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.

Of the 128.6 million people currently in need of humanitarian assistance, over three-quarters are women and children. Conflict and displacement affect women and girls differently from men and boys. Disruption to livelihoods, social protection, health, education and shelter caused by a crisis, worsen the situation for women and children in their care, leaving them food insecure and at risk of exploitation and abuse, such as trafficking, slavery and violence. The situation is made worse by the fact that crisis and conflict are increasingly protracted - the average length displacement has reached 17 to 25 years.[1]  At the same time, women’s and adolescent girls’ contributions to preparedness and humanitarian action can be decisive in any response’s success or failure, including through their roles as leaders and decision makers, first responders, and builders of family and community resilience to withstand hardship and maintaining social cohesion.  Yet these roles are rarely acknowledged and even more rarely supported.

One particularly impact of crisis is the loss of opportunity for young women to gain an education.  Due to gender-based barriers and vulnerabilities faced by women and girls, situations of crisis and displacement can render educational and training services unavailable, inaccessible and reduce their value to the point that women and girls decide not to participate. These women miss out, with lost opportunities for them, their families and their communities.  Conversely, offering solutions to provide a second chance to secure an education, particularly where that education is appropriate, accessible and reflective of local labour market demand, can be among the most effective interventions to provide income, build resilience and support the transition to development.  Where these solutions leverage technology to make educational offerings cheaper and better, the return on investment can be unrivalled.

Aligned with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Women’s Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning (SCE) Programme is a solution for marginalized or displaced young girls and women who have missed out on education, offering pathways either back into formal education or to employment or entrepreneurship, through second chance education and vocational training.

The SCE Programme brings together public and private sector partners to: i) promote supportive multi-sectoral policy and financing frameworks to create an enabling environment to pilot and scale up successful SCE solutions; ii) address harmful and discriminatory social norms that keep girls and young women out of education; iii) provide high quality content; iv) tailor educational opportunities directly to the local labour market to increase the value of education and create a pipeline of educated your women ready to transition to employment.

Under the direct supervision of the SCE Programme Manager the Consultant will be responsible for the establishment of the SCE web portal, in collaboration with various UN Women departments. The incumbent will be responsible for identifying and integrating existing UN Women educational resources into the platform, liaising with the private sector, research and education institutions and partners on external content, cataloging and integrating relevant learning content from various sources into the SCE web portal as well as identifying gaps in available content.

Key Performance Indicators:

The key results have a major impact on the overall prototyping and piloting of UN Women Virtual Skills School and Second Chance Education Programme.

• SCE web platform roadmap developed
• Mapping and cataloging of available content, and identification of gaps in existing content
• UN Women existing learning content integrated in the SCE web portal  
• Relevant partners content catalogued, prioritized and made available on SCE web platform
• Contribution to development of learning and career pathways
• Quality inputs to reports and publications which highlight achievements.