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 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’s triple mandate, along with its global network and deep policy and programming expertise, continues to endow the Entity with a unique capacity to: (i) support Member States to strengthen global norms and standards for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and mainstream gender perspectives in other thematic areas; (ii) promote coordination and coherence across the UN system to enhance accountability and results for gender equality and women’s empowerment; and (iii) undertake operational activities to support Member States, upon their request, in translating global norms and standards into legislation, policies and strategies at country level.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997 (as UNIFEM).

In line with the national priorities, the work of UN Women for the period 2023-2025 is aligned with three of the Palestine United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework’s (UNSDCF 2023-2025) outcomes:

• Palestinians have greater access to economic opportunities that are inclusive, resilient, and sustainable, including decent employment and livelihoods opportunities in an empowered private sector.
• Palestinians, including the most vulnerable, have equal access to sustainable, inclusive, gender responsive and quality social services, social protection, and affordable utilities.

• Palestinian governance institutions, processes, and mechanisms at all levels are more democratic, rights-based, inclusive, and accountable.
• Palestinians have better access to and management of natural and cultural resources, higher resilience and adaptation to climate change and more sustainable food systems.

The war started in October 2023 brought catastrophic consequences on Gaza.

Between 7 October 2023 and 1 July 2024, at least 37,900 Palestinians were killed and 87,060 were injured in Gaza, according to MoH in Gaza.

According to UN Women estimates, the majority of the casualties are women and children. UN Women highlighted that at least 557,000 women in Gaza are facing severe food insecurity, with the most concerning situation being the one of mothers and adult women, who are bearing increased caregiving and domestic responsibilities in tents and makeshift shelters, “leading many to skip meals or reduce their intake to ensure their children are fed.”

A joint study published by the EU, the UN and the World Bank in April 2024 finds that damage to structures affects every sector of the economy, and it would take around 18.5 billion US$ to repair critical infrastructure.

Housing accounts for 72% of the costs.

Public service infrastructure such as water, health and education account for 19%, and damages to commercial and industrial buildings account for 9%. For several sectors, the rate of damage appears to be levelling off as few assets remain intact. An estimated 26 million tons of debris and rubble have been left in the wake of the destruction, an amount that is estimated to take years to remove. Explosive remnants of war and unexploded ordnance (UXO) continue to pose significant risks of injury or death to people across the Gaza Strip, with IDPs, people returning to areas that have been bombarded or seen heavy fighting, and children being particularly affected.

In light of the unprecedented consequences of the war, UN Women seeks a consultant to develop a gender analysis study on the reconstruction and early recovery phase, including rubble removal, reconstruction committees and gender responsive budgeting and financing.

During and in the aftermath of previous war, gender-responsive reconstruction has largely been limited to the advocacy realm, with little influence on policy.

This is partly because women are seen as conflict victims rather than actors in peace and reconstruction efforts.

Not only is this a gross underestimation of women as social actors, but it is also contrary to UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Apart from being a global recognition that conflict is inherently ‘gendered’, this resolution marked a watershed in reaffirming women’s untapped vital role in preventing and resolving conflicts as well as rebuilding peaceful societies.

Gender-blind reconstruction can also be attributed to societal perception of men and women’s roles and gender stereotypes.

Rather than reinforcing gender stereotypes and inequalities, reconstruction processes can challenge harmful stereotypes that stand in the way of sustainable development and create meaningful opportunities for women’s participation and leadership in reconstruction and beyond. Furthermore, the consequences of the war are likely to affect women disproportionately with regards to their Housing, Land and Property (HLP) rights, due to the possible destruction of documentation and archives.

While ostensibly gender-blind, rubble removal and debris management are the first step towards sustainable development, which can only be achieved when all Gazans, men and women, can equally contribute to and benefit from it.

This becomes crucial in light of the unprecedented scale of devastation in the Gaza Strip.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of UN Women Special Representative, and the direct supervision of UN Women Head of Gaza sub-office, the Consultant will develop a study on how to ensure a Gender-responsive reconstruction, rehabilitation and early recovery of Gaza.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

• Draft an inception report, highlighting the methodology, goals and intended scope of the research.
• Conduct a desk review, and interviews as appropriate, to compile data available from different sources (i.e.