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. Afghanistan remains one of the worldโs most complex emergencies. Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, over 70 formal and informal edicts have progressively stripped women and girls of their rights. UN Women is committed to ensuring Afghan women continue to shape their countryโs future and that their rights are protected. In this context, programming has been adapted to meet the evolving needs of Afghan women through five core priorities: (1) Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA), (2) Ending Violence Against Women, (3) Womenโs Economic Empowerment, (4) Rebuilding Womenโs Civil Society, and (5) Women, Peace and Security. To ensure responsiveness, UN Women has also localized its programming through five sub-offices. In regard to GiHA, the main theme of this consultancy, UN Women Afghanistan strives to ensure a gender-responsive humanitarian response by providing strategic leadership and technical support to integrate womenโs needs and priorities into the response architecture, while also developing targeted programming. In the Western Region, the October 2023 earthquakes in Herat left lasting impacts. One year on, affected communities still lack adequate shelter, water, livelihoods, and healthcare. A Gender Update highlighted womenโs urgent need for shelters adapted to their specific safety and privacy needs. During a February 2025 Inter-Cluster Coordination Team (ICCT) visit, focus groups in Zindajan confirmed that many reconstructed shelters and WASH facilities failed to meet womenโs requirementsโposing ongoing protection and accessibility risks.In response to the devastating earthquakes that struck Herat Province in October 2023, The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and UN Women are partnering to ensure gender-sensitive reconstruction efforts that prioritize the needs, safety, and dignity of women and marginalized groups. The overall goal of the project is to strengthen the voice, choice, and agency of women and girls in crisis-affected settings by systematically incorporating womenโs needs and views into the design of post-disaster reconstruction. Women have been disproportionately affected by housing destruction due to their increased confinement to domestic spaces. Findings from focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted by the UN Women Herat Sub-Office, along with the insights from the February 2025 ICCT mission confirm that temporary shelters and infrastructure have largely failed to reflect womenโs needs into their design.To bridge this critical gap, the project will integrate womenโs perspectives into post-earthquake reconstruction, ensuring that housing, health facilities, and water management systems are built with privacy, security, and accessibility in mind. By engaging women in decision-making and strengthening their leadership in the recovery process, the initiative aims to create more inclusive, resilient communities while advancing gender equality in disaster response efforts. This initiative will focus on three key areas:
Gender-Sensitive Needs Assessment โ Conducting FGDs and assessments to capture the specific housing, health, and water-resource needs of women, including female heads of households and women with disabilities. Gender-Responsive Infrastructure Design โ Providing support to promote housing, health facilities, and water management systems that are built to provide privacy, security, and accessibility for women and girls, while also adhering to cultural and international standards. Womenโs Empowerment and Participation โ Engaging women in earthquake-affected areas in decision-making throughout the reconstruction process, strengthening their decision-making and monitoring capacities, and supporting their involvement in project monitoring, as well as advocacy and decision-making platforms/committees.Under the supervision of the Western Region Sub-Office and Gender in Humanitarian Affairs (GiHA) unit, the Project Coordinator is responsible for coordinating the implementation of UN Women GiHA project in the field, specifically the engagement with women-led/focused partner organizations.
Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work
Coordinate the implementation of the GiHA project activities in Herat:
Coordinate overall workplan implementation according to the programme document Coordinate and oversee field-level implementation of the project activities, ensuring alignment with project objectives and timelines. Facilitate the collection of supporting documents and assessments needed for finalizing partner agreements. Liaise with implementing partners and ensure that project milestones are achieved in accordance with UN Women standards.Guide coordination with national partners and other stakeholdersย
Coordinate relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the GiHA Programme/ Portfolio, raise potential problems and suggest solutions; Identify capacity building needs and support partners through technical assistance, mentoring, training and capacity development initiatives, as needed.Lead on FGDs and reporting:
Monitor project progress, including FGDs and supervision of women volunteers supporting the FGDs, infrastructure monitoring activities, and women's engagement in local committees. Conduct regular field visits and community feedback sessions to identify challenges and good practices. Review and consolidate partnersโ narrative and financial reports and provide input to internal UN Women reporting processes. Share timely field-level observations and risk alerts with the Head of Sub-Office and GiHA unit.Manage people and finances of the UNOPS project
Coordinate development and preparation of financial resources of the project including budgeting and budget revisions, and expenditure tracking and reporting; Monitor the allocation and disbursement of funds to participating partners; Supervise Project implementing partner and programme associate supporting the project..Advocate and facilitate knowledge building and management and communication
Document the project implementation process and products; Contribute to the exchange of information and provide inputs to the development of knowledge products internally and externally of the project;Support technical assistance and capacity development of project partners:
Provide day-to-day technical support to partners in the planning, implementation, and documentation of project activities. Identify capacity gaps and support tailored technical assistance to strengthen partners' programmatic, operational, and reporting capacities. Act as a focal point for partner coordination in affected districts.Consultantโs Workplace and Official Travel
This is an office-based consultancy. As part of this assignment, there will be a weekly visits to earthquake-affected communities in Herat.ย ย
Competencies :
Core Values:
Integrity; Professionalism; Respect for Diversity.Core Competencies:
Please visitย this linkย for more information on UN Womenโs Values and Competencies Framework:ย
Functional Competencies:
Sound programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills Good budget and finance skills Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendationsย Good analytical and reporting skillsย Knowledge of UN programme management systemsRequired Qualifications
Education and Certification:
Masterโs degree or equivalent in public administration, law, human rights, gender equality, management, social sciences, or other related areas is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.Experience:
At least 2 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in managing complex and multi-component programme interventions with national partners, preferably related to the humanitarian sector is required. Experience in coordinating, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating development programmes and projects is required. Experience in gender equality and womenโs empowerment programming is required. Experience in formulating thematic analysis and humanitarian alerts is desirable.ย Experience in and understanding of the local context and surrounding provinces is an asset.Languages:
Fluency in English is required. Fluency in Dari and Pashto is required.ยStatements :
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.
ย