[hepr-vn] Consultant opportunity: Gender equality and One UN System in Vietnam

[Vern Weitzel]

Subject: Consultant opportunity: Gender equality and One UN System in
Vietnam
Date: 	Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:50:13 +0700
From: 	My Linh Nguyen <uq2001 at gmail.com>

=====================================

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is currently deliberating on
an important matter that concerns the future of Southeast Asia's women
and men. These are the recommendations made by the 2006 United Nations
(UN) Secretary General's High-Level Panel on System-Wide Coherence for
strengthening the gender architecture in the UN and at national levels.
Dubbed as the GEAR Campaign by its proponents from civil society groups,
the recommendations seek a high-level UN entity for women that will have
strong, normative and operational functions.

The Global Focal Points for the GEAR Campaign are as follows: Women's
Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), the Center for Women's
Global Leadership (CWGL), Development Alternatives with Women for a New
Era (DAWN), the Association of Women's Rights in Development (AWID) and
the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). The Secretariat
is based in New York under WEDO. In Southeast Asia, The Asia Pacific
Women Watch (APWW) is the focal point for the sub-region and Gigi is the
representative (gigi.francisco at gmail.com
<mailto:gigi.francisco at gmail.com>). The Southeast Asia Campaign
includes: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Asia Pacific Women Watch is urgently looking for consultant(s) to
perform two things related to the GEAR:

(1) undertake a rapid assessment study of how gender equality is being
implemented within the One UN System in Vietnam. The situationer will
look at how the normative standards of gender equality are being
mainstreamed; what are the gender equality targets and indicators? and
what mechanisms are in place to ensure that the gender equality norms,
targets and indicators are followed through? It will present
the implications of the One UN System experience in Vietnam to
discussions around the gender architecture in New York.

This will entail interviewing a few key government and institutional
actors such as the NCFAW and UNIFEM respectively but mostly it will rely
on secondary data and adminsitrative reports. The researcher will
therefore have to have contacts with the NCFAW and the UNIFEM, for
easier access of information. There is a budget of USD2000 for the study
being requested.

(2) convene a half-day consultation with government and non-government
organizations. The purpose of this activity is three-fold: a) to orient
women's groups as well as government officials on the merits of the GEAR
and its implications to our work on gender equality; b) help
participants convince their governments to support the GEAR initiative
when it is discussed at the UN General Assembly; and c) for the
participants to take this opportunity to generate ideas on the type of
UN entity for women they envision, especially as it relates to their own
country / local experience.

If and when needed, Patricia B. Licuanan, President of the Miriam
College and the GEAR focal point for Southeast Asia, will be fly to
Vietnam in order to lead the consultation. For hosting the event, we
have allocated USD1000.

*For more information, please contact Gigi Francisco at*:
gigi.francisco at gmail.com <mailto:gigi.francisco at gmail.com>



Thank you for your reading and please feel free to circulate among your
networks.