National Consultant- Assessment on Women’s participation in Ethiopian Transitional Justice Process

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system’s efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Peace and security represent one of the key thematic areas of UN Women’s mandate. Based on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and nine subsequently adopted resolutions, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda recognizes the gendered nature of conflict and peace. Built on the four pillars of participation, prevention, protection and relief and recovery, it reaffirms the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, humanitarian response, and in post-conflict reconstruction. The WPS agenda stresses the importance of women’s equal participation and full involvement in all efforts to maintain and promote peace and security, urges all actors to increase the participation of women in peacebuilding, and incorporates gender perspectives in all United Nations peace and security efforts. It also calls on all parties to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, in situations of armed conflict.

Ethiopia is currently undergoing a crucial process of addressing past wrongs through transitional justice (TJ). In November 2022, the Ministry of Justice initiated the Transitional Justice Working Group of Experts, signaling the commencement of the country’s present transitional justice process. The working group consisting of 13 independent experts was tasked with public consultations and formulating a national transitional justice policy. By January 2023, the working group had published a green paper on transitional justice policy, which analyzed various pillars to pursue different aspects of transitional justice. This process 

aims to uncover truths, ensure accountability, provide reparations, and grant non-recurrence. Subsequently, Ethiopia has undertaken reforms, focusing on addressing past grievances, and fostering accountability and reconciliation, culminating in the adoption of the Transitional Justice Policy on April 17, 2024.

As part of this process, it is essential to ensure meaningful participation of women in leadership roles and as participants which is crucial for ensuring the inclusivity and effectiveness of these efforts. In line with this, UN Women in collaboration with TIMRAN will conduct assessment to identify Ethiopian women from diverse regions who can lead and actively engage in various aspects of the transitional justice process. In addition, it is essential to identify barriers, challenges, and opportunities for women’s meaningful participation in transitional justice processes and develop strategies to address them. The assessment findings will be leveraged to advocate for the inclusion of qualified Ethiopian women in transitional justice processes and institutions.

For this, UN Women is hiring a national consultant to assess the capacities of women in participation in transitional Justice, identify barriers, challenges, and opportunities for women’s meaningful participation in transitional justice processes and develop strategies to address them.   

The objective of the consultancy is to assess the capacities of women in participation in transitional Justice, identify barriers, challenges, and opportunities for women’s meaningful participation in transitional justice processes and develop strategies to address them.

This consultancy aims to achieve the following key objectives:

• Identify women leaders with the necessary expertise, experience, and commitment to lead and facilitate transitional justice initiatives.
• Assess the potential roles and contributions of women in truth-seeking, accountability, reparations, and other transitional justice mechanisms.
• Identify barriers, challenges, and opportunities for women’s meaningful participation in transitional justice processes and develop strategies to address them.
• Assess the needs, concerns, and priorities of women affected by conflict-related violence and violations to inform the design and implementation of transitional justice mechanisms.
• Generate recommendations for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment within transitional justice initiatives.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Main tasks of the consultancy are the following:

• Prepare Inception report: the inception Report should Review existing literature, reports, and documentation on transitional justice and gender equality in Ethiopia, focusing on women’s roles and experiences; core tasks and proposed methods to carry out the tasks; proposed sources of data and data collection procedures together with data analysis techniques; proposed schedule of tasks, activities, and deliverables. The inception report should indicate whether additional support is required to ensure a comprehensive development of the assessment.  The consultant should present the inception report to UN Women, TIMRAN and other relevant partners for feedback and include the feedback on the final inception report.
• Conduct the assessment which includes action-oriented recommendations and submit the assessment for UN Women and other partners for input. Incorporate the input before presenting for validation workshop. This includes:

• Conduct consultations with key stakeholders, including women leaders, civil society organizations, government agencies, and international partners, to gather insights and recommendations.
• Identify women leaders, activists, legal experts, survivors, and other relevant stakeholders who have the potential to lead and participate effectively in transitional justice processes.
• Assess the capacity-building needs of women candidates to enhance their leadership skills, legal knowledge, advocacy abilities, and other relevant competencies.
• Analyze the institutional, socio-cultural, and structural factors that influence women’s participation in transitional justice and propose strategies to address them.
• Develop a methodology design for the assessment study that outlines the approach for identifying and evaluating potential candidates.
• Document all findings, assessments, and recommendations in a comprehensive report.

• Present the assessment at validation Workshop and finalize the assessment after incorporating input given at the validation workshop and prepare a policy brief on the assessment.

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

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s degree or equivalent in gender/women’s studies, peace and security studies, peace and development, human rights, social sciences, Sociology, or related field is required. A PhD will be an added value.

 Experience

• At least 7 years’ experience working on Women, Peace and Security, gender, peace, security, and conflict and/or other relevant fields.
• Strong research and analytical skills, with the ability to gather and synthesize information from diverse sources.
• Prior experience in conducting assessments related to Women Peace and Security, gender inclusion in Transitional Justice.
• Strong understanding of gender and transitional justice in Ethiopia demonstrated through prior engagement in similar activity.
• Technical expertise and strong understanding of national peacebuilding architecture in Ethiopia
• Experience in facilitating interactive dialogues and consultations.
• Experience in working in a diverse team is an asset.
• An ideal candidate should have creativity, strong organizational ability, capacity to deliver on time, excellent presentation skills and be responsive to feedback.

Language:

• Fluency in oral and written English and Amharic is required.
• Knowledge of another Ethiopian language is desirable.

How To Apply 

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: )
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.

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.)