National Consultant, Women Peace and Security ASEAN Coordinator

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 Indonesia Country Office (CO) includes the ASEAN liaison office function to extend support to ASEAN and its Member States in advancing Women Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in line with global normative frameworks. UN Women in partnership with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is implementing the regional project, “Empowering Women for Sustainable Peace: preventing violence and promoting social cohesion in ASEAN” (The project).  The project aims to support ASEAN Member States to advance and strengthen WPS agenda, including through preventing violence against women and girls and promoting social cohesion in the region. The programme will ultimately contribute to the achievement of gender equality through inclusive and sustainable peace and development in the region.

The WPS agenda was formally initiated by the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), which was adopted on 31 October 2000. UNSCR 1325 reaffirmed the important role of women in prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building initiatives. It stresses the need for women’s equal participation and full involvement in all efforts to maintain and promote peace and security. UNSCR 1325 also urges all stakeholders to take action to increase the participation of women and calls on the UN member states to incorporate gender perspectives into all of its peace and security agenda. It also calls on stakeholders to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, in situations of armed conflict.

ASEAN Member States have taken greater strides in promoting the WPS agenda as shown in the ASEAN Regional Study on Women, Peace and Security released in 2021. One of the recommendations arising from the Study is the development of the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action (RPA) on WPS to strengthen the commitment in advancing WPS among ASEAN and ASEAN Member States (AMS) following the adoption of the Joint Statement on Promotion of WPS in ASEAN in 2017.

The RPA on WPS was adopted by the ASEAN Leaders at the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summit in November 2022. It includes a number of priority actions following the four pillars of the UNSCR 1325 and contextualizes peace and security challenges in Southeast Asia with a focus on enhancing the meaningful participation and leadership of women in peace and security sectors, including the UN Peacekeeping Operation, law enforcement institutions; strengthening protection of women and girls and promoting efforts around gender-responsive conflict prevention, including building social cohesion and community resilience to face emerging security challenges, such as the pandemic, cybersecurity, violent extremism among others. The RPA on WPS also has a strong focus on relief and recovery pillar, which includes the response to non-traditional security concerns such as climate change, disasters, and pandemics.

The ASEAN Advisory Group on WPS led by the ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW) and the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) in close consultation with the ASEAN sectoral bodies and institutions across all three ASEAN Community Pillars shepherded the development of the ASEAN RPA WPS with support of the ASEAN-USAID PROSPECT project and UN Women.

Against this backdrop, as requested by ACW Cambodia and the ASEAN secretariat Poverty Eradication and Gender Division (ASEC- PEGD), UN Women seeks to recruit a national consultant to support the coordination of the implementation of the RPA on WPS.

The Coordinator will report to the Head of the Poverty Eradication and Gender Division or the Division’s representative, together with UN Women.

 

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment

The main objective of this consultancy is to provide assistance to ASEC PEGD, ACW Cambodia to coordinate and support the ASEAN WPS Advisory Group in undertaking its roles and functions as the leading regional coordination mechanism to ensure the implementation of the RPA on WPS.

Scope of work and tasks

Under the overall guidance of ACW Cambodia and ASEAN Secretariat – PEGD in close coordination with the ASEAN Governance, Peace and Security Lead and Project Coordination Specialist ASEAN WPS, the consultant will perform the following tasks to support the Implementation of RPA on WPS:

1. Support the WPS Advisory Group to oversee the dissemination and socialization of the RPA on WPS, including the overall awareness raising, exchanges of knowledge and capacity building on WPS – which may be led by specific small working groups across ASEAN.
2. Support the organization of WPS Advisory Group meetings and Technical Group Meetings at least two meetings per year, including drafting of programmes, drafting of summary records, development of talking points and presentations, and drafting invitation letters, among others.
3. Organize and coordinate capacity-building efforts and initiatives to strengthen commitment for the implementation of the WPS agenda.
4. Coordinate and support the development of the implementation plans of the RPA on WPS, including the drafting of its M&E framework.
5. Support the development of an implementation plan of the RPA on WPS which will include anticipated technical, and financial needs; Roles and responsibilities within their institution and of partners; Timelines and milestones, with clear benchmarks and deliverables; Proposed measures of effectiveness and methods of assessment that, at minimum, detail their involvement both pre-and post-intervention.
6. Support the ASEAN WPS Advisory Group to oversee the overall coordination with the UN, Dialogue Partners, and/or other ASEAN partners, including international organisations and/or civil society organizations for technical assistance and other forms of support.
7. Support and provide update to the WPS Advisory Group and ACW Cambodia in tracking the progress on the implementation of the RPA on WPS, including monitoring and updating of the WPS ASEAN Website https://wps.asean.org/.
8. Support the expansion of awareness and mainstreaming of the WPS agenda across the three ASEAN pillars and relevant sectoral bodies.
9. Provide administrative and logistic support to the WPS Advisory Group to organize a summit on WPS which aims to facilitate the monitoring of the implementation of the RPA on WPS, share best practices and support coordination and networking among relevant sectoral bodies, ACW, ACWC, dialogue partners and CSOs.
10. Coordinate with ASEAN Secretariat – PEGD and draft annual monitoring reports for submission to ACW, ACWC,  Advisory Group on WPS and ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Women (AMMW), for consideration and approval.

Expected Deliverables:

The Consultant will produce the following deliverables:

#	Deliverables	Expected completion time (due day)	Payment Schedule (optional)
1	A report with a summary of products and achievements for the month in line with the work plan, annexes should include the following: Draft technical concept notes, talking points, presentation, annotated agenda, tools, documents speeches, and/or reports related to the implementation of the RPA WPS meetings, regular communication with dialogue partners, among others.	31 August 2024	10 September 2024
2	A report with a summary of products and achievements for the month in line with the work plan, annexes should include the following: Draft technical concept notes, talking points, presentation, annotated agenda, tools, documents speeches, and/or reports related to the implementation of the RPA WPS meetings, regular communication with dialogue partners, among others.	30 September 2024	10 October 2024
3	2023 monitoring report (matrix of indicative actions) which will include progress made on the implementation of the RPA WPS, and results achieved.	30 October 2024	10 November 2024

 

All the deliverables, including annexes, notes, and reports should be submitted in writing in English.

Upon receipt of the deliverables and prior to the payment, the deliverables and related reports and documents shall consider review and clearance by the ASEAN Secretariat before acceptance by UN Women.

Inputs

1. ASEAN PEGD and UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials relevant to the assignment.
2. The Consultant is expected to work using his/ her computer.
3. UN Women will directly cover travel costs outside of Jakarta as per UN Women’s rules and regulations.

Performance Evaluation

Consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

Home-based with possible field missions in the Asia-Pacific region

Competencies

Core Values:

Respect for Diversity

Integrity

Professionalism

 

Core Competencies:

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues

Accountability

Creative Problem Solving

Effective Communication

Stakeholder Engagement

Leading by Example

Functional Competencies:

Excellent analytical skills

Strong interpersonal skills, communicate effectively with staff at all levels of the organization.

Ability to work in a highly pressured environment.

 

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s :

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree in Political Science or Social Science, Gender Studies, International Development

Experience:

• At least 3 years of experience in the field of gender and development
• Experiences in the issues of women peace and security in the context of ASEAN regional inter-governmental process
• Proven experience supporting high-level consultative workshops for ASEAN government representatives, dialogue partners, institutions, and civil society organisations (CSOs) in Southeast Asia
• Experiences in providing policy advice and technical assistance on governance and women, peace and security to government institutions, preferably in the ASEAN region
• Experience in influencing the agenda-setting/priorities of the government in Southeast Asia related to the advancement of gender equality and empowerment of women and girls is desirable
• Previous work experience working with high-level government officials in ASEAN would be a strong asset

Languages and other skills

• Proficiency in oral and written English
• Proficiency in any of the ASEAN national languages will be an advantage
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, Internet and email.

How to Apply 

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from:

• A cover letter including contact information of at least 3 referees

• Financial proposal which shall specify the daily professional fee.