Result of Service
The consultant is expected to provide inputs to planned outputs including knowledge products and meetings under the ESCWA Centre for Women projects, to support the achievement of its set objectives.
Duties and Responsibilities
I. BACKGROUND This assignment is located at the Gender Justice, Population, and Inclusive Social Development Cluster, with the goals of providing research support to ongoing work in the Gender Justice and the Law Initiative. This assignment is commissioned under the supervision of the Chief of ESCWA Centre for Women, in close collaboration with other team members.
The consultant will be tasked to support the annual review of the Arab countries legislation under the Gender Justice and the Law Initiative as well as undertaking original research to build a knowledge base on emerging legal issues and identify viable policy response options. II. WORK ASSIGNMENT The consultant is expected to support the successful completion of the project's components under the following two main deliverables, each comprising the items listed below: Deliverable One (10 days after commencement of agreement)
Developing an Excel workbook with separate tabs for each country, listing new legislative amendments and providing a legal assessment of whether these amendments bring national laws closer to international standards.
Conduct legal analyses and contribute to drafting technical papers evaluating national legislation in relation to international standards, including CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action and Security Council resolutions. Deliverable two (mid-December)
Support the development of legal reform recommendations for member States, including reviewing draft laws, identifying gaps, and proposing amendments to strengthen gender justice frameworks.
Prepare country-specific legislative assessments and coding updates under the Gender Justice and the Law initiative, ensuring accuracy, methodological consistency and alignment with global human rights instruments.
Identifying which laws warrant a change in color coding and presenting a legal justification for the proposed revisions.
Developing the 2026 narrative report and PowerPoint presentation capturing the key changes in 2026, as well as the main opportunities, challenges, and the way forward.
Provide text insertions for country summary reports and coordinate with CMS designers on inserting and updating content in the reports.
Contribute to the planning and organization of the event for announcing the annual results of the Gender Justice and the Law Initiative.
Conduct training seminars and workshops for government officials and other stakeholders.
Undertake other duties as needed.
Qualifications/special skills
An advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) preferably in Gender Studies, Sociology, Law, Economics, or other social science or related field is required. A first level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. A minimum of five years of progressively responsible professional experience in socio-economic development, legal and policy analysis, sociological research or related areas is required. Research experience on gender-related issues is required. Experience in the Arab region is desirable.
Languages
English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in English and Araic is required. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.