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 United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Afghanistan is one of the world’s most complex emergencies and the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Afghan people are grappling with the impact of conflict, poverty, economic decline, and natural disasters. In this context, Afghan women and girls face unique vulnerabilities and require urgent support as gender inequality is interwoven with conflict dynamics and humanitarian needs. It is essential that Afghan women and girls can continue to shape the development of their country, and that their gains are protected. UN Women remains fully committed to supporting Afghan women and girls and to putting them at the centre of the global response to the crisis in Afghanistan.

UN Women has been in Afghanistan for two decades. UN Women’s programming approach is informed by analysis of the political, economic, and humanitarian situation, risks to and capacities of partner organizations, and needs of Afghan women and girls. UN Women Afghanistan currently has four key programme priorities: (1) Gender in Humanitarian Action, (2) Ending Violence Against Women, (3) Women’s Economic Empowerment, and (4) Women, Peace, and Security. UN Women is committed to provide life-saving services to women, in coordination and collaboration with development and humanitarian partners. UN Women will both work in and through partnerships at national and provincial levels, in addition to investing directly in community-based service delivery at district levels. UN Women will focus on strengthening capacities, building peer networks and structures at national and provincial levels to ensure a home-grown approach that can be sustained over time.  

Based on dialogues with local and international partners, there is a shared recognition of the need for such services, for women by women to respond to the pressing and critical needs of women and girls, including urgent humanitarian and social and economic empowerment needs. 

To ensure continued support to our initiatives, UN Women Afghanistan is inviting experienced national and international candidates (individual consultants) to send their applications for inclusion in a Vetted Expert Roster. This roster will facilitate the recruitment, hiring and evaluation of consultants from several thematic areas. The process of including candidates in the Expert Roster are described in the later sections of this advertisement.

Objectives

Consultants play an important role in contributing to implementation of activities of the UN Women and they form significant part of capacities of the organization. In order to increase effectiveness of the contracting process and enable instant contracting to fit a range of different contexts, UN Women Afghanistan Country Office is calling for national and international experts to deliver work across different programs and projects.

To be considered for inclusion in the roster, applicants would need to have expertise in one or more of the following areas:

Thematic Areas of Expertise:

• Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls/Gender Based Violence (GBV), including but not limited to prevention of violence programming and policy making; social norm change and evidence-based approaches; child marriage; capacity building and skills development on prevention; engaging youth, men and faith leaders; gender equality advocacy and strategy; and technical expertise on the RESPECT framework and strategies to prevent violence against women and girls.
• Service provision, including but not limited to service delivery approaches for survivors of gender-based violence, especially in the social service sector and survivor-centered approaches; GBV Case management; Child Protection; Gender Based Violence in Emergencies (IASC guideline); capacity building and skills development; and technical expertise on the Essential Services Package (ESP) for Women and Girls Subject to Violence.
• Women’s Economic Empowerment, including but not limited to women’s entrepreneurship; social protection; access to employment and finance; training and skills development for women or girls including vocational, livelihoods and life skills, safe spaces and mentoring; social networks and collective agency.
• Financial Management, including but not limited to, accounting, financial reporting standards and best practices; financial analysis and strategy; gender responsive budgeting; finance training and skills development; and business process and systems optimization.
• Project Management, including but not limited to, analysis, design, and strategy planning, implementation, administration, monitoring or evaluation of development projects; risk management and mitigation; organizational capacity development and mentorship; and policy development
• Monitoring, Evaluation & Reporting, including but not limited to, M&E systems, objectives-oriented project planning; Results-Based Monitoring (RBM) (results framework, data collection plan, monitoring system and analysis); strategic planning; gender statistics; and training and skills development. Interested consultants are advised to carefully study all the sections of this ToR and ensure that they meet the general requirements.

The applicant should identify the thematic area that best fits his/her range of experience and expertise. If applicable, it is possible to select more than one thematic area.

Scope of Work and responsibilities will be addressed appropriately when work assignments are identified. When demand arises in a particular thematic area, pre-selected consultants will be called upon to provide demand-driven services.

The range of deliverables and tasks for the consultant may include:

• Provide technical expertise to support programme development, in particular support in designing, implementing, monitoring or evaluating projects in the assigned thematic areas
• Conduct assessment (including situational/context analysis, needs and capacity assessment) and prepare reports to feed into strategic planning and/or change management processes
• Design and deliver capacity development initiatives for UN Women partner organisations, including trainings, learning sessions, and mentoring
• Develop frameworks, guidelines, manuals, training materials and/or tools
• Facilitate workshops and meetings related to assigned thematic areas
• Share knowledge, experience, good practices and lessons learned
• Provide strategic, technical and operational advice Undertake diagnostic missions, on-site reviews, monitoring and capacity building support to partner organisations
• Draft policy papers, standard operating procedures (SoPs), manuals, tools etc. for service providers, amongst others.
•  Develop strategic planning documents
• Support to improving processes and procedures
• Collect and analyse relevant research, monitoring and documentation
• Provide technical inputs to knowledge products, documents reports and presentations

Duration and Work Location

Will be based on work assignment. The consultant will be a mixture of home-based with travel to the provinces where UN Women has or plans to have interventions. If travel within Afghanistan is required for this assignment, upon prior agreement/approval from UN Women such travel expenses (including covering the cost of a Mahram if needed) shall be borne by UN Women and the individual contractor/SSA shall receive a per-diem as defined by United Nations.

Travel and DSA

Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) and travel will be followed as per standard procedure of UN Women principles and policy. 

Contracting Arrangements

• Successful candidates will be included in the relevant thematic area of the UN Women Roster of Experts for the maximum period of 2 years. Membership beyond the 2-year period must be renewed though a new application process.
• Entry into the roster system does not necessarily mean a guaranteed contract with UN Women. This will depend on forthcoming needs.
• When a request for services arises, pertinent UN Women will contact the most appropriate consultant from the roster. While a formal direct selection process will not be conducted, there may be some selection procedures (i.e. verification interview).
• A specific Terms of Reference outlining the outputs for each assignment will be provided and a Special Service Agreement (SSA) contract will be issued to the consultant, detailing the timeframe and deadlines for the position. Conditions of an assignment may be negotiable; however, the daily fee quoted by the individual during this application process shall remain as the ceiling fee and cannot be increased upwards for any offered individual assignment(s).
•  Only applicants who pass all screening procedures will be included in the roster.

Management Arrangements

The consultants will work under the direct supervision of the UN Women Violence Against Women and Girls team Programme Manager in a participatory and transparent manner.

The consultants will be provided with the necessary information, materials and logistics as required and to be discussed and agreed with UN Women, based on the need. Selected candidate is expected to have her/his own laptop, while UN Women will provide access to other equipment for the fulfilment of tasks (such as printer, copier) as needed.

Timeframe

The Individual Consultant Vetted Roster is expected to be maintained for a period of 02 years and may be reviewed and updated yearly based on performance & UN Women needs.

Performance Evaluation

Consultant’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Financial Arrangements

Payment(s) shall be made following certification by the UN Women Afghanistan Violence Against Women and Girls Team Programme Manager that the services related to each deliverable, as specified in the contract, have been satisfactorily performed and the deliverables have been achieved by or before the due dates specified, if any.

Payment will be made within 30 (thirty) days after receipt and acceptance of the specified deliverable and corresponding invoice but only after UN Women have certified that the services have been satisfactorily performed by the Consultant.

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 grasp of substantive gender equality and women, peace and security issues relevant to peace processes
• Substantive experience in conducting research and writing for international organizations on women, peace and security. Specific experience on women’s meaningful participation in peace processes is an added value.   
• Excellent writing skills. Strong publication record on issues including gender equality and women, peace and security. 

Education:

• A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s Degree) in an area related to the thematic areas of expertise listed in the ToR.
• Other formal education relevant for the assignment will be an advantage.

Experience:

• Minimum of 3 years of proven working experience relevant to the selected thematic area
• Extensive technical knowledge relevant to the thematic area
• Proven work experience in Afghanistan is required
• Proficiency in the usage of computers and office software packages (Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.)
• Experience with facilitation, capacity development and training initiatives in local languages on any of the thematic areas would be considered an asset
• Experience in the areas of women’s issues, social protection, gender equality and development, or related field would be considered an asset

Language skills:

• Good verbal and written English skills
• Fluency in one or more additional languages relevant for Afghanistan (Dari/Pashto)

Evaluation of Applicants

Applicants will be screened against qualifications and the competencies specified above and may be requested to participate in a brief interview.

Interested candidates are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described above.

Successful applicants will be considered for individual engagement with UN Women Afghanistan Country Office in diverse areas of work. Please specify the thematic area of expertise you are applying for. An expert can apply for more than one thematic area listed in the call.

Only applicants who pass all screening procedures will be included in the roster.

Qualified women are encouraged to apply. (UN Women will cover the costs for a Mahram if required)

Application:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from Application and recruitment process | About us: Careers at UN Women | UN Women – Headquarters  Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

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.

Inclusion Statement:

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.)