UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.

Background

Ethiopia has been showing increasing progress in terms of ensuring gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE). The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has demonstrated its commitment through (1) accepting major international and regional frameworks including CEDAW, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Africa’s Agenda 2063 (2) putting in place adequate legal frameworks starting from the constitutional protection of the rights of women, revision of the family and criminal laws and in proclamation dealing with education, employment, housing and land administration including provisions for temporary special measures (3) issuing policies, strategies and action plans starting from the National Women’s Policy in 1993, the National Action Plan on Gender Equality (2006-2010) and the Development and Change Strategy and Package (2017) (4) Setting up the national gender machinery including the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (formerly the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth), bureaus of women, children and youth/social affairs at regional level and lower structures and directorates at sector ministries and (5) the inclusion of gender into its development plans and agendas, as evidenced most recently by the 10 Years Development Plan (2020-2030) which includes gender and social inclusion as one pillar of the plan.

These efforts have brought about changes in the participation and benefit of women in the economic, social and political realms. In terms of the economic aspect, there has been an increase in women’s access to vital resources such as land and property, participation in the labor force and in engagement in income generating activities especially through micro and small enterprises and self-help groups. In the social sphere, education and health outcomes for women have shown remarkable improvements. Although it declines at higher levels, girls’ education has expanded reaching parity (100%) at primary school level. Maternal and child mortality rates have significantly gone down with more access to reproductive health information and services. Ante-natal care coverage has expanded to 72% with 66% of birth in health institution. There has also been increased coverage of social protection with strong gender elements. The significant increase in the number of women in higher government positions is also a remarkable development in recent years. Currently, women take up 36% of the cabinet positions at the federal level.

Despite this progress however, for the most part Ethiopian society still lives in a patriarchal social structure that underlies the unequal social power relations between men and women, boys and girls. These entrenched social norms limit women’s decision-making and pull them back from enjoying the same opportunities and benefits. There is also limited access to quality services, programs and infrastructure especially in rural areas including poor roads and transportation, access to clean water and electricity and access to health care. These limitations further expose women and girls to risks such as gender based violence and harmful traditional practices. Institutional constraints in technical and financial capacity and human resources in the gender machinery have also been a bottleneck to effectively implement the laws and policies on GEWE.

Addressing these gaps and limitations requires putting in place a transformative policy framework. The National Policy on Ethiopian Women (NPEW) which was issued in 1993 still remains in place and although it has spearheaded progress in the participation and benefit serving as an anchor, there have been many changes and developments at the global, regional and national level in the last 26 years since the policy has been issued. It is important for the national policy to take stock of these developments and be aligned with commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s Agenda 2063. At the national level as well it is necessary for the policy to take into account the situation of women in the present time to put in place timely policy directions for enhancing women’s rights and their participation and benefit. It is also critical for the policy to fully consider the current issues and demands of Ethiopian women.

With this background in mind, the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs in collaboration with UN Women, CARE Ethiopia, and other partners have commissioned a consolidated review of the policy. The policy review which was guided by a task force composed of representatives from government, CSOs, UN Agencies and other partners analyzed the policy document, conducted consultations with relevant stakeholders at the federal and regional levels including Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) at the community level. The findings of the review clearly indicated gaps in the policy and forwarded recommendations for the preparation of a transformative gender policy through an inclusive process.

The findings also indicated that the gender policy should have a clear implementation action plan and costing. Based on this finding, UN Women in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs has secured funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the preparation of a Gender Equality Roadmap. The roadmap has the objectives of strengthening the government’s commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment as enshrined in international and regional instruments and national plans; laying out strategic pillars and actionable sequenced interventions to ensure gender equality and the economic, social and political empowerment of women aligned to international, regional and national commitments to achieve GEWE; establishing clear role and responsibilities; institutional, monitoring and accountability and coordination mechanisms ensure meaningful mainstreaming of gender in policies, strategies, plans and programmes; supporting the adequate resourcing of GEWE interventions through the systematic implementation of GRB and mobilization of resources from national and international sources and promoting strategies for the transformation of gender norms, attitudes and behaviors to bring GEWE. The roadmap will provide information and guidance on

• Where Ethiopia is in terms of GEWE through a review of the legal and policy documents; available gender statistics /sex disaggregated) data and other primary and secondary sources
• Where the country plans to go in terms of GEWE as aligned with international and regional commitments and national development plans and laying out achievable goals and targets
• How to achieve the goals and targets through achievable strategies and interventions
• Who does what through providing specific roles and responsibilities of stakeholders
• How much it will cost to implement the interventions
• How to monitor and evaluate progress, collect lesson learned and communicate results

Based on the findings of the comprehensive review and the action plan, the MoWSA has started the process to develop the gender policy and gender equality roadmap with the establishment of a technical committee composed of senior experts from government, CSOs, UN Agencies international organizations, and donor agencies. The technical committee has held its initial meeting on February 23, 2022 providing guidance on the preparation of the policy and roadmap.

In this context, UN Women is seeking to hire an international consultant to facilitate the development of the gender equality roadmap including preparing background documents, compiling international experiences, leading costing of the roadmap and, and submitting a final roadmap document.

Objectives

The general objective of the assignment is to facilitate the development of the gender equality roadmap for Ethiopia. Specifically, the assignment will have the following specific objectives

• Conducting context analysis and review of secondary sources for the development of the roadmap
• Supporting mapping of existing projects on GEWE as well as mapping of relevant stakeholders and their capabilities
• Supporting the identification of strategic pillars and actionable sequenced interventions to ensure gender equality and the economic, social and political empowerment of women aligned to international, regional and national commitments to achieve GEWE
• Laying out clear role and responsibilities; institutional, monitoring and accountability and coordination mechanisms to ensure meaningful mainstreaming of gender in policies, strategies, plans and programmes
• Facilitating the costing of identified interventions and mechanisms to ensure adequate resourcing through systematic implementation of GRB and mobilization of resource
• Ensuring that the gender equality roadmap is aligned to the gender equality policy of Ethiopia and serves as the policy’s implementation action plan
• Liaising with the Steering and Technical Committees established to lead and support the development of the roadmap

Duties And Responsibilities

UN Women will recruit two national and one international consultant for the assignment. The international consultant will have the following main tasks and responsibilities,

• Conducting context analysis and review of secondary sources to guide the development of the gender equality roadmap
• Supporting the mapping of existing projects on GEWE as well as mapping of relevant stakeholders and their capabilities
• Compiling of international experiences on the preparation of gender equality roadmaps and costing interventions
• Drafting the gender equality roadmap with achievable goals and targets; strategies and interventions; specific roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks to achieve GEWE in Ethiopia
• Coordinating the costing of the interventions identified in the roadmap
• Presenting briefings on the process of development of the gender equality roadmap for the Technical and Steering Committees
• Supporting the validation of the gender equality roadmap
• EXPECTED OUTCOME
• Context Analysis and review of secondary sources on different themes on GEWE compiled
• Mapping of existing initiatives on GEWE conducted
• Mapping of relevant stakeholders and their capabilities undertaken
• Draft gender equality roadmap that will serve as an implementation action plan for the gender equality policy prepared and validated
• Inclusive consultations with stakeholders at all levels on the draft roadmap held

DELIVERABLES

The following key deliverables are expected to be submitted to MoWSA and UN Women:

• Inception report which clearly depicts the understanding of the ToR, details the agreements made between MoWSA, UN Women and the consultant undertaking the assessment regarding the proposed research methodology and core tasks to be undertaken for this assignment
• Report of context analysis and review of secondary sources
• Report of Mapping of existing initiatives, stakeholders and capabilities
• Report of international and regional experiences on the preparation of gender equality roadmaps and costing of interventions
• Draft Gender Equality Roadmap with achievable goals and targets; strategies and interventions; specific roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks to achieve GEWE in Ethiopia
• Report of the costing exercise for the gender equality roadmap
• Attend and provide briefings to the technical and steering committees established to support the roadmap preparation process
• Final draft of the gender equality roadmap

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling 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.

Functional Competencies

• Sound expertise in gender equality and women’s empowerment, including policy and strategy development
• Communications or knowledge management experience an advantage.
• Academic and practical research experience.
• Outstanding networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.
• Capacity to work with diverse partners including governments, donors and civil society.
• Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with people from varied cultures and professional backgrounds
• Ability to produce well-written documents
• Demonstrating excellent interpersonal communication skills.

Required Skills And Experience

Education

• Advanced university degree (PhD or equivalent) in Gender Studies, Sociology, development and policy studies, human rights or relevant field and/or equivalent practical experience

Experience

• More than 10 years’ experience in development work and particularly on issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment and comprehensive background in consultancy work related to policy and roadmap development
• Experience in conducting data analysis and synthesizing information into concise, analytical written documents
• Proven expertise in carrying out gender focused research and analysis that are able to contribute to the formulation of policies, procedures and guidelines on gender equality and the empowerment of women
• Experience working with Governments and non-governmental organizations and knowledge of their working procedures
• Ability to establish and maintain productive relationships with partners and other stakeholder’s and responds positively to critical feedbacks and differing points of view.
• Demonstrated ability to produce well written, well researched and high-quality reports and documents
• Experience in leading and facilitating consultations with stakeholders in government, CSOs, UN agencies, donors

Language

• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Working knowledge of other UN working languages is an asset.