve transformative results for increased gender equality and greater protection of the rights of women and girls.

In 2025, the global community will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and 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.

Leading up to the anniversary there should be a comprehensive national-level review process led by the government that involves all stakeholders. Comprehensive national-level reviews should assess progress made in implementation and identify challenges encountered. These reviews should take stock of achievements, identify gaps and setbacks, and outline strategies for addressing those gaps and challenges. They should result in renewed commitments and clear sets of priority actions, as well as help mobilize the necessary means of implementation and partnerships, support the identification of solutions and best practices and promote the coordination and effectiveness of national, regional and international actions. Reviews should align and build synergies with work on the 2030 Agenda and galvanize its gender-responsive implementation.

Reviews should be inclusive and mobilize all branches and levels of government, civil society organizations, the private sector, the entities of the United Nations system and regional and international organizations, academia, the media and other stakeholders. This will ensure an inclusive, participatory, transparent and thorough review process at the national and sub-national levels, based on evidence, while also producing tangible lessons and solutions, which should be followed by concrete action and collaboration towards the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the SDGs. A multi-stakeholder engagement strategy could be put in place for systematic outreach to and involvement of all key stakeholders, as well as their mobilization and concrete contributions to the review process. Different stakeholders, such as the private sector, educational institutions, academia and others, can directly contribute to realizing gender equality through their own actions.

Accordingly, all 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 of the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly held in 2000.

The United Nations Regional Commissions are invited to undertake regional reviews so that the outcomes of intergovernmental processes at the regional level can feed into the Commission’s 2025 review.

As in previous years, national reports will feed into the respective regional synthesis reports that Regional Commissions will prepare for their respective regional intergovernmental reviews. They will also feed into a global synthesis report that UN Women will submit to the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women to be held in March 2025.

Governments are invited to complete the online survey and upload their national report by 1 June 2024.

UN Women and the regional commissions have developed a common “Guidance note for comprehensive national-level reviews”[1] to assist in and facilitate the conduct of comprehensive national-level reviews.

In line with these developments, the Armenian Ministry of Social and Labour Affairs has appealed to UN Women with a request for technical assistance in the process of the development of the national Beijing + 30 Review report. In order to meet this request and to ensure compliance of the review process and final report with the relevant guidelines, UN Women is seeking to recruit a National Consultant to develop Beijing + 30 Review report. The following are the duties, responsibilities and deliverables of the National Consultant, who will be working under direct supervision of the UN Women Programme Specialist based in Armenia and overall guidance of the UN Women Country Representative in Georgia and Liaison in the South Caucasus.

[1] Available on-line at: https://www.cepal.org/sites/default/files/static/files/18-359nve_annex_1_-_guidance_note_english_annex.pdf

Duties and Responsibilities

• To familiarize oneself with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, relevant ECOSOC documents, outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly and “Guidance note for comprehensive national-level reviews” for Beijing +30;
• To carry out a desk review of the national legislation and policies, as well as studies and reports, including the Country Gender Equality Profile (CGEP), relevant to the Beijing Platform for Action framework and for the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly;
• To conduct bilateral and multilateral meetings with relevant counterparts in the line ministries, Council on Women’s Affairs in the Government of Armenia, Parliamentary standing committees on Labour and Social Affairs and Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs, National Statistics Office of Armenia (ARMSTAT), Public Defender’s Office of Armenia and other relevant stakeholders to collect the needed information;
• To solicit required information in writing from the relevant authorities and follow-up to the communication, as needed;
• To conduct consultation meetings with women’s CSOs and women’s rights activists in Yerevan with the participation of CSOs and community-based organizations from the regions of Armenia;
• To prepare the draft Beijing + 30 Review report for Armenia and submit it for feedback to UN Women and thereafter to the GE/VAW Commission;
• To finalize the Beijing + 30 Review report based on the feedback received from UN Women and GE/VAW Commission and submit the report to UN Women.

Deliverables.

Deliverable	Expected completion time (due day)	Payment Schedule (optional)
A workplan and review methodology in line with “Guidance note for comprehensive national-level reviews” submitted to UN Women	by 5 April 2024 (2 working- days)	04/2024 (50%)
A consultation meeting with women’s NGOs conducted in Yerevan	by 10 April 2024 (1 working day)
The desk review of existed materials completed and draft desk review report submitted to UN Women	by 20 April (5 working days)
Bilateral meetings conducted, and written communication initiated with the relevant government stakeholders	by 30 April 2024 (6 working days)	05/2024 (50%)
A draft Beijing +30 national report developed and submitted for feedback to UN Women and GE/VAW Commission	by 15 May 2024 (6 working days)
The final report submitted to the Council on Women’s Affairs in the Government of Armenia for clearance	by 20 May 2024 (2 working days)

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy.

As part of this assignment, no travel will be necessary.

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:

• Technical credibility in policy research
• Technical credibility in gender analysis
• Partnerships building
• Negotiation
• Planning

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree in law, international relations, human rights, gender equality, public policy or similar fields; alternatively, the first level degree (bachelor’s) in combination with 4 years of working experience will be accepted.

Experience:

• At least two years of programmatic and/or analytical work experience in the field of human rights and gender equality;
• At least two years of demonstrated knowledge in the field of gender equality policy and legal framework;
• At least two years of demonstrated knowledge of Armenia’s international commitments in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE);
• At least two years of demonstrated ability to plan, collect and analyze data;
• Experience in writing analytical reports;
• Experience in writing reports to the UN treaty bodies, special procedures or similar reviews will be an asset;
• Previous experience of working with government stakeholders, will be an asset
• Excellent English communication and writing skills; (Samples of previous work will be required.)

Language:

• Fluency in Armenian and English.

How to Apply:

• 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)

How to Submit the Application:

• Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11) – https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), CV and Motivation Letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
• Click ‘Apply Now’ button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click ‘Submit Application’;
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Notes:

• UN Women retains the right to contact references directly. Due to the large numbers of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

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.).