Jobs - 24460- UN Women: Expert on Gender Responsive Constitution

UN Women: Expert on Gender Responsive Constitutions

Localidad :

Harare, Zimbabwe

Tipo de contrato :

Individual Contract

Fecha de comienzo del contrato :

01-Aug-2011

Fecha límite de postulación :

08-Sep-11 (Medianoche Nueva York, Estados Unidos)

Nivel de puesto :

International Consultant

Duración del contrato inicial :

3 months

Idiomas requeridos :

Inglés

Duración esperada del puesto :

El PNUD está comprometido con lograr la diversidad de su personal en términos de género, nacionalidad y cultura. Se alienta por igual a las personas que pertenecen a grupos minoritarios, a pueblos indígenas o que tienen alguna discapacidad a presentar su candidatura. Todas las solicitudes se tratarán con la mayor confidencialidad. UNDP no tolera la explotación y el abuso sexual, ningún tipo de acoso, incluido el acoso sexual, ni la discriminación. Por lo tanto, todos los candidatos seleccionados serán sometidos a una rigurosa verificación de referencias y antecedentes.

Antecedentes

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women will work 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 will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women is the UN entity for gender equality and women's empowerment and works towards supporting member states implement international commitments and standards through the provision of technical and financial assistance to those countries that request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society. Within this context UN Women provides support to counties undergoing constitutional reform and ensuring the reform processes take into account the rights and needs of women. UN Women has advocated for women's inclusion in constitution-building processes, including official constitutional review committees and drafting bodies; drafting and supporting constitutional provisions that guarantee women's participation in all branches and at all levels of government; engaging women in government, including support to women's caucuses and women in constitutional review committees; advocating for inclusive, participatory process that connects to grassroots women; engaging women in civil society to participate in the process, disseminate information, and effectively advocate to decision makers in the constitutional review process and facilitating consensus building processes and strategic planning.

Zimbabwe is currently undergoing constitutional reform, scheduled to be completed this year. Several stakeholder consultations have taken place throughout the ten provinces of the country in 2010. The drafting team in the Zimbabwe Constitution Select Committee (COPAC) is currently consolidating the reports from each of the consultations at the ward, district and provincial levels. COPAC is expected to start the drafting process, with the selection and commissioning of the drafting team.

As the founding document of a state's organization it is critical that the constitution ensures women's full presence and participation in all its chapters. The inclusion of specific language into constitutional articles that sets out rights for equal opportunities and equal access to benefits is critical in achieving gender equality. A constitution can then address these imbalances by protecting and promoting participation of women through special clauses. Constitutional clauses can protect women from discriminatory legal measures in key issue areas such as women's and men's equal access to land, property, education, health care, and work, as well as issues of family law (marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance, marital property, etc), and equal opportunity for political participation. The international legal instruments that Zimbabwe has, is a state party to set the context for constitutional reform and provide the legal basis to demand government accountability and inclusion in the constitution drafting process.

UN Women, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Women's Parliamentary Caucus (ZWPC), women's organizations and civil society groups, is supporting the work of the Zimbabwe Constitution Select Committee (COPAC) and the constitution-making process in order to ensure that the 12 demands set out in the Women's Charter of Zimbabwe are taken into account and that the process results in a constitution that is a foundation for inclusive peace building and creates a foundation for longer term gender responsive state-building.

UN Women wishes to recruit a senior consultant to be attached to the ZWPC to support COPAC process and provide technical assistance to drafting committee, the ZWPC, the committee of 20 Women leaders on how to incorporate relevant key elements from international legal instruments such as CEDAW, AU protocol on rights of women, SADC protocol on gender and BfPA and also the national demands of Zimbabwean women articulated in the Zimbabwean Women's Charter.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Under the overall supervision of UNWOMEN Country Program Manager, with day-to-day supervision from the Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Women's Parliamentary Caucus, the consultant hired to achieve objectives will be responsible for providing high quality technical support to ZWPC, the Committee of 20 Women Leaders and other structures aimed at ensuring gender responsive constitution. A joint work plan will be developed in the first week of the assignment, approved by UNWOMEN and ZWPC, to ensure the support of the expert is relevant and timely. The consultant will possess a good knowledge of regional and international examples of gender responsive constitutional reform processes. The consultant will provide support to the Zimbabwe Women's Parliamentary Caucus by:

Provide technical support to the ZWPC through drafting gender sensitive language for each of the 17 thematic areas of focus.
Provide up-to-date information and best practices from regional and international experiences.
Support the Committee of 20 Women Leaders to design and conduct a sensitization workshop for COPAC drafting committee members on gender sensitive constitutions and will present the Women's Charter and its relation to specific constitutional provisions.
Provide technical support to the Women Shadow Drafting Committee, composed of lawyers, academics, representatives of political parties and civil society.
Redraft the Position Paper on the Demands of Zimbabwean Women for the New Constitution into a short and precise reference document to be used by the COPAC drafting committee.
Provide background information, position papers, briefs, statements for ZWPC' advocacy work targeting political parties, media groups.
Support ZWPC and women's civil society organizations to prepare for the 2nd national stakeholder conference, by preparing necessary documentations.
Undertake any other tasks related to this consultancy, as requested by UNWOMEN and/or ZWPC.

Expected Deliverables:

Developed a work plan and obtain approval by UN Women and ZWPC, by the first three days of the assignment.
Facilitate and conduct a sensitization workshop for the committee of 20 women leaders on gender sensitive constitutions and the relation between the women's charter and constitution provisions in August 2011.
Produce a 10 page background document on relevant gender sensitive constitutions by October 2011.
Substantive contribution to Women Shadow Drafting Committee.
Produce a Position Paper on the Demands of Zimbabwean Women for the New Constitution by October 2011.
Undertake any other tasks related to this assignment as requested by the Country Program Manager.

Competencias

CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES:

Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

CORPORATE COMPETENCIES:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling UN/UNWOMEN values and ethical standards.
Demonstrates commitment to UNWOMEN's mission and vision.
Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability.
Treats all people fairly and without favouritism.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

Masters University degree (or equivalent) in law, political science, human rights or a related field.
Excellent knowledge of constitutional law and gender responsive constitutional reform.
Knowledge of CEDAW, BfPA, African Charter protocol on rights of women and SADC protocol on gender.

Experience:

A minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience.
Experience in drafting gender sensitive language into constitutional processes.
Experience as an advisor with constitutional reform processes.
Familiarity with the UN system's rules and procedure.

Language:

Fluency in English is required.

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.