UN Women: CSO Technical Specialist, Soim Wokabaut: EU Gender Based Violence Referral Pathways Program, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Consultant Contract

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.

Gender inequality in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is severe, with the country ranked 169 out of 170 globally. Women and girls face high rates of gender-based violence (GBV) and low literacy levels. The DHS 2016-2018 indicates that 54% of women have experienced GBV in the past year, and nearly 23% of women aged 15-49 have no formal education. Structural barriers, cultural norms, and weak protection systems worsen the situation. Tribal conflicts, sorcery accusation-related violence (SARV), and small arms proliferation, especially in the Highlands, increase violence. Despite policies to reduce discrimination, comprehensive strategies are urgently needed to address these issues and achieve gender equality. Additionally, ongoing conflicts have displaced communities, further exacerbating GBV incidents. The persistence of these challenges highlights the critical need for targeted interventions to promote social stability and human rights and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly 05 on gender equality, 10 Reduce Inequality and 16 Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions. Building on the gains of the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in Papua New Guinea (PNG), UN Women, UNFPA and UNOPS (Agencies) have commenced implementation of a joint initiative entitled “Soim Wokabout: Gender-Based Violence Referral Pathways Programme”, financed under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI Global Europe). The joint programme aims to reduce the incidence of GBV in communities in target provinces, including in and out of schools (Eastern Highlands and the National Capital District). This will capitalize on existing programmes addressing specific forms of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHRs) while supporting prevention and protection efforts for GBV survivors, strengthening access to justice, and ending violence against women and girls at national, provincial, district, and community levels. It seeks to scale up effective integrated approaches to deliver quality coordinated services, strengthen referral pathways, mobilize communities and networks to address harmful gender and social norms fuelling GBV and SARV and promote implementation of laws and policies to reduce GBV and SARV while mobilizing national, provincial and community leadership on the programme’s investments to enhance sustainability. The joint programme’s specific objectives are: 1. To increase access of women, men, girls, and boys in all their diversity, experiencing gender-based violence, to essential quality services, protection, and justice. 2. To improve advocacy and agency of civil society organisations, women’s rights organisations, social movements, and communities to end gender-based violence (GBV). 3. To make more effective the engagement of community leaders, male advocates and influential groups and actors in society in changing discriminatory social norms, gender stereotypes, GBV and harmful practices. Within the program, UN Women leads the outcome on strengthening civil society engagement and improving engagement with communities, male advocates, and influential leaders. Through the Spotlight Initiative, a CSO capacity building and advocacy strategy was developed to meet the following objectives: i) increase a CSOs' effectiveness and viability on advocacy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment(GEWE); ii) build CSOs and community resilience for the prevention and mitigation of GBV and other harmful practices such as SARV in all contexts by 2028; iii) To advocate with duty bearers and other non-state actors for the enforcement of the rule of law, and access to justice to reduce the vulnerability of women, men, boys and girls to GBV and all other forms of violence; iv) To strengthen coordination of CSOs’ collective action to promote gender equality, women and girls' rights in all development, humanitarian, and peace building program and initiative by 2028; and to establish and promote a functional Feminists approaches to the national development and humanitarian agenda, on Issues affecting every gender and sex of all the populations and groups. Assessments of the Spotlight Initiative identified recommendations to improve the collective strength of civil society in demanding social accountability for sustainable financing of prevention and response to violence against women and girls. In view of the above UN Women PNG seeks to engage a Technical Specialist with expert experience in building women’s movements and collective advocacy, strengthening CSOs capacities in social accountability mechanisms and identifying key issues and recommendation to address GBV and SARV. Working with a network of human rights defenders, the National Council of Women, Civil Society Reference Group (CSRG), youths and women networks championing women’s rights, the Technical Specialist is expected to facilitate initiatives that foster greater collaboration among partners in the country and support them to drive a national advocacy agenda on EVAW in the country.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

This assignment is partly based in Port Moresby (with expected travel to the field) and partly home based. The CSO Technical Specialist will be responsible for CSO Capacity and Movement building and is therefore expected to lead in the review and re design of the CSO Capacity building and Advocacy Strategy and support its implementation. The strategy aims at building and maintaining a women’s movement for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment that has capacity to utilise evidence based social accountability tools and sustain effective State and Civil Society dialogue. The CSO Technical Specialist will work across UN Women’s thematic areas in identifying the change makers and influencers within PNG’s women’s rights sector and catalyse cohesive action within and across provinces beyond the Spotlight Initiative. Deliverables Under the overall leadership of the Country Representative and direct supervision of the Deputy Country Representative, the CSO Technical Specialist will provide expert technical assistance and guidance through performing the following key tasks and delivery of the expected results. Throughout the consultancy, the consultant will receive support from UN Women EVAW team and input from the implementing agencies – UN Women, UNFPA and UNOPS. 

Task 1: Enhance collective CSO advocacy on the review, design, and implementation of CSO Advocacy Strategy

• Assess the formation and status of women’s rights movements within Pacific countries and in consultation with human rights defenders and women’s rights champions. 

• Lead and facilitate the review of the existing Capacity Building, and Advocacy Strategy developed through the Spotlight Initiative to strengthen CSO cohesion and collective advocacy in Papua New Guinea. 

• Explore movement building synergies between EVAWG and other thematic portfolios including developing joint initiatives. 

Task 2: Provide technical support in the selection and management of CSO grants 

• Provide technical support for CSO partner selection including developing terms of reference, reviewing, and evaluating proposals. 

• Provide technical advice on the development of systems, processes, and mechanisms to improve programme planning, implementation, monitoring, and progress reporting. 

• Conduct field visits to support CSO activities in progress by providing technical coherence support, quality assurance, quality control of knowledge products, guidance on project reporting, monitoring, and evaluation. 

• Prepare analytical reviews and systematically capture lessons learnt from the programme implementation 

• Prepare inputs for donor reports, demonstrating progress in implementation of capacity building plans. 

Task 3: Lead in designing effective capacity building approaches for CSOs 

• Support the establishment of the Civil Society Reference Group (CSRG) and the implementation of its Work Plan. 

• Support key platforms such as the National Council of Women, FSV action committees for both NCD and EHP, Kibung and other civil society stakeholders in applying and implementing social accountability tools. 

• Review PNG State-Civil Society Partnership policy and provide analysis of its alignment to the Soim Wokabout program and other program areas within UN Women 

• Conduct an analysis of the desk review/mapping, capacity assessments, reports, and data relevant to the CSO community and inclusive of FBOs, youth networks and women’s networks.

• Provide strategic thinking, technical advice, and sustainable innovative approaches to addressing CSO capacity gaps and prepare tailor made capacity grants based on identified needs. 

• Regularly monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of capacity building approaches and adapt them based on the lessons learned. 

• Coordinate dialogues to facilitate the building of partnerships among CSOs, platforms and prepare an exit strategy for supported CSOs. 

• Submit a final report on the capacity building support provided to CSOs, including lessons learned, challenges and recommendations for future efforts. 

Task 4: Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies 

• Provide support in developing strategic partnerships that enhance CSOs contribution towards gender equality and women’s empowerment, including with the churches 

• Support the development of resource mobilization strategy to scale up CSO funding towards the implementation of key strategies - national GEWE and national GBV Strategy. 

• Provide support to resource mobilization efforts. Provide support for planning and reporting of State-Civil Society dialogues, including the National CSO Forum.

Task 1: Enhance collective CSO advocacy on   the review, design, and implementation of CSO Advocacy Strategy

1.1.1. Inception report containing a detailed work plan for the entire duration of the consultancy: 

1.1.2. Revised CSO Capacity building and Advocacy Strategy submitted 

Total of 70 days 

10 days for 1.1.1 Within the first 10 days of contract signing 

60 days for 1.1.2 By end February 2026 

(Within the first 2 Months of contract signing) 

7% 

(payment for 1.1.1)

28% 

(payment for 1.1.2)

Task 2: Lead in designing effective capacity building approaches for CSOs and CSO Networks 

2.1.1 Support provided to the development and implementation of the Civil Society Reference Group Work Plan.  

2.1.2 Support provided to key platforms such as the National Council of Women, FSV action committees for both NCD and EHP, Kibung and other civil society stakeholders in applying and implementing social accountability tools. 

2.1.3. Capacity building approaches for CSO community targeted training strategy for the CSO community  

2.14. Regularly monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of capacity building approaches and adapt them based on the lessons learned. 

Submit a final report on the capacity building support provided to CSOs, including lessons learned, challenges and recommendations for future efforts. 

Total of 70 days 

35 days for 2.1.1 and 2.1.2 2.1.1 By end March 2026

(During the CSRG’s design and operation period)

2.1.2 Regularly as desired 

35 days for 2.1.3 and 2.1.4 

2.1.3 By end June 

(Within the 2nd Quarter of Contract signing) 

2.1.4 Regularly as desired 

10%

(payment for 2.1.1 and 2.1.2)

10% 

(payment for 2.1.3 and 2.1.4) 

Task 3: Provide technical support in the selection and management of CSO grants 

3.1.1: Technical support provided during CSO partner selection including developing terms of reference, reviewing, and evaluating proposals.   

3.1.2: Technical advice on the development of systems, processes, and mechanisms to improve programme planning, implementation, monitoring, and progress reporting.  

3.1.3: Prepare analytical reviews and systematically capture lessons learnt from the programme implementation  

3.1.4: CSO inputs made in donor reports

20 days 

3.1.1 to 3.1.4: By end December 2026 

(Ongoing deliverables to be conducted within the contract period as desired)

Task 4: Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies

 4.1.1.   A report on the CSO Capacity Building and Advocacy Strategy and its alignment to PNG State CSO Partnership Policy submitted 

4.1.2 A resource mobilisation strategy for CSOs developed 

Task 5: Final Consultancy Report

Final report submitted 

20 days 

4.1.1 and 4.1.2: By end June 2026 

(Within the 2nd quarter of signing the programme) 

By end December 2026 

(Last month of the Contract)

30%

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

The assignment requires an intermittent presence on UN Women premises and therefore is both an office-based consultancy and a home-based consultancy. This assignment is based in Port Moresby with expected travel to the field and as part of this assignment, there will be a maximum of two trips to Port Moresby. 

The consultant will be required to travel to the field to facilitate meetings and workshops with key stakeholders such as the civil society, churches, youths, and women’s networks as well as government officials. The duration of these intermittent visits to the field will be a maximum of 30 days. 

Competencies :

Core Values:

Core Competencies:

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Strong programme formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation skills 

• Strong networking and coordination skills 

• Strong knowledge of Results Based Management 

• Strong analytical skills 

• String presentation and editorial skills 

• Good knowledge of UN grant management systems 

• Knowledge of CSO role in working to prevent and respond to Gender based violence in a developing country context 

• Ability to develop respectful relationships within a Melanesian context

Education and Certification:

Experience:

Languages:

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, 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.)

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.