Justification

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 leads and coordinated 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 HQ’s Disability Inclusion and Intersectionality Portfolio/UNSCD (hereinafter “DIIP”), leads, coordinates, and promotes the implementation of UN-Women corporate  Strategy for Disability Inclusion (The empowerment of women and girls with disabilities: Towards full and effective participation and gender equality), and, responds to the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS)’s Entity Accountability Framework. This syncs with the Entity’s dedicated work on gender equality and the empowerment of women at the global, regional and country levels.  The DIIP promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls with disabilities. It advocates for inclusive management and  mainstreaming disability inclusion at all levels.

As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, UN-Women, with support from the UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD), is immediately reacting to and supporting existing programs to adapt and respond to the current crisis through technical support, evidence, knowledge base, learning and guidance. UN-Women will support a number of countries with country-specific guidance through a range of mechanisms including, joint analysis and planning; flexible, on-demand technical support; collection of evidence; and development of case studies to support learning.

Background and Objectives

Countries will benefit from the development of global guidance by each UN entity as well as a coordinated learning series for UNCTs, governments, and other stakeholders to which each UN entity will contribute.  UN entities will engage with Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) through consultation, joint data collection and analysis, the provision of technical support, and support with advocacy and accountability efforts. OPDs will also work with UNCTs in selected countries to develop country profiles and case studies to support inclusive recovery and strengthened preparedness for future health emergencies. This participatory program model will build enduring relationships between UNCTs and OPDs, building the capacities of UNCTs and encouraging them to engage systematically with persons with disabilities in UN processes.

The objective of this Helpdesk Consultant is to provide on-demand technical support to UN Women field offices in support of the initiative detailed above as well as the UNDIS CT scorecard. Their role will be to make linkages between and across regions and the HQ and facilitate exchange of knowledge to leverage existing expertise from within the UN System and civil society on gender equality and disability inclusion.

Key Consultancy Functions 

The Helpdesk consultant will report to UN-Women’s Global Adviser for Gender Equality and Disability Inclusion. The consultant will respond to field requests related to disability inclusion, and provide virtual assistance to ensure a disability inclusive response to COVID-19 as well as support to those COs that are reporting on the UNDIS CT scorecard. Under overall guidance of the Global Adviser, the consultant will support the implementation of the UNPRPD supported Joint programme. More specifically, the consultant will be responsible for supporting  mainstreaming rights of persons with disabilities within UN Women Cos through following means:

• Review and provide feedback on disability inclusion through technical input to workplans, guidance notes being developed, etc.
• Identify opportunities for UN Women COs to collaborate in planning, implementation or development of initiatives;
• Advise on how to incorporate a gender and disability inclusive lens to the implementation of the UNDIS CT scorecard/similar accountability processes/models.
• Support the implementation of the UN-Women Global Strategy on Disability Inclusion.

Track time allocated to different activities and provide an analysis of requested demand for support.

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional competencies:

•    Strong knowledge and familiarity disability inclusion related issues as well as key concepts related to intersectional approaches, public health, and social inclusion. 

•    Ability to organize and complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities

•    Ability to handle a large volume of work under time constraints

•    Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client’s perspective

Required Skills and Experience:

Education:

•    Master’s degree or equivalent in international development, political sciences, public administration, public policy, gender studies, sociology, human rights or other relevant social science fields is required;

•    A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree;

Experience:

• At least 7 years of direct experience in supporting field offices on gender equality and disability inclusion, including among others, inclusive programming and/or operational support, gender-based violence, reasonable accommodation.
• Ability to provide advice on gender mainstreaming and mainstreaming rights of persons with disabilities  to country offices across varied regional contexts.
• Knowledge of disability-inclusive financing, tracking expenditures for disability inclusion (disability marker) would be an advantage.
• Knowledge of as country-level UN System accountability processes would be an advantage.
• Solid comprehension of results-based management and reporting.
• Excellent writing skills in English.
• Substantive experience of building partnerships with UN agencies, civil society and academia is relevant.

Language:

•    Fluency in English is required;

•    Knowledge of an additional UN official working language, particularly French or Spanish, is an asset.