UN Women South Sudan developed its Strategic Note in a context of conflict, humanitarian crisis and challenging economic downturn. The Strategic Note is designed to support the strengthening of a normative environment, and women’ voices and agency in the achievement of all the key national and UN indicators focusing on peace and security, ending violence against women/SGBV and through humanitarian action. UN Women Office in South Sudan in line with its priorities set in the UN Women strategic plan and in the UN Partnership for Sustainable Development cooperates with the UN, the government and CSOs to advocate for women’s empowerment and advancement of gender equality.

On 12th September 2018, the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was signed marking the official end to the civil war that had erupted in South Sudan since December 2013.The R-ARCSS provided important entry points for the inclusion of women’s experiences to form part of the reforms anticipated in the path to peace, including the provision of 35% Affirmative Action. One of the most important chapters of the Peace Agreement is Chapter 1 which lays out provisions for the governance arrangements both as a way of bringing all the different political parties and stakeholders together and chart a way forward for responsibility sharing in the Pre-transitional and transitional periods.

Article 1.18 of the R-ARCSS called for the reconstitution of the National Constitution Amendment Committee (NCAC) which was tasked to prepare for the Transitional Period and the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU). A key mandate of the NCAC was to review and complete amendments to national security sector laws to bring them into conformity with the Revitalized peace agreement (article 1.18.1.2) as well as amendments to other legislations and incorporating any reforms relevant to the R-ARCSS. The enactment of these amendments into law is expected to be completed within 12 months of the formation of the commencement of the transitional period.

UN Women has been providing support to women’s representatives in key transitional institutions including the women’s representative at the NCAC to ensure effective and meaningful engagement in the transitional period. In January 2019 UN Women supported broad women’s engagement and review of the security sector laws leading to a women’s submission to the NCAC. In light of the work of the NCAC, UN Women will be supporting women’s groups to come up with a review of the remaining legislations under review at the NCAC with a gender lens to ensure that gaps in the laws may be addressed and that gendered concerns are taken into consideration. UN Women will be supporting national consultants to conduct a review of these laws.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of the assignment is to conduct an analysis of the different legislations currently under review at the NCAC. More specifically, the aim is to further strengthen the Laws and their provisions, by conducting a gender-analysis of the implementation weaknesses and opportunities of the Laws, analysis of the alignment of the legislations with the different African Union, Regional, United Nations and other international standards and providing recommendations for improvement of the Legislations.

With this ToR, UN Women is seeking to hire national consultants to conduct expert analysis of the pending legislations still under review at the NCAC and support the women’s representatives in the process of amending and aligning the law with national and international gender equality commitments.

1. The laws that will be under review are:
2. Public Financial Management and Accountability Act, 2011;
3. Southern Sudan National Audit Chamber Act, 2011;
4. Petroleum Act, 2012 & 4) Petroleum Revenue Management Act 2013;
5. The Bank of South Sudan Act, 2010;
6. Southern Sudan Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2009;
7. National Elections Act 2012;
8. Investment Promotion Act, 2009.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Based on the above-described objectives of the assignment, under the supervision of the Women, Peace & Security Program Specialist, the national consultants will undertake the following tasks and responsibilities

• Situation analysis
• Gender analysis of the implementation weaknesses and opportunities of the legislation with a focus on general and special measures on national level for establishing equal opportunities for women and men;
• Evaluation of the legislations’ alignment with key international standards including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, UN Security Council Resolution 1325, Maputo Protocol among other international standards;
• Identify areas where the existing laws and/or policies (or draft laws and/or polices) can be improved to better protect the rights of women and girls especially in a perspective of discrimination and marginalization of women and girls, people living with disabilities etc.

Technical inputs:

• Conduct consultations with National stakeholders, including interviews with different women’s groups, women parliamentarians, experts in the selected field as well as key contact people in the respective ministries that the legislations fall under;
• Comparative analysis and recommendations for strengthening of the Gender Mechanisms at national level and their capacities for gender responsive policy making with a comparison to other post-conflict countries or countries in the region;
• Based on the situation analysis, provide inputs to the draft laws/laws amendment and/or policies that are in line with international standards;
• Based on the situation analysis, provide inputs to the legal documents informed by rights-based and gender-sensitive approaches, and survivor-centred language where necessary.

Policy Brief & Report:

• Based on the situation analysis and technical inputs, draft a policy brief on how to best utilize the inputs to advocate for legislation and policies amendment/adaptation that can be used by women’s groups in their advocacy;
• Presentation of the findings and the proposed measures for amendments and revisions of the legislations;
• Prepare final report on the assignment.

Deliverables:

Reporting:

• Under the overall supervision of the to the Women, Peace and Security Program Specialist and the WPS Programme Team at UN Women South Sudan, the National consultant will develop and deliver the above listed deliverables in accordance with the indicative timeframe;
• All deliverables of an acceptable standard and quality should be submitted to the UN Women.

Competencies

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity;
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies:

• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Leading by Example.

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent analytical and analytical skills;
• Excellent knowledge and experience on women, peace and security/gender and security sector reform;
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendations.

Required Skills and Experience

• A University degree in Law, International Law, Gender Studies, international relations, social, cultural sciences or other degree relevant to the requirements of the ToR. A Master’s degree is considered an asset.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of demonstrated professional experience in the area of gender equality, human rights, social policy or justice system is required;
• Previous experience in conducting legal and policy analysis, with focus on gender equality and women’s rights is considered a strong asset;
• Previous experience in conducting qualitative researches is considered a strong asset;
• Demonstrated experience and knowledge on national and local gender machineries and international commitments of South Sudan;
• Previous experience in working with peace agreement institutions, international organizations and government institutions would be considered as an asset;
• Previous experience working with women’s groups and networks in South Sudan is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of Arabic is an asset.

Note: An individual consultant is welcome to review one or a maximum of 2 of the laws. In your application, kindly clearly indicate the SPECIFIC LEGISLATION you are applying to review.