Background
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 committed to the achievement of equality between women, men, boys and girls as partners and beneficiaries of humanitarian action. In October 2012, UN Women established its Gender and Humanitarian Action Unit to consolidate its advocacy, coordination and capacity development role for the integration of gender equality across humanitarian action. This includes disaster risk reduction with a focus on prevention, mitigation and preparedness, humanitarian response and early recovery. Humanitarian crises are not gender neutral. Evidence demonstrates a strong and consistent relationship between gender equality and hunger. Women and girls represent 60% of all undernourished people in the world. Pregnant and lactating women need to consume more calories to support the development of their babies and the production of breast milk. Babies born by malnourished mothers are likely to have low birth weight, which is one of the strongest predictors of whether a child will die before the age of five. Divorce rates increase during food shortages. This leaves women and children to fend for themselves. Female headed-households are particularly vulnerable. Yields for women farmers are 20-30 % lower for women than for men as they have less access to improved seeds, fertilizers and equipment. Daughters are married off sooner during food shortage, and are then more likely to become pregnant while malnourished, and die during childbirth. Conflict and humanitarian crises increases the risk of sexual violence affecting both women and men. Thus, gender sensitive humanitarian response is essential to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance, through better targeted support.
The 2016 World Humanitarian Summit acknowledged that in line with the SDGs ‘reaching those left furthest behind first’ through a mixture of short-, medium-, and longer term assistance is a priority.
Protracted conflict has become the new normal. The humanitarian crisis in Iraq remains one of the largest and most volatile in the world. The pace of displacement over the past three years is nearly without precedent. In 2014, 2 million civilians were displaced in Iraq; in 2015, an additional 1.4 million were forced to flee. During the past year, more than 650,000 people in areas impacted by the conflict with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have been newly displaced. Security threats, changes in climate, and population movements have caused a worsening food security situation in several countries. In Somalia, 6.2 million people are food insecure, 2.9 million in emergency and crisis, 3.3 million in stressed food security situations. In South Sudan, 100.000 people face famine, 1 million is on the brink of famine and 5 million urgently need food and livelihood assistance. In North-East Nigeria 5.1 million people urgently need food and livelihood assistance. In Yemen, 7.3 million people urgently needs food assistance, of whom about 3.3 million children and pregnant or lactating women are acutely malnourished.
Shifts are emerging around how humanitarian assistance is delivered, as more effective solutions need to be found to address those left furthest behind. Also, there is an increasing realisation that the humanitarian-development nexus need to be addressed as people need humanitarian assistance and support to reduce risk, build resilience, and prepare for disaster both in the short-, medium, and long term, given the nature of many of the current conflicts, and given the threats posed by climate change and natural disasters. As crises are not gender neural, response should address the needs of women as they differ from those of men.
UN Women is engaged in efforts to establish a Cash Based Initiative for women to enhance their access to resources and their ability to prioritize the use of these resources to address their needs and the needs of their children. UN Women intends to do this through two different approaches. One approach is through strategic partnerships. Through strategic partnerships with other UN entities and NGOs working on cash transfers, UN Women intends to strengthen targeted support to women as they represent the majority left furthest behind. Such strategic partnerships can entail technical capacity development support for gender responsive cash transfers, needs assessment as a key integral element of big cash transfers programs, and analysis on the impact for women and children. The other approach is to provide cash transfers to smaller, specific initiatives where more extensive technical support is required. This approach builds on and intends to expand current efforts to provide cash transfers to women especially through one-stop centers, as exemplified in Jordan where several thousand women were supported every month for resilience initiatives. Both approaches are interlinked as the needs assessment and analysis will be part and parcel of both approaches.
Under the supervision of the UN Women Chief of the Humanitarian Unit, and in close consultation with UN Women’s Innovation Team, UN Women HQ and Regional Humanitarian Advisors and Technical Experts, UN partner agencies, IASC Gender Reference Group members, civil society organisations engaged in cash transfers, and by building on initial work already done in UN Women on cash based transfers, the consultant will develop a Cash Based Transfers Strategy based on strategic partnership for humanitarian response, and an Implementation Plan. The consultancy will require 45 working days between 1 April and 30 June 2017.
Duties and Responsibilities
Scope of Work:
The consultant is responsible for the following scope of work within the identified timelines:
Review analytical work as well as documents/reviews/evaluations of cash based transfers and transfer modality (credit card, mobile transfers, etc.) as implemented by UN Women, UN entities, the EU, relevant private sector and NGOs and assess what works/does not work, and why, by looking at effectiveness in reaching the targeted population, preference among the targeted population, socio-economic impact, and risk of doing harm. Outline they key methodologies for targeting women and female-headed households and experiences implementing these various methodologies. (20 working days).
Design a detailed field mission plan with overview of stakeholders to meet and visit the UN Women cash based project in Jordan for Syrian refugees and assess what works and why (7 days)
Based on the above, outline potential options for UN Women’s value added role, both as a key strategic advisor to other entities/identified potential partners and as direct implementer of cash based transfers and which situations would warrant either option (3 days).
Under guidance of the Humanitarian and Gender Advisor, conduct discussions with key relevant entities to discuss options for a strategic partnership with UN Women in efforts to strengthen the targeting of those left furthest behind (7 days).
Presentation of final Cash Intervention Strategy and Operational Plan (8 days)
Deliverables:
• Review document/background note (max 10 pages) (25%)
• TOR for field mission (max 2 pages prior to mission), field report after completion of mission (max 3 pages), and Draft Options Paper for Cash Intervention Strategy (max 10 pages) (25%)
• List of key issues for strategic partnership discussions (before strategic partners’ meetings)
• Final Cash Intervention Strategy and Operational Plan (50%)45 working days between 1 April and 30 June 2017
Competencies
Integrity:
Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
Professionalism
Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge or the pertinent substantive areas of work.
Core Values and Ethics
Demonstrate cultural sensitivity and ability to work in a multi-national environment
Support the Organization’s corporate goals
Comply with UN WOMEN rules, regulations and code of conduct
Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
Build effective client relationships and partnerships
Interact with all levels of staff in the organization
Excellent interpersonal skills
Build and share knowledge
Make valuable practice contributions
Communicating and Information Sharing
Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.
Excellent oral and written skills
Listen actively and respond effectively
Self-management and Emotional Intelligence
Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behaviour towards others.
Functional Competencies:
Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of a professional discipline or technical speciality relating to the position;
Basic knowledge or organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks;
Required Skills and Experience
Required Skills and Experience:
Master Degree in International Studies, Gender Studies, or relevant Social Sciences
Minimum 7 years’ relevant experience
Demonstrated experience working on cash based transfer mechanisms in a development and/or humanitarian context
Experience working in a fragile and/or conflict context preferably with programme management or with consultancy work of relevance to this assignment.
Experience as lead consultant from similar assignments.
Demonstrated ability to deliver concise and well-structured written documents
Language Requirements
Fluency in the English language required, with strong, confident command of bother written and oral English.
Computer Skills:
High level of proficiency in computer systems, internet navigation and various office applications.