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.

The Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division (PPID) provides intellectual and strategic leadership on normative support and the delivery of integrated policy and program advice, including through policy analysis and gender mainstreaming. The Division leverages innovation, knowledge management, and cutting-edge technical expertise to support UN Women programs and to build the capacity of partners to deliver results on gender equality and women’s empowerment. The Women Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action Section (WPS&HA) is responsible for providing technical support to UN Women Country Offices in several key areas including conflict prevention and peacebuilding, justice sector and security sector reform, promoting women's political participation and mainstreaming gender issues into governance reforms.

The Elsie Initiative Fund for Uniformed Women in Peace Operations (EIF) (https://elsiefund.org/), is hosted by UN Women under the WPSHA section in PPID in the Headquarters based in New York, USA. The EIF aims to support and incentivize efforts to increase the meaningful participation of uniformed women in United Nations peace operations through financial assistance or financial incentives. It seeks to accelerate progress towards achieving the United Nations Security Council’s declared target of doubling the rate of women’s participation within police and military contingents by 2020 compared to 2015, as well as supporting targets to increase the proportion of women serving as military observers, staff officers and individual police officers.

Adequate due diligence of all project proposals is fundamental to managing the programmatic risks of the EIF. The EIF Terms of Reference (English https://elsiefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/tor-elsie-fund-english.pdf; French https://elsiefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/tor-elsie-fund-french.pdf) requires that countries contributing military and police officers to peace operations – known as Troop and Police Contributing Countries (T/PCCs), who are being considered for funding, are assessed against the United Nations Human Rights Due Diligence Policy on United Nations support to non-United Nations Security Forces (HRDDP) prior to funds being disbursed. (Policy Links: HRDDP: English and French; and HRDDP Guidance Note: English and French.)

The HRDDP, issued by the United Nations Secretary-General on 13 July 2011, is intended to serve as a risk management mechanism to ensure that any support provided by United Nations entities to non-United Nations security forces is consistent with the purposes and principles set out in the Charter of the United Nations and with its obligations under international law to respect, promote and encourage respect for international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. One of the key components of implementing the HRDDP is the risk assessment. This provides a baseline analysis of risks for providing or not providing support to security institutions; it also identifies appropriate mitigating measures that can reduce these risks to acceptable levels. Based on the risk assessment, the project management, in consultation with internal and external partners as appropriate, decides whether support can be provided, and, when support is provided, ensures that mitigation measures are implemented and the conduct of the recipient receiving support is monitored in terms of their human rights obligations.

The EIF is considering providing financial support for a project proposal from the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of its second programming round launched in April 2021. Through conducting a barrier assessment on the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the proposal seeks to identify and overcome barriers to, and therefore to increase the deployment of female military officers on UN peace operations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the EIF Manager, the consultant will be responsible for the following duties and responsibilities. In undertaking these tasks, the incumbent will be required to draw upon United Nations and other sources relevant to the assessment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including through a gender analysis.

In particular, the respective incumbent will be required to undertake a document review of human rights reports produced by the United Nations Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), including the HRDDP risk assessments if available, reports of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), United Nations Treaty Bodies such as the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, and Special Procedures in particular the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, reports of the Secretary General to the Security Council on peace operations, reports of other United Nations mechanisms, offices or agencies (e.g. Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict), reports of United Nations commissions of inquiry, decisions of United Nations treaty bodies on individual cases, and UNODC Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessments (see the United Nations Inter-Agency HRDDP Guidance Note (2015) - Sources of information for the risk assessment, pp. 20-21 for the list). The incumbent will also cover reports and individual cases related to sexual exploitation and abuse from the United Nations Conduct and Discipline Service (CDS) (https://conduct.unmissions.org/documents-standards) and the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight (OIOS).

The incumbent is also required to include reports on sexual harassment and gender discrimination within the security institution including reports on standards of conducts and civilian oversight mechanisms where publicly available. UN Women will endeavor to facilitate access to such reporting, including through requesting reports from the institution and national partners. Where at all possible, data should be disaggregated by age and sex to determine the groups that are most affected by violations and further validation with the affected groups should be undertaken.

The incumbent will be expected to perform the following duties in consultation with the OHCHR headquarters, regional and country offices, the United Nations Country Team, UN Women regional and country offices, CDS, OIOS, United Nations protection cluster, national human rights institutions and international and national non-governmental organizations:

1. Develop a comprehensive HRDDP risk assessment related to the provision of financial support that the Elsie Initiative Fund is considering providing to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
2. As part of the HRDDP risk assessment for each of the above, identify and develop a comprehensive set of mitigation measures addressing the risks identified.
3. The incumbent will be required to meet with the assessment team of the research partner selected by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and / or  DCAF – the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, to provide data not that is not CONFIDENTIAL, for inclusion in the Measuring Opportunities for Women in Peace Operations (MOWIP) barrier assessment methodology Fact Finding Form (FFF). The FFF is one of the MOWIP’s three data collection tools. This would include providing information in relation to the three key issue areas detailed in the MOWIP methodology, as well as information on relevant policy documents including but not limited to sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment, gender based violence and discrimination:

• Issue Area 2: Deployment Selection
• Issue Area 8: Top-Down Leadership
• Issue Area 10: Social Exclusion

Deliverables

The deliverables are to be written in English, and include the following:

Comprehensive HRDDP risk assessment report and mitigation measures

1. Based on the EIF HRDDP Implementation Framework, a comprehensive HRDDP risk assessment report for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on the EIF’s financial support to be provided in accordance with the letter of interest and detailed project proposal.
2. Each report should contain the elements to be considered for a risk assessment, listed in the text of the policy and on pages 18 to 20 of the Inter-Agency HRDDP Guidance Note (2015). The assessment should include violations for which women are particularly at risk, such as sexual harassment within the uniformed services and sexual exploitation and abuse against community members:

• Human rights record
• Accountability record
• Prevention mechanisms
• Legislative / policy framework
• United Nation’s ability to influence and risk of not providing support
• Risks inherent to the kind of support envisaged

3. Action plan for the report which includes a:

• comprehensive set of mitigation measures for each risk identified, or related to the implementation of projects by the security institution.

4. Inputs during the conduct of the Armed Forces of Ukraine MOWIP barrier assessment project. In collaboration with the assessment team of the research partner selected by the T/PCC and / or DCAF, provide inputs during the completion of sections of the MOWIP FFF which relate to each of the three issue areas and policy  areas identified in the duties and responsibilities above

Timeframe

On receipt of each deliverable, a five-ten-day review/approval period will be required to review, seek amendment where required, and approve outputs prior to authorizing any payment.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Technical / Functional Competencies

• Solid technical knowledge in the design and formulation of HRDDP related documents, processes and procedures;
• Knowledge of gender issues, especially in the context of peace operations and gender-based violence;
• Comprehensive knowledge of and exposure to a range of human rights issues, including related to the operation of security forces;
• Solid knowledge of the international legal framework, institutional mandates, policies and guidelines;
• Ability to draft, edit and prepare clear and concise reports;
• Strong analytical and research skills, including ability to evaluate and integrate information from a variety of sources;
• Highly effective organization and planning skills and high attention to detail;
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain strong relationships and partnerships;
• Good level of computer literacy;
• Ability to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner; and
• Sound judgment with proven ability to work effectively under minimum supervision.

Required Skills and Experience

• An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in international relations, human rights, international law, humanitarian law, political science, social sciences, gender studies or related field.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of Ten years of progressively responsible experience in human rights, international law, gender or a related area is required.
• Experience with implementation of the HRDDP policy and risk assessment is required.
• Experience with developing an analytical framework from a gender perspective, analyzing human rights-related documents, human rights monitoring or fact finding, research, reporting methodologies and report writing is required.
• Experience working in West Africa is highly desirable.
• Experience working with security institutions is desirable.
• Experience on project development, management, and evaluation concepts and procedures is an advantage.
• Experience with inter-agency collaboration is an advantage.

Language:

• Fluency in English and Ukrainian (written and spoken) is required.

HOW TO APPLY:

Please fill out the UN Women P11 form available at  https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc  and submit as attachment with your application.