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.ย
UNWOMEN through its West and Central Africa Region Office is participating in the implementation of the project \"Building Disaster Risk Reduction and Adaptation Capacity for Resilience in the Sahel Region: Fostering Risk-Informed Solutions for Sustainable Development - Sahel Resilience Project \", a multi-partnerโs project implemented in countries of the Western Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, namely: Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Chad. It is funded by the government of Sweden.The Sahel Resilience Projectโs UN Womenโs component focused on integrating gender and social inclusion into disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA).ย
The project is an initiative at national and regional levels, with the aim of ensuring that women's civil society organizations, regional institutions, and governmental entities of the Sahel countries have institutionalized and domesticated development planning that considers gender-responsive disaster risk reduction, and risk-informed programming and investing for resilience building.ย
Since 2022, UN Women has worked with women CSOs from the Sahel countries to develop their capacities and put in practice some of the skills acquired. UNWOMEN has developed tools and guidance on gender and DRR and built capacities of key DRR actors in the region.ย
Besides these achievements, as women, girls and persons with disabilities are more vulnerable and prone to disasters due to the gender dimensions of disaster risk, there is also a need to build gender mainstreaming capacity of all actors and stakeholders to ensure a better integration of gender equality and women's empowerment in all aspects of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA), including in coordination and leadership, capacity development, data, analysis and advocacy, and targeted programming. To be able to mainstream gender sensitive risk information into development processes, there is a need to build capacities at national level for collecting Sex Age Disaggregated Data, as well as capacities for gender sensitive risk assessment.ย
Significant results have been achieved through this project, and for the first time in the region, greater emphasis has been placed on gender-responsive policies and womenโs participation in disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts. It is therefore essential to plan for the projectโs phase-out, ensure the sustainability of its outcomes, and identify priority actions for the next steps.
UN Women, in collaboration with UNDP, is organizing a regional workshop for the dissemination of the developed tools, share good practices and lessons learned and identify priorities and recommendations for the next phase or new programs.ย ย
In this perspective, UN Women Regional Office for West and Central Africa wishes to recruit an international consultant to facilitate the workshop and analyze the experiences of women's organizations, implementing partners and beneficiaries of project funding, in order to make a new project proposal.ย
The consultant will be reporting to the Regional Advisor for Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action/DRR, and will be supported by Gender and Humanitarian Regional Specialist as acting as the DRR project coordinator, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.
Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work
Deliverables
The expected deliverables to be produced by the consultant are the following:
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Facilitate the regional workshop and produce a summary reportย based on CSOโs expectationsย
The consultant will ensure to achieve at the end of the workshop, the following key results:ย
Women CSOs and DRR actors are familiar with the tools for collecting Sex Age and Disaggregated Data, and how to manage such a process, working together with various government institutions. Women CSOs and DRR actors are familiar with all the tools and necessary steps to establish a governance, a strategy and a plan of action for conducting a natural hazard risk assessment to help them better plan CCA/DRR activities at community and national levels. Key results, good practices and lessons learned on gender mainstreaming of DRR processes and womenโs participation in DRR at local and national level are shared and recommendations formulatedย Key objectives and activities have been agreed upon to support the development of a proposal to support women CSOs in the Sahel for their better participation to Resilience and DRR processes. Identify main challenges women face in risk and disaster management are identified Formulate recommendations and proposals for appropriate approaches and possible solutions to promote women's leadership and the commitment of authorities and the community to advance women's rights and implement the Sendai Gap are formulatedย
Produce a project proposal based on the priorities identified during the workshop and considering the Sahel context and the experiences of women and women's organizations implementing the DRR project in the different countries. Deliverable Expected completion time (due day)ย Payment Schedule (optional)
Report of the regional workshop Draft of the regional full proposal on gender and DRR and resilienceย By July 2025 MM YY Final version of the full proposal integrating feedback and comments from UNWOMEN and UNDP By August 2025 MM YY ย ย ยConsultantโs Workplace and Official Travel
This is a Hybrid (home-based and travel consultancy.
As part of this assignment, there will be a maximum of 1 trip TBD.
Competencies :
Core Values:
Integrity; Professionalism; Respect for Diversity.Core Competencies:
Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues; Accountability; Creative Problem Solving; Effective Communication; Inclusive Collaboration; Stakeholder Engagement; Leading by Example.Please visitย this linkย for more information on UN Womenโs Values and Competencies Framework:ย
Functional Competencies:
Solides compรฉtences en analyse des conflits et mise en ลuvre effective de lโagenda Femmes paix et sรฉcuritรฉ Expรฉrience dans la recherche sur les questions de genre et sur les questions de paix et sรฉcuritรฉ et une grande capacitรฉ dโanalyse Capacitรฉs ร produire des rapports et des notes dโanalyse Dรฉmonstration / sauvegarde de lโรฉthique et de lโintรฉgritรฉEducation and Certification:
At least a Master's degree or equivalent in Environment, Disaster Risk management, , economics, social sciences, or any other relevant field.ย Experience in the field of Gender in Humanitarian Action and Gender Equality Analysis would be an advantage. A [project/programme management] certification would be an added advantage.Experience:
At least 5 years of proven research experience at the national or international level in the field of gender and/or climate Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction, Having conducted at least 3 studies on gender and/or or climate Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction, Knowledge of the Preparedness, Early Action and Response in DRR context of the region, Sound knowledge of the Disaster Risk Reduction and the Gender Action Plan to support implementation of the Sendai Framework for DRR 2015-2030, Excellent computer skills, particularly office software and the Internet, Having produced research studies and analytical documents for the United Nations system is an asset Excellent analytical skills with strong drive for results and capacity to work independently. Excellent English communication and writing skills; (Samples of previous work will be required.)Languages:
Fluency in English or French is required. Knowledge of [French] or [English] orย any other UN official language is an asset.Statements :
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for 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 (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.
Diversity and inclusion:
At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates,ย and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age,ย ability, national origin,ย 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 toย UN Womenโsย policiesย and proceduresย andย theย standardsย of conduct expected of UN Women personnelย 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.)
Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.
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