UN WOMEN: Implementation Guide Consultant – Push Forward Strategy Implementation, International Consultant,Home-based

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.

Across Europe and Central Asia (ECA), gender equality progress is under acute threat. Regressive narratives, legal rollbacks, and shrinking civic space have led to a marked backlash against women’s rights, feminist movements, and civil society actors. Rising anti-rights narratives, democratic backsliding, legal and policy regressions, and shrinking civic space have intensified backlash against women’s rights, feminist movements, and gender justice actors. These trends intersect with rising authoritarianism, nationalism, digital repression, and geopolitical instability, posing a systemic risk to inclusive governance and sustainable development.  

In response, UN Women’s Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) has taken succinct steps towards regionalizing UN Women’s global Push Forward Strategy, aiming to shift the narrative from reactive defense to proactive momentum-building. The Regional Push Forward Strategy for ECA aims to provide a framework to coordinate system-wide responses, align programming around key leverage points, and strengthen partnerships with civil society, governments, and the UN system. 

It shall align with the newly approved UN Women ECARO’s Strategic Note (2026–2029) and complements ongoing efforts to integrate gender-transformative approaches at a regional- and country-level. 

There are dual, closely linked purposes of this consultancy, namely (1) to support ECARO to finalize and validate the regionalization of the Push Forward Strategy – which currently stands at a draft stage,  and (2) to develop an internal Implementation Guide, that will accompany the strategy by outlining practical considerations and tools for direct implementation.  The guide will support ECA teams to plan, sequence, and implement activities under the Strategy, ensuring coherence and strategic interventions, built on global best practices. 

This consultancy will result in a finalized, coherent, regional approach to Pushing Forward and a practical, actionable internal tool for use by UN Women teams across ECA providing concrete operational guidance across the programming cycle, from entry point identification and programme design, to delivery, monitoring, and scale-up. The finalized regional strategy must align with the global Push Forward Strategy, the Global Strategic Plan, and the Regional Strategic Note. The Implementation Guide must follow the UN Women Knowledge Product cycle which includes drafting, peer-review, fact-checking and editing phases. The guide will strengthen UN Women ECA’s ability to deliver programming that responds strategically to backlash while leveraging our triple mandate. 

In parallel, UN Women ECARO has been working closely with the UN system at the regional level through the Issue Based Coalition on Gender Equality (IBC-GE) to understand and address the manifestation of the gender backlash in the region and propose ways to address it jointly at the UN level. The proposed Implementation Guide will be shared with the IBC-GE as a resource tool that can served as a point of reference for developing a joint UN tool in the future.  

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work 

The consultant will produce an Implementation Guide that translates the Regional Push Forward Strategy into a coherent, step-by-step internal implementation guide for UN Women in ECA. This will include, but is not limited to, the following steps: 

Develop a workplan for the strategy finalization and the Implementation Guide development, clearly outlining timelines, key milestones, and anticipated stakeholders/colleagues to be engaged. 

Finalize the draft regional strategy; including through key validation, feedback sessions with key stakeholders. 

Create the draft outline of the Implementation Guide; building on the strategic directives outlined, develop a first full draft of the Implementation Guide (max. 20 pages), outlining each phase of the programming cycle. The guide will provide clear operational directions, describe key decision-making points and resource requirements, and present example models and intervention pathways grounded in theory of change approaches. It will also align with relevant institutional frameworks (e.g. GEAP, Clarion Call) and integrate an intersectional and rights-based lens. This first full draft must include the finalized content style and structure and will undergo peer-review, fact-checking and editing phases. 

Revise and finalize the Implementation Guide based on internal feedback, producing a user-friendly final version that includes annexes with practical tools (including checklists and planning resources) to support ECA teams in implementation. 

Facilitate a validation session with ECA stakeholders to socialize the Strategy and present the draft Guide. 

Deliverables 

Deliverable 

Expected completion time (due day)  

Payment Schedule (optional) 

Inception Report with Detailed Workplan for both the Strategy and Implementation Guide: Methodology, detailed workplan, suggested table of contents 

Week 1 ( mid-December 2025) 

- 

 Draft Strategy : First full draft of the Regional Push Forward Strategy, providing a framework to coordinate system-wide responses, align programming around key leverage points, and strengthen partnerships with civil society, governments, and the UN system. The draft should complement the Regional Strategic Note (2026-2029). 

Week  3 (early -January 2026) 

30% upon delivery 

 Finalised, Validated Strategy and Draft Implementation Guide: First full draft of the Implementation Guide (no more than 40 pages), including operational directions, intervention models, examples, and step-by-step programming guidance. The draft will include the finalized content style and structure, and should be peer-reviewed, fact-checked and validated across UN Women’s teams in ECA. 

Week 7(early to mid-February 2026) 

40% upon delivery 

Final Documents (both): Final, edited version of the Programming Guide incorporating stakeholder feedback. Includes annexes with tools, templates, and resources. Feedback from colleagues should be integrated into the final version. 

Week 12 ( early March 2026) 

30% upon delivery 

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel 

This is a home-based consultancy. 

Competencies :

Core Values:

Core Competencies:

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification: 

Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, Development, Public Administration, Gender is required. 

BA degree with additional 2 years of experience can be accepted in lieu of MA degree.  

Experience: 

A minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in gender equality, with a strong focus on strategic programme guides, operationalization of conceptual frameworks and institutional accountability. 

Experience in developing and drafting programming guidance that incorporates multi-sectoral programming strategies within international development or UN entities. 

Proven ability to translate strategies into concrete, implementable programmes. 

Experience coordinating inter-agency or multi-stakeholder processes, ideally at regional or global levels, in politically complex or sensitive environments. 

Experience working in Europe and Central Asia, or in contexts with strong gender equality pushback, is highly desirable. 

Languages: 

Fluent in written and spoken English is required. 

How to Apply 

Personal CV or P11  

A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) 

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion: