Background

The regional mapping of women and girl-focused civil society organizations (WGFOs) is designed to enhance coordination amongst them and the other gender and humanitarian actors at local, national and regional level,to identify potential gaps in service provision as well as areas for potential synergies, to avoid duplication, and to ensure WFGOs cane be easily reached and included in active and meaningful ways throughout the humanitarian programme cycle and in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. This initiative also aims to contribute to the gender commitments of the localization agenda of humanitarian responses in the region by enhancing coordination among actors working on gender in humanitarian action.

Asia and the Pacific continues to be the most disaster affected region in the world, accounting for 87 per cent of the global population that has been affected by natural hazards. The region also hosts some of the most complex humanitarian emergencies, with several protracted crises, that have severe implications on the lives of women and girls. In Asia and the Pacific crises disproportionately impact women and girls due to their often lower socio-economic status than men and boys (less access to paid employment, decision-making power, access to information and early warnings, control of and access to economic resources, discriminatory laws, low investments, and high levels of sexual and gender-based violence). These largely pre-existing inequalities for women and girls influence their access to disaster preparedness measures, humanitarian assistance and compensation for damage and losses.

In the Asia-Pacific region local WGFOs have driven, and are powerful agents of change – they understand the context, challenges, and entry points for gender-transformative humanitarian interventions, and play a critical role in understanding, promoting, and meeting the needs of women and girls on a variety of socioeconomic issues. They have established a presence and networks on the ground with extensive expertise in community-specific issues to mobilize gender-responsive preparedness, recovery, and response efforts quickly and effectively during emergencies. 

However, WGFOs are overlooked and underfunded during emergencies. Humanitarian actors need to support the consistent, meaningful, and active participation and inclusion of local actors, in particular WGFOs, in cluster/sector coordination groups, strategy advisory groups, and/or other response planning teams and working groups at the regional, national, and subnational levels, as recommended by the IASC. Moreover, humanitarian leadership should also advocate for WGFOs and other civil society organizations targeting or representing marginalized groups to be fully included in humanitarian funding mechanisms (e.g. access to country-based pooled funds).

Currently, there is no existing open database of WGFOs in the region to support their integration into humanitarian action. To effectively support and integrate WGFOs into regional and national humanitarian architecture, and disaster preparedness, response, and recovery efforts, their presence/outreach and specific domain of activities needs to be better understood. Through this mapping initiative the Asia Pacific Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group (GiHA WG) aims to create a better enabling environment in the Asia-Pacific region for women’s and girl’s leadership and participation in humanitarian action and disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.

Duties and Responsibilities

The mapping process is a purposive inquiry to obtain a snapshot of WGFOs in the Asia-Pacific region. It will be used to determine their capacities and capacity building needs, identify ongoing activities by theme, enhance understanding of WGFO/civil society advocacy agenda and priorities, presence, capabilities, and gaps to support gender-transformative emergency preparedness, response, and recovery.

Objectives include:

• Review and refine if required, working definition based on existing literature of the types of organizations working on gender in humanitarian action to guide the scope of this mapping (i.e. WROs, GFOs, WGFOs).
• Identify local, national, regional WGFO presence and overview of their experiences and expertise, advocacy priorities and activities for gender in humanitarian action.
• Determine local, national, regional WGFO capacities and capacity building needs for gender/social inclusion in humanitarian action.
• Provide an overview of local, national, regional gaps and potential areas for synergy for advancing gender in humanitarian action, including in advocacy platforms and initiatives., including in protracted crises.
• Enhance coordination of WGFOs (including networks and feminist movements) in humanitarian action at local, national, and regional levels.
• Catalyze safe and equitable opportunities for WGFOs to meaningfully participate in humanitarian decision making processes, including coordination, sector meetings, and funding mechanisms.
• Collect insights and recommendations from WGFOs on how to enable their meaningful engagement in humanitarian action.

Methodology

The initial mapping will be conducted based on GiHA WG networks (regional with national/subnational counterparts), with expansion to other consortiums (e.g. Global Fund for Women, Women in Emergancies Network, UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women) and initiatives (e.g. Women’s Resilience to Disasters), as well as relevant networks from other working groups (e.g. GBViE, GTGs, GSHG, PSEA/AAP) and stakeholders.

For the purposes of this exercise, a Women’s and/or Girls’ Focused Organisation (WGFO) is a registered or informally organised group or network at the community, sub-national, national, or Asia Pacific regional level whose leadership and staffing is made up of women and/or girls, or those who identify as sexual or gender minorities, comprising minimum 75% of board, executive positions and staff/volunteers, with a mandate to advance gender equality and women’s and/or girls’ rights and empowerment. This is inclusive of non-governmental, not-for-profit and non-political organizations, of informal as well as formal organisations, and those which are registered and those which are self-organised but not registered due to bureaucratic impediments involved in the regulation of registered groups and organisations locally.

The mapping will be conducted via an online survey which will be open to WGFOs based in any country in the Asia Pacific Region. The mapping will be presented in the format of a dashboard on the Asia Pacific GiHA WG website, hosted on the ReliefWeb platform: https://response.reliefweb.int/asia-and-pacific/gender-humanitarian-action-working-group 

The mapping survey will be developed by the consultant in consultation with UN Women, UNICEF and the AP GIHA mapping reference group. A data storage and protection policy and risk mitigation strategy will be essential for this process, with particular attention for Afghanistan and Myanmar, and any other identified risk contexts. The consultant will be responsible for drafting these, with the support of UN Women, UNICEF and the AP GIHA mapping reference group. Translation of survey materials may be required, but this will be supported by UN Women, UNICEF and the AP GIHA mapping reference group.

The survey will be directed towards organizations not individuals. Suggested information to gather:

• Name of Organization
• Contact info tel./email
• Location of work (where the WGFO headquarters is based including branches (State/Province/County/District)
• Registration status
• Sector/Thematic areas of experience and expertise and advocacy priorities in humanitarian action (E.g., GBV, women economic empowerment)
• Number of staff members including volunteers
• Are they members of any networks
• Where do the WLO get support
• Are they part of any consortium
• Number of years of experience/years active
• Support to intersectional subgroups: youth, people with diverse SOGIESC, people living with disability, migrants, refugees, internally displaced persons, indigenous/ethnic and religious minorities, rural and hard to reach populations
• Insights and recommendations on how they can be enabled to be more meaningfully engaged in humanitarian action

Final sector/thematic area list to be determined by the consultant in partnership with relevant stakeholders, but suggestion is for organizations be mapped based on the following (filterable in the dashboard):

• CBI

• Camp coordination and camp management
• Early recovery
• Education
• Food security
• Health 
• Livelihoods/Women’s economic empowerment
• Nutrition
• Protection/GBV
• Shelter
• WASH
• Sexual and reproductive health rights
• IDPs/Refugees
• Women’s leadership and participation in decision-making
• Climate change
• Advocacy and Influencing

Following the mapping exercise, a capacity assessment will focus on WGFOs in a select number of countries, potentially to include countries identified in the Asia and the Pacific 2023 Regional Focus Model developed by OCHA. The final scope of the capacity assessment will be agreed by the consultant in partnership with UN Women, UNICEF and members of the mapping reference group, as well as the number of responses within the mapping assessment. Suggested scope of the capacity assessment could include: knowledge of and linkages to humanitarian systems, experience in humanitarian coordination, advocacy, gender integration into humanitarian service provision, etc.

Tasks and Deliverable

The WGFO mapping will be conducted by a consultant, under the guidance of UN Women and UNICEF and the mapping reference group within the AP GIHA WG. The consultant will complete the following broad activities:

• Develop methodology and tools and accompanying policies including data protection policy, risk mitigration strategy, database sustainability strategy, as well as technical user documentation.
• Identify organisations working on gender in humanitarian action in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Conduct broad survey online to assess the profile of organisations, their specific sector(s) and groups, focus, recommendations for enabling their engagement, their priorities and the needs of women and girls in the context of humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction.
• Create database of WGFOs.
• Create a dashboard from survey results to display interactive data visualisation and map of organisations, with support from UN Women, UNICEF and ReliefWeb to host the dashboard.
• Support in disseminating final results to regional and national gender and humanitarian networks.

The consultant, in close consultation with UN Women and UNICEF, and with input from the AP GIHA WG mapping reference group, is expected to develop a methodology and action plan, draft tools for data collection, and develop a list of key informants/WGFOs for interviews/FGDs, draft mapping report, and lead the validation process. The consultant will have a maximum of 60 working days to complete all deliverables. Please note specific deliverables for the consultant below:

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

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s degree or equivalent in gender, international relations, international development, or other social science fields is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Minimum 7 years of progressively responsible experience in international development and humanitarian action, with particular focus on gender in humanitarian action and feminist principles for at least a portion of experience.
• Technical experience in stakeholder mapping and partner capacity assessments.
• Experience working with women’s networks within the Asia Pacific Region an advantage.
• Experience on UX design an advantage

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant will work under the supervision of the Programme Coordinator for Humanitarian Action and Disaster Risk Reduction.

Contract period and work location

The consultant will be home-based, with the ability to maintain working hours compatible with Bangkok if necessary. If travel is arranged, UN Women will support flight cost and DSA. Work laptop, office supplies and other related costs will be covered by the consultant.

The contract period will be 8 months, starting on 1 July 2023 and ending on 28 February 2024.

Submission of application

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit an electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org  with salila.klongboonjit@unwomen.org in copy, not later than 20 June 2023, 23:59 Bangkok time. 

Submission package includes:

• Letter of Motivation 
• Personal History Form UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc (live.com)
• Writing sample, ideally a previous stakeholder mapping
• Financial proposal: the financial proposal shall specify the amount of US Dollar currency for each deliverable 

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11)

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.

Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes.

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, 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.)