UN Women: National Consultant on Women’s Legal Concerns During Earthquake Recovery, Adiyaman, Turkiye

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.

In Türkiye, in line with its global Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and Country Strategic Note (2022-2025), and the overall UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Turkey (UNSDCF) (2021-2025), UN Women works towards the overarching goal of “Women and girls including those at greatest risk of being left behind fully exercise their human rights, enjoy a life free from violence and discrimination, and lead, influence and benefit from sustainable and inclusive socioeconomic development towards the advancement of gender equality in Turkey”. UN Women works in four thematic areas: (i) governance and participation in public life; (ii) women’s economic empowerment; (iii) ending violence against women and girls; and (iv) women, peace and security, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction. In line with its coordination mandate, UN Women promotes coordination and coherence across the UN system to enhance accountability and results for gender equality and women’s empowerment, including through joint programmatic and advocacy actions and initiatives, standardized tools and guidance and services to strengthen the relevant capacities of the UN system. Towards these goals, UN Women implements programmes and projects that aim to advance gender equality, improve women’s access to opportunities, rights, and services in political, social, and economic life, and combat gender stereotypes, discrimination, and violence, as required by international and national legal and policy commitments. UN Women collaborates with numerous partners – central and local level government authorities, civil society organizations, including women’s organizations and platforms, academia, private sector companies, and other UN agencies. It commits itself to the Leaving No One Behind principle, by supporting targeted actions to remove the obstacles that marginalized and vulnerable groups of women face in accessing their rights and to promote them as agents of change.

Almost two years since the Kahramanmaraş earthquake, the current situation and living conditions in the temporary settlements continue to pose significant risks, particularly for groups in vulnerable situations such as persons with disabilities, children, women, persons with critical medical conditions, and unaccompanied elderly persons or those without access to basic services. Although the number of people residing in temporary settlements has reduced from an estimated 2.4 million in April 2023 to 670,000 in the most heavily affected provinces in October 2024, populations residing in temporary settlements continue to face challenges including increased protection risks. Additionally, it has been observed that those who continue to live in temporary settlements were already among the more disadvantaged groups before the earthquake. In particular; women and girls’ safety and security risks in face of unforeseeable and uncertain living conditions, with exacerbated and gendered impacts of new and restricted living conditions on women and families, have been highlighted as an ongoing protection concern in the region. Women and girls continue to be exposed to risks of gender-based violence, early and forced marriage, trafficking and exploitation.

The project “Women’s and Girls Lifesaving Access to Protection Services in the Aftermath of the Earthquake” is designed to respond both to the immediate needs of earthquake affected women and girls for protection support and to foster women’s empowerment and resilience through gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and preparedness interventions. It combines interventions on self-reliance, challenging gender norms, fostering community resilience, and enhancing humanitarian assistance. It has an overall objective to increase the resilience of earthquake affected women and girls and to address their protection needs through gender-responsive protection and disaster risk reduction interventions in selected earthquake impacted regions. 

The project will be implemented in two earthquake provinces, Adıyaman and Hatay (Output 1) where it will support women’s increased access to protection services through Women’s Life Center (WLC) and outreach activities to the temporary settlements. In addition to these provinces, Output 2 will cover women led organizations nationwide. Project will contribute to the resilience of minimum 1700 women and girls affected by the earthquakes to be safe from violence, thereby empowering and building women’s resilience through gender-sensitive support system. It will enhance women’s leadership and self-reliance through the provision of gender-responsive protection support and by enhancing women’s and women’s organizations’ capacities to lead recovery and resilience efforts at community and local levels. The project is placed on the humanitarian-development nexus and will address the urgent and ongoing needs of women and girls affected from the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes. 

Project is structured around two outputs. Under the first output, earthquake affected women and girls will be provided with access to gender-responsive protection support from experienced women-led organizations and also from the Women Life Center in Hatay already established and run by Association of Freedom and Equality for Women (KÖVED) with UN Women support, where women in particularly vulnerable situation, such as single female-headed households and women giving care to disabled, sick and elderly people in the households with no or limited access to services will be prioritized. The capacities of the WLC and partner CSOs in terms of providing services for women’s access to legal services will be strengthened through UN Women led needs assessment and legal assessment, information dissemination and awareness raising activities on women’s post-earthquake legal concerns. Addressing women’s legal rights is an urgent matter and an important aspect of protection services, as women and girls’ survivor of the earthquake have limited knowledge and access to legal rights, not just in personal related matters (divorce, GBV and domestic violence, threats and risks, marriage) but also in relation to rights to assets (housing, land and property rights). Providing technical assistance for enhancing women’s post-earthquake legal literacy is a significant step towards providing crucial lifesaving support to women survivors facing legal challenges in the wake of the aftermath of the disaster.

Under the second output, the project will enhance the capacity of women and women-led CSOs to prevent, prepare for, and recover from, disasters by increasing their knowledge on gender-responsive early-warning and early-action systems and by increasing the engagement of women in preparation of local disaster preparedness plans. Good practices of gender responsive disaster preparedness will be facilitated between the Japanese and Turkish CSOs as well as private sector companies. While the implementation will primarily focus on the earthquake impacted provinces, its impact will be beyond the earthquake region since the target is to increase the capacities of women led organizations involved in disaster response and private sector companies from all over the country. Therefore, geographical coverage of this output will not be limited to project target provinces given the widespread location of such organizations.

In order to achieve the planned results, UN Women will recruit the services of two National Consultants on Women’s Legal Concerns during Earthquake Recovery based in Adıyaman and Hatay. The Consultants will directly report to and be supervised by the Programme Specialist. They will work closely with the Gender Analyst and Programme Analysts of UN Women Türkiye Country Office throughout their tasks. They will be supported by the Project Assistant, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues. 

Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work

In line with national and international normative framework and standards including CEDAW and CEDAW Committees’ General Recommendations 33, 35 and 37 in particular:

Payments shall be made on a monthly basis, based on the provision of timesheets and supporting deliverables approved by the UN Women Programme Specialist, who shall confirm Consultants’ tasks are completed and eligible for payment. Total duration of the contract is maximum 45 working days until 1 March 2026 (approximately 4-5 days per month).

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a field-based consultancy in Adıyaman. Full time presence at UN Women premises will not be necessary. No travel outside of duty stations is foreseen.

In case of an unforeseen travel, UN Women Türkiye Office will cover the organization and the costs of the consultant’s travel as per UN Women’s rules and regulations. 

Mandatory Training Courses:

The Consultant shall complete all the mandatory and other required UN training courses and modules on time. The certificates shall be submitted to the supervisor.

Competencies :

Core Values:

Core Competencies:

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

Functional Competencies:

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

Experience:

Languages:

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:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.