UN Women: International Consultant, Expert in Women's Economic Empowerment, Care Economy and Caregiving in Crisis

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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system 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.

UN Women’s triple mandate, along with its global network and deep policy and programming expertise, continues to endow the Entity with a unique capacity to: (i) support Member States to strengthen global norms and standards for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and mainstream gender perspectives in other thematic areas; (ii) promote coordination and coherence across the UN system to enhance accountability and results for gender equality and women’s empowerment;

and (iii) undertake operational activities to support Member States, upon their request, in translating global norms and standards into legislation, policies and strategies at country level.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997 (as UNIFEM). In line with the national priorities, the work of UN Women for the period  is aligned with three of the Palestine United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework’s (UNSDCF) outcomes:

• Palestinians have greater access to economic opportunities that are inclusive, resilient, and sustainable, including decent employment and livelihoods opportunities in an empowered private sector.
• Palestinians, including the most vulnerable, have equal access to sustainable, inclusive, gender responsive and quality social services, social protection, and affordable utilities.
• Palestinian governance institutions, processes, and mechanisms at all levels are more democratic, rights-based, inclusive, and accountable.

Its three-year Strategic Note supports the efforts to achieve measurable results in country in terms of four UN Women global Strategic Plan impacts ): (SP Impact
1). Governance and participation in public life; (SP Impact
2). Women’s Economic Empowerment; (SP Impact
3). Ending Violence Against Women and Girls; SP Impact
4. Women peace and security, Humanitarian & Disaster Risk Reduction.

In crisis and recovery contexts, women and girls often experience a disproportionate increase in unpaid and underpaid care responsibilities due to displacement, destruction of services, loss of livelihoods, disability, injury, and increased household needs. These care burdens often limit women's ability to engage in education, skills development, employment, entrepreneurship and recovery processes.

Under several recovery initiatives in Gaza, including programmes focused on women's economic recovery, employment generation, enterprise rehabilitation, disability inclusion and livelihood restoration, UN Women is supporting women-headed households, caregivers, women with disabilities and other vulnerable groups to access economic opportunities. These programmes identify unpaid care responsibilities as one of the most significant barriers preventing women's participation and retention in employment, skills development and enterprise recovery pathways.

At the same time, the care economy itself presents important opportunities for employment creation, livelihood generation and…