Background

UN Women (UNW), 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, the UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides 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 advance gender equality in line with the national priorities. In support of this goal, and thoroughly taking into consideration the specificities of the Palestinian context, UN Women concentrates its efforts and interventions toward the realisation of following strategic goals:  Mainstreaming gender in governance, peace and security; Supporting women's economic security and rights; and Promoting women’s rights and protection against violence.

UN Women is committed to ensuring equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of humanitarian action. Our work in humanitarian action is guided by global norms and standards. Since 2013, collaboration between UN Women and OCHA has facilitated a process for strengthening gender focus in humanitarian action in the oPt through joint action planning.

The Joint Action Plan (hereafter JAP) between OCHA and UN Women was implemented between 2018-2020. It followed an earlier two-year plan and was conceived given the continued need to strengthen the role of local women and civil society organizations in the humanitarian response; create better linkages with other humanitarian actors and strengthen the strategic use of knowledge products in advocacy and policy development. This effort also pays attention to current efforts to strengthen Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) within coordination mechanisms. UN Women, as well as OCHA, are part of the Accountability to Affected Population ( AAP) and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) steering committee which secures alignment of Gender in Humanitarian Action with AAP/ PSEA.

The 2018-2020 JAP was informed by several relevant policies, instruments and standards relating to humanitarian response, gender equality as well as the policies of UN Women and OCHA. It sought to capitalize on the complementary capacities and mandates of OCHA and UN Women to advance gender equality in the humanitarian response and ensure effective gender mainstreaming. In late 2021, an End-term External Joint Evaluation of the JAP was conducted. Building on the findings and recommendations of the evaluation and field-level consultations that were carried out by UN Women in cooperation with OCHA, a Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Accountability Framework will soon be developed, which would aim at ensuring that humanitarian action is gender transformative and addresses the needs of women, girls, boys and men, in all their diversity, effectively and equitably. The GiHA accountability framework will focus in a broad sense on:

• Development of specific evidence, data and gender analysis to inform the development of HCT led Humanitarian Response Plans to ensure they adequately identify and address the specific needs of affected women, girls, boys and men.
• Enhancement of inter-agency and inter-cluster coordination through support to the humanitarian gender group (HGG) and the Gender Task Force (GTF) to support the mainstreaming of gender, and complimenting GBV sub-cluster work across all clusters.
• Accelerating localization through the capacity building of local women’s organizations and networks and facilitating their right to engage with humanitarian planning, decision making and monitoring/accountability (with a focus on those organizations that work with crisis affected women and girls, including those at heightened risk of violence, exploitation and abuse).
• Capacity building for cluster leads and the Inter-cluster coordination group (ICCG) members on the integration of gender into humanitarian action.
• Advocate with humanitarian actors to be accountable to existing policy commitments, standards and designated roles and responsibilities relating to the integration of gender into humanitarian response.
• Promoting mainstreaming gender in advocacy efforts and ensuring that the gendered impact of occupation and conflict is highlighted through advocacy efforts and messages.

To follow-up on the development and implementation of the GiHA accountability framework, UN Women in Palestine is seeking to hire a Gender in Humanitarian Action Specialist/consultant.  

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of UN Women Special Representatives and the direct supervision of the UN Women Programme Management Specialist, UN Women in Palestine is seeking to bring on board a Gender in Humanitarian Action Specialist to work towards achieving the following tasks and deliverables:

Policy guidance and technical advice to UN Women and humanitarian actors on gender in humanitarian action in Palestine

• Support the implementation and monitoring of a new GiHA accountability framework in full coordination with humanitarian actors and gender focal points (GFPs).
• Provide gender advisory support to ensure the integration of gender throughout the humanitarian programme cycle (HPC) including support to the development of humanitarian needs overview (HNO), humanitarian response plan (HRP), emergency plans, contingency plans, flash appeals etc.
• Provide technical support on gender mainstreaming to the humanitarian clusters members to ensure the content of their response plans highlight and address gender concerns and that members have increased capacity to respond to emerging gender priorities
• Regularly review the clusters analyses documents (i.e. Need Assessments, Plans, reports, ICCG briefs etc ) to ensure that gender content and SAAD  are systematically included.
• Provide technical support to women led organizations on GiHA and humanitarian processes.
• Carry out focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with local humanitarian actors to monitor Gender with Age Marker (GAM) application among other things.

Technical advice on GiHA and gender-responsive localization

• Participate in processes for reviewing, assessing and vetting gender aspects of humanitarian submissions.
• Provide advice on how to bolster humanitarian resourcing of gender related activities and outcomes.
• Strengthen capacity of humanitarian workers on GiHA.
• Support strategic engagement with Humanitarian Country Teams to strengthen the inclusion of gender equality funding in humanitarian financing.
• Support accelerating localization through facilitating/advocating for local women’s organizations and networks participation in  humanitarian planning, decision making and monitoring/accountability (with a focus on those organizations that work with crisis affected women and girls, including those at heightened risk of violence, exploitation and abuse).

Provide technical advice on advocacy, capacity development and knowledge building on gender in humanitarian action

• Participate in the humanitarian Advocacy working group and the data group and systematically share inputs on GiHA.
• Advise the development of knowledge products including briefs, fact sheets, statistics, research, policy briefs etc.; highlighting the gendered impact/gendered dimension of the humanitarian crisis on the affected populations.
• Conduct ongoing/periodic context updates and document gender related emerging trends and challenges also as they relate to cluster response
• Provide technical advice on the inclusion of SAAD and gender content in clusters and inter-cluster analyses and advocacy messages
• Ensure that gender is mainstreamed in cluster assessments, the Joint Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (MSNA) and rapid interagency assessments.
• Conduct trainings for GFPs, cluster coordinators and cluster members (including women-led organizations) on GiHA and GAM.

Lead coordination efforts on Gender in Humanitarian Action

• Chair the Humanitarian Gender Group (HGG) on behalf of UN Women in the West Bank and Gaza
• In consultation with OCHA and UN Women, revisit the ToR of the HGG and expand its partnership to include women-led organizations and networks.
• Participate in the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), Inter-cluster coordination Group (ICCG), and other cluster/working groups meetings as needed.
• Represent UN Women in the PSEA and AAP meetings and systematically provide inputs on GiHA to both groups.
• Perform other duties as deemed needed by UN Women.

Competencies

Core Value/Guiding Principles:

• Integrity
• Professionalism
• Respect for Diversity

Core Competencies:

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:  https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional competencies

• Sound knowledge of gender and women’s human rights’ national and international frameworks and policies.
• Strong dialogue and communication skills.
• Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client’s perspective; anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly.
• Excellent organization and planning skills and high attention to detail.
• Ability to meet deadlines and respond positively to feedback.
• Ability to complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities.

Required Skills and Experience

Evaluation Criteria:

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 including experience in similar assignments; the P11 form can be downloaded at https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process, a signed copy should be submitted.
• Letter of Interest containing the statement on candidate’s experience and qualification against required qualification, experience and competencies.

Note: Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Please upload as one attachment of all the documents as mentioned above online through the website.

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates and medical certification (of good health). Candidates will also be invited for a technical exam and an interview.

Evaluation of applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated based on the applicants’ qualifications mentioned above and the results of the exam and the interview. A contract will be awarded to the individual consultant who scores the highest score out of 100. Below conditions of passing scores:

• Passing score of qualification evaluation is at least 42/60 to qualify for the technical exam;
• Passing score of technical exam is at least 14/20 to qualify for the interview.
• Passing score of interview is at least 14/20 to qualify for the overall evaluation consideration.

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

Qualification Evaluation (60/100)

• Master’s Degree in Gender Studies, international relations, human rights or related fields (20 points)
• At least 5 years of proven professional experience in the field of gender in humanitarian action, gender equality, or other related fields (20 points)
• At least 3 years of proven experience in research or multi-stakeholder coordination (10 points).
• Experience working within the United Nations System in Palestine is highly desirable (5 points).
• Experience in conflict settings is highly desirable (5 points)
• Technical test (20 points)
• Interview (20/100)

Financial Evaluation

UN Women will make a predetermined financial rate offer to the selected candidate in line with the qualifications expected from the selected candidate and the costs of living at the duty station. The consultant will work on a full-time basis and will be paid on a monthly basis.