Deadline: 30-Aug-21
UNDP is calling Expression of Interest for Membership on its Civil Society Advisory Group.
UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of all forms of violence and 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, peace, and security.
UN Women has been operational in Liberia since 2010 and has worked strategically in the country and currently manages one of the biggest offices in West Africa. It extended continuous support to the Government of Liberia, to key stakeholders from national and local levels, through various programmes and activities aimed at creating an enabling environment for gender equality, recognized as a prerequisite for sustainable development with a strong and active policy on gender equality.
Objectives
The CSAG will be a consultative forum for strategic dialogue between civil society and UN Women. More specifically the objectives will be 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 in line with the international commitments/frameworks.
- Inform UN Women Programs and key priorities through civil society’s expertise, experience, perspective, and knowledge.
- Serve as an interface/conduit between UN Women and key stakeholders including policy makers, marginalized communities, and youth groups to strengthen its mandate in taking forward development agenda such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Platform for Action, Security Council resolutions on Women, Peace and Security, Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) outcomes and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- To serve as a consultative forum to agree on Liberia’s priorities and develop joint strategies to inform UN women’s programmes.
- To serve as gender advocates and solicit support for the empowerment of women and girls as it relates to the global and national development agenda.
Priority Areas
For the next five years (2020-2024), the UN Women Country Programme will strategically focus on four priority areas, namely:
- Governance and Women Political Participation and Leadership.
- Women in Peace and Security and humanitarian actions.
- Ending Violence Against Women and Girls; and
- Women’s Economic Empowerment.
Membership
- The CSAG will have a maximum of twelve (12) members (8 female and at least 4 youth ). The members will be reputed individuals with proven track record in their respective fields preferably with strong credentials as gender, development, women’s rights and or human rights advocates.
Representation will be sought from a diverse cross section of intersectional and intergenerational civil society including but not limited to members from women’s rights organizations, grassroots organizations, media, academia, private sector, ethnic minority groups, rural women, gender activists, persons living with/affected by HIV/AIDS, persons with disabilities, girls, and adolescents, LGBTIQ, leaders of minority, vulnerable and marginalized groups as far as possible. - The members on the CSAG will serve in their individual capacity and would ideally be drawn from or represent the following:
- Gender equality, women rights and women’s empowerment networks/coalitions organizations, and movements.
- Grassroots rural/community-based organizations and women leaders.
- Communities, minority, vulnerable and marginalized groups to ensure that the CSAG is more inclusive, with grassroots outreach.
- Thematic areas:
- Women’s Political Participation and Leadership;
- Women’s Economic Empowerment;
- Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAW/G) and
- Women in Peace and security processes/Humanitarian actions.
- Youth, media, and academia.
Role and Responsibilities of the CSAG members
The CSAG is an advisory body and an advocacy platform, with no technical mandate, to ensure that UN Women is connected to the real needs and issues that affects Liberia’s women and girls and to its civil society. The roles and responsibilities of the CSAG are as below:
- Provide strategic perspectives to UN Women’s leadership, on its current advocacy agenda, thematic priorities, and policy positions.
- Assist UN Women to strengthen its engagement with civil society at all levels and enhance the dialogue between UN Women and civil society for partnership and learning.
- Contribute to the analysis on the socio-economic and political environment in the country and how it impacts on gender equality and women’s rights issues.
- Highlight gender equality issues (including emerging issues), analyses and lessons learnt that need to be addressed in future programme.
- Highlight issues/concerns on the effectiveness of government, donors, UN, and international civil society organizations working around gender equality.
- Facilitate and spearhead strategic exercises for capacity development, with particular focus on building and strengthening the second and third tier generations of the women’s movement.
- Be responsible and accountable for sharing information from CSAG meetings to the broader civil society and women’s movement across Liberia. Members will also ensure that concerns and priorities expressed by these groups are reflected within the CSAG meeting agenda.
For more information, visit https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=80812