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. UN Women is mandated by the UN Security Council to lead on UN system-wide coordination on Women, Peace, and Security, and to this end, UN Women has been working with governments, UN partners, and civil society through the region to support women’s participation and influence at all levels of decision-making to prevent and resolve conflict and to address issues of extremism. In the Middle East and North Africa region, the UN Women Regional Office for the Arab States, with support from the Government of Germany, is contributing toward building sustainable peace by strengthening women’s leadership and participation in high-level peace and transition processes. This is being done through the transfer of evidence-based knowledge and skills to empower institutions and key actors, including women in the region themselves, to engage in and influence peace processes. Within the scope of the project, UN Women is partnering with the World Bank to integrate women, peace, and security priorities in reconstruction planning processes and to promote inclusive reconstruction by informing political, financial, and other decision-making of high-level partners on the reconstruction processes. Context overview and rationale Women are key actors in the implementation of peace agreements and have been active in the region and all over the world in monitoring these and preventing relapses into conflict. Linked to this, research over the past twenty years has shown that women’s participation builds more sustainable peace and that their leadership needs to be harnessed when engaging in reconstruction and recovery efforts. During armed conflicts, women and girls are exposed to physical, psychological, and sexual violence, making them vulnerable to marginalization, poverty, and suffering. These experiences are key to take into account when rebuilding countries. Following the devastating ongoing civil wars that have taken place in the Middle East, reconstruction is becoming a pressing issue on the international agenda. In Iraq, after years of conflict and occupation by the Islamic State, the liberation of territories had an important human and infrastructural impact, and women have experienced the conflict firsthand and have borne the brunt of the insecurity and occupation. The country remains fragile, with a fractured society and challenging security and humanitarian environment. In Yemen, the complete destruction of the infrastructures generated by the conflict has led to the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, leaving a high percentage of the population at risk of famine, violence, and death. While the conflict is still ongoing, challenges around reconciliation and reconstruction have emerged and required urgent attention from international actors. To ensure reconstruction efforts in both countries include women’s perspective at their core, a timely assessment and inclusion of women’s needs are essential. Without gender issues included in their analysis and planning stages, reconstruction initiatives could take the risk to be gender-blind and potentially create more harm. In this context, UN Women and the World Bank are commissioning two case studies on gender and reconstruction in Iraq and Yemen to inform the analysis and planning stages of reconstruction processes in both countries. The objective of the Assignment: In partnership with the World Bank, UN Women is recruiting a consultant to elaborate two case studies including recommendations for gender-responsive reconstruction. Reporting to the WPS-HA Regional Advisor and working closely with the WPS Program Analyst and the UN Women and World Bank teams in Iraq and Yemen, the consultant will support the development of two case studies on gender-responsive reconstruction in Iraq (1) and Yemen (1). Looking at, amongst other priorities, women’s contribution to the economic growth and women's post-war livelihoods, women’s participation in governance, and women’s access to justice in the context of reconstruction in both countries, the case studies will aim to deepen the understanding of what women’s meaningful inclusion means in reconstruction processes, in particular in areas mentioned above, and to develop a strategic and long-term perspective on gender and reconstruction in Iraq and Yemen (including by giving recommendations based on good practices from other countries). The case studies will be presented during an expert group meeting in the first quarter of 2021.
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