National Consultants-Regional Data Collection Coordinators for the National Gender Equality Roadmap

Location : Dire Dawa, Oromia, Addis Ababa, Amhara, Gambella, Benishangul Gumuz, Harari, Sidama, SNNP, South-West, ETHIOPIA

Deadline : Sep 30, 2022

Post Level : National Consultant

Type of Contract : Individual Contract

Duration of Initial Contract : 20 working days during the period October 2022 to December 2022

Expected Duration of Assignment : 20 working days during the period October 2022 to December 2022

Job Description

UNDP 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.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background
Ethiopia has been showing increasing progress in terms of ensuring gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE). The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has demonstrated its commitment through (1) accepting major international and regional frameworks including CEDAW, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Africa’s Agenda 2063 (2) putting in place adequate legal frameworks starting from the constitutional protection of the rights of women, revision of the family and criminal laws and in proclamation dealing with education, employment, housing and land administration including provisions for temporary special measures (3) issuing policies, strategies and action plans starting from the National Women’s Policy in 1993, the National Action Plan on Gender Equality  (2006-2010) and the Development and Change Strategy and Package (2017) (4) Setting up the national gender machinery including the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (formerly the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth), bureaus of women, children and youth/social affairs at regional level and lower structures and directorates at sector ministries and (5) the inclusion of gender into its development plans and agendas, as evidenced most recently by the 10 Years Development Plan (2020-2030) which includes gender and social inclusion as one pillar of the plan.

These efforts have brought about changes in the participation and benefit of women in the economic, social and political realms. In terms of the economic aspect, there has been an increase in women’s access to vital resources such as land and property, participation in the labor force and in engagement in income generating activities especially through micro and small enterprises and self-help groups. In the social sphere, education and health outcomes for women have shown remarkable improvements.  Although it declines at higher levels, girls’ education has expanded reaching parity (100%) at primary school level. Maternal and child mortality rates have significantly gone down with more access to reproductive health information and services. Ante-natal care coverage has expanded to 72% with 66% of birth in health institution.  There has also been increased coverage of social protection with strong gender elements. The significant increase in the number of women in higher government positions is also a remarkable development in recent years. Currently, women take up 36% of the cabinet positions at the federal level.

Despite this progress however, for the most part Ethiopian society still lives in a patriarchal social structure that underlies the unequal social power relations between men and women, boys and girls. These entrenched social norms limit women’s decision-making and pull them back from enjoying the same opportunities and benefits. There is also limited access to quality services, programs and infrastructure especially in rural areas including poor roads and transportation, access to clean water and electricity and access to health care. These limitations further expose women and girls to risks such as gender-based violence and harmful traditional practices. Institutional constraints in technical and financial capacity and human resources in the gender machinery have also been a bottleneck to effectively implement the laws and policies on GEWE.

Addressing these gaps and limitations requires putting in place a transformative policy framework. The National Policy on Ethiopian Women (NPEW) which was issued in 1993 still remains in place and although it has spearheaded progress in the participation and benefit serving as an anchor, there have been many

changes and developments at the global, regional and national level in the last 26 years since the policy has been issued. It is important for the national policy to take stock of these developments and be aligned with commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s Agenda 2063. At the national level as well it is necessary for the policy to take into account the situation of women in the present time to put in place timely policy directions for enhancing women’s rights and their participation and benefit. It is also critical for the policy to fully consider the current issues and demands of Ethiopian women.

With this background in mind, the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs in collaboration with UN Women, CARE Ethiopia, and other partners have commissioned a consolidated review of the policy. The policy review which was guided by a task force composed of representatives from government, CSOs, UN Agencies and other partners analyzed the policy document, conducted consultations with relevant stakeholders at the federal and regional levels including Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) at the community level. The findings of the review clearly indicated gaps in the policy and forwarded recommendations for the preparation of a transformative gender policy through an inclusive process.

The findings also indicated that the gender policy should have a clear implementation action plan and costing. Based on this finding, UN Women in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs has secured funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the preparation of a Gender Equality Roadmap. The roadmap has the objectives of strengthening the government’s commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment as enshrined in international and regional instruments and national plans; laying out strategic pillars and actionable sequenced interventions  to ensure gender equality and the economic, social and political empowerment of women aligned to international, regional and national commitments to achieve GEWE; establishing clear role and responsibilities; institutional, monitoring and accountability and coordination mechanisms ensure meaningful mainstreaming of gender in policies, strategies, plans and programmes; supporting the adequate resourcing of GEWE interventions through the systematic implementation of GRB and mobilization of resources from national and international sources and promoting strategies for the transformation of gender norms, attitudes and behaviors  to bring GEWE. The roadmap will provide information and guidance on

  • Where Ethiopia is in terms of GEWE through a review of the legal and policy documents; available gender statistics /sex disaggregated) data and other primary and secondary sources
  • Where the country plans to go in terms of GEWE as aligned with international and regional commitments and national development plans and laying out achievable goals and targets
  • How to achieve the goals and targets through achievable strategies and interventions
  • Who does what through providing specific roles and responsibilities of stakeholders
  •  How much it will cost to implement the interventions
  • How to monitor and evaluate progress, collect lesson learned and communicate results

Based on the findings of the comprehensive review and the action plan, the MoWSA has started the process to develop the gender policy and gender equality roadmap with the establishment of a technical committee composed of senior experts from government, CSOs, UN Agencies international organizations, and donor agencies. The technical committee has held its initial meeting on February 23, 2022 providing guidance on the preparation of the policy and roadmap. Two national and one international consultants have been hired to facilitate the development of the gender equality roadmap and are in the process of preparing the context analysis. The next step in the process will be mapping of stakeholders, services, projects and initiatives on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the country.

In this context, UN Women is seeking to hire national consultants to coordinate regional data collection for the mapping including collecting relevant documents, arranging necessary stakeholder discussions and coordinating the work in regional states and city administrations.

Objectives

The general objective of the assignment is to coordinate the collection of data for the mapping of stakeholders and initiatives to feed into the national gender equality roadmap which is in the process of development. Specifically, the assignment will have the following specific objectives

  • Ensuring that the gender roadmap takes into consideration the context and realities of GEWE in different regional states
  • Guaranteeing the participation of major stakeholders at regional level within government, civil society organizations, community level actors, academic institutions working on GEWE
  • Assessing the geographic reach and distribution of project, programmes and initiatives on GEWE
  • Assessing budget allocations for activities, projects and institutions working on GEWE at the regional level
Duties and Responsibilities
UN Women will recruit national consultants at each region and city administration for the assignment. The national consultants will have the following main tasks and responsibilities,

  • Identifying and collecting regional level legal and policy documents relevant to gender equality and women’s empowerment
  • Identifying the major stakeholders within government, civil society organizations, community level actors, academic institutions working on GEWE in the region
  • Arranging and undertaking key informant interviews with major stakeholders in GEWE in the regional state
  • Collecting documents on projects, programmes and initiatives on GEWE in the regional states
  • Collecting data on budget allocations for activities, projects and institutions working on GEWE at the regional level
  • The national consultants are expected to engage two data collectors from within their respective region, each for collection of qualitative or quantitative data.   The data collectors will be accountable to and work under the supervision of the national consultants.
Competencies
Core Values and Guiding Principles

  • 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.

Functional Competencies

  • Sound expertise in gender equality and women’s empowerment, including policy and strategy development
  • Communications or knowledge management experience an advantage.
  • Academic and practical research experience.
  • 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
  • Ability to produce well-written documents
  • Demonstrating excellent interpersonal communication skills.
Required Skills and Experience
Education

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Gender Studies, social work, sociology, development and policy studies, human rights or relevant field and/or equivalent practical experience

Experience and skills

  • More than 5 years’ experience in development work and particularly on issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment and comprehensive background in consultancy work related to policy and roadmap development
  • Knowledge of the regional/city administration context on GEWE
  • Experience in conducting data collection
  • Experience working with governments and non-governmental organizations and knowledge of their working procedures
  • Experience in leading and facilitating consultations with stakeholders in government, CSOs, UN agencies, donors

Language

  • Fluency in oral and written English, Amharic and the working language of the regional state/city administration is required.
  • Working knowledge of other local languages is an asset.

Application:

  • Applicants must  indicate the duty station on their application cover page
  • 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.
  • Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment and candidates are required to include in the P-11 form links for their previously published reports and articles completed within the last two years. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need. 

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

 

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