Gender in Humanitarian Action Officer/Consultant

Background

UN Women (UNW), 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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine. It focuses its activities on one overarching goal, namely, to support the implementation at the national level of existing international commitments to advance gender equality in line with the national priorities. In support of this goal, and thoroughly taking into consideration the specificities of the Palestinian context, UN Women concentrates its efforts and interventions toward the realisation of three impact areas:  (1) women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy; (2) women and girls live a life free of violence and (3) women lead, participate in and benefit from peace and security, humanitarian action and recovery efforts in Palestine. UN Women is committed to ensuring equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of humanitarian action. UN Women’s work in humanitarian action is guided by global norms and standards. As an emerging crisis, the COVID-19 crisis is expected to affect women, girls, boys and men differently. As a result, their needs and interests will differ, as do their resources, capacities and coping strategies. Women are often the first responders to a crisis, and they play a central role in the survival and resilience of families and communities. Understanding how the crisis has a gendered impact on the population is key to ensuring that the response of humanitarian partners guarantee the protection of all members of the affected population and contribute to addressing the needs and priorities of women, men, girls, and boys equitably and effectively.

Against this background, UN Women in Palestine is seeking to hire a Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Officer/Consultant.

Under the overall guidance of UN Women Special Representative and the direct supervision of the UN Women Programme Management Specialist, the GiHA Officer Consultant will be responsible for strengthening gender mainstreaming and gender focus in humanitarian action including COVID-19 preparedness, response planning, data generation, and advocacy in the West bank.

Objective of the assignment:

The objective of this assignment is to strengthen gender mainstreaming and gender focus in the humanitarian action including COVID-19 preparedness, response planning, data generation and advocacy.

Duties and Responsibilities

The GIHA Officer will work on the following:

• Provide technical support to guarantee effective integration of gender throughout the humanitarian programme cycle (HPC) including support to the development of humanitarian needs overview (HNO), humanitarian response plan (HRP), emergency plans including Covid 19 response plan;
• Provide technical support on gender mainstreaming to the humanitarian clusters’ members to ensure the content of their response plans highlight and address gender concerns and that members have increased capacity to respond to emerging gender priorities;
• Regularly review the clusters’ analysis documents (i.e. Need Assessments, Plans, reports, ICCG briefs etc ) to ensure that gender content and SAADare systematically included;
• Provide coordination support to the Humanitarian Gender Group (HGG), co-led by UN Women and OCHA;
• Support the development, implementation and monitoring of the work plan of Humanitarian Gender Group (HGG) in full coordination with OCHA and gender focal points (GFPs);
• Support the development of knowledge products including briefs, fact sheets, statistics…etc highlighting the gendered impact of humanitarian crisis including COVID-19 outbreak on the affected population, particularly the impact on the most vulnerable groups of women such as GBV female victims;
• Review the 2021 Humanitarian Response Plans, the revised Interagency COVID-19 response plan and the Humanitarian Fund (HF) and provide actionable recommendations to clusters’ coordinators;
• Provide guidance and coordinate with relevant actors to increase the participation of women’s organizations in the humanitarian action decision making process;
• Ensure the systematic collection of qualitative and quantitative data and analysis and share among humanitarian actors to inform their COVID-19 response;
• Provide specific recommendations on how to improve the M&E tools, data resources and available expertise in the humanitarian architecture in Palestine;
• Ensuring coordination and flow of information with UN Women team members in the West Bank and Gaza; and
• Any other duties as required by the supervisor.

Time frame:

The assignment is expected to start in 1 July 2020 and to be finalized by 31 March 2021

Deliverables:

Monthly update reports on key deliverables, duties and responsibilities as listed above.

Competencies

Core Value/Guiding Principles:

• 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 visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional competencies:

• Sound knowledge of gender and women’s human rights’ national and international frameworks and policies.
• Strong dialogue and communication skills.
• Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client’s perspective; anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly.
• Excellent organization and planning skills and high attention to detail.
• Ability to meet deadlines and respond positively to feedback.
• Ability to complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree or equivalent in women’s and/or gender studies, social sciences or any other  related field.

Experience:

The Consultant should have the following experience:

• At least 5 years of proven professional experience in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment programming, research and capacity building.
• At least 3 years of proven experience in emergency planning and response within a conflict humanitarian settings.
• At least 2 years working experience in the Palestinian context.
• Experience working with the UN is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Arabic is required

Application procedure:

This SSA modality is governed by UN Women General Terms and Conditions. UN Women will only be able to respond to applicants who meet the minimum requirements.

Candidates should clearly indicate how they meet the above-mentioned criteria in their applications.

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials:

• P11 including experience in similar assignments; the P11 form can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted.
• Letter of Interest containing the statement on candidate’s experience and qualification against required qualification, experience and competencies.
• 2 pages proposal outlining understanding of the assignment and proposed workplan with a timeline.

Note: Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Please upload as one attachment of the documents as mentioned above online through this website

Candidates should have the ability to quickly submit degree certificates, medical certification (of good health) expression of Interest (EoI).

Evaluation of applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications mentioned above, and financial proposal. A contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer receives the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation (70%) – max. 70 points:

• Required degree and qualification (5 points)
• Practical experience in the field of Gender in humanitarian action. (20 Points)
• Experience in gender emergency planning and response within a conflict humanitarian settings. (5 Points)
• At least 2 years working experience in the Palestinian context. (5 Points)
• Technical test or interview (30 points)
• Experience working with the UN is an asset. (5 Points)

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points.

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows:

p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values:

• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Only long-listed candidates will be contacted.

Financial proposal. Shortlisted candidate will be requested to submit a financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount breaking down a daily professional fee and any related expenses, i.e. travel, communications, etc expenses.