UN Women’s Regional Office for the Arab States (ROAS) has recently adopted its new Strategic Note (2022-25). Our vision is to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and the full enjoyment of their human rights in the Arab States, propelling economic prosperity and sustainable development for all. Our goal is to accelerate achievements for the largest possible numbers of women and girls in the region, including the most vulnerable, in the next 4 years. To accomplish this, we work with our partners and offices across 17 countries in the region to implement targeted programmes that support women’s economic empowerment, women’s leadership and participation, women, peace and security, and humanitarian issues, as well as ending violence against women.

UN Women ROAS has partnered with the OIC’s Women Development Organization (WDO) since its inception, and since early 2020 supported the WDO with technical expertise in organizational development as well as specific substantive inputs to define the strategic direction of the nascent organization. To ensure sustainable funding from within the OIC Member States, a Multi-Partner Trust Fund architecture has been developed in close collaboration with UNDP and UNODC, with the following four priority areas: ‘Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment & Financial Inclusion’; ‘Elimination of all Forms of Violence & Harmful Practices Against Women and Girls’; ‘Women’s Leadership in Promoting Peaceful and Inclusive Societies’; ‘the Role of Women in Fighting and Preventing Corruption’, this will also include emerging issues such as e.g. Climate Change’. In addition, UN Women funded a Finance Consultant within the WDO that led the development of establishing financial mechanisms and workflows, as well as the preparation of WDO’s first annual budget.

UN Women ROAS is currently engaging with the WDO, sister agencies, and OIC System, in the conceptualization of WDO’s first flagship report titled ‘The Status of Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in the OIC Member States: Women and Climate Change’. A multi-agency steering committee has been established and UN Women will contribute a chapter on mobility and economic empowerment focusing on migrant women. In addition, it is envisioned to organize a side-event during COP27 (taking place in Egypt) to launch the report.

To foster strategic dialogue and engagement, with a view to addressing the root causes of gender inequalities, and advancing gender equality and women’s development, the WDO is establishing a Think Tank to serve as a Center of Excellence (CoE) for the Organization that has a leading-edge knowledge and competency in the area of gender equality and the empowerment of women for the OIC Member States. It will be comprised of highly-skilled individuals and experts, who disseminate knowledge and share the best practices among the OIC Member States. The Think Tank will provide a forum to enable mutually beneficial consultations between WDO and high-level technical experts, and draw upon their expertise, experience, as well as networks, to further advance WDO’s strategic visioning, planning, programming, resource mobilization, and partnerships. With the establishment of the WDO Think Tank, the WDO will directly contribute to the 

central pillars of the organization’s mandate, in providing state-of-the-art evidence base through research and knowledge management and ensuring OIC Member States policy decisions are evidence-informed.

The first ever WDO flagship report as described above, and the regional- as well as country specific- attention given to the emerging priority of Climate Change offers a great opportunity for initial conceptualization of the envisioned WDO Think Tank and first products to be published under its auspices. This would allow timely awareness raising to support the consolidation of partnerships, and establishment of networks, pertaining to substantive cross-fertilization as well as resource mobilization.

In addition, based on previous needs assessment, the WDO will establish a Digital Legal Library to serve as an information hub on national laws, legislations, and regulations frameworks pertaining to the status of women and girls in the OIC Member States. The Digital Legal Library providing up to date information and will serve as a one-stop shop to support the creation of greater legal awareness and empowerment of all relevant stakeholders working in this field, and/or being affected by the respective laws and regulations. The Digital Legal Library has been presented as a potential first deliverable of the WDO Think Tank and, as the launch of the flagship report, offers the opportunity to create awareness around WDO’s Think Tank, and an opportunity for networking and consolidation of partnerships, including resource mobilization.

The Senior Advisor and Programme Coordinator will be working under the direct supervision of the UN Women Head of the Regional Executive Office Arab States and with day-to-day guidance provided by the WDO Director for Program, Policy, and Intergovernmental Support.

Establishment of Digital Legal Library for the WDO

• Define the unique value-add and niche of the digital legal library to provide a designated platform for state-of-the-art resources pertaining to legislations and laws related to women either within the OIC system or in its member states;
• Identify demand-oriented requirements of the Library ensuring it meets the audience's needs in level of substance, and abstraction, as well as means of accessibility (IT solutions);
• Develop a draft costing overview of resources for the initial establishment of the Library and develop a sustainable work plan outlining continuous maintenance of the platform;
• Conceptualize promotion plan and communication efforts to create awareness of the Library amongst internal and external stakeholders (OIC; Governmental partners; CSOs; Private Sector and the general public). Including, but not limited to, a launch event of the platform, and yearly summary reports of legal GEWE updates in OIC.

Key Performance Indicators

• Timely establishment of the WDO Digital Legal Library;
• Promotion plan including identification of key opportunities to create broad-spectrum awareness around the Library.

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.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent knowledge of Gender Equality throughout the region of OIC;
• Excellent communication skills;
• Experience in establishing/managing intergovernmental and or inter-country collaborative platforms.

Education and certification:

• A Masters Degree in comparative law, or relevant studies;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum of 7 years of experience in programme management on intergovernmental and or inter-country collaborative platforms;
• Expertise in targeted communication and advocacy is an asset;
• Experience in comparative law from one or several of the OIC regions is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic is required;
• Knowledge of another UN language is an asset.

Evaluation Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Criteria Weight Technical: 70% (70 points)

• Advanced University Degree (Master's or equivalent), (10 points);
• Experience in programme management on intergovernmental and or inter-country collaborative platforms. (30 points);
• Expertise in communication and advocacy (15 points);
• Experience in comparative law from one or several of the OIC regions (15 points).

Financial: Lowest Financial Proposal: 30% (30 points)

The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

• Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical);
• The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30;
• 'Lowest Bid Offered' refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in the technical evaluation.

Application:

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• A cover letter with a brief presentation of your consultancy explaining your suitability for the work and a link to the portfolio of work;
• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
• Personal CV; and Financial proposal; Proposed inclusive daily rate.

The above-mentioned documents should be merged in a standalone file including all of them since the online application submission does only permit uploading one file per application. Incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality, and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW, and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits employ, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity, and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)