UN WOMEN Jobs - 48781- Review of Best Practise on Gender Responsive HIV/A

Review of Best Practise on Gender Responsive HIV/AIDS Strategies within EI sector

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Nairobi, KENYA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

18-Aug-2014

Application Deadline :

14-Aug-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

27 Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

2 months

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) is the United Nations organization, dedicated to gender equality. It was established in 2011 to accelerate the attainment of the rights of women globally. UN Women stands for women’s equal participation in all aspects of life and is mandated to support UN Member States to apply global standards for achieving gender equality. It works with governments and the civil society to design and develop laws, policies, programmes and services, needed to implement these standards. UN Women is further expected to provide leadership in enhancing and coordinating the accountability of the United Nations system in its work on gender equality and women’s empowerment. The priority areas of focus for UN Women include: enhancing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women; and championing women’s economic empowerment.

In regard to women’s economic empowerment, UN Women’s Eastern and Southern Africa regional office (UN Women ESARO) has increasingly been engaging the extractive industry sector in Africa. This is because of the significant contribution of this sector to the region’s economic growth (estimated at an average of 5.3 percent as at January 2014, relative to the global average for the same period of 3.2 percent). Regrettably however, discussions about the EI sector in Africa have tended to be problematic, due to the fact that in countries in which the sector is well-established, it has tended to be associated with an over-reliance on the sector, increased government ineffectiveness, corruption, environmental degradation and pollution, widening inequalities, poverty and conflicts. Additionally, little attention has been given to the negative gender dimensions of the significant impacts of resource extraction activities, for the individuals and communities who are engaged or affected by those operations.

Women and girls living in communities affected by extractive projects have tended to bear the brunt of such impacts, which can include: forced displacement, disruption of traditional livelihoods, increased food and financial insecurity. Women have been particularly vulnerable, as a function of existing gender inequalities which undermine their decision-making abilities within the home. They have also tended to have difficulties finding employment within the sector, due to their limited skills and experience. Such women are often seen to turn to alternative forms of income generation, which often includes commercial sex work, which leaves them vulnerable to rape, human trafficking and sexually transmitted diseases in general and HIV and AIDS in particular.

Altogether, these issues have contributed to a well-documented increase in HIV incidence amongst populations within and around areas where extractive operations are taking place. As such, there has been increased pressure on private sector companies to respond to this by introducing workplace and community HIV/AIDS policies, strategies and programs, to prevent and address the control and management of HIV and AIDS. However, questions remain about the effectiveness of these approaches for women, given the fact that gender disparities in the income-generating and decision-making power of women have both been demonstrated to have negatively impacted upon their abilities to adopt risk mitigation strategies against HIV and AIDS. Whereas these initiatives are recognized as extremely important, there is a need to ensure that they are responsive to vulnerabilities of different population groups, if these approaches are to be broadly effective.

In identifying and analyzing exemplary gender-responsive HIV and AIDS strategies assumed by private sector companies in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, UN Women ESARO will seek to strengthen the imperative for gender-responsive HIV and AIDS approaches, and to share this knowledge with stakeholders in this sector. For this reason, UN Women is seeking a consultant to conduct a review and analysis of best practice examples and models of gender-responsive HIV and AIDS strategies assumed by private sector companies operating in the eastern and Southern Africa Region.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant(s) will conduct a comprehensive mapping of private sector EI organizations operating in the ESA region (in oil, gas and mining) and identify whether they have existing HIV and AIDS programmes at institutional and community level. Of those that are identified as having HIV and AIDS programmes, a methodology will be developed of classifying them and determining the extent to which these programmes are gender-responsive, and if so, why and how they seek to address incorporate gender considerations in their programmes (institutional and community level).

Based on this analysis, the consultant will select 3 to 4 exemplary programmes (seeking to balance between oil, gas and mining companies if possible) to highlight the imperative for gender-responsive strategies, and successful corporate models and best practices for gender-responsive HIV and AIDS programmes for private sector companies operating in the ESAR EI sector.

The study will be ‘home based’ and will entail a desk review of EI private sector actors in ESAR; and an assessment of their HIV and AIDS programmes (if any), which process will require that the consultant actively engage with these companies to gather evidence and more in depth information.

Deliverables:

An Inception report with a proposed methodology – including a preliminary identification of key possible companies to include and the proposed strategy for establishing contact with the necessary contacts. The inception report will also provide the expected time frame for the following deliverables and an outline for the proposed report;
A comprehensive list of EI companies operating in the ESA region, which have HIV and AIDS programmes, for review and comments by UN Women ESARO;
Draft report and presentation of key findings of the review of selected private sector HIV and AIDS programmes , for review and comments by UN Women ESARO;
Final complete and comprehensive report of the review and findings in MS Word (with an Executive Summary, Table of Contents and a completed Reference section);
Draft guidelines/tools for use by EI companies for formulating and/or incorporating gender-responsive approaches in to corporate HIV and AIDS programmes. An initial draft will be delivered with the final review report, for comments/in-puts by UN Women ESARO;
Presentation of final guidelines/tools to UN Women staff in MS Word (with an Executive Summary, Table of Contents and a completed Reference section);
Facilitation of workshop with stakeholders in the ESAR EI sector to present the review report and guidelines/tools for formulating gender-responsive HIV and AIDS programmes.

Competencies

Core Values/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.

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.

Functional competencies:

Have understanding of the socio-political and economic situation in sub-Saharan Africa;
Preferably, understanding of UN entities’ structures and work;
Excellent writing, facilitation and negotiation skills;
A team player/consensus builder with good interpersonal and excellent communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education Requirement:

A Master’s Degree in Economics, International Development studies and/or Public Health.

Experience:

At least 7 years’ experience in research and consultancy work;
Strong demonstrable research background in HIV and AIDS programming and gender mainstreaming in Public Health (writing samples will be required);
Extensive demonstrable experience in gender issues as they relate to the control and management of HIV and AIDS;
Have demonstrable experience of the Extractive Industry sector (oil, gas and mining) in Eastern and/or Southern Africa (evidence will be required);
Familiarity with UN Women programming will be an added advantage;
Experience in development of Knowledge products, guidelines etc. (Evidence will be required).

Language Requirements:

Proficient in English language;.
Knowledge of Kiswahili, Portuguese and/or French is useful.