UN WOMEN Jobs - 93954- Consultant – Humanitarian Action and Disaster Risk

Consultant – Humanitarian Action and Disaster Risk Reduction (Retainer)

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Home based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Oct-2020

Application Deadline :

18-Sep-20 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

6 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

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 for women 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, the 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.

From the early days of the COVID19 pandemic in the Asia Pacific region, it was evident that gender inequalities and discriminatory social norms that existed in all counties before the pandemic are being exacerbated in this pandemic. These gender inequalities are having a profound impact on the lives of women and girls in the region are affecting women’s resilience in mitigating the effects of the outbreak especially those already at-risk of or affected by other crises and disasters. The pandemic unfolds against the backdrop of a region facing increased climate induced disasters and complex humanitarian crisis. Asia and the Pacific continues to be the region most prone to disaster impacts in the world: between 1970 and 2018, the region had 87 per cent of the people affected by natural disasters, despite being home to only 60% of the world’s population.[1] As countries cope with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, they also grapple with the reality of exposure to multiple severe natural hazards, exacerbated by the impacts of climate change, and potential for disasters within disasters.

UN Women’s Regional Analysis of the COVID19 outbreak in the Asia Pacific region has pointed to increased risks of GBV; rising risks of exploitation of women and girls (early marriage, trafficking); reduced access to livelihoods; decrease in access to healthcare; marginalization of women’s groups and networks; exclusion from decision-making spaces; reduced access to information for displaced women and girls; the compounding impacts of secondary disasters; and unequal access to shelter and to safe quarantine or self-isolation facilities.

In this context, the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific seeks to hire a consultant to support country offices with the development and implementation of gender-responsive disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and humanitarian action interventions that are adapted and contextualized to COVID-19 in the region.

[1] UNESCAP. The Disaster Riskscape Across Asia-Pacific: Pathways for Resilience, Inclusion and Empowerment. 2019.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision and guidance of the Regional Advisor, Humanitarian Action and Disaster Risk Reduction, and Head of Office for UN Women Country Offices in target countries (such as Pakistan and Bangladesh), the consultant will undertake the following tasks[1]:

Provide technical assistance, based on best practices and evidence, to UN Women Country Offices and government partners, for the design, monitoring and implementation plans of humanitarian, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation initiatives that are contextualized to COVID-19;
Support UN Women country offices in documenting DRR-CCA project implementation challenges, strategies adopted to overcome the challenges, in the COVID19 context, including determination of field level implementation challenges, risk mitigation measures and alternative strategies to continue implementation during COVID context, documentation of good practice
Conduct virtual consultation with women-focused organisations active in the disaster risk reduction and humanitarian space to determine and align advocacy messages (as a follow-up to event held with women-focused CSOs in November 2019 to input to Asia Pacific Sendai Framework of Action.)
Develop a monitoring framework for women-focused civil society organizations to advise on humanitarian and disaster risk reduction initiatives within a COVID19 program context
Provide remote capacity strengthening sessions/webinars to UN Women country offices and partners on gender-responsive disaster risk reducation, prevention measures and/or humanitarian programming ;
Document good practices, challenges, and lessons learnt from UN Women programming related to COVID-19 response;
Support the development of UN Women programming relating to gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and humanitarian action, including through development of draft concept notes and background briefs.

Expected Deliverables

In consultation with the Regional Humanitarian Advisor and respective UN Women offices, the DRR/Humanitarian Consultant will produce on a retainer basis:

Technical inputs into concept notes and background briefs on gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and humanitarian action, in context of COVID19 programming;
Monitoring frameworks for disaster risk reduction and humanitarian programming within COVID-19 context;
Data collection and analysis tools for feedback and complaint mechanisms;
Reports on technical advisory and capacity strengthening support provided to UN Women country offices and partners;
Briefs capturing lessons learnt, good practices, and challenges related to implementation of gender-responsive disaster risk reduction
Checklists for programming on DRR and humanitarian action in context of COVID19
Action briefs and outcome documentations from virtual consultations with women-focused organisations.

[1] Based on country-determined needs within social protection

Competencies

Core Values:

Respect for Diversity
Integrity
Professionalism

Core Competencies:

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
Accountability
Creative Problem Solving
Effective Communication
Inclusive Collaboration
Stakeholder Engagement
Leading by Example

Required Skills and Experience

Master’s degree in gender studies, human rights, international affairs, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, humanitarian action, social science, public policy, and/or any relevant field directly related to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls;

Minimum seven years of progressively responsible, relevant work experience at national or international level in design, planning, implementation and/or monitoring of development or humanitarian projects relating to gender equality;
Technical experience in gender-responsive disaster risk reduction, humanitarian action or/and climate change adaptation, with demonstrated experience coordinating with governments and civil society;
Experience writing project proposals, donor reports, and policy briefs;
Experience working in the UN System, in particular UN Women is an asset;
Working experience in Asia-Pacific is an asset;
Knowledge of online communications platforms an advantage;

Excellent command of written English, knowledge of languages spoken in the Asia-Pacific region is an asset.

Contract period and work location

The consultant will be home-based, with the ability to maintain working hours compatible with Bangkok. The contract period is October 2020 - March 2021.

Submission of application

Interest candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org with -cc to salila.klongboonjit@unwomen.org , not later than 18 September 2020, 23:59 Bangkok time.

Submission package includes:

Letter of Motivation
Personal History Form(P11)
Writing sample
Financial proposal: the financial proposal shall specify the daily professional fee.

Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes.

UN Women does not warrant that the maximum number of working days will be purchased during the term of Agreement. The consultant can only be engaged through issuance of ATLAS Purchase Order, based on agreed Contract every time the UN Women wishes to procure the service.