UN Women: Gender Advisor for Bangsamoro Women Commission and BARMM Partner Agencies, Home-based, Cotabato City, National Consultant

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) is mandated to support UN Member States in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women in alignment with international standards. In the Philippines, this includes strengthening institutional capacities to implement the Magna Carta of Women and gender and development (GAD) mandates across national and local levels. Central to this effort is supporting partners in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), where addressing gender inequalities is a key part of sustaining peace, development, and inclusive governance.

In the BARMM, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) programme of UN Women supports the capacitation of various partners in the government, civil society, and grassroots organizations as well as enhance and complement their implementation of initiatives towards gender and development and peacebuilding. 

A key partner in these efforts is the Bangsamoro Women Commission (BWC) given its mandate as the Bangsamoro government’s policymaking body to ‘promote, protect and uphold women’s rights’ working towards the promotion of gender and development in all levels of governance and decision making. 

Towards supporting the BWC’s achievement of their mandate and key roles, UN Women is seeking the services of a Gender and Development expert to provide technical guidance to the agency in its delivery of key commitments in the region. Further, the Gender Advisor will also be asked to deliver technical assistance to other BARMM agencies such as the Bangsamoro Human Rights Commission (BHRC) as the BARMM Gender Ombud as aligned with the Joint Programme’s commitment.

This initiative will be supported by UN Women through the Joint Programme ‘Empowering Women for Sustainable Peace in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’, funded by Global Affairs Canada and jointly implemented with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The consultant will be reporting to the Programme Specialist, and will be supported by the Programme Associate, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

In view of the foregoing, the UN Women – Philippines Programme Office (PPO) is looking to hire a National Consultant-Gender Advice to provide technical support to Bangsamoro Women Commission on the delivery of priority policies and guidance note under the Joint Programme. The Consultant shall be under the direct supervision of the UN Women-WPS Programme Specialist, and under the overall guidance of the BWC, shall undertake the following tasks: 

1. →Act as the direct focal person of UN Women in the BWC in the implementation of the Joint Programme. 
2. →Provide substantive technical input, assistance, and advisory to the BWC on the planning, programming, execution, monitoring and reporting of the Joint Programme deliverables in close coordination with UN Women. 
3. →Coordinate with BWC and with other key BARMM Ministries/Offices/Agencies (MOAs) on the implementation and delivery of commitments under the Joint Programme. 

Outline of the deliverables relating to the tasks indicated above is as follows:

The National Consultant is home-based.  As part of this assignment, there will be a possible mission outside the duty station. Any travel linked to the expected output will be arranged by UN Women according to its rules and regulations.

• 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: 

• Excellent analytical skills
• Excellent writing skills
• Strong knowledge of UN Women processes and systems
• Strong networking skills
• Strong inter-personal skills, communicate effectively with staff at all levels of the organization;
• Ability to work in a highly pressured environment
• Excellent facilitation skills

• Master’s degree in Political or Social Science, Gender Studies, Economics, Public Management, International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies, or other related fields is required. 
• A first-level university degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. 

• At least 1 year of experience in the field of women peace and security, providing policy advice and technical assistance on women, peace and security to government institutions is required.
• Prior experience in developing or contributing in the development of National or Regional Action Plans on UN SCR 1325 will be an asset is desirable. 
• Proven experience in supporting development of policy papers in gender equality and women empowerment is desirable.
• Knowledge of the Bangsamoro context related to WPS is required.
• Previous work experience in the Bangsamoro region is desirable.

• Proficiency in English and Filipino is required. 
• Understanding of the major Bangsamoro dialects 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.

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