UN WOMEN Jobs - 63511- National Consultant- Analysis of the Current Statu

National Consultant- Analysis of the Current Status of Gender Mainstreaming in Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction Work

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Nairobi, KENYA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

15-Feb-2016

Application Deadline :

10-Feb-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 Working Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality. Established in 2011, UN Women focuses on accelerating the attainment of the rights of women globally through the promotion of women’s equal participation in all aspects of life by working with UN Member States to develop and apply global standards and frameworks for achieving gender equality, and supports national governments and the civil society to design and develop laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards.

In 2012, UN Women established a Humanitarian Unit anchored within the Women, Peace and Security pillar that works to consolidate and support humanitarian work, including disaster risk reduction (preparedness, risk prevention and mitigation) at the global, regional and national levels. The engagement in humanitarian action and DRR is to ensure consistency and sustainability in addressing gender equality concerns across the humanitarian-development continuum. The importance of gender integration in DRR/DRM is embedded in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, the ground breaking resolution that acknowledges the impact of conflict and disasters on women, recognizing the importance of utilizing women’s contribution and active participation in conflict prevention, peace-building and also relief and recovery and DRR/DRM. UN Women seeks to achieve gender equality and women empowerment by working with the government, humanitarian and disaster risk reduction stakeholders at all levels.

The current environment in Kenya presents rich opportunities for the country to take decisive steps to move forward towards gender equality. Gender concerns are reflected in key guiding frameworks that shape governance including the 2010 Constitution that offers unprecedented rights for women and men to realize their full capacities. Vision 2030, Kenya’s development blue print and the subsequent Medium Term Plan (MTP) as well as draft policies such as the DRM policy have integrated gender concerns. From a global perspective, gender mainstreaming is strongly integrated in the Sustainable Development Goals, underpinned by key frameworks such as the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform of Action among others.

Despite Kenya’s progress, the concept of gender mainstreaming continues to face challenges especially at operational and implementation levels. Challenges vary from awareness and capacities on gender mainstreaming, developing and implementing gender sensitive policies and programmes, application of existing tools, perceptions about gender as “ad on” inadequate monitoring and reporting of impacts of gender mainstreaming, socio-cultural barriers and limited investment among others. These limitations have hindered gender sensitive programming across board including during and after disasters. Inadequate understanding of the needs of women, girls, men and boys in humanitarian and disaster risk reduction can easily undermine programme effectiveness and long sustainability of the interventions.

Duties and Responsibilities

The UN Women’s Humanitarian and DRR work in Kenya seeks to support government and key stakeholders in the development and implementation of gender responsive Humanitarian and DRR policies, strategies and programmes, to promote women leadership and participation in key decision making, build the capacity of key stakeholders including women and men to ensure their equal participation in the humanitarian and DRR work and to strengthen and coordinate gender mainstreaming amongst different stakeholders including the UN system.

In this context, UN Women’s Peace & Security, Humanitarian action and DRR unit seeks to hire an expert to undertake an analysis of the current status of gender mainstreaming in Humanitarian and DRR work within the UN system and partner agencies. The assignment will focus on: the level of awareness of key existing tools for gender mainstreaming in Humanitarian and DRR; identify key gaps and challenges hindering gender mainstreaming in the sector, identify opportunities for strengthening gender mainstreaming; and provide key recommendations for strengthening gender mainstreaming across the Humanitarian and DRR spectrum. It is expected that the selected consultant will prepare a comprehensive report that will meet the standards and expectations of UN Women in terms of structure and content.

Specific Tasks and Responsibility

Under the overall supervision of Humanitarian and DRR specialist and working in close consultation with OCHA, the Consultant will be expected to undertake the following:

Map and Establish contacts for key coordination structures for Humanitarian and DRR activities;
Conduct an assessment on the level of awareness of the key existing gender mainstreaming tools;
Identify gaps and challenges hindering gender mainstreaming in Humanitarian and DRR actions;
Identify opportunities and provide recommendations for strengthening gender mainstreaming in Humanitarian and DRR;
Produce an analysis report on the current status of gender mainstreaming in Humanitarian and DRR highlighting the level of awareness of the existing gender mainstreaming tools, gaps and challenges hindering gender mainstreaming in Humanitarian and DRR actions, opportunities and recommendations for strengthening gender mainstreaming in Humanitarian and DRR;
Presentation of findings to UN Women.

Usage of findings:

To develop a Capacity building programme for key stakeholders;
To inform the formulation of UN Women KCO Humanitarian and DRR Programme.

Deliverables:

Work plan of the assignment;
Assessment and mapping tools;
A draft report to be submitted to UN Women for review and comments;
A final Project Report to be submitted to UN Women no later than one week after receipt of comments on the first draft. The final output of the assignment specifically addressing the following issues, among others.
Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the status of gender mainstreaming in Humanitarian and DRR work;
Synthesis report of the assessment of the awareness level;
Contacts for key coordination structures for Humanitarian and DRR activities, level of awareness of the key existing gender mainstreaming tools, gaps and challenges hindering gender mainstreaming in Humanitarian and DRR actions, opportunities and recommendations for strengthening gender mainstreaming in Humanitarian and DRR.

Methodology:

The assignment will be conducted through:

Desk review of relevant documents;
Interviews with the relevant focal points on the practices of mainstreaming gender in Humanitarian DRR and work;
Map and establish the contacts of coordination structure in gender mainstreaming;
Survey on their awareness of the key gender mainstreaming tools;
Any other methodology deemed by the Consultant as appropriate for the task objectives.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Development and Innovation:

Take charge of self-development and take initiative.

Work in teams:

Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies:

Mature judgment and initiative;
Ability to think out-of-the-box;
Ability to present complex issues in simple and clear manner;
Cultural, gender, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Ability to work under pressure and deliver high quality results on time;
Initiative and independence.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in social sciences, gender and development, disaster risk reduction and humanitarian studies, or related field.

Experience:

At least 5 years of relevant professional field experience;
Must demonstrate extensive knowledge of DRR and Humanitarian work as well as the gender mainstreaming modalities;
Research experience;
Full computer literacy;
Working experience with UN system is desirable.

Language:

Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Kiswahili.