Gender and Peacebuilding Thematic Review for Somalia

Background

UN Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) laid the foundation for tackling issues of women, peace and security, as it calls for the equal participation of women in the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and for the mainstreaming of gender perspectives into the areas of conflict prevention, peace negotiations, peacekeeping operations, humanitarian assistance and reconstruction. The succeeding resolutions take the agenda forward (SCR 1889, 2122, 2242) by stressing the need for the full, equal and effective participation of women at all stages of peace processes as well as highlight their vital role in peacebuilding activities, especially in the prevention and resolution of conflict. Security Council resolution 1889, furthermore, calls for greater attention to the gender dimension of planning and financing for peacebuilding and requests the Secretary-General to submit a report on women’s participation in peacebuilding.

Since its inception in 2006, the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) has commissioned thematic reviews to examine past practices and promising innovations in specific areas of peacebuilding, and to specifically reflect on the performance of the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) about global learning. Thematic Reviews are part of PBSO’s commitment to contributing to the general peacebuilding knowledge base, as well as continuous learning and improvement of PBF’s decision-making and programmatic guidance.

Organizational Context:

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates 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 has been working in Somalia since 2014, implementing programming in the areas of; Women Peace and Security; Women's Leadership and Participation; and Ending Violence against Women and Girls. UN Women is also working in partnership with national and local government ministries, CSOs, and other UN agencies, to leverage humanitarian response efforts and bridge the humanitarian-development nexus. These efforts are also to promote gender responsive planning, programming, effective gender coordination, gender justice, women peace and security, as well as challenging inequalities that are based on entrenched gender norms, harmful to women and girls.

UN Women has a triple mandate, and in addition to the coordination and operational actions touched upon above, UN Women ensures that a comprehensive and dynamic set of norms, policies and standards on gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls is strengthened and implemented. Specifically, in Somalia this sees the Government of Somalia fulfilling its international reporting obligations on Beijing Platform for Action, UNSCR 1325, and the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Rationale

The Secretary-General’s report on women’s participation in peacebuilding, in 2010, which was responding to SCR 1889, noted that women are crucial partners in achieving lasting peace and presents a detailed action plan. The Seven Points Action Plan, aims at changing practices among all relevant actors and improving gender responsiveness in peacebuilding. As a result of this, the PBF 2017-2019 and 2020-2024 Strategic Plans, strives to ensure that its entire portfolio is gender mainstreamed and that dedicated projects on gender equality in peacebuilding constitute an increasing percentage of allocations. As a result of these efforts, in 2018 and 2019, the PBF allocated at least 40% of its allocations to gender-responsive peacebuilding, exceeding its own ambitious target of 30% set out in the Strategic Plan.

The year 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), and the 10th anniversary of the Seven Point Action Plan.  The PBSO therefore considers it timely to update the 2013-14 Thematic Review to mark progress, capitalize on learning and highlight emergent or persisting challenges with respect to gender-responsive peacebuilding. This Gender Thematic Review, therefore, is an opportunity to document and analyze programing and strategic practices related to gender and peacebuilding of the PBF since the last review and inform wider policy and advocacy efforts on gender and peacebuilding and the WPS agenda more generally. The findings from the review that is to be conducted, will strengthen the impact story of the PBF at large and is of relevance to the 2020 PBAR process, including on generating new sources of financing.

UN Women has committed to support country consultations for the PBF Gender Thematic Review and will hire an international consultant to undertake this work. The consultant will cover the review under the guidance of the global lead consultant and will be supervised by UN Women Country Program Manager in Somalia.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Thematic Review on Gender and Peacebuilding has two levels of analysis: first, a review of the wider peacebuilding architecture to map ongoing practice, emerging trends, and priorities for action; and, secondly, a review of the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) portfolio in Somalia. The review will collect data across a range of themes, highlighting good practice, gaps, and challenges in gender-responsive peacebuilding and will provide recommendations on how these obstacles can be overcome.

The review will consider the overarching existing guiding review questions as per Global Peace building thematic review organized around context, gender sensitive conflict analysis, gender responsive budgeting/financing, gender markers, gender promotion initiative (GPI), positive examples beyond GPI, portfolio approaches, monitoring and evaluation learning, gender expertise/capacities/resources and partnerships.

UN Women international consultant will undertake interviews with key stakeholders identified by UN Women Country Office and PBF coordinator, organize joint consultations sessions if required, and will document and provide the report to the global lead consultant. 

Learning from the assessments, the international consultant will also support the coordination and technical inputs to the development of the full WPS proposal for submission to the PBF Secretariat.

Scope of Work:

The consultant will employ a participatory methodology to carry out the Review, taking into account current restrictions on travel and meetings during the global health crisis prevailing in 2021. The consultants will engage relevant actors, including within the UN system, donors, think tanks, academia and CSOs, with an eye on ensuring wide ownership of the process and its findings. Under the direct supervision of the Country Programme Manager and working closely with the PBF Consultant, the international consultant will perform the following functions in Somalia:

1. Inception paper: the paper should include implementation plan, interview plan with key stakeholders and timeline.  

2. Draft report (max. 20 A4 pages, Times New Roman, 12 font) and Executive Summary of no more than 2 pages to promote dissemination of and communications on the Review.  The draft should include an overview of the research methodology and initial findings (which will include lessons learned and good practices) and key recommendations aimed at strengthening gender-responsive peacebuilding at the strategic level and improving the design and implementation of gender-responsive PBF projects, based on the PBF’s Thematic Report template.

3. Draft presentation.  The draft paper will be presented by  the consultant at an expert meeting to be organized by UN Women targeting key stakeholders.

4. Submission of Final report.  The final paper should include a full description of the methodology used, key findings and recommendations, including for policy and programming, as well as any relevant annexes (i.e. data tables for quantitative analysis, field research tools, etc.), list and contacts of interviewed stakeholders. It should incorporate feedback from the experts, stakeholders meeting and from UN Women. 

5. Technical Assistance.   Coordination and technical assistance in developing the full PBF-WPS Somalia proposal for submission to the PBF

   Deliverables

   1. Inception paperDraft report (max. 20 A4 pages, Times New Roman, 12 font) and Executive Summary of no more than 2 pages to promote dissemination of and communications on the Review.

   2. Draft presentation

   3. Submission of Final report.

   4. Technical Assistance.   

Competencies

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Strong knowledge of programme formulation and implementation and Results Based Management.

• Strong knowledge of monitoring and evaluation, evaluation design, data collection and analysis, and reporting.

• Ability to provide policy advice and support to partners.

• Ability to interact with donors.

• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports.

• Strong analytical and report writing skills.

• Good knowledge of UN programme management systems.

• Strong planning, goal-setting, prioritization and organizational skills.

• Ability to pay close attention to detail.

• Strong oral and written communication skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Minimum Qualification:  Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in one of the social sciences, gender studies, peace and conflict studies, or related field.

Experience: Skills and Experience Required:

• A minimum of five years of relevant professional work experience in programme evaluation, M&E, and operational research. A minimum of five years professional work experience in gender and peacebuilding (research/programming/policy) is required. Knowledge of development and implementation of gender and peacebuilding programmes/projects/research and/or evaluation of women, peace and security projects in UN contexts, knowledge of Somalia context is a must. Familiarity with the Peacebuilding Fund is an advantage.

Language Requirements:  Fluency in English