Background

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. 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 plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997. UN Women Palestine Office focuses its activities on one overarching goal, namely, to  support the implementation at the national level of existing international commitments to dvance gender equality in line with the national priorities. UN Women, in collaboration with the government of the State of Palestine, civil society, development partners, UN sister agencies, and the private sector, promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment in the State of Palestine through three strategic impact areas:  (1) women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy; (2) women and girls live a life free of violence and (3) women lead, participate in and benefit from peace and security, humanitarian action and recovery efforts in Palestine.  All programmes are aligned with the Palestinian Government’s national development priorities and are geared to enhancing national ownership and capacity to implement national gender equality commitments.

Following UN General Assembly Resolution 67/19 upgrading Palestine to the status of non-member observer state in the United Nations, the State of Palestine signed letters of accession to seven core Human Rights treaties, including the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in April 2014. By acceding to CEDAW without reservations, the Government of Palestine reiterated its commitment to the full recognition of women’s human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The initial CEDAW State Report was the first Human Rights treaty report drafted by the State of Palestine; it was submitted to the CEDAW Committee on 8 March 2017.  After its review, the CEDAW Committee, which monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, provided a list of issues and questions to which the State of Palestine submitted written replies. The Initial State Report was considered during the Committee’s 70th session held on 11 July 2018 in Geneva. Following the Committee's dialogue session with Palestine in July 2018, the CEDAW Committee issued the Concluding Observations and Recommendations.  Published on 20 July 2018, the Concluding Observations and Recommendations highlighted the main issues that the government should do to achieve gender equality in Palestine.

A National CEDAW Coalition led by the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) was established in 2016.  The Coalition  prepared and submitted the first ever Shadow Report and the development and implementation of a two-year action plan to enable the Coalition, which is comprised of representatives of 50 civil society organizations and groups, to follow up and monitor implementation of the Concluding Observations and the Convention. The Coalition attended the NGOs’ session in Geneva in July 2018 where an oral statement was delivered to the CEDAW Committee on behalf of the coalition. The statement focused on the priorities listed in the shadow report which were highlighted before the committee be considered when making recommendations to the State of Palestine.  A three-day national workshop was held for the National CEDAW Coalition in October 2018, to validate the national action plan prepared by the coalition in follow up to the concluding observations of the CEDAW Committee with short and long-term priorities. The workshop was facilitated by a former CEDAW Chair and Committee Member, and it was attended by more than 70 representatives of civil society organizations and government institutions, including three ministers, three deputy ministers and other senior government officials. This workshop also served in highlighting the complementarity in the roles of the civil society coalition and government in meeting the CEDAW Committee recommendations, and equally important, the need to work in close collaboration to meet the national gender equality commitments.

The objective of this assingment is to provide advocacy and communication support to the National CEDAW Coalition led by the GUPW in the framework of their two year-workplan in link with the CEDAW Committee's Recommendations.

Time Frame:

The duration of this assignment is estimated to be 6 months between 15 September 2019 and 14 March 2020. The contract will be managed in accordance to UN Women applicable procedures and general terms and conditions.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of UN Women Special Representative, and direct supervision of the UN Women Human Rights Projects Manager and in close collaboration with the GUPW who is leading the National CEDAW Coalition, the communications and advocacy consultant will be hosted within the General Union of the Palestinian Women office in Ramallah for an average of three days a week  and will be accountable to UN Women and responsible for the following tasks:

• Develop a detailed work plan for their advocacy and communication work based on the Coalition’s current three priorities:

1. Create a plan of action that includes clear results, indicators and timetables as well as tools for implementation and evaluation of the campaigns.
2. Develop and strengthen networking and coordination with concerned member institutions of the National CEDAW Coalition involved in the different campaigns to develop the strategic and operational plan of the campaigns.
3. Develop a communication and media coverage plan in line with the vision of Coalition members, provide media support relations and maintain a list of media networks and outlets.
4. Oversee the implementation of the three campaigns which entail defining key campaign objectives and core messages based on the shared vision of the Coalition organizations, involved in the campaigns.

• Provide technical support to the Coalition members involved in the implementation of the various activities of the campaigns. This includes amongst others.

1. Provide and coordinate inputs to CEDAW website, key messages, briefing materials, brochures, messages on billboards, social media, press releases, videos, radio spots, community and public events, etc.
2. Coordinate the publication of materials for final approval; ensure branding and maintain relationships with printers/ publishers.
3. Translation of communications and visibility documents Arabic-English / English-Arabic, as needed.

• Follow-up, supervision and monitoring of the implementation of the advocacy plan in cooperation with the Coalition members, partners and other institutions working in this field, and ensure coordination with various relevant bodies such as government institutions and private sector.

1. Monitor achievements and activities and prepare progress and periodic reports on the different actions and events.
2. Document all data, documents and reports to be used for the implementation of the various activities of the campaign.
3. Track and monitor print and social media and report relevant information to the National CEDAW Coalition.

.Key Deliverables:

Upon signature of the agreement, and in accordance with the above duties and responsibilities, the consultant is expected to deliver the following:

• A detailed overall advocacy and communication plan on CEDAW based on the above section (30%)
• An action plan for the implementation of  each of the three sub campaigns based on the CEDAW Coalition’s priorities-A first one on the official publication of the CEDAW (15%)
• An action plan for the implementation of  each of the three sub campaigns based on the CEDAW Coalition’s priorities-A second on raising the age of marriage (15%)
• An action plan for the implementation of  each of the three sub campaigns based on the CEDAW Coalition’s priorities-A third on political participation of women (10%)
• A final assignment report outlining key results and achievements., gaps and recommendations for further actions (30%)

Competencies

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.

Professionalism:

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

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.

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 behaviour 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.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge of different aspects of public information and communication.
• Ability to elaborate communication strategies by identifying audiences and communication means.
• Ability to conceptualize, design and implement major information and advocacy campaigns.
• Ability to rapidly analyze and integrate diverse information from varied sources.
• Ability to produce a variety of written and visual communications products in a clear, concise style, as well as develop messages for use when communicating on the programmes.
• Excellent writing and editing skills and a demonstrated ability to clearly communicate development ideas and experiences;
• Demonstrated creativity, particularly very good sense of design.
• Sound commitment to gender equality, women’s empowerment, human rights and social justice issues.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in communication, journalism, international relations, political sciences or any other related field, combined with 5 years of relevant experience. Or BA degree in communication, internal relations, political sciences, or any other related field, with 7 years of relevant experience.

Experience: 

• Five years of experience in writing and editing content that clearly communicates development ideas for media, web, print production, and audio-visual productions; aligning with quality standards.
• Five years of experience in organizing advocacy campaigns, community and public events.
• Thorough experience of women’s rights issues and knowledge of relevant gender issues in Palestine of a minimum of 5 years.
• Relevant experience in drafting progress reports of a minimum of 5 years.
• At least 5 years of experience in coordination and interaction with various stakeholders.
• Previous experience with UN or international organization is an asset.

Languages:

Professional proficiency in Arabic and very good command of the English Language.

Application procedure:

This SSA modality is governed by UN Women General Terms and Conditions. UN Women will only be able to respond to applicants who meet the minimum requirements.

Candidates should clearly indicate how they meet the above-mentioned criteria in their applications.

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials:

• P11 Or CV including past experience in similar assignments. P11 form can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certification (of good health) Expression of Interest (EoI) should they be short-listed in consideration of this consultancy.

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and an interview.

Those who obtain at least 70/100 on the below qualification evaluation, will be called for an interview. Those who pass the interview, will be requested to send a financial offer and the contract will be offered to the best financial offeror.

Technical Evaluation (100%) – max. 100 points:

• Sample of an advocacy campaign strategy, media and communication strategy or a community and public event concept note, and a sample of a press release. (20 points)
• M.A with five years/BA with six years of demonstrated experience in public information, public relations, journalism, international relations, advocacy, or communication at corporate or project level; (5 points)
• Five years of experience in writing and editing content that clearly communicates development ideas for media, web, print production, and audio-visual productions; aligning with quality standards; (15 points)
• Five years of experience in organizing advocacy campaigns, community and public events; (20 points);
• Thorough experience of women’s rights issues and knowledge of relevant gender issues in Palestine of at least 5 years;  (20 points)
• Relevant experience in drafting progress reports of a minimum of 5 years; (10 points)
• At least 5 years of experience in coordination and interaction with various stakeholders; (5 points)
• Previous experience with UN or international organization is an asset; (5 points)