Research Consultant

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 war against Ukraine has led to the largest and fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe and one of the biggest security threats since World War II. The ongoing violence and destruction not only affect civilians within its borders, but also lead to a large-scale population movements that have spilled over into neighboring countries or even further away as more than seven million Ukrainians sought safety, protection, and assistance away from their country. The war has continued to generate displacement and large-scale new arrivals to refugee-hosting countries along with dramatic levels of suffering, shattering the lives of many Ukrainians.  

UN Women is committed to ensuring that women and girls are not left behind in the war against Ukraine. UN Women’s engagement with humanitarian and refugee response space is more critical than ever to ensure that humanitarian response prioritises women and girls’ voices and needs within the Regional Refugee Response. 

UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office is working across the regional humanitarian and refugee response architecture to ensure a gender-transformative response framework. Serving governments, CSOs, UN Country Teams/Humanitarian Country Teams (UNCTs/HCTs), and UN Women country offices, the Office provides policy advisory services; creates, and disseminates knowledge, evidence and data on gender equality; and advances coherence for gender in humanitarian action/refugee response, including through gender mainstreaming and the coordination of humanitarian/refugee response structures on gender.  

To ensure increased and sustained engagement in the humanitarian and refugee responses, UN Women is seeking a senior international consultant to enhance the regional efforts and provide analytical and operational support to the humanitarian teams at regional and country level in delivering and disseminating various technical products. 

The consultant will be reporting to Regional Humanitarian Affairs Specialist, and will be supported by Humanitarian Programme Associate, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues. 

Duties and Responsibilities:

Under the overall supervision of the Regional Humanitarian Specialist, the consultant is expected to perform the below tasks:   

Strategic Coordination and Partnerships: 

• Develop a roadmap for the consultancy based on key milestones and priorities to be discussed at least on a bi-monthly basis, including bi-monthly meetings to ensure adequate planification of tasks.
• Facilitate dialogue with key humanitarian partners, including non-traditional partners to strengthen regional coordination and strategic positioning of UN Women in humanitarian response and DRR.
• Identify opportunities to establish or enhance partnerships and coordination platforms with Women’s Rights Organizations (WROs), Women’s Led Organizations (WLOs), and relevant UN agencies.

Evidence Generation and Advocacy: 

• Develop a ToR for a regional analysis with focus on women on the move, including policy and programming recommendations.
• Contribute to the conceptualization and development a regional dialogue on Pillar II of the humanitarian strategy with focus on priorities and partnerships.
• Contribute to strategic thinking with EU partners in preparation for key advocacy events in 2025.

Proposal and tools development: 

• Contribute to the strategic thinking and proposal development for priority countries on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach including strategic partnerships with other UN Agencies.
• Advise on the design and development of region-specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for humanitarian action.
• Identify and develop additional tools based on needs.

Required Skills and Experience:

• A master’s degree in international development studies, gender, social sciences or a related field relevant to the requirements of this TOR.

Experience: 

• At least ten (10) years of experience working on gender equality in humanitarian action is required;
• Previous experience working in the Ukraine response is required;
• Previous experience in developing policy papers and guidance notes on gender in humanitarian action is an asset;
• Previous experience facilitating workshops for senior leadership, including strategic discussion is an asset;
• Experience working within the United Nations System is an asset;

Languages: 

• Fluency in written and spoken English required.

Source: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=117657