Purpose of consultancy:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe,  every young person’s potential is fulfilled and zero tolerance for GBV persists.

For UNFPA, gender was always in the core of its mandate and center of all Program activities and interventions. UNFPA helps the Government of Ukraine, local authorities, civil society and networks to empower women and ensure their involvement into decision-making processes through development of gender policies and legislation, support of gender research and combating gender discrimination and violence.

Since 2015, UNFPA GBV Response and Prevention Programme works to develop a comprehensive national system of response and prevention of domestic and gender-based violence in Ukraine. The Programme provides support to the Government of Ukraine to strengthen policy and legal framework, improve access of survivors to quality assistance and transform social norms that condone GBV in Ukrainian society. 

Within it gender portfolio UNFPA boosts the process of institutional and social norms change and withdrawal from gender stereotypes at the policy level, in education, at work, at home and in community life to create a supportive environment and growing public demand for advancing equal rights and opportunities for women and men in Ukraine.

Based on the above the National Consultant will advise UNFPA Programme streams on effective gender mainstreaming in policy and legal framework development  and practical intervention approaches, including  the design of GBV prevention solutions.

The Consultant will analyse and assess relevant political, social and economic trends and provide substantive inputs to project formulation and evaluation, joint programming initiatives and national policy frameworks. Gender Advisor will guide and facilitate the delivery of the UNFPA programme by incorporating gender-sensitive approach into monitoring of results achieved during implementation.

Scope of work:

(Description of services, activities, or outputs)

As part of the assignment the National Consultant will:

• Provide technical advice to the GBV, Youth/Gender Streams and UNFPA Country Office to facilitate integration of the gender transformative and gender mainstreaming approach into programme design, implementation, monitoring, reporting  and evaluation.
• Contribute to improvement of existing results-reporting and data-collection systems of GBV programme, Youth/Gender programme and UNFPA country office and introduce new mechanisms where necessary, ensuring gender sensitivity of frameworks and data collection tools.
• Analyse, edit and contribute to UNFPA strategies, plans, position and concept papers, knowledge products and capacity development materials in the area of gender equality, women’s empowerment, GBV prevention and response, education, social and family policy to ensure their gender sensitivity and contribution to transformative change of fostering gender equality and zero tolerance to GBV and discrimination in Ukrainian society.
• Develop expert recommendations and inputs on gender equality and inclusion to policy papers, strategies, development frameworks and national plans.
• Contribute to the formulation of the gender portfolio vision of the next country programme cycle and UN cooperation framework, given the  war and post-war early recovery needs and context, as well as  transformative results and priorities  indicated in the  UNFPA strategic plan (2022-2025), Eastern Europe and Central Asia regional programme (2022-2025) and other related UNFPA and UN strategies ensuring  its linkages with the ICPD Programme of Action, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the UN Reform agenda

• Prepare briefs and inputs on gender equality, social and family policy, and education for UNFPA policy dialogue, technical assistance coordination, and humanitarian response and development frameworks.
• Analyse and interpret the political and socio-economic environment relevant to gender equality and equity, women’s empowerment and men engagement and identifies opportunities for UNFPA intervention.
• Help create and document knowledge about trends in the areas of gender and human rights, education, social and family policy by analysing programme, projects, strategies, approaches and ongoing experience for lessons learned, best practices, and share with management for use in knowledge sharing and planning of future strategies.
• Contribute to the work of thematic government intersectoral and interagency working groups by presenting relevant updates on UNFPA work and providing expert recommendations to discussed documents and plans.
• Act as an active member of the UNCT Gender Theme Group to advocate for issues within the UNFPA mandate, develop strategic partnerships with UN agencies to enhance UN coordination, and strengthen the overall UN agencies’ performance on gender equality by mainstreaming gender into all key policies and programmes.
• Develop expert recommendations and inputs on national researches and concept papers, provide analysis of available data and researches’ findings to incorporate them to programme documents, including country programme, programmatic concepts and indicators’  framework.
• Perform other duties as may be required by UNFPA country office management.

Duration and working schedule:

Starting date: 1 November 2023 (tentatively)

Duration: till 30 September 2024 with possibility of extension

Place where services are to be delivered:

Remotely

Delivery dates and how work will be delivered (e.g. electronic, hard copy etc.):

A monthly progress report (up to 3 pages) should be submitted electronically by the end of each month to Valeriia Taran-Gaiduk, Equality Springboard project  coordinator, via email: taran-gaiduk@unfpa.org  with cc to Alona Zubchenko, the GBV Programme Manager, via email: zubchenko@unfpa.org accompanied by draft documents developed/reviewed.

Final report on the assignment completion (up to  5 standard pages A4 in English) to be delivered electronically via email to taran-gaiduk@unfpa.org,  zubchenko@unfpa.org and  zamostian@unfpa.org in the copy by the end of the assignment accompanied with the recommendations for further work on integrating gender transformative approach in UNFPA Programming.

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:

Daily work monitoring will be done by Valeriia Taran-Gaiduk, Equality Springboard Project Coordinator, taran-gaiduk@unfpa.org.

Supervisory arrangements:

The consultant will directly report to Valeriia Taran-Gaiduk, Equality Springboard Project Coordinator, taran-gaiduk@unfpa.org

Expected travel:

No travel expected

Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:

Education: 

• Master’s Degree in gender studies, social sciences, political studies, international relations, law, public administration or related areas.
• Completed certification or extensive professional capacity development programme on gender equality.

Experience:       

• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in gender equality and/or GBV.
• Experience in advising and supporting initiatives to address GBV and gender inequality in Ukraine would be an asset.
• Working experience in programmes funded by international donors is desirable.
• Excellent analytical, writing and interpersonal skills.
• Strong knowledge of MS Office-Word, Excel, Power Point, Internet, e-mail applications, etc.

Language:          

• Fluency in English and Ukrainian is required.

Inputs/services to be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner (e.g support services, office space, equipment), if applicable:

Additional services could be provided upon UNFPA request and authorisation.

UNFPA will provide the Consultant with background materials related to the assignments.

Other relevant information or special conditions, if any:

The consultancy fee will be paid monthly upon UNFPA’s approval of the Consultant’s monthly report and developed/reviewed documents.

Any remarks, proposals, complaints or claims to the consultant regarding services being provided in line with these terms of reference should be submitted to the consultant in writing within 10 days of submission of consultancy deliverables or reports by the consultant.

The scope of work to be performed by the consultant under these terms of reference, as well as other conditions of the consultancy, could be modified, if required, through a written agreement between the consultant and UNFPA.

Intellectual property

All information pertaining to this project (documentary, pictures, digital, cyber, project documents, etc.) belonging to UNFPA, which the consultant may come into contact with in the performance of his/her duties under the assignment shall remain the property of UNFPA, which shall have exclusive rights over their use. Except for purposes of this assignment, the information shall not be disclosed to the public nor used in whatever manner without written permission of UNFPA in line with the national and international Copyright Laws applicable.

Application Process

The consultant will be identified via open-call competitive selection process.

To be considered for the role, one needs to submit to ukraine.office@unfpa.org    by 23 September 2023 an application comprised of the following documents (all prepared in English):

• Professional CV;

• List of published reports/developed documents on gender equality (with relevant links);
• 1 page motivation letter describing interest in and suitability for the role;
• Expected remuneration per month for full-time engagement in the assignment (in USD). 

Only complete applications received by the deadline will be evaluated.

Selected candidates may be invited for an interview.

In the subject of the letter, please state: Application for ICC Gender  Policy and GBV Prevention Advisor