UN Women: Advocacy and Coordination Consultant, ESARO, Nairobi, Kenya

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 supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women and girls; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality.

In East and Southern Africa, UN Women covers 25 countries through twelve country offices, a programme presence, as well as support to the UN Country Team where we do not have an office. The UN Women Liaison Office serves the African Union and UN Economic Commission for Africa, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In accordance with the UN Women Strategic Note (2026-2029) and in support of global and regional commitments for advancing gender equality, UN Women works to advance social, economic, and political rights of women and girls, including the right to live free of all forms of violence and the right to meaningfully engage in all aspects of peace and security across the humanitarian, development and peace nexus.
Ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG) remains a priority area for UN Women in East and Southern Africa, as the most widespread violation of human rights. Regional prevalence estimates of women and girls’ experiences of different forms of violence are often higher than global averages. For example 35% of women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in their life time and 20% in the past year, above global average ( 27%vs 13%). Over 50 million girls in ESA were married before age of 18. seventeen countries have IPV prevalence data, eight reported femicide data and six track technology-facilitated-VAWG. Despite high IPV costs on GDP ( 0.9% in Ethiopia, 5.5% in Lesotho), funding gaps, weak legal implementation, shrinking civic space and perpetrator impunity hinder accountability. Despite these legal reforms, investment in prevention and survivor services is growing, offering opportunities or accelerated action.
The ESARO also focuses on women and girls in their diversity, with attention to marginalized, excluded, and underrepresented groups, including, but not limited to rural women, women with disabilities, women living with or affected by HIV, women survivors of violence, women migrants, widows, elderly women among others.

UN Women East and Southern Africa is working to improve the impact of existing programming in the region, with particular attention to enhancing holistic investments and accountability for addressing VAWG. This will focus on strengthening capacities of regional actors on effective approaches for the prevention and response to violence against women and girls (VAWG), improving access to evidence and facilitating learning of what works and enhancing the role of social influencers and non-traditional gender equality advocates for transforming discriminatory social norms in favour of gender equality. This requires deepening collaborative partnerships and multi-level and multi-sectoral programming for EVAWG across Africa.

As part of these efforts, UN Women is working to strengthen feminist movements to coordinate efforts to end VAWG through the Advocacy, Coalition Building and Transformative Feminist Action (ACT) to End Violence Against Women ACT Programme, with support from the European Union, and in collaboration with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. ACT is designed to accelerate efforts to eliminate all forms of VAWG through transformative feminist action, movement strengthening, and coordinated advocacy. It builds on the foundation laid by the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative and responds directly to the rising urgency for systemic, cross-sectoral action to prevent and respond to VAWG.

UN Women ESARO seeks to hire an Advocacy, communication and Coordination Consultant to enhance the ACT Programme implementation, with particular attention to regional convenings and advocacy. The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the ACT Regional Coordinator.

• Facilitate regular coordination among ACT partners and broader EVAWG stakeholders, ensuring effective communication of updates, sharing of resources, alignment of activities, and identification of opportunities for collaboration across regional and country-level initiatives. 
• Support strengthening partnerships among feminist movements, women's rights organizations, UN partners, regional institutions, and development partners.
• Coordinate follow-up actions arising from partner meetings, consultations, and regional convenings.
• Maintain stakeholder mapping and partnership engagement records to support coalition building, movement strengthening, and collective advocacy efforts.

• Support planning and implementation of regional and country-level advocacy initiatives aligned with ACT Programme priorities.
• Prepare advocacy briefs, talking points, presentations, stakeholder engagement materials, briefing notes, and background documents.
• Facilitate engagement with regional institutions, governments, civil society organizations, and development partners to advance ACT advocacy priorities.
• Support the development of outcome documents, advocacy messages, and high-visibility products highlighting programme results, lessons, and impact.
• Contribute to the identification of strategic opportunities to elevate feminist voices and strengthen regional advocacy and influence on policy implementation.

• Lead the development and implementation of ACT Programme communications and visibility plans.
• Produce high-quality communication products including stories of change, newsletters, blogs, feature articles, success stories, donor updates, social media content, and partner spotlights.
• Develop communication packages, key messages, and visibility materials for regional advocacy initiatives, campaigns, consultations, and high-level events.
• Support ACT Programme visibility during strategic advocacy moments, including regional and global campaigns and relevant policy engagement opportunities.
• Coordinate the dissemination of programme achievements, lessons learned, evidence, and knowledge products across internal and external communication platforms.
• Support media engagement and the preparation of communication materials for senior leadership and external stakeholders as required.
• Maintain ACT communications assets, visibility trackers, communication calendars, and repositories of stories, photographs, and audiovisual materials.
• Monitor and report on communication reach, engagement, and visibility outcomes.

• Track progress of advocacy, movement strengthening, communications, and coalition-building activities.
• Document outcomes, achievements, challenges, lessons learned, and promising practices emerging from ACT  programme implementation.
• Consolidate reports, partner updates, and case studies for internal learning, donor reporting, and external communication purposes.
• Support outcome harvesting and documentation of advocacy influence, movement strengthening results, and contribution to policy and social change.

• Support partners in the development of knowledge products and evidence generation initiatives.
• Lead the development and documentation of country-specific ACT frameworks, including UN Women's approach to women's movement strengthening and feminist funding.
• Ensure ACT updates are reflected in monthly programme reporting, Communities of Practice, EVAWG regional meetings, and other relevant knowledge-sharing forums.
• Facilitate the exchange of lessons learned, good practices, feminist approaches, and evidence-based strategies among partners.
• Support regional learning exchanges, dialogues, and convenings aimed at strengthening feminist movements and collective advocacy efforts.
• Contribute to the development of knowledge products including case studies, learning briefs, guidance notes, evidence summaries, and advocacy resources.

• Support the planning and organization of ACT and broader EVAWG stakeholder consultations, webinars, regional dialogues, workshops, campaigns, and multi-partner engagements.
• Coordinate substantive and logistical preparations for strategic convenings and learning events.
• Prepare meeting reports, recommendations, action trackers, presentations, and dissemination materials.
• Support stakeholder engagement activities that strengthen programme visibility, influence, learning, and collaboration.

• Provide technical guidance to partners on coordination mechanisms, reporting requirements, information management, and knowledge-sharing processes.
• Support partners to strengthen advocacy planning, communications, documentation, learning, and reporting.
• Facilitate peer learning and exchange among ACT partners, feminist movements, and women's rights organizations.
• Contribute to strengthening partner capacities for evidence-informed advocacy, coalition building, strategic communications, and movement strengthening.

• Monthly ACT Coordination, Advocacy and Communications Briefs.
• Quarterly Regional Advocacy and Policy Monitoring Reports.
• ACT Programme Communications and Visibility Plan.
• A minimum of eight strategic communications products, including stories of change, blogs, newsletters, feature articles, campaign materials, and partner spotlights.
• Documentation of advocacy achievements, policy influence outcomes, and movement strengthening results.
•  ACT Movement Strengthening Frameworks and related knowledge resources.
• Consolidated ACT Programme Results and Impact Report highlighting achievements, lessons learned, and emerging opportunities.
• Knowledge products including case studies, learning briefs, evidence summaries, and advocacy resources.
• Communication and visibility packages for key regional advocacy moments and campaigns.
• Stakeholder engagement and partnership tracking reports.
• Event documentation packages including agendas, presentations, participant summaries, reports, and recommendations

The consultancy is expected to last 4 months.

The consultant will report to the ACT Programme Regional Coordinator and work closely with partner organizations. Weekly checkins and progress updates will ensure alignment with ongoing advocacy activities.
 

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

• 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: 

• Demonstrable knowledge of ending violence against women;
• Demonstrable experience working on advocacy for gender equality in Africa, preferably in East and Southern Africa

• An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Gender Studies, Communications, Strategic Communications, International Relations, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Public Policy, Human Rights, or another related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in one of the above fields, in combination with two additional years of relevant professional experience, may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

• Minimum of 2 years of progressively responsible professional experience in advocacy, strategic communications, programme coordination, knowledge management, stakeholder engagement, or other related areas is required.
• Experience working on gender equality, women’s rights, ending violence against women and girls, or feminist movement strengthening is required.
• Experience coordinating or supporting multi-stakeholder initiatives involving women’s rights organizations, civil society organizations, government institutions, regional bodies, development partners, or United Nations entities is required.
• Experience developing advocacy, communications, visibility, or knowledge products for different audiences is required.
• Experience organizing or supporting consultations, workshops, regional convenings, campaigns, or multi-partner engagements is required.
• Experience documenting programme results, advocacy outcomes, policy influence, lessons learned, or promising practices is required.
• Experience preparing programme reports, case studies, learning briefs, evidence summaries, or other analytical and knowledge products is required.
• Experience working with feminist movements, women’s rights organizations, or civil society networks in Africa, preferably in East and Southern Africa, is desirable.
• Experience supporting strategic communications, media engagement, digital communications, or programme visibility is desirable.
• Previous professional experience with the United Nations or another international development organization is desirable.
• Experience working with UN Women or on programmes addressing violence against women and girls is an asset.

• Fluency in English is required;
• Working knowledge of another UN language is an advantage.

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.

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.