Background

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women will work 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 center of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The sixty-seventh session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) will be held in New York from 6th to 17th March 2023. The priority theme of CSW 67 is: innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Member States will also be invited to review the agreed conclusions of the sixty-second session theme on challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls.

As a key instrument for delivering women’s rights, CSW presents the reality of women’s lives throughout the world while influencing global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. Besides, it takes a leading role in monitoring and reviewing progress and challenges in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, among others.

25 years since the World Conference on Women in Beijing, the world has witnessed two things: a global digital revolution and not a single country having achieved gender equality. While technology and innovation are being hailed as crucial means to accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, the statistics on access, to whom the benefits accrue and roles in developing them, point to huge disparities across the sexes. Gender equality is nowhere near to being achieved in tech and innovation. Women are less likely to access widely used forms of technologies, lead innovation institutions or become inventors.

For example, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an estimated 2.7 billion people remain unconnected to the internet with women accounting for 57% of the population that use the internet compared to 62% of men globally. Furthermore, in Africa, women account for only 24% of the population, while men account for 35% of users. While mobile phone ownership has become ubiquitous around the world, including in Africa, there is still a disparity between men and women’s ownership, which has implications for example, for their access to communication, connectivity to the internet, financial inclusion and access to information they can use to empower themselves. According to the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSMA) Mobile Gender Gap Report 2019, women in low- and middle-income countries are 10% less likely than men to own a mobile device.

Access to technology in Africa is uneven, and beyond gender, other factors such as geographical location, social norms and income affect women and men’s access and benefit from technological innovations. Some countries in the region have thriving tech scenes,  which have contributed to the creation of jobs particularly for young people, the growth of e-commerce through new payment and marketing options and the deployment of technology to address development challenges related to health, poverty, provision of public services and responding to GBV. Technology is being deployed across African countries to provide advice to women farmers on weather patterns, information on markets and financing opportunities.

Research by the IFC and World Bank (through the Digital Development Program Trust Fund) in Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Rwanda showed that by 2030 some level of digital skills will be required for 50-55% of jobs in Kenya, 35-45% in Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Rwanda, and 20-25% in Mozambique . Given the low numbers of women currently in the technology sector, with only 2 out of 10 jobs in science, engineering and ICT held by women globally, ensuring they have the digital skills to take up these opportunities must be at the core of economic empowerment policies and programmes by governments in Africa.

The sixty seventh CSW is an opportunity for governments, civil society organizations, and technical and financial partners to have deliberate on and jointly reflect on the trends, achievements, challenges and existing gaps related to the priority theme. The outcome of the Commission’s consideration of the priority theme during its 67th session will take the form of agreed conclusions, to be negotiated by all Member States.

UN Women in partnership with the African Union (Women, Gender and Youth Directorate), UN Economic Commission and UNDP is convening a virtual Africa Pre-CSW66 Expert Consultation in November 2022. This will be followed by two-day Hybrid – In person and Virtual Africa Ministerial Consultations. The main objective is to review continent wide trends, achievements, challenges and gaps related to the theme. The consultations will also consolidate an African position in the lead up to the global CSW convening in March 2023.

Objectives of the assignment

The main objective is to facilitate discussions during the Africa consultations prior to the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). UN Women seeks the services of a facilitator to guide and lead the discussions during the Experts and Ministerial consultations. S/he will work also with the technical consultant preparing the background document, and a team of rapporteurs to consolidate the Expert group meeting minutes and the final report. In addition, they will support the consultant and technical team producing the Outcome Document following the Ministerial consultations. The consultant will be under the direct supervision of the Regional Planning and Coordination Specialist at the UN Women East and Southern Africa Regional Office.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and Responsbilities:

1. Overall facilitation of the substantive discussions during the Technical Experts meeting.
2. Moderating specific sessions during the Technical Experts meeting as assigned.
3. Moderate the discussions related to the rounds of reviews and edits of the draft outcome document at the Experts meeting.
4. Provide additional quality assurance, by reviewing draft minutes and the outcome document following the Technical Experts meeting to ensure it reflects the key messages from the discussions.
5. Moderate the discussions related to the rounds of reviews and edits of the draft outcome document during and post the Ministerial consultation.

Deliverables:

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.

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

• Strong knowledge of gender equality and women’s human rights in the Africa region;
• Strong facilitation and moderation skills with diverse audiences and for similar intergovernmental processes;
• Ability to draft succinct technical documents for inter-governmental processes;
• Capacity to work with diverse partners including governments, donors and civil society.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced degree in gender studies, international development or related disciplines is required;

Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years of relevant research, advocacy and programming experience on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the context of technology, innovation, education, in Africa or globally;
• Experience of drafting technical documents and reports for similar inter-governmental processes;
• Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights; women’s rights particularly in the context of innovation and technology;
• Experience with Intergovernmental processes including those related to women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming and gender equality is an asset;
• Experience working with multi-stakeholder organizations is essential: governments, Civil Society Organizations, the UN, multilateral and bilateral institutions. 

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in oral and written English;
• Knowledge of French or Portuguese would be an added advantage.

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.)