Background

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.

The work of UN Women in Moldova is guided by its new ?Country Strategic Note 2023-2027?, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Moldova (2023-2027), UN Women Global  Strategic Plan, National Programs and Strategies and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Strategic Note focuses on four main areas: 1) Ending Violence against Women; 2) Women’s Leadership and Governance; 3) Women’s Economic Empowerment and 4) Humanitarian and Peace development nexus and UN Coordination on Gender equality. ?  

Towards these Impact Areas, UN Women works with a variety of national and international partners to challenge gender-based stereotypes and towards the creation of an environment, whereby women act as key agents of change towards greater equality and development, in partnership with men and boys.  

The overarching vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is inclusive and sustainable growth with its promise to leave no one behind. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, target 5.5. calls to “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of the decision-making in political, economic and public life”. Gender equality is mainstreamed throughout the SDGs, including SDG 16 “Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies”. Gender equality by 2030 requires urgent action to eliminate the many root causes of discrimination that still curtail women’s rights in private and public spheres.  

Gender inequalities continue to persist in all areas of public and private life, while important progress has been recorded in Moldova over the past 10 years. Moldova ranked 51st out of 162 countries in the 2021 Gender Inequality Index, with a score of 0.205 points. The comparatively high values for Moldova are due to the increased representation of women in politics and decision making, including from the most marginalized and vulnerable groups. 

The Government significantly strengthened national legal and policy frameworks for advancing gender equality in Moldova. In 2021, the Convention of the Council of Europe on prevention and combating violence against women, including domestic violence was ratified. Several laws (civic and criminal) were amended to improve prevention and protection from gender-based violence and reduce the existing gender wage gap. These legal amendments have been coupled with the approval of national policies pertaining to gender equality, the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, women’s economic empowerment, ending violence against women, including the Government decision to establish the first National Agency on prevention and combating violence against women and domestic violence. 

In the Republic of Moldova, women’s equal and meaningful participation in decision making roles at all levels, including in conflict negotiations, remains yet to be fully attained. UN Women progressively advocated for the introduction of Temporary Special Measures along with Civil Society and development partners since 2014 and extended expert support ever since to the Legislative, including Women’s Parliamentary Caucuses, to promote gender-sensitive legislation. 

Today, the Republic of Moldova is led by a female President, and new presidential elections are expected in October 2024, with a parliamentary election scheduled for 2025. Women’s representation in the Government experienced a setback, reaching only 19% in 2023 from 23% in 2022, as result of a cabinet reshuffle that replaced the female prime-minister and several women ministers with men.

In 2023 significant progress towards impact was registered with women’s representation in local government reaching historically high levels in Moldova. After the 2023 General Local Elections, women secured 40.3 % of local council seats (a nearly 4% increase from 2019 elections), while in district councils, their representation rose to 33.3% (a 6.2.% increase).  At the same time, women continued to be subject to gendered political and electoral violence in 2023 as well. Gender Equality Platform, with UN Women support, documented 195 cases of sexist remarks (75% perpetrated by men) and 21 instances of sexist behaviors targeting mayoral women candidates running in 2023 local elections recorded during the 122 monitored televised electoral debates in eight of the country’s largest municipalities.  

Regarding the women’s participation in security and peace process in Moldova, UN Women supported the evaluation of the first National Programme on implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on WPS (hereinafter –NAP on WPS) revealing the need to continue building upon the achieved results during 2018-2021 and further channel efforts on implementing the WPS Agenda outlining the key role of women in security, peacebuilding and peacekeeping. Based on these findings, the 2nd generation NAP on WPS (2023-2027) was developed with UN Women expertise, and approved by the Government in 2023. It brings new approaches to the WPS Agenda implementation, including decentralizing commitments and engaging the Security Zone local actors, while building upon women’s meaningful participation in peacebuilding.  

UN Women committed to further support the advancement of gender equality and women’s leadership within government institutions and women’s associations including in non-traditional sectors, such as security and defence, thus contributing to reduce the stereotypes about the role of women in the security and decision-making, to improve the opportunities for women and men to reconcile the professional and family life, to prevent and respond to discrimination, harassment, and gender-based violence, but also to leverage their potential and representation in leadership roles.  

In this respect, UN Women Moldova is seeking to engage a National Consultant to provide expertise and recommendations on gender mainstreaming into the analytical and informational products developed by institutions/partners within the WILG and WPS areas, including support in addressing gender discrimination through awareness raising and capacity building, upon request.  

The consultant will be reporting to UN Women Moldova senior management, and will be supported by the Programme Officers, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

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

Payment will be disbursed on a quarterly basis, upon submission and approval of deliverables with and certification by the UN Women responsible staff that the services have been satisfactorily performed.  

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy. The consultant may work remotely but may have to come to the office on a needs-based basis. 

As part of this assignment, no travels are envisaged. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UN Women and the National Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the UN Women Higher Leadership and in close collaboration with Programme Officers of Women in Leadership and Governance and in Women, Peace and Security areas, the selected national consultant will support the Programme team and its partners by providing timely and synergetic gender expertise for designing and implementing programmatic interventions at central and local levels, consistent with UN Women rules and regulations. She/he works in close collaboration with the operations, programme and projects’ staff in the UN Women Moldova CO.  

  • Conduct informative discussions with the leadership of the government institutions and women’s associations in the security and defence sectors, to start planning the activities as per institution requests sent to UN Women and to ensure they are taking into account the gender perspective. The consultant shall assist the UN Women partners with implementation of strategic activities.
  • Provide gender expertise and recommendations from gender perspective for the work papers and informational, analytical materials, training curricula, agendas, presentations produced, primarily, by the UN Women implementing partners and potential partners (Government and Non-Government entities) on WPS and WILG areas, upon request.  
  • Organize, plan and deliver capacity building and awareness on gender equality, gender mainstreaming, leadership, non-discrimination, gender-based violence, masculinities including in non-traditional sectors, such as security and defence institutions, central and local public authorities, including UN Adolescents and Youth Advisory Panel in Moldova, youth organizations, and other relevant authorities upon request. In conducting this task, the consultant shall identify jointly the target groups from the institutions and shall develop the outline, curriculum, agenda, background readings, training aids and case studies for the sessions.   
  • Provide to UN Women partners staff, upon request, to increase gender equality awareness and expertise.

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/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values 

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: 

  • Gender Analysis Skills
  • Knowledge of Women’s Rights and International Frameworks
  • Expertise in Women’s Leadership Development
  • Training and Facilitation Skills
  • Expertise in the Women Peace and Security area
  • Advocacy and Awareness Raising Skills
  • Strong analytical and writing skills experience

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

  • Master’s degree or equivalent in law, public administration, human rights, gender equality, social sciences or other related areas 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.
  • Additional certifications in the field would be an added advantage.

Experience:

  • Minimum of 7 (seven) years of relevant experience in the area of gender equality, women’s leadership, on Women, Peace and Security Agenda and/or gender responsive budgeting is required; 
  • Minimum 3 (three) years of collaborative work experience with national partners at policy/decision making and/or institutional and local level, including government and civil society organisations is required; 
  • Experience in developing and delivery of various types of trainings and capacity building programs from Gender perspective will be considered as an advantage.   
  • Experience in the UN system, agencies and international organizations is an advantage. 

Languages:

  • Fluency in English and Romanian is required. Advanced knowledge of Russian is an advantage.
  • Working knowledge of one or more additional languages relevant for Moldova, including Bulgarian, Gagauzian, Romani, Ukrainian or sign language is an advantage.

APPLICATION PROCESS AND SUBMISSION PACKAGE 

Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications with the following documents:

  • P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc ) Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. 
  • A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position
  • Up to three samples of training materials and/or analytical documents elaborated by you (ex.: PPTs, content outlines, handouts, reports, research papers etc.). Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment.

Please note that only short-listed applicants will be contacted.

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.

The United Nations in Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.