National Consultant to adapt the Regional Male Engagement Framework in HIV at United Nations Development Programme: (Deadline 20 June 2024)

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 Government of Rwanda and its partners including UN Women acknowledge the need to engage men and boys in achieving gender equality and equity across sectors. This commitment has been reflected into the National Gender Policy (2021) and the establishment of the National Transformative Strategy Engaging Men and boys for Gender Equality Promotion (2023). This strategy is built around three thematic areas (Social Inclusion Thematic Area, Economic Empowerment Thematic Area and Transformational Governance). They have been developed after an extensive consultation with stakeholders and development of the theory of change to guide identified strategic interventions as follows:

1. Social Inclusion Thematic Area: Under this thematic, the strategy focuses on the sub-sectors of education, health, SGBV, and care work and fatherhood. It intends to respond to challenges of inequality in these sub-sectors in terms of elements of relationships, sense of identity, and experiences to develop inclusion at the individual, community, and institutional levels.

2. Economic Empowerment Thematic Area. the strategy intends to prevent violence which should be linked with the negative stereotypes in relation with women and girls’ economic empowerment (employment, access to job and access to finance).

3. Transformational Governance: Under these areas, the strategy intends to engage men and boys in gender equity. It is important to engage men in increasing women’s political participation, given the extremely male-dominated nature of political institutions and movements. In the context of political participation, men are very much the gate.

UNAIDS in partnership with WHO and UN Women put in place a Male Engagement framework in HIV Testing, Treatment and Prevention in Eastern and Southern Africa. The framework focuses on interventions which engage men and boys in addressing gender inequality that mostly affect men due to the negative social cultural norms and stereotypes. For instance, boys and men are viewing clinical settings as “female spaces” and avoid searching for services in such settings. This mind-set impacts on both men and women lives and respective families. The framework outlines effective strategies in the following four areas: 1) Access to health for men and boys and decrease vulnerability, 2) Prevent HIV among men and boys, 3) Diagnose more men and boys living with HIV and 4) Increase proportion of men and boys accessing and adhering to antiretroviral therapy).

To align national and regional policy frameworks towards men and boys’ engagement in HIV prevention and improve programming in this area, UN Women Rwanda Country Office in partnership with UNAIDS, Rwanda Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (RRP+) wishes to hire a National Consultant to conduct a review with a specific focus on male engagement in HIV prevention and response. The review will identify specific gaps, challenges, areas for alignment, key recommendations and prepare a comprehensive report summarizing findings, analysis, recommendations, and an action plan to address Gender inequalities in HIV related interventions.

The consultant will be reporting to UN Women Representative and will be supported by Project Coordinator, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of UN Women Country Representaive and direct supervision of the UN Women Project Coordinator, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

• Conduct desk review of the existing documents including male engagement strategy, policies, frameworks and/or other relevant documents on HIV/AIDS to assess the status of male’s engagement in addressing HIV gender related inequalities.
• In alignment with the national men engagement strategy and the regional male engagement framework in HIV Testing, Treatment and prevention, produce an analytical report and an action plan to engage males and effectively address HIV gender related inequalities.
• Co-facilitate technical meetings for quality assurance of the assessment findings in Kigali.
• Organize a validation session with all relevant stakeholders,
• Integrated comments and inputs from stakeholders and submit a final analytical report including an action plan to adapt the Regional Male engagement framework in HIV Testing, Treatment and Prevention for gender equality promotion and its alignment to the national context.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:

https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• In-depth knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues and HIV prevention
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with national and local partners.
• Strong organizational skills and self-direction.
• Experience of work in a national environment
• Excellent writing, analytical, synthesis, presentation, and facilitation skills
• IT literacy with sufficient use of Microsoft Words, Excel, and Power Point Presentation
• Demonstrate an ability to produce quality results on time outsourced and work under pressure.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree in social sciences, public health, gender studies, human rights, or other relevant social science fields or a related field is required.
• A project/program management certification in HIV would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years’ experience at the national and/or international level in developing policy documents, programs proposals and M&E frameworks preferably in the public health domain/ HIV
• At least 5 years of experience in gender mainstreaming preferably with field experience in EVAWG and GEWE related policy advice, research, data analysis and documentation.
• Proven experience on conducting participatory and co-creation capacity-building initiatives such as facilitating group reflections and documenting KAPs (knowledge, attitude and practices
• Knowledge on male engagement initiatives/approaches to address negative social norms and promoting positive masculinity at national or local level is required.
• Working experience with United Nations is highly desired.
• Excellent analytical skills with strong drive for results and capacity to work independently.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of any other UN official language is an asset.

All applications must include (as an attachment) a completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form-en.doc, and cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)

Please note that the system will only allow one attachment and candidates are required to include in the P-11 form links for their previously published reports and articles completed within the last two years. Applications without the completed and signed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.