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.

Placing women’s rights at the center 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.

Following the outbreak of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces on 15th May 2023, UN WOMEN conducted a Rapid Gender Assessment (RGA) from May 10 to May 20, 2023 that covered the states of Khartoum, Blue Nile, Red Sea, White Nile, and Darfur. Among the issues that the RGA revealed is that women and girls were experiencing appalling levels of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), a classic phenomenon in a country experiencing intense levels of armed conflict. Since April 15, 2023 it is estimated that the number of those in need of GBV services has increased from 3.1 million (before the crisis) to 4.4 million). However, it was also observed that women and female youths were nonetheless taking the lead in several informal community structures, local NGOs and Community-based organizations in the management and distribution of humanitarian aid. The de facto weakening of traditional patriarchal structures in the context of the conflict is a hugely important opportunity for women and women youth to play a key role in the required humanitarian response, ensuring that gender-based needs are being met but also proving the decision-making role women can have in society. With some urgent capacity building measures, women and youth could undertake these roles even more effectively to the benefit of their entire communities.

Against the IASC Gender Policy and Accountability Framework commitments and priorities, there is an urgent need for the Humanitarian system to scale up its efforts to advance the protection and leadership of crisis affected and forcibly displaced populations with specific focus on the rights, needs and priorities of women and girls.

Reporting to the Country Representative, the Gender in Humanitarian Action Gender Specialist to the Resident Coordinator (RC) is tasked with enhancing gender equality integration and the meaningful participation of women and girls in the broader Sudan humanitarian response.

Duties and Responsibilities

Technical advice on GiHA and gender-responsive localization

• Participate in processes for reviewing, assessing and vetting gender aspects of humanitarian submissions.
• Contribute to joint efforts across the UN system to promote the participation of women and women’s organizations across humanitarian, peace, and development initiatives, including UN-led negotiation processes.
• Provide advice on how to bolster humanitarian resourcing of gender related activities and outcomes.
• Strengthen capacity of humanitarian workers on GiHA.
• Support strategic engagement with Humanitarian Country Teams to strengthen the inclusion of gender equality funding in humanitarian financing.
• Support accelerating localization through facilitating/advocating for local women’s organizations and networks participation in humanitarian planning, decision making and monitoring/accountability (with a focus on those organizations that work with crisis affected women and girls, including those at heightened risk of violence, exploitation, and abuse).
• Investigate opportunities for civil society engagement in humanitarian initiatives. This includes reinforcing connections between the Sudan Humanitarian Fund, the Women, Peace, and Humanitarian Fund, and other funding mechanisms dedicated to community-based initiatives in Sudan, including UN agency programming and funding for local women led organizations. Cultivate and manage active working relationships with women’s groups and civil society, ensuring effective liaison at appropriate levels.

Provide technical advice on advocacy, capacity development and knowledge building on gender in humanitarian action

• Advise the development of knowledge products including briefs, fact sheets, statistics, research, policy briefs etc.; highlighting the gendered impact/gendered dimension of the humanitarian crisis on the affected populations.
• Conduct ongoing/periodic context updates and document gender related emerging trends and challenges also as they relate to cluster response.
• Provide technical advice on the inclusion of SAAD and gender content in clusters and inter-cluster analyses and advocacy messages.
• Ensure that gender is mainstreamed in cluster assessments, the Joint Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (MSNA) and rapid interagency assessments.
• Conduct trainings for GFPs, cluster coordinators and cluster members (including women-led organizations) on GiHA and GAM.

Lead coordination efforts on Gender in Humanitarian Action

• Provide technical advice and assistance to the RC and Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) on strategies to enhance gender integration and women’s meaningful participation throughout the humanitarian response. This includes building capacity for gender analysis, designing and implementing gender-sensitive policies and programs.
• Build and maintain partnerships with other UN entities with complementary mandates on gender equality and women, peace, and security-related issues. Actively participate in established inter-agency coordination mechanisms.
• Regularly report to senior management on activities related to gender equality and protection within humanitarian response interventions and support in the development of communication materials.
• Foster and facilitate coordination, collaboration, coherence and streamlined engagement with key stakeholders in Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response, the Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group, and the MARA WG. Participate in and support relevant Humanitarian Clusters and Sub-Clusters meetings.
• Provide technical guidance to enhance the integration of gender considerations in Access, CMCOORD, and Protection of Civilians (PoC) interventions, including coordination mechanisms and related tools.
• Provide technical inputs and advisory support in relation to AAP and PSEA related interagency initiatives ensuring a strong focus on participation and engagement with local women led organizations.
• Serve as the primary focal point on specific gender equality and women’s empowerment in humanitarian response or related issues, staying informed about the latest developments, liaising with other humanitarian organizations, donors, etc., and providing information and advice on a range of related issues.
• Review and provide advice on policy issues related to gender equality and women’s meaningful participation, ensuring gender-responsive humanitarian assistance.
• Organize and participate in work groups, meetings, conferences, and consultations with other agencies and partners on humanitarian, emergency relief, and gender-related matters.
• Provide guidance to, and may supervise, new/junior staff.
• Advisory support to gender analysis and gender responsive needs assessments
• Monitor and discern gaps, actively contribute to the development and synthesis of robust gender analyses and trends across the humanitarian crisis. Support the formulation of strategies and interventions through well-informed joint UN and humanitarian system gender analyses.
• Undertake and provide support to technical assistance and other field missions, such as participating in field missions to conduct in-depth reviews of gender considerations in the humanitarian response.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:

The incumbent reports to the Country Representative and does not have any direct supervisory responsibilities.

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values?

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 and certification:

• Master’s Degree in Gender Studies, international relations, human rights or related fields.
• 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 7 years of proven professional experience in the field of gender in humanitarian action, gender equality, or other related fields or other related fields.
• At least 3 years of proven experience in research and/or multi-stakeholder coordination.
• Experience working within the United Nations System on GIHA highly desirable.
• Experience in conflict settings is highly desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Fluency in Arabic will be an asset.
• Working knowledge of another official UN language is desirable.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Notes:

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, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, 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 to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel 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.