Technical Expert, Women Political Leadership / Federal House of Representatives at UN Women

Additional Category: Gender Equality
Type of Contract: Service Contract
Post Level: SB-4
Languages Required: English
Duration of Initial Contract: 1 year

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.
• In Nigeria, UN Women works to support the Government’s national development agenda, which prioritizes the empowerment of women and girls and their contribution to all areas of economic, political and social development.
• Women’s leadership and political participation are one of UN Women’s primary areas of work as mandated in its inception, recognizing the integral role of women in strong and stable democratic processes.
• Through its Leadership and Governance pillar, UN Women’s programmes are guided by a history of international commitments to women’s representation.
• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women upholds women’s right to participate in public life, while the Beijing Platform for Action calls for removing barriers to equal participation.
• The Millennium Development Goals measure progress towards gender equality in part by the proportion of women in parliamentary seats.
• In the area of Women’s Political Empowerment, Nigeria has ratified most of the international and regional instruments on women’s rights.
• However, critical challenges remain in the application and domestication of these frameworks, causing Nigerian women to be underrepresented and marginalised from political decision-making processes.
• Currently, women’s political representation in Nigeria is abysmally low in the legislative, executive and judicial powers due to different gendered social norms. Young women in particular experience double jeopardy as a result of gender and because young people are equally marginalized in politics. 
• Under the funding of the Government of Canada, UN Women will implement a programme to the women’s political leadership and participation, as well as gender-sensitive reforms to ensure that affected communities, especially marginalized women and persons with disabilities are fully-engaged to advocate and participate in the development of policies/legislations, in elections and other political processes affecting them.

Priority areas of the programme include:

• Legal Frameworks/Policies and Institutional Reform with a view to influencing gender-responsive legislation that will create an enabling environment for women aspiring for political offices.
• Women’s Participation and Leadership through supporting capacity-building training for women candidates to boost their campaign strategies, including training and mentoring young women
• Coordination among partners and engagement with key stakeholders by building on the Working Group on Women’s Political Empowerment and engaging communities on advocacy for gender transformation as well as preventing violence among women in politics.
• UN Women will be working closely with the Office of the Speaker and the Chair, Committee on Women Affairs in the House of Representatives, to advance gender-related priorities in the Federal House of Representatives particularly around promoting legislation to increase women’s political leadership.
• Against this background, UN Women seeks to recruit a Technical Expert to support the Office of the Speaker and the Chair, Women Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives, in the process of promoting increased women’s representation in leadership.
• The Technical Expert exercises overall responsibility for planning, implementing, and managing UN Women’s intervention to support the House of Representatives in specific tasks aimed at strengthening legal reforms to enhance women’s political participation.
• She/he works in close collaboration with the Office of the Speaker and the Chair, Committee on Women Affairs in the House of Parliament, UN Women programme and operations teams, UN Women staff at the regional and headquarters levels, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society to ensure the success of the implementation of assigned responsibilities.
• In connection with the above tasks, the Technical Expert will be hosted and discharge all tasks, duties and responsibilities in the Federal House of Representatives in Nigeria.
• S/he will have a double reporting line to the Federal House of Representatives and to UN Women.
• S/he will directly report at 60% to the Special Adviser to the Speaker, International and Inter-Parliamentary Affairs in the House of Representatives, and at 40% to the Programme Manager on Women’s Political Empowerment in UN Women.
• Under this arrangement, the Technical Expert will participate in UN Women’s weekly meetings, the UN Women’s WPE thematic meetings on a monthly basis and other technical briefings and meetings at UN Women when required to discuss work undertaken. 

Duties and Responsibilities

• Support in the production of a work plan for the implementation of initiatives by Offices of the Speaker and the Chair, Women Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives, towards increasing women’s political leadership.
• Provide support in the preparation and operationalization of a women’s caucus in the National Assembly
• Support with the mobilization of national legislators for project-related convenings to advance women’s political leadership
• Support and facilitate study tours for leadership and members of the National Assembly
• Follow up and track the progress of gender reforms in the National Assembly, particularly bill on reserved seats
• Spearhead the development and adoption of gender legislative reforms and facilitate conversations on the passage of the GEOB in the House of Representatives for concurrence with the Senate with the Speaker and the Chair, Committee on Women’s Affairs Office in the House of Representatives
• Compile background and reference materials on the constitutional review process to inform advocacy initiatives.
• Attend all meetings of the HoR constitution review committee, make presentations and provide strong justification for the adoption of gender-sensitive reforms.
• Gender review of the Legislative Agenda
• Facilitate stakeholder consultation/townhall on gender in the Legislative Agenda
• In collaboration with focal points at the House of Representatives, document operational and institutional capacity needs and gaps for the organ and draft actionable recommendations for addressing them;
• Plan and contribute to capacity-building workshops targeting Members of Parliament on gender and political leadership
• Organize and facilitate consultations with CSOs and other key stakeholders to develop a strategy for engaging the National Assembly to ensure the adoption of the GEOB and other gender-sensitive reforms.
• Organize public/media debates/programmes and stakeholder consultations by parliamentarians on the participation of women in decision-making
• Provide inputs to relevant strategies, policy briefs, concept notes, reports and other documents as appropriate;
• Document lessons learned from UN Women’s support to the constitution review process and efforts to pass the GEOB and other gender-sensitive reforms in legal frameworks
• Train women in political leadership (pre-election / post-election)

Deliverables:

• Detailed action plan with timelines for undertaking the assignment
• Written recommendations and strategy for amending existing legal frameworks with the view to enhance gender equality in the House of Representatives;
• A report on gender capacity needs, gaps and recommendations for improvement for the House of Representatives
• Road Map for the efficient functioning of Women’s Caucus within the Parliament
• Activities and meetings reports
• Briefing notes on consultations with key stakeholders
• Agenda and plan of action for women’s caucus
• Knowledge products on women’s participation in political leadership and decision-making
• Recommendations on the gender review of the Legislative Agenda
• Report on stakeholder consultations/townhalls on gender and the Legislative Agenda
• Final report.

Required Skills and Experience
Education:

• Advanced University Degree (Master's Degree or equivalent) in Gender Studies, Law, Political Science, Sociology, International Relations, Law-related fields and equivalent practical experiences

Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years (Master’s degree) relevant of relevant professional experience in the field of gender equality, women’s rights and women’s political empowerment;
• Substantive experience in women’s leadership and participation.
• Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women’s rights and related instruments.
• Experience of advisory work on parliamentary development or practical experience as staff or Member of Parliament is a strong advantage
• Experience working in working in a multicultural environment and with multi-stakeholder organizations is essential: governments, CSOs, and the UN/ multilateral/bilateral institutions

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in oral and written English.

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling UN Women values and ethical standards.
• Demonstrates a commitment to UN Women’s mission and vision.
• Able to work effectively within a team.
• Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability.
• Able to multi-task and juggle competing demands
• Can assess and prioritize work needs quickly.
• Able to relate to external partners, including other international organizations and agencies, NGOs, grassroots community groups, etc.
• Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Functional Competencies:

• Extensive knowledge of international gender standards and experience in best practices in promoting women’s rights, including in the area of women’s political participation
• Strong organizational and analytical skills
• Ability to pay close attention to details and adapt to different environments (cultural, economic, political and social).
• Demonstrated interpersonal and diplomatic skills, as well as the ability to communicate effectively with all stakeholders and to present ideas clearly and effectively;
• Demonstrated leadership and personal examples of promoting knowledge management and a professional learning environment.
• Outstanding networking, team building, organizational and communication skills.
• Ability to work with diverse partners including governments, donors and civil society.
• Ability to use Microsoft word, excel, e-mail, web-based applications and databases.
• Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with people from varied cultures and professional backgrounds
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice.