UN Women - International Consultant – Mapping Official Government Mechanisms Civil Society

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.

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to translate commitments on gender equality into action, providing coherent support to Member States while building effective partnerships with civil.

Across the Europe and Central Asia region,10 countries/territories are at different stagesof the European Union accession process.

Albania, Montenegro, Serbia,Moldova and Ukraine are actively engaged in accession negotiations (with clusters open and some chapters provisionally closed), while

North MacedoniaandTürkiyeremain in the negotiation process.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has candidate status,Kosovo
* is a potential candidate, and Georgiaretainscandidate status although its accession process is currently stalled. While the pace and scope of reforms vary across the region, all are undertaking reforms to strengthen democratic governance, the rule of law and fundamental rights.

The EU enlargement process provides an important framework for advancing democratic governance, fundamental rights, gender equality,and inclusive policy making. The European Commissionrecognisesthat a vibrant civil society contributes to fulfilling the conditions for EU membership by enabling citizens toparticipatein setting the political agenda, strengthening public ownership of reforms, and influencing policy and decision-making processes.

The Strategy commits the European Commission to further strengthen civil society engagement in the enlargement process by institutionalisingandstandardising in-country consultation of CSOs in the preparation of meetings of relevant bodies under the Association Agreements, as well as their follow-up and monitoring. It also encourages Member States and enlargement countries to strengthen institutional mechanisms for civil society participation in line with Commission Recommendation (EU) 2023/2836 on the effective participation of civil society organisations in public policy making.

The Reform and Growth Facilities (for Western Balkans,Moldova and Ukraine Facility) have introduced a new performance-based approach to supporting accession-related reforms. Reform Agendas aremonitoredthrough agreed milestones and indicators, creatingadditionalopportunities for structured engagement of civil society in monitoring,accountability and policy dialogue. Recent recommendations of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) call for civil society participation to become a structural element of the governance of the Reform and Growth Facilities, including through inclusive monitoring committees, transparentreportingandinstitutionaliseddialogue with public authorities.

Women's rightsorganisationshave played a critical role in advancing gender equality,monitoringpublicpolicyand promoting democratic governance across the enlargement region. Theirexpertiseis particularly relevant for accession reforms related to fundamental rights, rule of law, public administration reform, employment and social policy, anti-discrimination, social inclusion,peacebuildingand gender-responsive governance. However,their participation in accession-related consultation and monitoring mechanismsremainsuneven and often ad hoc, limiting opportunities for women's perspectives to systematically inform reform priorities and implementation.

Within this framework,UN WomenECAROaims to strengthen the participation of WROs in EU accession processes by assessing their engagement, providing targeted…