National Consultant on Gender Programmatic Review-for Iraqi national only

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For every child, [insert tagline]

The gender gap in Iraq is widening with incidents of gender-based violence and limited participation of women and girls in significant fields. With the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ending in 2015 and with the onset of Post-2015 Development Agenda, Iraq will only meet its development targets when women and girls are fully integrated into development plans and targets. Years of unrelenting conflict have set back gains that Iraq had made regarding gender equality.

In 2015, Iraq was ranked 123 on Gender Inequality Index (GII) according to UNDP-2015 data with a value of 0.525 on inequality. Women occupied only 26.5% parliamentary seats, only 35.8% of women had completed secondary level education compared to 55.5% of men, and female labour force participation is at a very low 15.1% compared with a male rate of 69.7%.

As of 2013, nearly 13.5% of the children in Iraq do not have access to basic education, which includes six years of primary schooling and three years in lower secondary school (UNICEF, 2016). Another UNICEF study in 2014 indicates that there are approximately 500,000 children at primary school age and 650,000 at lower secondary level that are out of school. At secondary level of education in Iraq, the Net Enrollment Rate (NER) in 2011 was 44 per cent. Thirty-eight per cent of 12- to 17-year-olds were out of school (47 per cent girls; 29 per cent boys). The reasons for the low levels of girls’ transition to secondary education include the low importance placed on girls’ schooling and increased challenges to access schools. In the southern governorates and elsewhere, woman and girls rights are at risk where many incidents of inequality were registered. In Basra, Thiqar and Diwaniya governorates, at least 26% of youth are illiterate and over 25% of girls do not transition into secondary education

Nearly 43% of the Iraqi population is below the age of 15 years, and 31% are between the ages of 10-24 years. Iraq fertility rate which is 4.6, stands much higher than the regional countries, this will lead to significant increase in young population for the next three decades. The conflict in Iraq has had drastic impacts on the lives of the children, most of the children have grown-up with unabated insecurity, experiencing direct or indirect violence. The current generation of children face multifaceted threats and a hostile environment for growth, learning and access to economic resources in more than 4 governorates of Iraq.

According to OPSC (2013), 9.2% of children under 18 in Iraq are orphaned which is shockingly high percentage.Anecdotal evidence collected in Kurdistan region reflects clear increase in the trafficking of girls, under the guise of marriage, and the proliferation of children on the streets begging or working (American University of Beirut, 2015).

Promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is and remains central to UNICEF mandate and focus on equity. To achieve the results for children that UNICEF has set forth in pursuing its mandate, and to realize the rights of every child, especially the disadvantaged, it is essential to address one of the most fundamental inequalities that exist in all societies gender inequality. A broad range of evidence shows that gender, poverty and geographic residence are three of the strongest factors determining disparities in child well-being and rights. As the only United Nations agency with the rights of children at the heart of its mandate, UNICEF is in a position to foster gender-equitable child outcomes as a catalyst to a more equitable world not only for today, but also in the long term, by redefining gender roles and power relations for the men and women of tomorrow.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of the CONTRACT

UNICEF Iraq's Country Programme (2016-2019) contributes to the transformation of attitudes and practices that support gender equality. To assess gender considerations in the design and implementation of the CPD 2016-2019, ICO now plans a Gender Programme Review (GPR) timed with the development of the next Iraq Country Programme (2020-2023). GAP aims at promoting gender equality across all programs at the global, regional and country levels. Building on the first GAP, this current GAP elaborates the gender dimensions of programmatic results across the seven outcome areas of the UNICEF Strategic Plan, and especially focuses on five cross-sectoral targeted priorities promoting the empowerment and wellbeing of adolescent girls:

1. Promoting adolescent girls nutrition, pregnancy care, & prevention from HIV/AIDS and HPV
2. Advancing adolescent girls secondary education, skills including STEM

3. Preventing and responding to child marriage 
4. Preventing and responding to gender-based violence in emergencies.
5. Facilitating accessible and dignified menstrual hygiene management

And the five GAP principles to achieve gender integration in programs are:

1. At scale: to reach a large number of beneficiaries and sustainable over time

2. Innovative: exploring outside-the-box approaches and cross-sectoral collaborations to generated creative solutions that accelerate progress on gender equality.
3. Evidence-based and data-generating: informed by the latest research and best practices, with measurable, reported results on gender equality.
4. Well-resourced: mobilizing and allocating sufficient financial resources to support high-quality programing.
5. Expert-led: with the right combination of gender, sectoral and cross-sectoral expertise and strong partnerships required fo success.

In anticipation of the new Country Program, Iraq Country Office will undertake a Gender Programmatic Review (GPR) of one of these focus areas within its current programme. UNICEF is seeking to optimize ways in which gender has been integrated across program areas (for example, with respect to programming for adolescents development, education, child protection, etc..), or where targeted interventions may be required (for example, for addressing gender-based violence in the emergency response), as recommended in the Gender Action Plan.

The GPR will highlight how the Country Program can strengthen gender programming in alignment with the 2014-17 & 2018-2021 GAP and UNICEF's new CPAP. The GPR process includes these steps.

Step 1) Analysis of the gender results in the GAP within the national context including the selected gender priorities in the country program, CO's ongoing work and available financial and human resources;

Step 2) Identification of the causes underlying gender gaps and barriers for gender equality;

Step 3) Development of programmatic responses, outputs, and indicators to track progress and assessment of resources requirements;

Step 4) Documentation of the findings in GPR report, for eventual integration into key country program documents (CPD, CPMP, PSNs, CPAP, etc..)

Methedology

The Gender Review will be undertaken in compliance to the global gender review guidance notes and GPR Tool Kit. Information will be gathered from both quantitative and qualitative types.

The Consultant will engage in a number of processes as part of this review:

1.Desk review of UNICEF, UN, National Strategic Papers, Humanitarian and Development Plans of Actions, Reports, Evaluations, Assessments, Studies and other relevant documents. Where possible, documents will be availed to the Consultant ahead of the in-country visit.

2.  Inception/Briefing meeting with senior management. This will lead to the development of an Inception Report.

3. Staff meeting to get inputs from staff and discuss gender mainstreaming issues;

4. Section meetings/Focus group discussions with key program staff

5. Partner meetings including UN agencies (UN Women, UNFPA, WFP, UNDP and UNDAF Coordination), Government Line Ministries, Gender Thematic Group and other relevant partners

6.  Field visits for selected projects/interventions to collect information from beneficiaries (woman, men, girls and boys)

7. Debrief with the Country Representative, Deputy Representative, chief of PME and gender Focal Person

Regional Gender Advisor Support

To assure quality of the GPR and its alignment with UNICEF global strategies and policies the regional gender advisor will provide the technical guidance to the GPR processes through three steps:

1. -   Briefing the Consultant (remotely/ in person) based on the available fund. The brief will be on the UNICEF global tools, polices and strategies related to its commitment to gender equality. As well technical review of the inception report.
2. -   In country 5-day visit to conduct jointly with the consultant the sectoral interviews as well as field visits to conduct partners and beneficiaries interviews. The consultant may continue conducting the interviews by him/herself as needed and under remote guidance from the regional advisor.
3. -   The regional Gender Advisor will review, edit and assure quality of GPR final report

Travel:

Consultant may be required to travel across Iraq consistent with the objectives. Transportation within Iraq associated with undertaking of the consultancy will be provided for by UNICEF Iraq.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have:

qualifications of the consultant

• Advanced university degree in social sciences, public health, or international development.
• At least 8 years of strong technical skills in gender, research and ability to support countries especially on gender assessments or reviews.
• Substantive and programmatic experience in gender issues, with an understanding of social change, is essential.
• Demonstrated experience in using the evidence-based on gender in shaping and implementing programmes.
• Strong analytical skills in gender programme design and assessment, ideally at the national level
• In-country experience.
• Some prior experience with UNICEF or UN agency programme planning.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with strong interpersonal and presentation skills.
• Fluency in Arabic and English, Kurdish is a plus.

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

• Detailed CV indicating necessary qualifications and all relevant experience.
• Motivation/cover letter (2 pages max.) stating motivation for applying and how you meet the qualifications.
• One writing sample (3 pages max)

For every Child, you demonstrate

UNICEF's core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The technical competencies required for this post are.

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

Candidates will not be considered if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation or sexual abuse, or crimes other than minor traffic offences, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

All applications should be submitted to hriraq@unicef.org as soon as possible and latest by 25 July 2018. please group all your documents into a single PDF file.