Recruitment at UN Women for Consultants in Abuja

UN Women - In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. In doing so, UN Member States took an historic step in accelerating the Organization's goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system, which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment. We are recruiting to fill the following positions below:     Job Title: Consultant - Mapping of Political Parties and Gender Equality: National Case Study (Gender Audit of Political Parties) Location: Abuja Type of Contract: Individual Contract Post Level: National Consultant Starting Date: date when the selected candidate is expected to start is13-Oct-2017 Duration of Initial Contract: 40 Working Days Expected Duration of Assignment: 40 Working Days40 Working Days Background Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women will work 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 will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. Women’s leadership and political participation is one of UN Women’s primary areas of work as mandated in its inception, recognizing the integral role of women in strong and stable democratic processes. Through its Leadership and Governance section, UN Women works to implement Goal 1 of the Entity’s Strategic Plan 2014-17 “Women lead and participate in all areas of decision-making”. UN Women’s theory of change for women’s political empowerment and leadership, based on the achievements of women in politics and lessons learned to date, envisions a four-pronged strategy: (1) support development and implementation of robust legal frameworks and administrative arrangements that promote gender balance and facilitate women’s participation; (2) expand the pool of qualified and capable women to run for election; (3) transform gender norms so that women are accepted as legitimate and effective leaders; and (4) support women leaders in gender-sensitive political institutions to attract, promote and retain women leaders, and highlight the constructive contribution they make to decision-making. Aligned with this strategy, UN Women’s West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) in Dakar, Senegal, launched a new, Multi-Country Programme in 2017, spanning four countries in the region: Central African Republic (CAR), Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria. The proportions of women in lower/single houses of parliament in these four countries (CAR – 8.7%; Guinea – 21.9%; Liberia – 12.3%; Nigeria – 5.6%) are below the sub-Saharan Africa average (23.8%), and have largely stagnated. A key component of the Programme therefore involves the provision of technical support to political parties – the main vehicle for women’s election to office – to enhance their capacity to promote gender balance in politics and become more gender sensitive institutions by: nominating more women candidates to winnable positions; adopting voluntary, gender-sensitive reforms to internal party processes and statutes; devising and implementing gender-sensitive policies and strategic plans; and devising codes of conduct which sanction discriminatory behaviour and harassment, among other strategies. In this context, UN Women is seeking to engage a consultant to conduct and publish a “gender mapping” of political parties and prepare a country case study in Nigeria, which will examine the extent to which parties are gender-balanced and gender-sensitive institutions in the region, and identify priority needs and areas for technical support to be provided through the Programme. Under the direct supervision of the UN Women Nigeria Country Office, and in close collaboration with the UN Women WCARO in Dakar and Women’s Political Participation Unit at HQ in New York, the Consultant will conduct a gender mapping of political parties and prepare a case study in Nigeria, with key findings to be published for sharing at regional level. Duties and Responsibilities

• The Consultant will be responsible for: conducting a ”gender mapping” of all political parties represented in the national parliament; convening debriefing meetings with UN Women and political parties to discuss findings and recommendations; and producing a case study report of the findings in English , incorporarting feedback received from UN Women and political parties themselves.

• Complete an inception report and submit to UN Women an inception report with proposed methodology for the mapping (including timeframes), which should include the following components:
  • Desk review: the mapping should be informed by an initial desk review. The purpose would be to review (a) the general legal framework review (constitution, elections law, electoral commission law, political parties’ law and other related laws); (b) specific information about political parties’ procedures (parties’ bylaws and statutes and any other related document such as party’s platforms, strategic plans or elections programs); (c) the political participation of women in Nigeria to date including baseline data with specific sources on women’s representation in elected bodies at the national and local level, in government and in key institutions identified by UN Women, and identification of missing data and information; and (d) where possible, a review of UN Women programming documents on political participation related to the country office.
  • Proposed structure for case study report: Include a summary on the proposed sections and subsections of the case study report. The report should address issues surrounding internal party organization and women’s participation in the party before, during and after/between elections, although other issues may be identified by the UN Women Country Office, and as the research progresses (see Annex 1 for examples). The case study report should be between 25-30 pages in length. It should include a situational analysis based on the desk review as detailed above.
  • Qualitative interview protocol: (a) proposed questionnaire/survey tool for conducting interviews; (b) detailed list of proposed key stakeholders to be interviewed to be reviewed/agreed by the UN Women Country office. Interviewees may include male and female members of political parties, women candidates and aspirants, current or former staff of the Electoral Management Body (INEC and ISEC), political participation experts, representatives of national civil society organizations, gender equality advocacy groups and research organizations, and representatives of UN, UNDP and other international organizations.

• Using agreed methodology and in close collaboration with UN Women, carry out the gender mapping of all political parties represented in the national parliament.
• Liaising with country office, hold de-briefing sessions for political parties interviewed, sharing initial mapping findings and presenting any identified recommendations.
• Prepare the draft case study report with findings of the mapping and draft report to the project team within 20 days of commencement. The report should summarize interview findings and complement the baseline data of the inception report to include specific and detailed information/data on women’s representation in political parties based on parties’ organizational charts, leadership bureau composition, women’s representation in conferences/congress of parties, and in regional and local bureaus.
• Submit an internal evaluation report on challenges met while conducting the mapping, including lessons learned for the relevant UN Women team.

• Prepare executive summary of the mapping’s main findings for feedback, and present final draft report for clearance by UN Women.
• Complete annexes, acronyms and classify all the resources used, including interviews.
• Contribute to the general review of the analysis of the final multi-country report (which will compile mapping findings from all four countries.
• Contribute to the launching of the mapping at a UN Women event (including presentations and video/radio interviewing)

• Inception report in English, which includes proposed methodology and interview protocol and guidelines (Task 1) 5 days from commencement
• Draft case study report in English, which includes summary and initial analysis of desk review, audit interviews, findings and recommendations and debriefings with key stakeholders and evaluation of challenges and lessons learned from the process (Task 2) 25 days from commencement
• Final audit report in English and contributions to audit findings’ dissemination as needed (Task 3) 40 days from commencement

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling UN Women values and ethical standards.
• Demonstrates a commitment to UN Women’s mission and vision.
• Able to work effectively within a team.
• Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability.
• Able to multi-task and juggle competing demands.
• Can assess and prioritize work needs quickly.
• Able to relate to external partners, including other international organizations and agencies, NGOs, grassroots community groups, etc.

• Sound expertise in gender equality and women’s empowerment, including on women’s political participation
• Communications or knowledge management experience an advantage.
• Academic and practical research experience.
• Fluent in Microsoft word, excel, e-mail, web-based applications and databases.
• Demonstrated leadership and personal examples of promoting knowledge management and a professional learning environment.
• Outstanding networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.
• Capacity to work with diverse partners including governments, donors and civil society.
• Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with people from varied cultures and professional backgrounds.
• Results based management skills.
• Ability to produce well-written documents demonstrating excellent interpersonal communication skills.

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Gender Studies, Political Science, Sociology, International Relations, or relevant field and/or equivalent practical experience.

• A minimum of 7 years of relevant work experience in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Research experience, communications, advocacy experience are assets.
• Substantive experience in women’s leadership and participation and/or violence against women.
• Experience in working in a multicultural environment.
• Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women’s rights and related instruments.
• Experience with UN Intergovernmental processes including those related to women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming and gender equality is an asset.
• Experience working with multi-stakeholder organizations is essential: governments, CSOs, and the UN/ multilateral/bilateral institutions.

• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Working knowledge of English and other UN languages is an asset.

• CV and P11
• One page methodology ( full methodology will form part of inception report if selected) Annex 1 below for guidance)

• Daily fee for 40 Working days (All-inclusive daily fee)
• Cost implication for Field works
• Interested individuals are kindly requested to submit an all-inclusive daily consultancy fee.
• The applicable cost for travel from home to duty station (Abuja)(most economical route) will be provided for by UN-Women.
• Personal CV and P11