Climate change, gender equity and mainstreaming, capacity building

The United Nations Unique Partnership for Learning on Climate Change (UN CC:Learn) is a joint initiative of 36 multilateral organizations working together to help countries develop the knowledge and skills needed to combat climate change. These include improved climate literacy and other skills essential to meeting this challenge. UN CC:Learn provides quality guidance and learning resources to help individuals, governments and businesses understand, adapt and build resilience to climate change. The UN CC:Learn Secretariat is provided by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). UN CC:Learn is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and United Nations partners.

Since 2019, the UN CC:Learn program has supported Kyrgyz Republic in the development and implementation of its national learning strategy on climate change, including the implementation of activities around education, training and public awareness. UNITAR also supports policies and actions for green economy learning in Kyrgyz Republic within the framework of the Partnership for Action on Green Economy.

In this context and in collaboration with the NDC Partnership, the UN CC:Learn program supports the implementation of the project entitled “Strengthening climate action: holistic approach to capacity building and public awareness raising for low carbon and climate resilient development”. The deliverables of this project include:

1. Strengthening the existing framework for capacity building on climate change, through the update and validation of the existing Comprehensive Plan of Measures on Climate Change Learning (launched in 2021);
2. Development, validation, and integration of capacity-building programmes on low-carbon, climate-resilient development for public officials and other stakeholders (such as youth groups, women groups, the private sector) at national and subnational level;
3. Development, validation, and implementation of public awareness-raising plan on low-carbon, climate-resilient development.

UNITAR’s interventions are guided by its Gender Mainstreaming, Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women Policy. Additional guidance is provided, among others, by the UN CC:Learn Gender Guidelines, UNITAR’s Guide on Mainstreaming Gender in the Training Cycle, UNITAR’s Guide on Inclusivity Framework for Training Programmes, UNITAR’s Guidance on Integrating Gender Considerations into Monitoring and Evaluation of UNITAR Programming.

The objective of this contract is to integrate gender considerations into the design, delivery, and evaluation of capacity-building programs. This includes the following key elements:

1. Ensuring Gender-Responsive Content: Ensure that program content addresses the nexus between gender and climate change, discusses gender in the context of local climate actions in the materials and the language used.
2. Utilizing Gender-Responsive Communication: Ensure that communication materials use the appropriate gender-responsive language and that attention is given to ensure balanced representation of the differentiated needs and opportunities for women and men.
3. Promoting Women’s Participation: Actively encourage the participation of women in awareness campaigns, media discussions, and workshops to ensure their voices are heard.
4. Ensuring Inclusive Awareness Campaigns: Promote the principle of leaving “no one behind” by broadcasting awareness programmes in local languages on local media channels (i.e. social media/radio/TV stations), as relevant, as well as scheduling of programmes to air at suitable times to allow for participation of both men and women.

A individual contractor will ensure gender is integrated into the project, in consultation with the Project Team, Government, and partners. She/ he will have to work in a spirit of frank collaboration with all project participants, accomplishing the following specific tasks:

Ensuring Gender-Responsive Content

• Review existing program/ strategy content to identify gaps in gender-responsiveness.
• Develop and ensure that capacity-building programs and training materials for various audiences address the nexus between gender and climate change, with discussions on gender in the context of local climate actions. This should be reflected in both the content and language used.
• Ensure that gender considerations are integrated into the design of training materials, the language used in all materials is inclusive and reflects gender considerations.
• Ensure a country-focused, inclusive and gender-sensitive project implementation process, with the participation and effective involvement of a wide range of stakeholders.

Utilizing Gender-Responsive Communication

• Assess current communication materials for gender-responsiveness.
• Develop guidelines for using gender-responsive language in all communication materials.
• Ensure that communication materials represent the differentiated needs and opportunities for women and men.

Promoting Women’s Participation

• Ensure the integration of issues related to gender and women’s participation across all activities: awareness campaign, media discussions and workshops.
• Design and implement strategies to increase the participation of women in awareness campaigns, media discussions, and workshops.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to ensure that women’s voices are included and amplified in all relevant activities.

Ensuring Inclusive Awareness Campaigns

• Develop and implement awareness campaigns that uphold the principle of “leaving no one behind,” with a focus on reaching diverse audiences.
• Ensure that awareness programs are broadcast in local languages across various media channels (e.g., social media, radio, TV).
• Schedule programs at times that are convenient for both men and women, maximizing accessibility and participation.
• Provide regular and detailed activities’ reporting.

a. Education

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in a relevant academic area.
• Degree in social science especially gender/ women studies, is an asset

b. Work experience

• At least 5 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in the substantive areas (gender and climate change)
• Relevant policy-related experience related to developing strategic programmes for gender and governance.
• Experience working on projects with a strong focus on learning and training is an asset.
• Experience with international projects is an asset.
• Experience working on awareness-raising components in communications materials, including content development.

c. Core competencies

• Sound knowledge in the field of gender, climate change and/or education for sustainable development.
• Ability to work with multiple partners in a dynamic international environment.
• Ability to plan own work, observe deadlines and manage multiple communication workstreams.
• Very good inter-personal skills and demonstrated capacity to deal with colleagues and counterparts from different backgrounds.
• Excellent communication skills, ability to articulate ideas in a clear and concise style.
• Integrity and commitment to the mandate and values of the United Nations.

d. Languages

• Excellent proven communication and writing skills in English and Russian are required. Knowledge of Kyrgyz is an asset.

The Individual contractor will report to the Programme Officer-Green Development and Circular Economy, Green Development and Climate Change Programme Unit, Division for Planet.