Antecedentes

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 Eastern & Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) maintains a large presence in Eastern and Southern Africa region, covering 13 countries with program presence in Somalia and Zambia. In accordance with the UN Women Strategic Note, which is premised on the Africa Strategy, UN Women works to advance social, economic and political rights and protection of women and girls from violence including harmful practices. The program also focuses on those from marginalized, excluded and under-represented groups, including rural women, women with disabilities, women living with or affected by HIV, women survivors of violence, women migrants, elderly women among others. Additionally, Women and girls are often more greatly affected in both sudden and slow-onset emergencies and are at increased risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV, unintended pregnancy, maternal death and illness, and sexual and gender-based violence.

UN Women Program on Women’s Empowerment in Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health (SRMNCAH) rights in humanitarian settings in the Horn of Africa Region (POWER) seeks to address some of these challenges. POWER will contribute to UN Women’s overall goal, every woman, every child, every adolescent girl, everywhere demands her rights to quality SRMNCAH services, particularly in humanitarian settings. To ensure that women, children and adolescents have equal access to reproductive health, it is necessary that existing gender biases in the social, cultural, institutional, legal and economic structures are addressed.  UN Women will utilize its comparative advantage, working on gender equality and through women’s empowerment to address the barriers that are preventing women, children and adolescents from demanding and realizing their rights to SRMNCAH services.

Accordingly, UN Women POWER program is aimed at addressing the barriers that are preventing women, children and adolescents from demanding and realizing their rights to SRMNCAH services and seek to achieve the following outcomes (results) in humanitarian settings: i) established rights-based national and local SRMNCAH Frameworks; ii) improved promotion of equal gender norms, attitudes and practices on women’s and girls’ rights to SRMNCAH; iii) empowered women and girls to exercise their SRMNCAH rights and seek services. POWER will be implemented in selected geographies in humanitarian settings in Ethiopia and Uganda and will have some interventions at the regional level for the Horn of Africa (HoA) region.

The Horn of Africa (HoA), which consists of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda has currently 20 million people affected by crises which has a negative impact on the most vulnerable population’s ability to access sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services; and also leaves them particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abuse, including defilement and rape. Several on-going crises in HoA has led to large movements of people within and between countries and significant local, national and regional impacts. Wide geographical and socioeconomic disparities impact access to health services, and coverage of priority SRMNCAH interventions is sub-optimal both in the development and humanitarian settings throughout. Discrimination against women and girls including gender-based violence, economic exclusion, and the disparity in access to quality and affordable SRMNCAH services is common across the region. In humanitarian settings, many women and girls are vulnerable due to the limited health care facilities, lack of information and some-times difficulties in access or inability to access services due to their vulnerability. Their situation is made more challenging during public health emergencies such as COVID 19.

Experiences of dealing with Ebola and other public health and humanitarian crises have taught us about the consequences we may see if SRMNCAH services are not prioritized. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, and with the closure of schools, there is escalation in unintended pregnancies especially among adolescent girls.  There are reports of pulling of resources from routine health services.  The pandemic risks the reversal of gains made in the access SRMNCAH services and protection of women and girls.  Limited access to SRMNCAH services especially, menstrual hygiene products and sexual and reproductive health services including post exposure prophylaxis kits will exacerbate girls existing reproductive health risks.  Instances are not lacking where due to fear of infection the family and care givers are reluctant to permit adolescent girls to access such services.

The importance of reproductive rights and access to quality health services for women are enshrined in a wide range of normative frameworks, including the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action, the Programme of Action of International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Important for the implementation of Agenda 2030, the actions under this programme will contribute towards meeting commitments under the SDG Goal 5 on gender equality where all the targets are relevant, but specifically the target 5.6 on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights. Additionally, multiple targets across Goal 3 on health are significant for SRMNCAH. At the regional level, several instruments and policies are in place to promote SRMNCAH which include the African Union Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Continental Policy Framework (2005) which is operationalized through the Maputo Plan of Action. There are several national and sectoral policies around SRMNCAH and refugee rights that have been considered in design of POWER.

The project will draw from the several assessments that have already been conducted in the humanitarian settings which are done on a regular basis through OCHA and UNHCR including the current socio-economic assessments on COVID response. During the assessment, relevant stakeholders including the target groups, community groups and other partners will be part of the assessment process. The strategies will align with the existing government priorities on gender equality, health and associated response plans in humanitarian settings.

Reporting to the Regional Program Manager-EVAW, and working closely with the Regional - Humanitarian Specialist and the EVAW/SRMNCAH focal persons in the country offices, the SRMNCAH International Consultant provides technical support in “developing a Regional reference document that will outline key challenges, lessons learnt and recommendations to support program and policy advocacy in Humanitarian settings in ESA region”.  She/he works in close collaboration with the UN sister agencies, specifically, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNHCR, Government and CSO partner agencies.

The Regional Reference document and related documents to be developed by the International Consultant will be the property of UN Women and will be shared in the region with the relevant Humanitarian actors, including Government, humanitarian actors, CSOs and education institutions for possible replication.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Scope of work:

The main objective of this assignment is to develop a Regional reference document that will outline key challenges, lessons learnt and recommendation to support program and policy advocacy in Humanitarian settings in ESA region. The reference document will be useful to facilitate cross-country learning and contribute to informing policy, advocacy, and program development on SRMNCAH in humanitarian settings. The document will include detailed recommendations for program strengthening and policy advocacy on SRMNCAH work. The reference document will be shared in the region with the relevant Humanitarian actors, including Government, Humanitarian actors, CSOs, organizations working on youth and women with disabilities and education institutions for possible replication.

The Consultant will conduct an overall review of SRMNCAH in Humanitarian Settings in ESA Region also taking into consideration the impact of  COVID-19 on SRMNCAH programming and access to services  in humanitarian settings, reports and commitments made by key relevant actors on SRMNCAH in Humanitarian settings in ESA region, a review of existing regional, national legislative, policy and other frameworks as well as relevant country analyses related to SRMNCAH strategies in Humanitarian settings and a gender analysis of these existing policies and frameworks in the ESA region.

She/he works in close collaboration with the UN sister agencies, specifically, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNHCR, government and CSO partner agencies in collating of relevant existing regional, national legislative, policy and other frameworks and researching on relevant country analyses related to SRMNCAH strategies in humanitarian settings.

She/he will contribute to UN Women’s work on SRMNCAH focusing on gender equality and women empowerment, taking into consideration the women with disabilities in line with the principles of leaving no one behind. He/she will be responsible for providing regular updates to UN Women on the progress and submission of the deliverables in a timely manner.

The consultant will be expected to complete the below tasks within the indicative timeframe:

Competencias

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues and laws
• 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/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Demonstrates excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Strong knowledge of Results Based Management;
• Good knowledge of UN programme management systems;
• Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems;
• Focuses on results for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate;
• Identifies opportunities and builds strong partnerships with clients and partners;
• Sharing knowledge and experience;
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women;
• Familiarity with the Health care system in Africa specifically in humanitarian settings.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Academic Qualifications:

• A Master’s Degree in Public Health, Health, Sociology, Human Rights, Gender and Development, International Development, Law, or similar field;
• Additional training/certification in project/programme management and SRMNCAH related issues would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years’ working experience with at least five of which should be in undertaking research, developing programs on SRMNCAH with national or international organizations;
• Knowledge and practical experience on SRH and HIV programming;
• Experience in writing/researching topics pertaining gender equality and providing an analytical view is desirable;
• Experience working with, coordinating and liaising with humanitarian actors in government agencies, UN Agencies, or CSOs.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in spoken and written English is required;
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset.

Application Guidelines:

All applications must include (as an attachment) a completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment.

UNWOMEN 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.