UN WOMEN Jobs - 64478- Consultant to Design a Toolkit on Women’s Access t

Consultant to Design a Toolkit on Women’s Access to Justice

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Home Based with Limited Travel

Type of Contract :

Other

Starting Date :

04-Apr-2016

Application Deadline :

11-Mar-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

Other

Duration of Initial Contract :

35 days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

35 days

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

Global commitment to justice as an important driver of change and as a means of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is firmly grounded in SDG 16 on “peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”. Laws and institutions must protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Justice actors such as the judiciary, police and prosecutorial services at all levels (national, sub national and community) and settings (formal, informal and semi-formal) are critical accountability mechanisms of support for the promotion and maintenance of the rule of law in all countries. Effective governance for sustainable development demands that public institutions across all the branches of State are inclusive, participatory and accountable.

Access to justice is a critical pathway to the realization of substantive equality. Findings of UN Women’s Progress of the World’s Women Report, In Pursuit of Justice (2011-2012), demonstrate that while advances have been made in the past decades (e.g. gender equality-related law making and the establishment of integrated services), the unfinished agenda in addressing the many challenges women continue to face in accessing justice are enormous. They include gender blind justice sector planning; the existence of gender discriminatory laws and social norms; limited infrastructural and material capacity of the justice sector to deliver justice to all; gender bias among justice sector personnel; legal illiteracy and lack of capacity to demand justice; and limited female representation in the justice sector.

In response to the potential increase in the scale of justice programming that the implementation of SDG 16 brings, UN Women has produced the basic material and content that is needed for the production of a Toolkit on women’s access to justice. The intended Toolkit aims to assist UN Women staff, those of the UN system and other practitioners to respond to the opportunities and entry points that are afforded by the SDGs to mainstream gender into the different facets of justice programming design, implementation and monitoring. Programmers and policy advisors will be able to identify the practical and strategic needs of women in the context of justice delivery and how and when such needs are to be integrated into the programming cycle.

The Toolkit supports the implementation of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women’s General recommendation no. 33 on women’s access to justice adopted by the Committee in late July 2015. The General recommendation is founded on notions of inclusiveness and comprehensiveness. It stresses the importance of women’s access to justice in diverse legal systems and all areas of law for all women, irrespective of economic or social status, political background, geographical location, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity. It encompasses all justice settings (formal, informal or semi-formal), sources of law (common law, civil law, religious law, customary law or mixed legal systems) and the full range of legal domains (criminal, civil, family, administrative and constitutional).

Duties and Responsibilities

The crucial role of justice in the delivery of human rights outcomes for all under the rubric of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development is expected to lead to an incremental demand for technical support in this area. The Committee’s General recommendation will also bolster UN Women’s efforts at implementing the recommendations of its 2012 Progress of the World’s Women Report — In Pursuit of Justice, which amply demonstrates the structural barriers that women face in their efforts to access justice. In support of implementation of Goal 16 of the SDGs and the recommendation, UN Women has produced the technical content that is needed for the development of a Toolkit on women’s access to justice. The essence of the Toolkit is to provide operational guidance to UN Women staff and other practitioners on programming in different political and legal contexts and across legal domains (criminal, civil, family) and institutions (formal and informal). UN Women is thereby hiring a consultant with experience in developing module-based technical material to translate the technical raw material into a Toolkit that would serve as an accessible learning tool.

Deliverables and Timeframe

The consultant will work closely with a team consisting of UN Women’s Constitutional and Access to Justice Advisor, consultants and staff members (the “team”). She/he will work with the team to ensure that each module of the basic draft captures all the key messages in an accessible form that is consistent with human rights education principles and supports self-learning. The total number of days in the assignment is 35 days over the period beginning from 4 April 2016 and ending on 17 June 2016.

The consultant will be specifically responsible for producing the following outputs:

A 2 page inception report that highlights the methodology and work plan for initiation and finalization of the assignment: 6 April 2016;
Production of a sample module representing one of the chapters of the Toolkit: 13 April 2016;
Production of a detailed outline of the entire Toolkit: 18 April 2016;
Production of an advance draft of the Toolkit: 20 May 2016;
Production of the final Toolkit: June 17 2016 (assuming that the Team provides comments to the Consultant by June 12 2016).

Competencies

Values, Competencies & Skills

Core Values

Integrity:

Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity:

Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Professionalism:

Sound knowledge of global gender equality issues, including gender equality in access to justice and constitutional reform;
Feminist legal theory and gender mainstreaming in research and advocacy.
Experience in inter-agency or inter organization collaboration an advantage.

Communication

Excellent written and oral communication;
Ability to prepare succinct, evidence-based analytical reports.

Teamwork

Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations, both within the UN system and externally;
Ability to work in a multicultural and multi-ethnic environment with respect for diversity.

Ethics and Values:

Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
Self-management and emotional intelligence
Creates synergies through self-control.

Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning:

Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others.

Functional Competencies:

Substantive knowledge of and experience of criminal, civil, informal and quasi justice systems, their impact on women and implications of programming within the context of UN Women’s mandate.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Minimum of Master's degree in Law in combination with Gender Studies and or human rights.

Experience:

A minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in gender justice administration, including professional understanding and experience in the preparation of technical tools using basic information for UN staff;
Advance operation knowledge of the justice chain, vertical and horizontal relationships within and across ministries and departments; knowledge of the interface between civil, criminal, informal and quasi justice; ability to undertake policy research, data collection and analysis;
Ability to produce operational, simple to use material for use by technical staff and managers Excellent drafting skills and peer-reviewed publication record;
Experience in preparing and delivering human rights education training;
Experience with UN and interagency work highly desirable.

Language:

Fluency in English is required;
As this assignment will require the identification of sources in other languages, proficiency in another UN working language will be an asset.