UN Women (UNW) is 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 center of all its efforts, the UN WOMEN will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
In Kenya, the UN Women Country Programme contributes to the development objectives of Kenya’s blue print, the Vision 2030 and is aligned to the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAF) of 2009-2014 and the upcoming UNDAF of 2014-2018, as well as UN Women Global Strategic Plan. The Kenya Country Programme – “Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Gains Consolidated’ – aims to achieve the following results: (i) increased women’s leadership and participation in governance; (ii) strengthened women’s economic empowerment; (iii) increased protection of women & access to justice for women; and (iv) strengthened women’s leadership in peace building and humanitarian response.
The Government of the United Kingdom is supporting UN Women Kenya’s programme on women, peace and security, specifically on engaging women in preventing and countering extremist violence in Kenya. The aim of this programme is to highlight women’s roles in prevention efforts and recognizing their potentials as partners in prevention frameworks, in line with UNSCR 2242 (2015) which provides the strongest pronouncement of the linkages between countering terrorism and violent extremism, and women, peace and security. The women, peace and security agenda provides a critical framework for understanding and responding to terrorism and violent extremism. Founded on the principle that peace is inextricably linked to equality between men and women, the agenda highlights how violence, including extremist violence is underpinned by gender inequality. Thus, a gender perspective is required to prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism effectively.
Relatively little empirical analysis and evidence is available to determine why and how men and women join violent extremist groups. In addition to being the victims of attacks, men and women from Kenya have carried out deadly attacks and are also directly involved in recruiting their fellow nationals to join the organization’s ranks.[1] For alleged violent extremists who return, countries including Kenya are developing reintegration and de-radicalization programs. This is an area where further research is needed, particularly on the curriculum and methodology used, as well as the participants targeted. The design and delivery of these activities must be in line with international human rights law, including the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and women’s human rights.
It is in this context that UN Women in Kenya is seeking to recruit a consultant to provide to conduct comprehensive field research to examine the gender responsiveness rehabilitation and reintegration initiatives.
Scope of work:
Under the overall guidance of the Peace and Security Specialist the consultant will be required to undertake a scoping study of gender-responsive and sensitive reintegration and rehabilitation programs, evidence based research and analysis undertaken. The consultant will also contribute to other efforts within the project that promote women’s active participation in efforts to prevent and respond to violent extremism and terrorism in Kenya.
Deliverables:
The findings and recommendations of the research will be discussed with the UN Women and stakeholders. The key deliverables of the consultancy are:
- Inception report outlining the design of the research – criteria, scope, methodology, data collection method and tools and time frame including a Draft Report Template: Submission of a draft report format containing Table of Contents for the final report for approval by UN Women;
- Research Draft and Final Reports: The report should address the contents specified in TOR and use the format provided during the inception meeting. It should be logically structured, contain evidence-based findings, conclusions, lessons and recommendations, and should be free of information that is not relevant to the overall analysis;
- Validation/Presentation: For presenting and discussing the draft final report interactively, the consultants will facilitate a one-day concluding workshop for the project stakeholders.
Core values:
- Integrity- Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
- Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity- Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its workforce; demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity;
- Professionalism – Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
Core Competencies:
- Ethics and Values- Demonstrate and promote ethics and integrity by creating organizational precedents;
- Organizational Awareness- Build support for the organization and ensure political acumen;
- Development and Innovation- Support staff competence development, and contribute to an environment of creativity and innovation;
- Teamwork – Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
- Conflict Management- Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution;
- Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making-Ensure fair and transparent decision making processes and manage risk.
Functional Competencies:
Development and Operational Effectiveness:
- Ability to lead strategic information collection, analysis and result-based use of information;
- Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation;
- Strong client-orientation and ability to build strong relationships with, and focuses on results for, clients and partners;
- Excellent communication, interpersonal and liaison skills with government, inter-governmental agencies, UN system and international and regional development partners, academic institutions, civil society organizations, and other relevant institutions;
- Excellent research and analytical skills, including experience and knowledge about leading academic, data, research and gender-related resources;
- Strong interpersonal skills demonstrated by the ability to gain the assistance and cooperation of others in a team endeavor; ability to build trust through operating with transparency and creating and open, positive and enabling environment;
- Sound judgment and decision-making skills;
- Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor tasks to achieve results.
Required Skills and Experience:
- At least a Master’s degree in peace and conflict studies, or relevant field of social sciences including social sciences, development studies, economics, political science, or public policy.
- A minimum of 10 years’ experience in research, and or development programs and related work, of which a minimum of 5 years was on peace building and conflict management or countering violent extremism;
- Understanding of the Kenyan context with specific regards to the gender priorities and role of Women in peace-building and conflict management;
- Demonstrated track record of research capabilities with specific emphasis on peace building and conflict management and contributed to publications in Kenya and in the region;
- Demonstrated capacity to write clear and well-constructed reports in accordance with agreed terms of reference and within specified time constraints;
- Knowledge and experience on developing plans and strategies on peace building and conflict management or countering violent extremism at national and local level.
- Fluent in English; knowledge of local language an asset.
More Information
- Job City Nairobi
