Background

UN Women has a proven track-record in supporting women’s political participation through its programmes across various regions, under the guidance of UN Women’s founding resolution (GA resolution 64/289) and its Strategic Plan. UN Women is increasingly being called upon by UN partners, civil society partners, donors and governments to provide specific and often short-term gender expertise for capacity building and policy support on women’s political rights, participation and leadership.

However, despite all these positive steps towards promoting women’s leadership and political participation, women still experience considerable challenges in being able to fully and meaningfully participate in political life. In particular, women remain underrepresented in political leadership positions and misperceptions regarding their right to contest persist. 

Taking steps towards addressing the challenges, the PNG government has demonstrated its commitment through a number of national and global policy frameworks including, Vision 2050, the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy, Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the new Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP).MTDP3. Those frameworks and policies will guide interventions aimed at addressing the leadership and political vacuum for women in PNG.

UN Women Papua New Guinea is implementing the Women Make Change (WMC) programme, in partnership with the Government of PNG, the Autonomous Bougainville Government and UNDP. The WMC programme is focused on supporting women’s political participation and leadership and has four (4) key outcome areas:

1. Legal and Policy frameworks promote gender balance throughout the electoral cycle;
2. A cadre of interested, diverse and capable women political leaders at the national and subnational level;
3. Women are perceived as equally legitimate and effective political leaders; and
4. Women are promoted as leaders in gender sensitive political institutions.

Objectives of the assignment

To support this work, UN Women is seeking a qualified consultant(s) to conduct a desk review analysing past election observation reports and trends in women's political participation in Papua New Guinea to identify gaps and provide recommendations for better support to women's political participation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Women Make the Change Technical Specialist, the consultant will be expected to:

• To identify trends and gaps in the gender-responsiveness of election observation reports over time (as far back as reports are available), as well as the status of the implementation of election observation recommendations that relate to women’s political participation; and
• To identify overall trends in women’s participation as voters and candidates in elections in Papua New Guinea over this period of time, including an examination of violence against women in elections/politics and the impact of limited preferential voting; and
• To provide clear recommendations on what needs to be done to more effectively support women’s political participation based on the findings from this review.

The research methodology should, where relevant, draw on key UN documents including: Inclusive Electoral Processes: A Guide for Electoral Management Bodies on Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s Participation (UN Women and UNDP. 2015); and Preventing Violence Against Women in Elections: A Programming Guide (UN Women and UNDP. 2017).

Duration of the assignment

The duration of this assignment will be for 15 days over the period of July 2023, upon signing of the contract.

Expected Deliverables

The following deliverables are expected from the Consultant to deliver within the approximate timelines.  Each deliverable will be in the first instance through a DRAFT delivered in soft copy to UN Women.

All the documents and materials utilized need to be returned to UN Women in electronic format. Any printed materials utilized to be referenced and returned. All materials are property of UN Women.

Schedule of Payments

The payment for each deliverable will be made upon the approval of UN Women of a FINAL version of the respective deliverable.

Inputs

UN Women will provide copies of all relevant documentation in electronic / hard copy to the consultant. The Consultant is expected to work remotely using her/his own computer during the assignment.

Competencies

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies

• Adherence to UN WOMEN standard and rules;
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s (or equivalent) or PhD in Social Sciences, Law, Political Science, Gender, International Relations, or related field
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in conducting research on gender, women’s political participation and leadership, electoral processes and/or women in elections.
• Demonstrated experience in conducting literature reviews and analysis of data using rigorous and transparent methods.
• Excellent analytical and writing skills, with a proven ability to produce high-quality reports with actionable recommendations.
• Access to academic literature is required.

• Fluent level of written and spoken English is required

Applicants should submit:

• UN Women P11 and/or CV
• Up to three samples of past research reports/briefs written
• Proposed methodology for this desk review (maximum 3 pages in length)