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.

Peace and security represent one of the key thematic areas of UN Women’s mandate. Based on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and nine subsequently adopted resolutions, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda, recognizes the gendered nature of conflict and peacebuilding. Accordingly, one of the goals of the WPS Agenda is to promote gender equality and strengthen the participation of women in all aspects of conflict prevention, peace processes, peace operations and peacebuilding. Participation of women in peacebuilding and conflict resolution is one of the four pillars of UNSCR 1325 and WPS agenda. Though efforts are being made to include Women in Peacebuilding and conflict resolution efforts, women are still absent from peace processes. This is due to absence of comprehensive response on the participation of women in peace and security among other hindrances such as gender inequality at all levels.

National Action Plans for the implementation of UNSCR1325 and supporting resolutions (NAPs) are one of the key implementation tools for the WPS agenda. To date a total of 34 NAPs have been adopted in Africa and a total of 14 in East and Southern Africa. One of the best practices of NAPs is the importance of costing, as it enhances transparency and accountability, making it easier to track how funds are allocated and spent on WPS priorities and move the agenda from rhetoric to measurable, actionable interventions by linking activities to resources. Yet, as of 2025, only few of the NAP on WPS have a dedicated budget. Recognizing that lack of dedicated funding and strong, transparent financing mechanisms is a key obstacle to the implementation of the WPS agenda globally. 

Ethiopia began the process of drafting a NAP at the end of 2021. Since then, the government of Ethiopia is committed to accelerating the adoption of the NAP. Welcoming this commitment, the Ethiopian National Technical Committee on Women Peace and Security under the leadership of Ministry of Women and Social Affairs in collaboration with UN Women initiated a participatory process to develop the first National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security. Currently the first National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security is drafted and being reviewed by different government Ministries. To finalize the draft, it is important to cost the National Action Plan. NAP “costing” refers to the process of assigning cost to broad interventions in the plan. Costing is the first step toward developing an NAP budget and should be accompanied by identifying the relevant sources of funding for each activity. It is recommended that NAPs be properly costed and financed, beginning at the planning stage. This allows governments, local authorities and their civil society partners to identify priorities, existing resources, and resource gaps so that they can strategize accordingly. It also provides potential donors with a clear picture of what resources are needed, how they would be spent, and what results achieved. Costing and budgeting NAPs helps all stakeholders: it makes it easier for governments to allocate funding for NAP implementation in their national budgets and also sectoral plans, and to be held accountable for it; for civil society to advocate for increased and predictable funding; and for donors to commit funds to NAP implementation.

NAP costing increases the chances of achieving the objectives of the NAP and the WPS resolutions, by: Ensuring dedicated resources for NAP implementation, prioritizing certain NAP activities, identifying resource gaps, developing fund-raising strategies, defining the scope of the NAP, promoting ownership and accountability among all stakeholders and ensuring monitoring and evaluation of NAP implementation. It also supports coordination and leveraging strategic partners resources to advance the implementation of the NAP.

NAP costing is an essential step in preparing a comprehensive and realistic NAP budget. Without identifying the cost and dedicating the resources needed, it would be difficult to allocate funding to NAP and risk limiting its participation. 

In this context, UN Women Ethiopia in collaboration with Ministry of Women and Social Affairs and National technical Committee to lead the development of NAP on WPS prepared a workshop on in costing and budgeting the NAP. This ToR is prepared to recruit a national consultant to support in costing the draft NAP, in partnership with an international consultant.   

Organizational setting, reporting and collaborators.

The consultant will be reporting to Program Specialist WPSHA, and will be supported by WPS Programme Officer, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues. Inputs on the documents will be provided by UN Women, MoWSA and National Technical Committee on NAP on WPS.

Monitoring and including reporting requirements 

The consultant will work closely with UN Women and MoWSA. All the required workshop materials and strategies and reports will be shared in advance to UN Women and MoWSA for comments and close follow up. The reviewed content will be shared back to the consultant who will incorporate comments finalize the workshop and strategy.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

The national Consultant in collaboration with international consultant is expected to carry out the following tasks.   

• Ensuring alignment of NAP log frame with costing framework.  
• Preparing a template filling with the outcomes/outputs/ activities from the NAP log frame before the workshop. 
• Analyze and generate knowledge information on government budgeting and possible alignment with the draft Ethiopia NAP on WPS.
• Facilitate a three-day costing exercise with the National Technical Committee on NAP on WPS and Costing drafting teams for the Ethiopia NAP and prepare costed NAP on the three-day Workshop.
• Prepare and conduct one day workshop with donors on the NAP Costing and Budgeting. 
• Develop road maps for the next steps including a plan for presenting the NAP budget and seeking approval. The road map should also include a fundraising strategy and contextualized for Ethiopian situation 
• Develop required quantitative and qualitative tools and templates to develop the Costing Matrix, for data collection to be used by parties responsible for the implementation of the Ethiopia NAP. 
• Participate and provide technical support to the validation meeting for the Ethiopia NAP Costing.  
• Finalize the costing of NAP on WPS in Ethiopia.

Deliverables

• Tentative outline for the workshop for the technical committee and donors 
• Aligned NAP log frame and with costing framework.
• Four-day workshop (Three-day workshop with technical committee and one day with donors) and Workshop report 
• Road map for the next steps including a plan for presenting the NAP budget and seeking approval and fundraising strategy.
• Finalized costed NAP on WPS. 
• Follow up meeting with technical/steering committee and meeting report 

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

The national consultant will be hired for 20 days in December 2025. This is a home-based consultancy. As part of this assignment, there will be a maximum of two trips outside of Addis Ababa to deliver the costing exercise and validation meeting. The preparation and follow-up meetings will be conducted virtually. The logistical arrangements of the training and the validation workshop will be done by UN Women. 

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:

• Sharing knowledge and experience
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women
• Demonstrates excellent written and oral communication skills. Communicates sensitively, effectively, and creatively across different constituencies.
• Demonstrates very good understanding of and experience in communications and outreach/advocacy.
• Focuses on results for the client and responds positively to feedback.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
• Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate.
• Multidisciplinary skills and the ability to communicate effectively.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Sensitivity to regional political, gender and cultural will be added separately for each position

The assignment is expected to be carried out by a one international and one national consultant. The consultant needs to be independent in terms of using office space, equipment, utilities, and other logistics. UN Women facilities will not be available unless otherwise agreed.

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Economics, Business Administration Gender/women's studies, peace and security studies, social sciences, Sociology, or related fields are required. A PhD will be added value
• 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’ experience working on Women, Peace and Security, gender, peace, security, and conflict and/or other relevant fields.
• Prior experience in costing and budgeting NAPs is must. (Samples of previous work will be required.)
• Strong understanding WPS situation in Ethiopia demonstrated through prior engagement in similar activity. 
• Technical expertise and strong understanding of Ethiopian Government financial system
• Experience in facilitating interactive workshops especially on costing and budgeting. 
• Experience in working in a diverse team is an asset.
• An ideal candidate should have creativity, strong organizational ability, capacity to deliver on time, excellent presentation skills and be responsive to feedback.
• Excellent analytical skills with strong drive for results and capacity to work independently.
• Excellent Amharic/English communication and writing skills

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.

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.