Organization:
UN WomenCountry: Egypt
Closing date:
17 Sep 2013UN WOMEN was created in 2010, giving the UN system a strong entity with a mandate to advance women´s rights globally. Specifically, UN Women´s role is to:
• Support the development of normative frameworks to promote gender equality, gender justice and women’s empowerment.
• Support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, and inter-governmental processes such as the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development and the Post-2015 development Agenda, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Help Member States to implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable, technical and financial support as necessary, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society
• To hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress
In doing this, UN WOMEN works at a country and regional level, building on the work done in the past and leveraging UNIFEM´s previous relationships with civil society and grassroots organizations on the ground, bringing women to the table in peace negotiations and supporting civil society in advancing gender equality in their countries and regions.
The relationship with civil society is critically important. The GA has requested the head of UN WOMEN to continue the existing practice of effective consultation with civil society organizations, and encourage(d) their meaningful contribution to the work of the Entity (GA/64/289)
Furthermore, UN Women’s Global Strategic Plan 2011-13 lays out in paragraph 57, output 1.2 that “Effective strategic partnerships between UN Women and CSOs, particularly women’s organizations and coalitions, will continue to be critical and effective partners. UN Women will work to ensure more systematic consultations with civil society at all levels, including establishing a civil society advisory group at the global level and, where required, at national and regional levels. In coordination with UN partners, UN Women will develop joint advocacy initiatives with women’s organizations and civil society partners, including women’s rights networks, religious and traditional leaders, men and boys, youth groups, grassroots and non-governmental organizations.
UN WOMEN´s executive director is also making this commitment a priority. In her Vision and Action Plan, she said “in recognition of the special relationship I envisage between UN Women and women’s organizations, I will be forming an NGO Advisory Group to advise me as Executive Director of UN Women. This will be a body through which NGOs can share their perspectives, expertise and knowledge from the country level and a channel for our ongoing collaboration.”
The Arab states witnessed many transformations during and following the Arab Spring. Civil Society, as a whole, has a unique role to play as an actor and mechanism for change in the region, one of the key drivers behind the political and social revolutions that are taking place. Many of these changes saw women at the forefront of demonstrations holding their governments accountable, including in countries where women traditionally remain in the private sphere. In light of the role of women’s leadership and civil society in the Arab Spring and the low levels of women’s formal political participation across the region, UN WOMEN Arab States places support for this area at highest priority. UN WOMEN works with the emerging civil society movements to ensure that there is no regression on the women´s agenda post Arab Spring and that women’s civic activism can translate into sustained and meaningful engagement in all areas of public life. It is vital that all regional programming comes from an informed perspective in which the priorities on the ground, and from the ground, are taken into consideration. It is with this background that UN WOMEN Arab States is creating a Regional civil society advisory group.
Objectives:
The Advisory Group will be a consultative forum for regular dialogue between civil society and UN Women. More specifically the objectives will be:
i. To keep UN WOMEN up to date on the political changes that have taken place, are undergoing, and that might still happen, both in the Arab spring countries, and in countries that did not undergo a transformation in the last year;
ii. To foster dialogue and engagement between UN Women and civil society, on national development issues and trends related to gender equality, women’s rights and empowerment;
iii. To enable UN Women to benefit from civil society’s expertise, experience, perspective and knowledge and strengthen UN Women’s programme and priorities; and
iv. To serve as a consultative forum of ideas and strategies on key policy, knowledge and advocacy issues.
Role of the group:
• Provide strategic advice to UN Women and, when appropriate, on its thematic priorities and policies, including during the strategic planning process;
• Provide guidance on political, economic, social and cultural developments and trends to UN Women regional/national programming;
• Provide information on issues as they are observed and emerge, specifically in relation to political changes/unrest;
• Provide analysis on the socio-economic and political environment at the country/regional levels and its impact on gender equality and women’s rights issues;
• Provide inputs to UN Women’s programmes and policies, including the Regional Strategic Plan;
• Provide guidance and inputs to regional advocacy strategies;
• Assist UN Women in strengthening its engagement and dialogue with civil society at all levels.
Structural Framework:
The group will be managed from the UN WOMEN Arab States regional office and will meet twice a year with the opportunity to provide inputs electronically on a regular basis.
The ongoing collaboration with UN Women will take place via a web-based platform (the Civil Society Extranet), set up by UN Women, for group members to engage with each other and with all the country and regional Advisory Groups.
The civil society extranet platform that is being developed will facilitate knowledge and experience sharing with civil society experts and UN Women on key thematic issues of strategic importance to UN Women.
Composition:
The Arab States Civil Society Advisory Group will consist of 25 members. 12 of these will be from women´s equality networks, 8 will be from grassroots organizations, and 5 members will be high level experts in the field of gender equality and women´s rights, including, but not limited to, members of academia. All members will have a geographical distribution in the region, including members from North Africa and the Gulf States. UN WOMEN will ensure that a wide range of ideas and ideologies are represented in the group to best reflect the many perspectives that exist in the region.
The members will sit on the group on a rotational basis for two years. After two years, members, should they be nominated again, can be selected for an additional term of two years. Note that membership in the group is honorary and members will receive no remuneration, however, UN WOMEN will cover all travel expenses related to group meetings.
Selection criteria:
Civil society organizations and individuals will be invited to nominate members to the group. A committee composed of the UN agencies Arab States regional directors, and members of regional civil society, including, but not limited to regional members of the global Civil Society Advisory Group, led by the UN WOMEN Arab States Regional Director, will evaluate all nominations. The selection process will be duly documented ensuring transparency.
A member of the group can be a member of an organization, but their participation in the group will be in their individual capacity, not as a representative of their respective organization. They will be selected based on the following criteria:
• Strong connection to national or regional women’s organizations and networks, concerned with matters within the mandate of UN Women and with extensive experience in national and/or regional advocacy and policy development;
• Thematic expertise in UN WOMEN´s regional priority areas;
• Demonstrable understanding of the needs and interests of diverse groups of women, particularly following the Arab Spring;
• Good knowledge of development patterns among countries with diverse socio-economic status;
• Experience in policy, legislation and/or human rights treaties is valued, particularly at the regional level;
• Efforts will be taken to incorporate men in the group;
• There will be sufficient representation of young women, their organizations and networks;
• Members of the group must be nationals of and current residents of a country in the Arab States region
• Observers can be invited to meetings on a need basis
How to apply:Please send the attached application form and your CV to vacancy.asro@unwomen.org and NOT later than September 17, 2013.
The post title should be placed in the email subject.
For more information, please download attached.
View the original article here