Background

Organizational Context

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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 will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women is dedicated to advancing gender equality and women’s human rights in Afghanistan. Staff and consultants of UN Women Afghanistan are expected to contribute to a professional working environment in which the strengthening of national capacities and human potential is prioritized.  Respect for diversity and human dignity is required, as is the active pursuit of a collaborative and inclusive approach to both internal and external stakeholders, including colleagues and partners. UN Women is structured to ensure greater cohesion between the programme areas through three pillars: Eliminating Violence Against Women Pillar (EVAWP), Coordination and Advocacy Pillar (CAP), and Political and Economic Empowerment Pillar (PEEP), in which this post is placed.

The role of the PEEP is to support national counterparts – including the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), Parliamentary bodies, Electoral bodies, and civil society in implementing the National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA) and the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) in enhancing political participation and access to economic opportunities for women. The Pillar builds on partnerships developed with ministries, the international community, the UN Country Team, etc., to promote increased women’s participation in political and economic development.
 
UN Women plans to organize a comprehensive leadership workshop for senior female officials.  For this purpose, UN Women will be recruiting training experts on leadership skills to deliver specific sessions during this five days’ workshop which will be arranged separately for two distinct groups of leaders;

Cohort 1:

  • 4 Minister, 4 Deputy Ministers, 2 Governors, 1 Deputy Chief of Staff of President’s Office, 1 Senior Gender Advisor to CEO.

Cohort 2:

  • 27 female leaders working in the capacity Gender Directors and Directors at the Ministries and other government institutions.

Tentative schedule of the programme is 30 November until 4 December 2015

Tentative Programme:

Day 1:

  • Connecting;
  • Understanding transformational leadership;
  • Understanding the unique problems that women leaders face.

Day 2:

  • Raising self-awareness through analysis of the personality profiles;
  • (This means that the participants would have completed a standard personality / psychometric test and their results would be provided to them and analysed);
  • Improving social-awareness through understanding and application of EQ.

Day 3:

  • Analyse challenges facing women’s leadership;
  • Establishing frameworks to respond to challenges;
  • Understanding the importance of mentoring and coaching.

Day 4:

  • Understanding advocacy and negotiation;
  • Learning to advocate influentially;
  • Learning to negotiate effectively.

Day 5:

  • The Art of Public Speaking.

Duties and Responsibilities

Experts are required in the following areas:

  • Facilitators (1 for each cohort);
  • Expert on Gender and Leadership;
  • Expert on Transformational Leadership;
  • Expert on Understanding and Applying Emotional Intelligence;
  • Expert on Problem Analysis and Response;
  • Expert on Mentoring and Coaching;
  • Expert on Communication, Advocacy and Negotiation;
  • Expert on Public Speaking.

Note:

  • Applicants may apply to more than one area if they have the required qualifications.

Responsibilities:

  • Design and develop training modules;
  • Conduct pre and post training assessment for the participants on that particular skill;
  • Deliver the training to the participants;
  • Provide a report to UN Women on the training.

Deliverables:

  • Training Modules;
  • Pre and post training assessment and its analysis;
  • Delivery of training;
  • Training Report.

Competencies

  • Strong proven ability to work with senior officials;
  • Strong training and facilitation skills;
  • Excellent inter-personal and general communication skills;
  • Must be self-starter with excellent demonstrated teamwork skills;
  • Demonstrated sensitivity, discretion, tact and courtesy in relation to gender equality and women’s rights, development principles and projects;
  • Commitment to upholding the organizational values and principles of UN Women Afghanistan.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s Degree in Leadership, Gender, Business Administration, or other related fields with a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience.

Experience:

  • Minimum of 5 years of progressively training experience in the area applied for;
  • Experience working with senior government or non-governmental officials;
  • Essential computer skills, familiarity with Microsoft Word programs, internet, e-mail;
  • Familiarity with the context and issues facing women of Afghanistan, in particular the women in leadership, is highly desirable.

Language:

  • Fluent spoken and written English;
  • Knowledge of Dari and/or Pashtu an asset.

Timeframes and Institutional Arrangements:

  • The consultant will be engaged for a maximum of 5 working days.

He/she must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate her/his qualifications:

Cover letter:

  •  (Not more than 450 words) explaining their suitability for the work and a brief description of approach to work/methodology.

Financial proposal:

  • Indicate fee per day tied to each deliverable as well as travel cost by most direct and economic route (return ticket);
  • Signed P11 including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references.

Financial Proposal:

  • The contract is based on fees per day tied to satisfactory achievement of deliverables (and not number of days) as per the scope of assignment identified in the TORs.  Payments will be made upon receipt of satisfactory deliverables, certified by supervisor and approved by the Country Representative.