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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the efforts of the United Nations system to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. UN Women provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women South Africa Multi-Country Office (SAMCO) is based in Pretoria, South Africa and serves five countries: South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland. 

South Africa is committed to unleash women’s true economic potential as part of the national programme towards economic recovery. To do this, major structural challenges must be overcome in our economy to ensure that women have increased access and ownership of the means of production, which includes ownership of sustainable businesses. The devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to small businesses shutting down and significant job losses, which in turn has created urgency to create economic opportunities for women in business, in the world of work and women entrepreneurs. 

Gender equality is achieved when women and men enjoy the same rights and opportunities across all sectors of society, including economic participation and decision-making; and when the different behaviors, aspirations and needs of women and men are equally valued and favored. Despite the considerable progress South Africa has made in raising women’s representation in political parties, government and companies, many women are still missing out on the full benefits of a truly gender-diverse economy.

This, in turn, has a negative effect on many aspects of women’s lives:

•  Women have limited access to opportunities to own, access and control productive resources such as finance, land, technology, and businesses; and this curtails women’s ability to fully participate in the economy.
• The patriarchal division of labor is still entrenched, resulting in the social expectation of child rearing, and seeing to the well-being, feeding and care of the family being the sole domain of women. 
• While women’s participation in labor markets has increased, they are still over-represented in insecure sectors; and are under-represented in decision making, including critical leadership positions. 
• Women’s lack of access, whether it be to education, opportunities, experiences, psycho-social assistance, and support structures, significantly stunts their ability to enjoy and participate fully in life in many ways and denies them the opportunity to add meaningful value to themselves, their families, society, and the economy.
• Poverty in South Africa has a gender dimension that challenges the equal status of women enshrined in the constitution and poses a threat to the realization of their full equal human rights in practice.The CONSULTANCY: Event Moderator Consultancy WECONA 2022 Location : Remote (South Africa) Application Deadline: TBC Type of Contract : National Languages Required :English Duration of Initial Contract: 1 month Starting Date: TBC Page 2 of 4 "feminization" of poverty has significant implications for policy reform and practice, because poverty is experienced differently and often more severely by women. 

The National Strategic Planning Framework on Gender Based Violence (NSP), through Pillar 5, recognizes the damaging effect of these barriers, and further notes the role of access to economic opportunities as a foundation for women to break free from abusive relationships. In this regard, Pillar 5 seeks to utilize the public preferential procurement policy and strategies as levers and a springboard to extend participation of women in the economy, to promote their independence, and to minimize their vulnerability to abuse. 

As part of this approach, Pillar 5 also seeks to mobilize the private sector to partner with government in enabling women owned enterprises to participate in procurement opportunities, and to grow the allocation of private sector procurement to women owned enterprises. This is intended to support women’s economic empowerment in a coherent and sustainable manner. 

In 2020 SA committed to 40% preferential procurement for women owned businesses (WOB) in the public sector. Steps to realize this vision have included 4 critical activities: 

• Establishing an effective institutional framework for delivery in government
• Developing & rolling out a capacity building programme for WOB 
• Twinning WOB with public sector opportunities
• Activating private sector supply value chains for WOB  

The fourth activity, i.e., activating private sector supply value chains for WOB is particularly critical because preferential procurement can only be effective in contexts where the supply chain is gender-responsive, diverse, capable, and sustainable both on the demand side and the supply side.

The Women’s Economic Assembly initiative presents a framework to activate procurement value chains in the private and public sectors, bringing together all necessary stakeholders to contribute to a movement towards economic emancipation for all the women of South Africa, regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, or background.

Objectives of the assignment: 

 UN Women in partnership with the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa seeks to secure the services of a highly qualified dialogue specialist to moderate the Women’s Economic Assembly. It is expected that the Moderator will perform the following tasks, on the 5th and 6th October 2022:

1. Moderate all sessions of the Women’s Economic Assembly according to the briefing given by the planning team. Duration = 2 days (half a day each)
2. Attend all technical briefings (X2 technical briefings of 1 hour each) with the speakers, as well as the organizers for the event
3. Attend the dry-run for the event iv. Attend a post-event briefing session with the organizers (approximately 1 hour)

Scope of Work:

The consultant’s responsibilities will be limited to delivering an impactful and effective service as a moderator for WECONA 2022, which will take place from the 5th to 6th October 2022.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be required to provide the following services: 

• Moderate all sessions of the Women’s Economic Assembly according to the briefing given by the planning team. Duration = 2 days.
•  Attend all technical briefings (X2 technical briefings of 1 hour each) with the speakers, as well as the organizers for the event 
• Attend the dry-run for the event. 
• Attend a post-event briefing session with the organizers (approximately 1 hour)

Work Schedule:

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity; 
• Integrity; 
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies: 

• Exceptional hosting and moderating skills;  
• Effective Communication;  
• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues; 
• Accountability;  
• Creative Problem Solving;  
• 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: 

• Proven ability to moderate complex dialogues with ease and clarity; 
• Familiarity with actors (government, private sector and women’s networks) specifically within the women’s economic empowerment context;
• Familiarity with the Women Economic Assembly; 
• In-depth knowledge of gender equality, women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship, with emphasis on SME context;
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, ability to foster networks and partnerships; 
• Familiarity with South Africa’s public and private sector stakeholders;
• Excellent communication skills, especially training and writing skills;

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A degree in the field of Economics or Journalism or another related field; 

Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience moderating high-level events at Ministerial and/or CEO level;
• Proven experience in live broadcasting (TV) is essential;
• Demonstrable experience in producing engaging transformative dialogues;
• Familiarity with the Women Economic Assembly and its work.

Language Requirements:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English; 
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset. 

Note:

Please note that applications without a completed and signed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. UN Women Personal History form (P-11) can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, colour, 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.  At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employees, trained, compensate, and promotes regardless of race, religion ,colour, 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 qualification, competence, integrity and organizational needs.

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.)