Call for Gender Experts: (i) Ending Violence against Crisis Affected Women and Girls; (ii) Ending Violence against Women and Girls with expertise in the Pacific and/or Caribbean regions; and (iii) Ending violence against marginalized women and girls

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. 

The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (“UN Trust Fund”) was established through UN General Assembly Resolution 50/166 with UN Women as its Administrator on behalf of the UN system. The UN Trust Fund is a leading global multi-lateral mechanism supporting national efforts to end one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world. In line with its Strategic Plan, the UN Trust Fund is supporting projects to engage with women and girls at increased risk of violence due to marginalization and intersecting forms of discrimination. For instance, UN Trust Fund grantees works with women affected by HIV, women migrants, self-identified sex workers, refugee and internally displaced women and girls, women with diverse sexual and gender identities, adolescent girls and elderly women and those belonging to racial, ethnic or religious minority groups. 

The UN Trust Fund’s annual grant-making process, through its widely publicized Call for Proposals, operates on core principles of ensuring an open, fair, transparent, competitive and merit-based process. Focusing on preventing violence, implementing laws and policies, and improving access to vital services for survivors, the UN Trust Fund invests in life-changing initiatives for millions of women and girls around the world. Over two decades of persistent effort from global activists have resulted in improved international legislative frameworks and standards on ending violence against women and girls, as well as an increased political will to address the issue. The UN Trust Fund awards multi-year grants of between US$ 150,000 and US$ 1 million to civil society applicants.  

The UN Trust Fund is seeking gender experts with thematic expertise in the field of ending violence against marginalized women and girls and those experiencing intersecting forms of discrimination, ending violence against crisis affected women and girls, and ending violence against women and girls in the Pacific and the Caribbean.  The gender experts will be members of the Technical Review Group (TRG) that will help facilitate the Fund’s independent, transparent, and competitive review of all applications received in response to its annual call for proposals process. Experts are expected to have a minimum of seven years of experience in the field of EVAW and be fluent in English. Fluency in Spanish and/or French are considered an asset. Expertise in the field of ending violence against marginalized women and girls and/or ending violence against crisis affected women and girls, and/or ending violence against women and girls in the Pacific and the Caribbean is required. 

The UN Trust Fund will launch its 26th Call for Proposals mid-December 2023 and close it on end of January 2024.   

Duties and Responsibilities

Time sensitive assignment: The selection of proposals is a very time sensitive process and will require experts in the Technical Review Group (TRG) to follow very strict deadlines for each step of the process. Selected TRG members will be informed of the exact timeline prior to their acceptance of the assignment. The assignment is compatible with other professional activities but does include intense periods of 3 weeks where an almost full-time commitment will be expected to meet the deadlines [approximately February to mid-March]. 

 Phase I: Concept Note Review first round (January– mid-March 2024)  

• Each Technical Reviewer must familiarize themselves with the UN Trust Fund’s application and funding criteria through (1) a review of the 2023 Call for Proposals and accompanying guidelines, (2) participation in a virtual training session in January 2024 and (3) a review of the assessment criteria. 

• Each Technical Reviewer must provide (1) a narrative assessment and (2) quantitative scoring (on a score of 0-100) for up to 45 concept note applications that match to the extent possible the Technical Reviewer’s respective regional and/or language expertise, (3) reassess its appraisals in case of major discrepancies with the peer-reviewer. [February to mid-March 2024] 

• The narrative and quantitative assessments of each concept note must be entered directly into the Fund’s online grants management system (GMS). Instructions on how to access the online system will be shared with experts prior to the review process. 

• The assessments must be based on an objective set of assessment criteria provided by the UN Trust Fund. 

• Advise and provide feedback to the Fund’s Secretariat on technical, regional, and/or thematic issues related to concept notes assessment as needed, including the participation to a feedback discussion webinar on the Call review process for learning purposes. 

• Support with the provision of feedback and review of call for proposals documents (appraisal form, project concept form, tips to applicants), as needed  

Phase II: Concept Note Review second round – By Invitation (April/May 2024) 

TRG members who participate in the first round of application review may be invited to review final proposals. In those cases, Technical Reviewers will be invited to a short-term consultancy contract with the UN Trust Fund through UN Women for a 3-week period during April/May. This will include:  

• Provide (1) narrative assessment and (2) quantitative scoring for up to 20-30 concept notes that match to the extent possible with the Expert’s respective regional expertise, using an objective set of assessment criteria provided by the Fund (3) reassess its appraisals in case of major discrepancies with the peer-reviewer. 

• Enter narrative and quantitative assessments of each concept note directly into the Fund’s online grants management system. 

• Advise and provide feedback to the Fund’s Secretariat on technical, regional, and/or thematic issues related to concept notes assessment as needed. 

This is a very time-sensitive exercise and strict adherence to requested timelines is expected. 

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles:  

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards; 

• Demonstrates a commitment to UN Women’s mission and vision;  

• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;  

• Display cultural, gender, nationality, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability;  

Functional Competencies:  

• Capacity to self-organize and deliver tasks on time complying with strict deadlines;  

• Excellent understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment and its policy implications;  

• Very strong analytical skills;  

• IT literacy and ability to operate with on-line web-based applications and tools. 

Required Skills and Experience

Education: 

• An advanced university degree in Gender, Development Studies or related field and a minimum of 7 years of experience in the field of women’s rights; or 

• A Bachelor’s degree with over 10 years of experience in the field of women’s rights. 

Experience: 

• Knowledge of women’s rights and gender issues globally with a specific expertise on violence against women and girls programming or grant-making is required. 

• Prior experience in project concept/proposal review and scoring is an asset.  

• Experience with civil society organizations, women’s organizations and governmental agencies working on women’s rights and violence against women around the world is an asset. 

• Expertise in the field of ending violence against marginalized women and girls is an asset. 

• Expertise in the field of ending violence against crisis affected women and girls is an asset. 

• Expertise in the field of ending violence against women and girls in the Pacific and/or the Caribbean is an asset. 

Language: 

• Excellent written and spoken fluency in English is required, fluency in Spanish and/or French is an asset.  

Conflict of Interest: 

• If you are currently employed by UN Women, you are not eligible to become a Technical Review Group Member. 

• If you are a current donor of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, you are not eligible to become a Technical Review Group Member. 

• If you are currently an employee of a government, bilateral, or multilateral agency or institution (including the United Nations system) you are eligible to apply as a pro-bono Review Group Member but will not qualify for an honorarium. 

• If you have been involved in the development of a Concept Note or Proposal that is applying for a grant under the UN Trust Fund’s 2022 Call for Proposals, you are not eligible to become a Technical Review Group Member. 

Application Procedure: 

• Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via the UNDP website by uploading their or resume in English. Please clearly explain your experience in the field of: 

A) ending violence against marginalized women and girls and those experiencing intersecting forms of discrimination and/or 

B) ending violence against crisis affected women and girls and/or 

C) ending violence against women and girls in the Pacific and/or the Caribbean. 

• Selected candidates will receive a deliverable based honorarium in US dollars for the delivery of all duties and responsibilities mentioned under the Phase they have been assigned to.  

• Roster members may be solicited by the UN Trust Fund or UN Women for future assignments. 

• Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are only able to inform the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process. 

• Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.