In 2020, United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) celebrated its twentieth anniversary. Despite this significant passage of time, there has been little progress in respect to closing the gap with respect to the participation of women in the security sector. Therefore, through this project, the European Union (EU) in partnership with UN Women aims to accelerate action on this key agenda, specifically on helping to close the implementation gap with a focus on National military actors (FACA) in the Central African Republic (CAR). This has an overall duration of 42 months inclusive of the six months inception phase which is currently underway and the purpose of this Terms of Reference (ToR).

This project takes place in the context of Capacity Building in Support of Security and Development (CBSD), which allows supporting the military actors, in exceptional circumstances, when the military performs a development objective. It will harness the existing extensive normative framework on WPS and identifies clear objectives under the key priority areas of: (i) prevention; (ii) protection; (iii) relief and recovery, and the three overarching and cross-cutting principles of (iv) participation; (v) gender mainstreaming; and (vi) leading by example.  

The project will be implemented in two countries – Central African Republic and Mali, with a global overview at the Headquarters level.

Through a comprehensive approach, interventions will include working at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. At the strategic level interventions will focus on adaptation of the existing policy frameworks, as they relate to the attraction, recruitment, retention, promotion, and deployment of women within the security sector at all levels. At the operational level, interventions will focus on the development of the appropriate doctrine, and training to ensure a gender perspective is incorporated into the planning and conduct of operations in conflict and post-conflict setting. At a tactical level, programs will focus on delivering outcomes that reflect gender mainstreaming including training of military personnel and sharing of best practices with other national stakeholders and regional counterparts. 

These proposed interventions will focus on enabling the military to implement a gender-sensitive approach internally within their workforce structures, policies, and human resources areas as well as in their operational conduct which includes interactions and engagement with civilian populations. This gender-sensitive approach will seek to enhance the overall performance of the military and should therefore be considered a critical enabler with regards to providing security for the entire population. 

The consultant will work with project focal points at HQ and CAR Country Office.

Description of the Responsibilities

The Monitoring and Reporting Specialist will be recruited for a period of twelve months. S/he will work under the guidance of the Strategic Military Advisor at UN Women HQ and in close consultation with the CAR country office.  The position will be primarily home-based with all meetings conducted on-line or in person (workshop) if agreeable by all parties.

The M&E Specialist will be responsible for:

• Development of results framework including a gender-responsive results chain (impact, outcome and outputs including activities), indicators, targets, milestones, and objective verifiable sources.
• Development of a monitoring implementation plan including tools and methodology
• Identifying existing monitoring mechanisms that cover the defined outcomes and outputs, to assess their suitability and/or adaptability.
• Identifying where potential data gaps exist and make recommendations on how best to address them through viable, realistic monitoring processes.