Antecedentes

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.
 
About UN Women Liberia:

UN Women’s programming in Liberia is developed within the framework of the gender priorities identified in Liberia’s 2012 – 2017 Agenda for Transformation (AfT) and reflected in the 2013 – 2017 UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). The goal of UN Women’s presence in Liberia is to contribute to addressing gender justice and equity through sustained peace building efforts particularly addressing violence against women and girls, promoting gender equality in governance and supporting women’s economic security and rights. The following have been identified as strategic areas for UN Women’s support:
  • Increased leadership and political participation for women;
  • Increased economic empowerment of women , especially those who are most excluded;
  • Women’s leadership in peace, security and humanitarian response;
  • National planning and budgeting processes which promote stronger institutional accountability to gender equality commitments.
UN Women’s programme is implemented within the context of Liberia as a post-conflict country ;
emerging from 14 years of armed conflict with devastating gender dimensions, which continue to pose serious challenges to the achievement of women’s human rights and gender equality in Liberia;
UN WOMEN Country Office is currently implementing its 2014 – 2017 Strategic Plan, informed by gender priorities within the Agenda for Transformation (AfT) 2012 – 2017 and the 2013 – 2017 UNDAF ONE Programme.
 
About the Position:

In line with its Strategic Plan, UN Women and the Ministry of Gender and Development, have received support from the Peace Building Fund for the implementation of two projects in Liberia: Women’s Economic Empowerment: Building Peace, Promoting Prosperity and Community-based Conflict Management – Women as Peace-makers and Nation Builders. 
The two projects were awarded in October 2013 and implementation began in the first quarter of 2014.  Although awarded separately with different thematic focuses, the two projects will be implemented jointly in the same communities in order to provide a holistic support package to women in targeted areas.  The geographic focus of the project is in five key areas affected by concession agreements, extractive industry activities and/or land disputes: Grand Bassa, Sinoe, Grand Gedeh, Gbarpolu and Cape Mount/Bomi.

The economic empowerment project invests in women to consolidate peace and build prosperity in Liberia’s at risk communities by increasing the economic security of at least 4,000 women and girls, improving the relationship between regional traders and the security sector, and increasing women’s participation in the management of community natural resources and land.

This consultancy would contribute to the component under the economic empowerment project targeting the increase in women’s participation in the management of community natural resources and land.  The consultant will work closely with the communities and the implementing partners identified by the project to generate research, evidence and policy recommendations for stakeholders. Topics may include: community management of natural resources and land, artisanal mining and community rights, negotiation with concession companies, delineation of community versus private land, workers’ rights with concession companies, and environmental and natural resource protection and conservation

Deberes y responsabilidades

The Gender and Natural Resource Management (NRM) Research and Policy Expert will be responsible for working with UN Women, the Ministry of Gender and Development and its implementing partners to generate research and targeted recommendations on women’s participation in the management of natural resources in Liberia.  The research and recommendations will focus on the most pressing concerns and barriers for women in five specific geographic areas targeted by programming supported by the Peace Building Fund in Liberia.  The targeted geographic areas are affected by various natural resource management challenges including: access to and control over land (including community land), industrial mining, artisanal mining, commercial forestry and large-scale agricultural concessions.   The targeted areas are in Grand Bassa, Sinoe, Grand Gedeh, Gbarpolu, Cape Mount and Bomi counties.
 
She/he will work with a locally contracted partner to produce a research report on the gender dimensions of natural resource management in Liberia, along with an accompanying policy brief for key stakeholders in the Government (including: Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy; Ministry of Internal Affairs; Land Commission; Governance Commission; Ministry of Justice; Forestry Development Authority; and the National Investment Commission).  The report should recommend tangible and concrete actions at the community and national governance levels for removing barriers and creating enabling conditions to build women’s capacity for productive and sustainable use of natural resources. 
 
Summary of Key Functions:
  • Develop inception report for assessments and research study;
  • Review relevant Government of Liberia policies, laws and concession agreements relating to community management of natural resources;
  • Hold consultations with national institutions together with the locally contracted partner
  • Lead and participate in community assessments in the five targeted geographic areas in order to generate a qualitative survey for a representative sample of community women on the issues of NRM and land with the locally contracted partner;
  • Identify women’s specific roles in the key natural resource sectors of interest in the study, how these roles have been affected by the conflict, the role women can play in NRM in post-conflict reconstruction, and the next decade of Liberia’s economic growth;
  • Identify entry points for Government partners / stakeholders to better protect women’s rights and remove barriers to women’s use of natural resources at the community level;
  • Provide recommendations on how private companies operating in the extractives sector can better engage both men and women at the community level during environmental and social impact assessments, as well as throughout their project cycle;Co-author research on women and natural resources in Liberia, with accompanying policy brief targeted directly at policy makers in Liberia;
  • Facilitate validation of report and policy brief for key stakeholders in Liberia.
  • Provide recommendations for project’s implementing partner on the priorities for awareness-raising and sensitization of women at the community level in each of the five targeted areas on sustainable natural resource management .

Expected Deliverables from Consultancy

  • Inception report for assessments and research study;
  • Review of relevant Government of Liberia policies, laws and concession agreements relating to community management of natural resources;
  • Develop assessment tools and lead team for community assessments in the five targeted geographic areas;
  • Research report on gender and natural resource management in Liberia, with accompanying Policy Brief;
  • Validation of Research Report and Policy Brief with key stakeholders in Liberia.
  • Inputs to development of simple knowledge and training materials for literate and semi-literate community women on natural resource management, with information on concession contracts affecting their communities and appropriate mechanisms to report complaints and raise concerns

Impact of Results

  • Documentation and research available for stakeholders, both private and public, on women’s specific roles in the key natural resource sectors in Liberia, how these roles have been affected by the conflict, what role women can play in NRM within post-conflict reconstruction, and in the next decade of Liberia’s economic growth;
  • Policy recommendations available for Government of Liberia and key stakeholders to protect women’s rights to the sustainable use of natural resources and to remove barriers to women’s use of natural resources at the community level;
  •  Implementing partners have resources and information to design targeted and relevant interventions for community women in UN Women’s project areas.

All interested applicants must submit an application letter, CV with a UN standard personal history form and send to: sourcing.liberia@unwomen.org . Please download the P11 form from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment. The deadline for application is March 27, 2014.

We will only consider applications with complete P11 attached. UN Women will only be able to respond to those applicants in whom UN Women has a further interest. UN Women does not solicit or screen for information in respect of HIV or AIDS and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

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.

Work in teams:

  • 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.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

  • Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

  • Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

  • Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

  • Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.
Functional Competencies:
  • Ability to lead and guide others to develop new skills or knowledge that will enhance their work;
  • Ability to assist a group or individuals to accomplish specific goals;
  • Ability to manage change by providing the needed structure and environment for interactions to be effective;
  • Ability to design a qualitative research methodology, and generate a representative sample;
  • Ability to observe, monitor, collect, and record data, assessing the accuracy, validity and integrity of the data;
  • Ability to interpret and evaluate results, and create reports and/or presentations;
  • Ability to communicate the scope of work, findings and recommendations.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education and certification:

  •  Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Environment, Natural Resource Management, Statistics, Gender/Women’s Studies or Social Sciences.

Experience:

  • Minimum 5 years of experience in research and making policy recommendations in the field of gender and natural resource management, gender and the environment or gender and land issues;
  • Prior experience in gender and environment programming is desirable;
  • Experience working in post-conflict settings is obligatory, particularly in concession areas and areas of extractive industries. Knowledge of West Africa is an asset;
  • Proven experience in working with national partners.

Language Requirements:

  • Written and oral proficiency in English is required.