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.

Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The ongoing conflict in Syria has impacted about 5 million people so far. People have lost family members, homes, livelihoods, and are faced with severe psychological distress and trauma resulting from fear, displacement, shock, injury and grief. The number of Syrians seeking refuge in neighboring countries has reached 2.7 million and continues to grow at a rapid pace. 

In Jordan, Syrian refugees are living in camps and in host communities. UN Women’s “Oasis for Women and Girls” program in Za’atari Refugee Camp includes components on self-reliance, community mobilization, access to legal rights, and information on gender-based violence. UN Women aims to work at multiple levels to respond to the specific needs of Syrian Women Refugees in the camp and communities for self-reliance support, building on their own initiatives and skills, as well as addressing vulnerabilities the women themselves have identified. 

Currently UN Women is expanding its work to support & strengthen gender equality & women’s empowerment principles with humanitarian response through technical support, strategic leadership and programming.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Head of the Humanitarian Unit for the UN Women Country Office for the Jordan and Syria, the Community Outreach Specialist will offer support to the UN Women humanitarian team in its expansion in Azraq. S/he will undertake the following responsibilities:

• Establish a UN Women Office in Azraq Refugee Camp, provide a daily presence in the camp including participating in camp coordination meetings and advance programming plans in the camp;
• In coordination with key stakeholders, including UNHCR, CARE, WFP, UNFPA, IMC and other relevant humanitarian and development partners and CSOs; support the existing community mobilization model in a manner aimed at ensuring equitable participation of women, girls, boys and men in camp life;
• Provide targeted technical and operational support to the Community Services & Mass Communication working group, offering specific input to inclusion of gender principles in the working group strategy implementation (includes tools, protocols, process);  
• Develop and coordinate participatory consultation process for the community mobilization of Syrian women, girls, boys and men based on sound participatory engagement principles and relevant best practice examples;
• Support and mentor UN Women’s implementing partner in the strategy, conceptualization, and roll out of activities aimed at promoting the civic participation of women;
• Identify training and other types of capacity building for camp staff and the community aimed at identifying barriers to representation of women and girls in community spaces/process with the goal of increased, meaningful, participation of women, men, boys and girls in the management of available services;
• Develop a robust process for monitoring the implementation of the community mobilization process from a gender perspective, and review its achievements towards realizing participation objectives through consultation with refugees, key stakeholders and humanitarian actors;
• Provide regular progress reports to all relevant stakeholders;
• Draft a final report that provides an analysis of lessons learned to date and recommendations for next steps.

At the end of his/her assignment the Community Outreach Specialist will have delivered the following outputs:

• Held consultations with Community Services and Mass Communication working group to ensure inclusion of gender principles in the working group strategy & response;
• Participated in relevant coordination meetings ;
  
• Facilitated/led discussion with women and men to identify preferred engagement approach;
• In collaboration with other community mobilization partners, piloted and rolled out a participation model;
• Provided training/ capacity strengthening of stakeholders.

 The duration of the assignment will be six (6) months. Given the nature of this assignment which requires closely interaction with the UN Women staff in Amman , as well as engaging with humanitarian actors in Azraq Refugee camps, the Community Outreach Specialist is expected to carry out his/her functions from the UN Women premises in Amman and in the field, spending several days per week in Azraq, including the Azraq Refugee Camp. Office space, equipment and travel between Amman and Azraq will be provided by UN Women.

The Community Outreach Specialist  will be remunerated based on an “all inclusive” daily fee (week-ends and public holidays are not included). S/he will receive his/her payment at the end of every month based on a time sheet duly approved by the UN Women Country Representative.

• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• Proposed daily fee

The selected applicant will be requested to provide a Certificate of Good Health from a recognized physician prior to commencement to work also certifying that the individual is fit to travel.

Competencies

• Ability to perform field work in a sensitive, flexible, creative and effective manner;
  
• Ability to conceptualize community engagement models that fit with the context of a large refugee camp that particularly recognises the opportunities and barriers for strengthen women’s participation;
  
• The desired candidate will have strong teamwork, negotiation, and interpersonal skills and training skills for different stakeholders;
  
• Ability to create, edit and presents information in clear and presentable formats, using appropriate IT functionality.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Possession of a University Degree in Social Sciences, Development Studies, gender /women studies or other development and/or humanitarian -related fields.

Experience:

• A minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in a development or civil society organization within a humanitarian context and at least 2 years of experience in gender and community mobilization work;
• Experience of working in refugee camp environment will be an asset;
• Demonstrated experience in participatory engagement, proven strategic, conceptual, analytical and writing skills required.

Language:

• Fluent written and spoken English and Arabic.

Note:

Please note that applications from people not having at least 7 years of professional experience working for NGOs or international organizations involved in humanitarian and/or development context will not be considered.