Antecedentes

Organizational Values and Principles:

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 economic 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.

Background:

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GOIRA) has established a robust policy framework on the promotion of women’s advancement and gender equality.  Gender equality policies are  enshrined in the Constitution, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has been ratified, gender equality targets have been adopted under the Afghanistan Millennium Development Goals,  and the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) contains a Gender Equality Cross Cutting Sectoral Strategy. More importantly, the major gender equality commitments of the government have been put together in a coherent implementation framework, otherwise known as the National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA). The NAPWA serves as the government’s primary vehicle for implementing its commitments on women’s empowerment and gender equality.  Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework also ensures the gender equality and economic growth in Afghanistan. 

Since the adoption of the ANDS, the Government has engaged in an ongoing review and revision of economic laws and policies to align them with the economic strategy. Yet despite Government’s obligations, Afghan women remain trapped in extreme poverty and are routinely exposed to economic exploitation in an economy that is based on a free market system. National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA), which set benchmarks for achieving overall progress in the areas of girl child education, protection from violence, economic empowerment and most importantly women in decision making.  Hence, NAPWA provides the needed framework to address the economic challenges of women, and therefore focus should be given to NAPWA to develop the needed economic policies for women and an implementing strategy. UN Women has taken initiatives to support government and civil society counterparts in implementation of pillar 3 of NAPWA, namely: “To create an enabling economic and social environment that is conducive to the full development and realization of women’s economic potential’.

The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) has been pursuing the mainstreaming of gender into its current programming. UN Women Afghanistan Country Office (ACO) has partnered with the MRRD to implement the joint UN Women – MRRD Results Framework of the ‘Economic Security and Rights of Women: Opportunities to Build Sustainable Economic Assets’ Project, funded by the UN Women Finland National Committee. Under this partnership UN Women will provide support to capacity building of gender focal points and staff of the Afghanistan Rural Enterprise Development Program (AREDP) in addition to support for policy development. Capacity building includes a series of training for MRRD staff at national and provincial levels, development of a tool kit and related activities. In order to meet this commitments,  and to ensure all economic empowerment initiatives under the ministry are gender responsive, UN Women seeks to contract the services of an International Trainer on Gender Mainstreaming in Economic Empowerment to deliver training and related tasks mentioned below.

The Consultant will be based in MRRD and supporting gender mainstreaming in economic empowerment and small/ medium scale entrepreneurship development initiatives of the ministry by providing training and related capacity building services.  The Consultant will report directly to the UN Women ACO Political and Economic Empowerment Manager who will liaise with MRRD in overseeing the work.  He/she will be a member of the Gender mainstreaming teams in the ministry and will closely work with MRRD National Gender Advisor and Gender Advisor of the AREDP project. He/she will also provide in-house support to the Unit personnel and advise the team on gender mainstreaming in economic development stream.

Deberes y responsabilidades

1.      Closely coordinate with Unit Manager and partners (governmental and non-governmental) to review the MRRD’s Gender Policy, which was approved in 2011, and incorporate any changes based on in-depth consultations with stakeholders.In this connection, the Consultant will:

·  Undertake an assessment to identify strengths and gaps regarding the existing Gender poliy by MRRD and organized a policy review workshop with all key stakeholder of the ministry. 

Outputs: Approved Gender policy

Timeline: Draft policy will be ready by 30 days.

The Consultant will develop:

·         a comprehensive gender policy implementation plan will be developed for MRRD

·         a detailed implementation plan addressing all the capacity gaps identified in the initial assessment for ministry specific gender units and focal persons based on the approved capacity development strategy. 

·         The Consultant will organize and facilitate a ministerial level consultation workshop to finalize the implementation plan.

Outputs: A comprehensive policy implementation plan developed and approved by the minister MRRD.

Timeline: Draft policy implementation plan will be ready by 30 days.

3.      Finalize the Capacity development strategy and the toolkit/ manual developed for MRRD.

The Consultant will develop:

·         Will revise and incorporate all the comments of the ministry on the capacity development strategy.

·         Based on the comments and changes suggested by the ministry on the Manual/ Toolkit will incorporate and finalize the toolkit. 

Outputs: Revised final strategy and toolkit approved by the ministry and printed.

Timeline: This task will be completed with in the over all timeframe of this consultancy.

Competencias

• Core values and Guiding principles:

Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity 

Core Competencies:

• Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity  
• Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
• Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative.
• Team Work: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Communicating and Information Sharing:   Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Functional competencies:

• Ability to plan, prioritize and deliver a variety of tasks on time
• Exercise sound judgment/analysis
• Ability to develop creative solutions
• Ability to provide constructive coaching and feedback for others
• Ability to liaise with a myriad of stakeholders and partners, including government, civil society, international organizations and grassroots organizations
• Ability to work in culturally diverse environments and display diplomacy and tact
• Demonstrated sensitivity, discretion, tact, and courtesy in relation to  implementing partners, and national and international personnel of varied nationalities and backgrounds

   

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

 Master degree in economics, gender, public Administration or relevant social sciences, with 5 years relevant experience  or Bachelor degree in above mentioned fields with 7 years relevant experience.

       Professional Experience:

• 5 years of training experience in Social Development and Gender related issues; 
• Experience in working with government, civil society and international organizations;
• Well experienced in conducting gender related trainings, including TOT workshops, and able to develop TOT for Gender Mainstreaming and development; 
• Ability to set priorities, manage time effectively, and contribute to a team environment of respect, recognition, and mutual accountability in a diverse  multi-cultural setting; 
• Demonstrated sensitivity, discretion, tact, and courtesy in relation to gender equality and women’s rights, development principles and projects, implementing partners, and national and international personnel of varied nationalities and backgrounds; 
• Commitment to upholding the organizational values and principles of UN Women;
• A proven ability to effectively work with a myriad of stakeholders and partners, including government, civil society, NGOs, and international organizations; 
• Excellent reporting and communication skills, especially in written and oral English. 
• Understanding of national and international policy frameworks on gender equality 
• Understanding of the social, cultural, and political context of Afghanistan and its relation to gender, especially at the sub-national level, and familiar with major gender issues in Afghanistan and commitment to gender equality 
• Willingness to travel to provinces. 

Language Requirements:
• Fluent in English language. Strong, confident command of both written and oral professional English
• Knowledge of Dari and/or Pashto

Computer Skills:
• High level of proficiency in report writing, Internet navigation and various office applications.