Antecedentes

Organizational Context:

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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 center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates 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 is dedicated to advancing gender equality and women’s human rights in Afghanistan. Staff and consultants of UN Women Afghanistan are expected to contribute to a professional working environment in which the strengthening of national capacities and human potential is prioritized.  Respect for diversity and human dignity is required, as is the active pursuit of a collaborative and inclusive approach to both internal and external stakeholders, including colleagues and partners.

Overall objective of the consultancy:

The main objective of the consultancy is to provide technical support to the office of the Minister and Directorate for Coordination, Social and Economic Services (DCSES) of MOWA to enable the Ministry to strengthen its coordination and monitoring role in economic field to enhance women’s access to economic opportunities, and economic rights. Therefore, the position-holder will be deputed to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Kabul Afghanistan

Deberes y responsabilidades

Scope of Work:

The consultancy includes followings specific objectives:

• Assess current capacity of Directorate for Coordination, Social and Economic Services (DCSES) of MOWA in coordination and monitoring of economic activities of selected line ministries in relation to women’s access to economic opportunities;
• Enhance the capacity of the Directorate to establish a coordination mechanism between MOWA and selected line ministries related to economic affairs to increase women’s access to economic opportunities.
• Advice the senior leadership on MoWA’s role, responsibilities and actions for effective implementation of National Priority Programme on Women’s Economic Empowerment (NPP WEE) through background papers, notes, policy briefs and other relevant materials as needed by the MoWA leadership

Summary of Key Functions:

Under the direct supervision of the Minister, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and the Programme Management Advisor of UN Women, the Women’s Economic Empowerment Consultant will assist the MoWA to strengthen its capacity on the mandate of ensuring participation of women in all aspects of economic empowerment, policy advise and undertaking programmes and actions that promote women’s economic rights in Afghanistan. The Consultant will be responsible for the following duties:

• Advisory and technical support on women’s economic empowerment
• Coordination related to policy development;
• Knowledge management and capacity building of MoWA staff and relevant stakeholders

1. Advisory and technical support on women’s economic empowerment:

• Provide policy recommendations, strategic advice and propose course of action related to promoting women’s economic empowerment to the MoWA Minister, the Deputy Ministers and the Directorate for Coordination, Social and Economic Services (DCSES)staff.
• Conduct needs assessment of Directorate for Coordination, Social and Economic Services (DCSES) of MOWA to coordinate and give oversight to economic activities implemented by selected key government institutions, UN agencies, CSOs, INGOs and private sector.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge base of economic and related development issues in the country and integrate information and analysis in support of policy development, analysis, outreach and advocacy related to women’s economic rights.
• Undertake research, coordinate and prepare analytical reports, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence and talking points for the Minister, and the deputy ministers especially for the cabinet and minister’s council weekly meetings on economic topics of the agenda.
• Propose plan of action for MoWA for immediate and long-term actions on women's economic empowerment in Afghanistan. Work closely with UN Women's economic empowerment team to identify promising practices, technical expertise, and strategic opportunities for enhancing gender equality and women's economic empowerment.
• Advise the MoWA on strategies and opportunities for building on women’s participation and influence in women’s economic rights, land and property rights, with a focus on strengthening the ongoing collaboration with Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD), and other related implementing ministries.
• Provide advise to the Deputy Minister for Policy and Technical Affairs by developing concept notes on women economic empowerment and technical advice on SDG indicators with economic focus
• Provide strategic and specialized technical advice to the team on the development of systems, processes and mechanisms to support effective program planning, implementation, monitoring and timely progress reporting;

Deliverables and timeframe:

• Prepare the plan of action for the consultancy service (number of days: 3)
• Needs assessment report of Directorate for Coordination, Social and Economic Services (DCSES) of MOWA. The report should include policy recommendations, strategic advice and propose course of action related to promoting women’s economic empowerment to the MoWA Minister, the Deputy Ministers and the Directorate for Coordination, Social and Economic Services (DCSES) staff. (number of days: 20)
• Prepare analytical reports, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence and talking points for the Minister, and the deputy ministers especially for the cabinet and minister’s council weekly meetings on economic topics of the agenda (number of days: 20)
• Concept notes on women’s economic empowerment as advised by MoWA (number of days: 15)
• Technical advice on strategies and opportunities for building on women’s participation and influence in women’s economic rights, programme planning, implementation and monitoring of progress. (number of days: 19)

2     Coordination, policy development, and advocacy;

• Assist the MoWA in coordinating the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) for the follow up on Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) recommendations.
• Advise and support the building of strategic alliances and partnerships for women economic empowerment related strategies and initiatives;
• Support the minister in strengthening partnerships with relevant stakeholders and donors in mobilizing resources for the implementation of women's economic initiatives; Identification of new areas for support and interventions for MoWA within the NPP-WEE and other related national policy and programme frameworks.

Deliverables and timeframe:

• Organizing IMC meeting (number of days: 10)
• Building strategic alliances with other stakeholders for MoWA’s programmes on WEE, based on the needs assessment and guidance from MoWA Minister (number of days: 20)

3.    Knowledge management and capacity building

• Work with the Minister of MoWA to identify and implement capacity building activities for ministry staff and other stakeholders to enhance skills and knowledge on women’s economic empowerment and all related matters;
• Conduct training for the staff of DCSES of MOWA in developing economic policy, monitoring and proposal writing
• Prepare plan and training module for improvement of coordination mechanism and train DCSES staff to coordinate with the line ministries to ensure women get equal access to economic activities as men.
• Manage the process of compiling reports and lessons learned on women's economic empowerment and contribute to MoWA’s knowledge management efforts;

Deliverables and timeframe:

• Four trainings for MoWA staff on knowledge of women’s economic empowerment, economic policy development and proposal writing on women’s economic empowerment related programmes (number of days: 20)
• Reports compilation and lessons learned reports on women’s economic empowerment (number of days: 15)

Methodology:

• The consultant for completion of her/his assignment needs to do desk review of relevant documents, hold meeting with MOWA staff, visit line ministries and, if necessary visit one region. Provide a presentation to MOWA/UN WOMEN staff on her/his findings and provide recommendations for the identified deliverables.
•  Participates in the MOWA’s relevant meetings, develop questionnaires for conducting the assessments;
•  Prepare training material and conduct minimum four trainings with the staff of MoWA, DoWAs and relevant stakeholders using participatory methodologies;
• Provides regular updates and monthly briefs on her/his consultancy progress to UN WOMEN and the Minister.
• The deliverables and timeframe provided are approximate. Upon the selection of the consultant, a firmed up plan and deliverables are expected to be prepared under the guidance of Minister of MoWA, and UN Women Programme Management Advisor.

Institutional Arrangement:

The Consultant will work under the supervision of Minister of Ministry of Women’s Affairs and UN Women Program Management Advisor, and will be placed at MoWA in Kabul.

Duration of the Work: 142 working days

Duty Station:

The consultant will be based in the office of the Minister at MOWA office, Kabul, Afghanistan

Competencias

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

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;
• Team Work: 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.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional competencies:

• Expertise in women’s economic empowerment, gender issues in economic empowerment policies and programmes
• Strong knowledge of the gender issues, gender mainstreaming, gender and human rights framework and women’s empowerment;
• Knowledge of government institutions particularly ministry of Women Affairs;
• Demonstrates good writing skills and the ability to synthesize large amounts of information into succinct written notes/reports, summaries;
• Strong proven capacity in training, coaching;
• Ability to develop creative solutions;
• Ability to liaise with stakeholders and partners, including government, civil society, international organizations;
• Ability to work in culturally diverse environments and display diplomacy and tact;
• Knowledge of socio-economic performance in Afghanistan or post-conflict countries.

Management and Leadership:

• Ability to manage time and meet tight deadlines;
• Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
•  Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education and certification:

Bachelor or Master’s Degree or above in in Economics, finance, gender or any relevant field. Preference will be given to holders of higher education degree;

Experience:

With Master Degree, At least 3 and with Bachelor degree 5 years of relevant experience in economic or finance or gender mainstreaming or capacity building, or training on women leadership and empowerment issues, work experience with UN Women on gender issues is an added advantage

Proven experience in writing analytical reports

Language Requirements:

Excellent written and spoken Dari or Pashtu and English is required.

Special attention

Women, and people with disability are strongly encouraged to apply