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.

UN Women Cambodia focuses its programme actions on the achievement of planned results that are in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF). To do that, the high-level actions are to enhance government capacity and accountability to integrate international norms and commitments (CEDAW, SDGs, Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Security Resolution 1325, Sendai framework) into national legislative and regulatory frameworks to further strengthen state obligations to achieve gender equality. UN Women continues supporting dialogues and CSO engagement in accountability for gender equality and women’s empowerment commitments to address gender inequality causes through the development of the fourth National Action to Prevent Violence Against Women (4th NAPVAW) and its monitoring framework, building national understanding of Women Peace Security, implementation of policies, tools and standard procedures for more gender-responsive actions in climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR) and labour governance, the transformation of negative social norms via strengthening community-based women networks and movements, and advocacy.

The Empower project

Women for Climate-resilient Societies (EmPower) is a unique partnership between UN Women and UN Environment, supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) that aims to ensure that climate actions and disaster risk reduction in Asia-Pacific respond to gender equality and human rights. EmPower Phase II in Cambodia will contribute to the overall Impact: “People in Asia-Pacific are less vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and experience greater gender equality and the full enjoyment of their rights, including equal access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.” EmPower Phase II aims to achieve the outcomes below:

• Outcome 1: Asia-Pacific actors increase action on gender responsive climate change adaptation and mitigation.
• Outcome 2: Women in all their diversity and other marginalized groups are represented as key environmental actors in climate and DRR decision-making
• Outcome 3: Women and other marginalized groups in Asia-Pacific secure climate-resilient livelihoods

Under Outcome 1, EmPower approach is to strengthen capacity of key government ministries to lead and provide technical support to promote women transformative leadership and gender responsive climate and DRR actions. Due to existing gender inequalities in resource access, economic opportunities, and participation in decision-making processes, women are disproportionately impacted by climate-related challenges. The Master Plan on Gender and Climate Change 2018 – 2030 and the Gender Climate Change Action Plan 2019 – 2023 emphasize the need for gender-sensitive, transformative leadership to build resilience across all sectors impacted by climate vulnerability. These frameworks highlight the importance of equipping leaders to navigate the complexity of gendered climate impacts. The Sendai GAP further supports transformative leadership by underscoring the critical role of women in disaster risk governance and advocating for gender mainstreaming in all aspects of CC and DRR. According to Sendai GAP, a gender perspective in DRR not only addresses the specific needs of women but also leverages their skills and insights in risk assessment, planning, and response. This form of leadership requires leaders to understand the intersecting social and economic factors that compound women’s vulnerability in climate crises, such as limited land rights, responsibilities for unpaid labor, and restricted access to financial resources.

Thus, UN Women is looking for a national consultant to work closely with MoWA, CSO partners, and women leaders in communities on capacity development on women transformative leadership in CC/DRR, in alignment with MoWA’s national framework and the Sendai Gender Action Plan.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

The national consultant is expected to review and revise existing women transformative leadership curriculum and manual which was specifically developed to fit the needs of target women group in addition to other technical capacity development provided by UN Women and government partners. The consultant will conduct a ToT on women transformative leadership in CC/DRR to MoWA, provide backup support and conduct reflection with the key technical assigned group at MOWA as they roll out the ToT to sectoral line ministries.

The consultant will also provide capacity development to CSO partners and work with them further to apply their leadership skills, and knowledge to build capacity of community women on transformative leadership which aims at promoting their leadership for advocacy and engagements in climate change actions which enable them to open option for climate-resilient livelihood activities and other employment options. The key topics and methodologies should provide transformative and experiential learning for women leaders allowing them to yield ripple effect for other women in their communities.

The detailed key responsibilities of the consultant will be as follows:

Provide technical lead on the design and roll out of the women transformative leadership programme for target women groups to strengthen their leadership, and active participation to build resilience in CC/DRR

With MOWA

1. Review existing UN Women and partner training manual and materials on women’s transformative leadership in CC/DRR and provide technical inputs to update the manual where needed.
2. Provide ToT training to a technical team of the Ministry of Women's Affair to enable them to roll out the leadership training to women leaders from line ministries.
3. Observe and coach the technical team of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs as they cascade the training to women leaders from line ministries. 
4. Provision of practical suggestions to enhance the training manual and strengthening the trained women leaders network

With CSO partners and communities

1. Review existing UN Women and partner training curriculum and materials on women’s transformative leadership in CC/DRR and provide technical inputs to update the training materials to meet the needs of partners.
2. In collaboration with UN Women’s programme team and CSO Partners, conduct pilot capacity building for identified community women leaders.
3. Support CSO partners to apply training programme and methodologies to co-facilitate the workshops and create an experiential and transformative learning space for identified community women leaders.
4. Design and produce monitoring tool to track progress and changes among women leaders.
5. Handover of training curriculum to CSO Partner and UN Women programme team.

With MoWA

With CSO partners and communities

Competencies :

Core Values:

• 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 Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Good knowledge of development of individual agency/self-esteem as well as robust skills in mentoring/coaching young women, women leaders and gender advocates through feminist framework;
• A proven history of leadership, management and women’s capacity building through a participatory and interactive learning style; 
• Proven experience and skills in critical analysis, participatory capacity design, facilitation/coordination, and coaching;
• A proven ability to liaise and coordinate with a myriad of stakeholders and partners, including gender advocates, formal and informal women’s network, civil society organization, and governmental department.

• Knowledge of the social, cultural, and political context of Cambodia and local issues of gender, women’s participation in private and public sphere, multiple challenges that potential young women leaders and gender advocates face to advance their personal development plan as well as participate equally in emergent socioeconomic development;
• Broad understanding on the national policy frameworks, and actions plans related to gender equality, women empowerment, and CC/DRR;
• Promotion of respectful and gender sensitive learning environment throughout the assignment and in the office; 
• Solid experience in coordination and facilitation to engage relevant stakeholders in the process and learning space; 
• Demonstrated sensitivity, discretion, tact, and courtesy in relation to gender equality and women’s rights, development principles, working with implementing young people and other stakeholders; and
• Proven excellent context analysis and high-quality reports produced.

Required Qualifications

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree in public policy, gender/women studies, development studies, international relations, or other related disciplines
• 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:

• Minimum 5 years progressively responsible relevant experience, preferably in the field of women’s empowerment, gender equality and leadership development, with a focus on building agency of individual 
• At least 5 years of experience in designing capacity development programme and conducting participatory skill building for government counterparts, CSOs, and community women; 
• Sound knowledge of women’s empowerment and feminist leadership concept as well as excellent understanding of multiple gender challenges in socioeconomic aspect; 
• Demonstrated working experience on women transformative leadership in the context of CC/DRR.
• Experience working with government, UN Agencies, or development partners is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required. 

EVALUATION

• Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis:
• Technical qualification (100 points) 

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

Statements :

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.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.