Background

Despite political commitments and a legal and policy framework, gender inequality through discrimination, violence and exclusion has long been a challenge in Nepal. As previous crises have shown, disasters also increase specific risks for women. In the aftermath of the earthquake, women and girls are more likely to become victims of various types of violence and/or discrimination due to the upheaval of pre-existing vulnerabilities, especially in the context of resource limitations. Displacement, over-crowed internally displaced centres, lack of privacy, lack of lighting, limited and unsegregated wash facilities, and other factors often contributes to sexual violence against women. Further, there is a risk of other forms of gender-based violence including sexual exploitation and abuse, trafficking, forced prostitution, and forced marriage. In this context, communities are disrupted, populations are displaced, and systems of protection are scant. Many women, especially disabled, elderly and female household heads, are at risk of being excluded from access to relief and recovery assistance in the aftermath of the earthquake. This is the result of several obstacles such as lack of access to information, long walking hours to receive aid, and having to perform household chores. An issue of particular concern relates to the lack or loss of citizenship papers which, in the absence of a male relative, renders many women unable to access humanitarian assistance and support. Humanitarian response in previous emergencies has shown that consistent and sustainable integration of gender equality and women’s empowerment in identifying and addressing the needs and vulnerabilities of the crisis affected population across the humanitarian-development continuum must be prioritized as lifesaving at the onset of the response. Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment is a CRUCIAL cross-cutting issue that has to be addressed in all aspects of the humanitarian response.

According to the 2011 Nepal census figures, the 14 districts most affected by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on 25 April (Bhaktapur, Dhading, Dolakha, Gorkha, Kavrepalanchwok, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Nuwakot, Ramechhap, Rasuwa, Sindhupalchwok, Makawanpur, Sindhuli and Okhaldhunga)  include approximately 2,710,239 women (50.48% of total population), 326,943 female-headed households (26.46% of all households), 39,987 women with disabilities, 163,043 women aged 65 and over (6.02 % of total female population), 764,226 girls aged 14 or under (28.20 % of total female population) and 794,529 illiterate women (29.32 % of total female population). In the epicentre of the earth quake in Gorkha district the ratio of households that are female headed is as high as one-third.

According to the UN Situation report No 16, approx. 55% of casualties identified so far are female - 8,604 people (4,726 female, 3,834 male, 44 bodies unidentified). Sex-disaggregated district-level data received so far shows that women are among the majority of the earthquake affected populations: in Kavre 46 boys, 58 girls, 86 men and 123 women have died, in Sindhupalchok 384 men, 592 women, 92 boys and 84 girls have died, and in Rasuwa data of 251 cases revealed that 62% of deaths and 59% of injured were women.

The aim of UN Women’s engagement in humanitarian action in Nepal is to ensure an adequate, consistent and sustainable integration of gender equality and women’s empowerment in identifying and addressing the needs and vulnerabilities of the crisis affected population across the humanitarian-development continuum. UN Women will leverage its triple mandate – normative, coordination and operative – to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are incorporated in humanitarian action and contribute to humanitarian effectiveness through integrating gender equality across the work of all clusters. UN Women’s strategy responds to the urgent humanitarian and early recovery imperatives in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake in Nepal. It builds on the foundation of UN Women’s pre-existing coordination and programming role in Nepal on women’s leadership and participation, women’s economic empowerment, ending violence against women, governance and national planning.

The vision is the achievement of equality between men and women as partners and equal beneficiaries of development and humanitarian action in Nepal. UN Women’s immediate relief and early recovery response (April 2015-December 2016) consists of the following approaches:

• 1) Strengthening coordination mechanisms on gender equality through supporting institutional capacities for an effective response and recovery;
• 2) Undertaking advocacy efforts in responding to Nepal earthquake in partnership with civil society and women’s organizations;
• 3) Informing response with gender analysis and collection of data disaggregated by sex and age;
• 4) Influencing the post-disaster needs assessment (PDNA) and integrating gender equality and women’s empowerment in national recovery planning and 5) Implementing targeted interventions.

In order to effectively contribute to the humanitarian cluster system through strengthened field presence, UN Women is recruiting dedicated capacities to be based in the humanitarian sub-hubs in Gorkha and Sindupalchowk districts to support UN Women’s role in ensuring a gender-responsive humanitarian response.

To meet the current gender response demands and the urgent needs of women and girls affected by the earthquake, UN Women is looking for one experienced gender coordinator and practitioner to support the multi-sectoral coordination for gender equality and women’s empowerment across the humanitarian response for each of the UN humanitarian and coordination sub-hubs.

Based on figures from the National Census 2011

According to the latest UN Situation Report No.9 (as of 2 May 2015).

According to estimates provided in the UN Flash Appeal, available at http://un.org.np/sites/default/files/nepal_flash_appeal_1.pdf

Duties and Responsibilities

Under overall direction of the UN Women Representative and direct supervision of the Deputy Representative, the Gender Coordinator is based in Sindhupalchowk. He/She will provide technical, operational and coordination support to UN Women’s coordination role and programme response in the districts covered from Sindhupalchowk. The Gender Coordinator will oversee the local implementation of UN Women’s immediate relief and early recovery response strategy ensuring effective dialogue and coordination with relevant partners. He/She will represent UN Women in relevant humanitarian coordination mechanisms and is responsible for guiding and fostering coordination for gender equality and women’s empowerment across the response and recovery efforts in partnership with local government, NGOs and civil society partners, as part of the humanitarian cluster system.

Summary of Key Functions:

• Partnerships and Coordination;
• Technical Support and Programming;
• Capacity Development;
• Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting;
• Administrative and Miscellaneous Duties.

Partnerships and Coordination:

• Support multi-sectoral gender coordination under all clusters in the sub-hub, in close coordination with local government and cluster partners;
• Support implementation of gender equality and women’s empowerment priorities and actions  for the humanitarian response in the districts covered from the sub-hub from within the cluster system;
• Ensure close coordination between national Gender Task Force and district level gender coordination, through regular communication with and reporting to national Gender Task Force;
• Work in close collaboration with the relevant government counterparts, the chairs of the various working groups/clusters, and other stakeholders to strengthen the integration of gender in the work of the clusters and to facilitate inter-agency, multi-sectoral promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the humanitarian response interventions at district level;
• Represent UN Women at relevant sector clusters/working groups and humanitarian forums;
• Provide technical support in developing and implementing a multi-sectoral and coordinated gender-focused and gender-responsive humanitarian response programmes to include information sharing, coordination, and monitoring/evaluation;
• Work in close partnerships with other sectors to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment is mainstreamed across all areas of intervention Establish linkages between existing gender programmes to ensure synergies between programmes and maximize programme impact;
• Promote and facilitate the inclusion of gender into humanitarian response plans and other appeal processes and documents.

Technical Support and Programming:

• Coordinate, support and manage the coherent and effective implementation of UN Women’s humanitarian response activities, using a results-based approach incorporating creativity, innovation, and responsiveness to the needs, and thorough monitoring and reporting;
• Provide technical support to the sub-hub, country office, the UN and other partners aimed at capacity development and institutional strengthening;
• Support and advise the sub-hub and country office management and build knowledge and programming practices in relation to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Assist in writing proposals and engaging in resource mobilization efforts to support joint programming;
• Support the overall coordination, design and monitoring of UN Women’s humanitarian programming in the districts covered from the sub-hub;
• Provide technical support to the development of relevant advocacy and policy documents to address gender issues through various key partners;
• Promote male involvement strategies in gender programming and support the identification of promising practices on male involvement in prevention and response to gender discrimination, violence and exclusion;
• Participate in relevant humanitarian planning and programming, as necessary, including contingency planning, UN “Flash” and other emergency appeal mechanisms and recovery processes and documents.

Capacity Building:

• Provide technical support to revise and develop contextualized training and IEC materials;
• Coordinate and facilitate training sessions on gender inequality for government and non government actors.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting:

• Analyze and report on progress in terms of achieving results, using existing monitoring and evaluation tools and introducing new mechanisms and systems; identifies constraints and resource deficiencies and recommends corrective action;
• Supervise preparation by implementing partners of annual and other periodic work plans and monitors and evaluates progress according to the project monitoring plan, including contracts with UN Women partners towards projected programme results, and documents and applies lessons learnt to close the gaps;
• Monitors project expenditures and disbursements to ensure delivery is in line with approved project budgets and to realize targeted delivery levels, and coordinate timely delivery of quality project and financial reporting and ensures adequacy with finance and activities;
• Undertake regular monitoring missions and meetings with relevant actors including project partners in assessing the gender trends, patterns and advise on the prevention and response strategies;
• Perform other duties as required.

Administrative and Miscellaneous Duties:

• Ensure full awareness and adherence to all organizational policies (travel, vehicle, procurement, human resources, etc);
• Liaise with Operations Manager and relevant technical units in UN Women Country Office in Kathmandu to strengthen Country Office support to field based operations;
• Administrative oversight including: development of travel plans, certification of TAs and petty cash expenditure, review of monthly attendance and leave records, among others (where applicable and feasible);
• Ensure organizational equipment and assets are maintained and used in accordance with UN Women policies and business practice;
• Support supervisees, where relevant, to develop Performance Appraisal and Development plans and provide regular feedback and support to facilitate professional development of staff and ensure their safety and well-being.

Competencies

Core Values / guiding principles

Integrity:

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

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

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:

• Development/programming skills particularly those that are pertinent to UN Women strategic priorities on gender issues and women’s rights;
• Ability to support formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects;
• Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of gender equality and humanitarian action including disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness, disaster response management and early recovery;
• Knowledge of Results Based Management principles and approaches;
• Ability to maintain networks and partnerships with UN agencies and other international partners to promote partnership and build alliances to advance organizational interests and competencies;
• Demonstrated good oral and written communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree in social sciences, gender, and international development as it relates to gender and development/humanitarian response or related field.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of increasingly responsible relevant professional experience, including experience in coordination for gender equality with a range of partners, programme management, including large multi-sectoral projects, designing and appraising proposals and actively liaising with relevant and potential project partners;
• Knowledge of gender issues in development and humanitarian response, including relevant international human rights standards;
• Prior training in gender issues and their application in humanitarian, conflict, recovery and development settings;
• Experience in utilizing the IASC Gender Handbook and other relevant tools and resources;
• Field experience in Nepal and good understanding of local issues, partners, etc.;
• Experience in complex emergencies, including humanitarian emergency response, is preferable.

Language:

• Fluency in oral and written Nepali and English essential.