Description of the Assignment: National Consultant – Women, Peace and Security Advisor to support the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, South Sudan
Period of assignment/services (if applicable): 20 working days
Overview of the assignment
The United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, a landmark resolution addressed, for the first time, the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and girls. It recognized the under-valued and under-utilized contributions women make to conflict prevention, peacekeeping, conflict resolution and peacebuilding and highlighted the importance of women’s equal and full participation, as active agents in peace and security. The UNSCR 1325 and the National Action Plan (2015-2020) for South Sudan led to the recognition of the role of South Sudanese women in the peace process both at the Agreement signed in 2015 and in 2018. Currently, the Ministry is finalising the renewal of the National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325, after the NAP of 2015-2020 lapsed to continue the implementation of Women, Peace and Security(WPS).
In South Sudan, the armed conflict have had a disproportionate impact on women, with sexual violence being used as a weapon of war. Discriminatory social norms and unequal gender inequalities and relationshipsinSouth Sudanentrenchthevulnerabilitiesofwomenandgirlswhilestereotypesandsocial norms have shaped the roles, opportunities and behaviors for women and men in the community. Further, the gender norms frequently expose women to protection risks including personal safety and security. However, women have also made concerted efforts to be included in the peace process and had relative success in their efforts.
Women comprised 15% of delegates leading the negotiations for the 2015 peace agreement while women comprised 25% of delegates during the 2018 negotiations. These efforts also resulted in the 35% gender provision in the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (RARCSS) signed in 2018.
Further, women’s meaningful participation in governance, leadership and political affairs is a critical condition for building a sustainable peace in South Sudan. However, while South Sudanese women account for over 50% of the population in South Sudan, they are still marginalized as far asparticipation in decision making related to peace building and reconciliation is concerned. Thus, women fell short in the implementation mechanism e.g. pre-transitional security arrangement mechanism where women representation is below the 35% threshold. Following the recent development in the implementation of the R-ARCSS, in June 2020, the appointments of the State Governors, showed the disparity with the appointment of only one female Governor out of the ten states and 3 Administrative Areas. Further,the disparities between men and women in South Sudan, especially in the areas of power sharing and decision making, is a glaring challenge, which slows down the implementation of the UNSCR 1325, continental, regional and national obligations on women, peace andsecurity.
South Sudan has ratified several international, continental, and regional frameworks on women, peace and security. Further, South Sudan is a member of regional and continental institutions like African Union, IGAD and the East African community. Therefore, South Sudan is expected to implement and report on the progress of status of implementation of the WPS on the international and regional frameworks on gender, women, peace and security as well as on the regional and continental commitments on gender and WPS.
However, the National Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare continue to face capacity challenges especially at the state level in implementation and adequately reporting on the obligations.
The Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare is collaborating with the United Nations Development programme (UNDP) to enhance the capacity of the gender machineries in South Sudan for effective implementation of the genderprovisionoftheR-ARCSS and the women, peace and security agenda. One of the Project outputs under the partnership is secondment of an expert on Women, Peace and Security to support implementation and reporting on WPS. The Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare will be supported with a national women, peace and security advisor who will be engaged to support the policy issues on the women, peace and security agenda in the country with a major focus on reporting on WPS as well as support on implementation of the WPS agenda.
To this end, the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare in collaboration with UNDP are seeking a national consultant as an advisor on Women, Peace and Security to support implementation and reporting onWPS.
The consultant will work under the supervision of PaCC Programme Advisor & Manager, as well as under the guidance of the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare.
Apply before: 05-Nov-2025 05:03 (GMT -5.00)
