Job Description

Background/Context

UN Women (UNW), 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) 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.

Its three-year Strategic Note supports the efforts to achieve measurable results in country in terms of four UN Women global Strategic Plan impacts (2022-2025): (SP Impact 1). Governance and participation in public life; (SP Impact 2). Women’s Economic Empowerment; (SP Impact 3). Ending Violence Against Women and Girls and; SP Impact 4. Women peace and security, Humanitarian & Disaster Risk Reduction.

In line with the Palestinian Government’s commitment to achieve gender equality and combat Violence Against Women (VAW), and in full partnership with the Justice, Security and Social Sectors, UN Women within its joint programme with UNDP and UNICEF- “ Reinforcing equal access to justice for all Palestinians - SAWASYA III” is supporting the Justice, Security and Social institutions to mainstream gender into their plans, procedures and policies, and develop and provide gender responsive services to women victims and survivors of violence.

Within this framework, UN Women is providing technical support to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), High Judicial Council (HJC), Palestinian civil police (PCP), the Official Gazette Bureau (OGB), the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) and the Attorney General Office (AGO) to mainstream gender into their policies, plans, procedures and practices.

In line with this, UN Women Sawasya III programme is planning to recruit a consultant to strengthen the capacity of the legal teams within the OGB and the MoJ, in drafting and reviewing legislation from gender perspectives and providing legal advice to the government entities, ensuring alignment and compliance with international principles enshrined in international human rights conventions, notably CEDAW.

Objectives of the Assignment:

The main objective of the assignment is to build the capacity of two groups of legal personnel within the OGB and the MoJ on gender responsive law-making processes and related tools, including drafting new laws, reviewing draft laws and providing gender- responsive legal advice, with a focus on integrating gender and women rights perspectives into laws and regulations.

The consultant will be reporting to UN Women Sawasya III Rule of law and Protection Specialist and will be supported by the programme’s Women Security and Inclusion Analyst, in addition to the CSO support and Finance Associate who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

Inception phase:

To develop an inception report that includes a detailed description of the work plan, and the methodology, and share it with UN Women for review and approval. The methodology should combine theoretical and practical components, including case studies on drafting and reviewing laws from gender and women’s rights perspectives.
To meet with UN Women’s technical team and the OGB and the MoJ focal points, to discuss the assignment’s objectives, methods and tools that will be used, and the main deliverables.

Implementation phase:

To meet with the OGB and the MoJ focal points to discuss training needs and topics and identify the key topics to be covered in the sessions.
To prepare training material, and pre- and post-training assessment and share them with UN Women for feedback. The training is expected to address topics related to the following:
1. Introduction to Gender Equality and Women’s Rights
2. International Legal Frameworks on Women’s Rights
3. National Legal Frameworks and Gender Commitments in Palestine
4. Women rights including the right to access to justice through legal reform process
5. Principles of gender responsive law- making process
6. Gender Analysis in Legislation
7. Tools for reviewing laws and regulations from gender perspective
To conduct six days training sessions.
To develop and submit a training report for each group outlining the training proceedings and outcomes, including the results of the pre- and post- assessment.

Final report:

To submit a final narrative report that includes a description of the assignment, the achievements, methodology used, lessons learned and recommendations along with relevant annexes including the list of trainees and training material.

Deliverables

Deliverable	Expected completion time (due day)
The inception report including a detailed work plan, objectives and methodology.	One week after the signature of the contract
Successful completion of 6 days training, and approved narrative report	Three months after the signature of the contract

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy with frequent field visits to partner institution main offices in the West-Bank, Palestine.

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 international standards on human rights, gender justice and women rights.
Proven Experience in the field of protection and access to justice and security.
Strong capacity to establish, build and sustain effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client’s perspective; anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly.
Strong ability to effectively interact with technical and non- technical end users in a cooperative and helpful manner.

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

A master’s degree in law, gender Studies, human rights or public policy.
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 3 years’ experience in legislative processes, law drafting and/ review laws from a gender perspective is required.
Experience in the field of gender equality, women’s rights and violence against women is required.
Experience in capacity building, preferably in areas related to women’s access to justice and gender equality is required.
Experience with the UN system or/and International Organizations is desirable.
Experience with the justice system is desirable.
A sample of a training material and a training report, preferably in areas related to legal reform, or law drafting and reviewing must be attached as part of your application.

Languages: