Background

The Spotlight Initiative (SI) is a global initiative of the United Nations which has received generous support from the European Union. The Initiative is responding to all forms of violence against women and girls. The initiative represents an unprecedented global effort of investing in gender equality and women's empowerment as a prerequisite and driving force for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme for Central Asia and Afghanistan (Regional Programme) contributed to legal reforms, strengthening the capacity of relevant institutions and women’s movements, promoting norms based on gender equality, as well as improving the quality of data collection and statistics on violence towards women and girls. The Regional Programme was closed in December 2023 and was collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders, including civil society, donors, practitioners, academia, and the media, to help eliminate harmful practices (HP) and support further gender transformation in the region. More information can be found on the website  www.spotlightinitiative.org

Within the framework of the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme for Central Asia and Afghanistan, the Central Asian Alliance to end gender-based violence (GBV) (hereinafter – the CA Alliance EGBV) was established in June 2023, with a view to gathering on one open platform both state and non-state parties from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan to bring about transformative change in the lives of women and girls in the region. As a participatory endeavour where civil society organizations join forces with state institutions, it aims at addressing gaps in ending GBV while, at the same time, devising regional cooperation. Overall, the Alliance is meant to foster the implementation of national and international commitments to respond to GBV, with a particular focus on ongoing member states’ commitments within the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (hereinafter – CEDAW), Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and other human rights treaties and new ones under the Generation Equality Forums’ Action Coalition on GBV.The Regional Programme works on the engagement of women's rights organisations, autonomous social movements, and civil society organisations (CSOs) in processes so they can participate, sustain, and advance progress on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) and ending Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) policies and programmes that respond to the needs of all women and girls, including those facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.

The objectives of the Alliance include the following:

1. Advocate for gender equality and prevention of SGBV in the Central Asian region;

2. Mobilize the Civil Society Movement in the region to address SGBV;

3. Foster inclusive policy dialogue on SGBV;

4. Raise awareness of all concerned stakeholders on their roles in ending SGBV;

5. Strengthen capacities of government, legislative bodies, judiciary, and oversight to step up actions to prevent and address SGBV and HP in the region;

6. Enhance knowledge management, data, and experience sharing between countries and with other regions;

7. Connect regional initiatives to global agendas including the Generation Equality Forum and increase the visibility of achievements from each country in Central Asia.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of the Central Asian Alliance EGBV Coordinator (hereinafter – Coordinator), the National Consultant shall be responsible for the following tasks and duties:     

1. Regional CSOs Network, the Regional CSOs Coordination Group, CSO Dialog Platform, Small grants programme, the Regional Grant-making mechanism and their engagement in the Central Asian Alliance

• Coordinate and monitor effectively interventions related to the Regional CSOs Network in close cooperation with the Regional CSOs Coordination Group, Advisory and Monitoring Group and the Regional Grant-making mechanism;
• Liaise with the Regional CSOs Coordination Group for meaningful cooperation and the development and implementation of the sustainability strategy;
• Coordinate and facilitate the work of CSO Dialog Platform and the Regional Grant-making mechanism for resource mobilization and sustainable financing, coordinate with the Regional Virtual Knowledge Sharing Platform (Platform) team on including and updating financing opportunities on the Platform;
• Coordinate Regional CSOs, the Regional CSOs Coordination Group, and the Regional Grant-making mechanism’s active participation in the work of the CA Alliance EGBV;
• Prepare letters, briefs, meeting minutes, and talking points pertaining to CSOs’ engagement in the CA Alliance EGBV agenda;
• Contribute and coordinate the timely and good-quality submission of financial and narrative reports of partners/ CSOs;
• Contribute, support and finalize UN Women’s procedures pertaining to the Small Grant Programme and grants issued to CSOs during the Central Asian Alliance EGBV agenda’s implementation;
• Provide inputs to UN Women’s corporate bi-annual and annual reporting;
• Provide substantive support to the programmatic and operational closure of CSOs-focused interventions.   

2. Knowledge management and sharing

• Work on CSOs capacity development through sharing and dissemination of knowledge products developed during the CA Alliance EGBV agenda’s implementation;
• Provide technical support to the development of the Regional Virtual Knowledge Sharing Platform including contribution to the mapping of relevant resources, CSOs engagement, etc.
• Coordinate/conduct technical workshops and webinars; facilitate workshop sessions;
• Conduct presentations for CSOs to share knowledge generated during the CA Alliance EGBV agenda’s implementation;
• Consolidate lessons learned and key outcomes of workshops and webinars;
• Analyze emerging needs and provide suggestions for technical follow-up;
• Identify opportunities for capacity building of CSOs and other partners and coordinate and facilitate technical/ programming support and training to partners as needed.

3. Programmatic support and developing terms of reference

• Organize required events, workshops, meetings, consultations with relevant partners for the CSOs’-focused interventions and activities (by request);
• Draft concept notes, agendas, lists of participants, reports, and presentations for the CSOs’-focused interventions, activities, and events;
• Coordinate participation of CSOs’ representatives in events and activities organized in a framework of the CA Alliance EGBV agenda;
• Perform other duties and functions assigned by the Supervisor;
• Develop terms of reference for: Advisory and Monitoring Group working mechanism; Thematic Groups regular meetings’ within CA Alliance’s EGBV framework; Grant-making mechanism;
• Develop concept notes for Annual CSO meetings (once in a quarter).

Considering that Central Asia countries have a lot of in common, but at the same time each country has its own characteristics, the main task of the Consultant is to provide and maintain effective cooperation with the five countries of Central Asia in order to effectively implement the CA Alliance EGBV agenda, in particular, achieve results that are within the responsibility of UN Women.

The National Consultant needs to know the socio-economic and political situation in the countries of Central Asia and be in constant communication with the UN Women Country Office in Kazakhstan, other UN agencies, the office of the UN Resident Representative in Kazakhstan and the Programme Unit, be proactive, and offer practical solutions, be responsible and inclusive.

One of the tasks of the National Consultant would be independently assess the quality of processes and documents, and if necessary, recommend involvement of a third party in accordance with the procurement rules of UN Women.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Tolerance and respect
• Honesty
• Responsibility
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Professionalism
• Team Work

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, human rights, gender/ women’s studies, international development, or a related field is required;
• Master degree in a relevant field of study is an asset.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant work experience in development programme/ project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building;
• Experience in women’s movement building and/or CSO capacity development;
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is an asset;
• Experience of managing multi-stakeholder development programmes is an advantage;
• Familiarity with UN development programmes and working methods, and particularly with UN Women policies and programming procedures, desirable;
• Knowledge and experience in data/statistics collection, analysis and presentation;
• Experience working on gender equality, SGBV, human rights related projects.

Languages:

• Excellent reading, writing and speaking skills in Russian and English

The selection process will be based on technical qualifications of the candidates.

Technical evaluation criteria:

Payment will be made only if the expected results will be achieved, agreed package of documents and reports provided without delay and approval by UN Women.

Application Process:

All documents should be sent as one file including:

• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
• Technical proposal describing how the expected assignment will be performed. The technical proposal should also include:

1. Candidate's experience in development programme/project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building  (Supplementary Materials or link to a website where documents are available to learn about the Candidate's experience);
2. experience in  women’s movement building and/or CSO capacity development (supporting materials or a link to a site where documents are available to learn about the candidate's experience);
3. experience working on gender equality, SGBV, human rights related projects  (supporting materials or a link to a site where documents are available to learn about the experience of the candidate);
4. experience of working with UN agencies and/or other international organizations on similar issues in the field of gender equality and human rights.

• Financial proposal in KZT for daily consultancy services.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, hires, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by applicable law. All employment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational needs. 

If you require any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information with your application. 

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is inconsistent with the goals and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of power and discrimination. All selected candidates will be required to adhere to UN-Women's policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN-Women staff and will therefore be subject to a thorough background and background check. (A background check will include verification of academic credentials and employment history. Selected applicants may be required to provide additional information in order to conduct a background check.)