By 
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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women has the mandate to lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
The UN Women Country Office in South Sudan was established in 2012 and developed its first Strategic Note in 2013 for 2014 – 2016. The Strategic Note was extended for an additional two years, till the end of 2018, because of the outbreak of violence in 2013 and 2016 in the country respectively, and an inability of the UN to partner with the government to develop a United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). The previous UN Framework, the Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF) was also extended till the end of 2018. The current UN Cooperation Framework for 2019 -2021 was also extended for one year to 2022. UN Women Strategic Note 2019 – 2021 was equally extended to 2022.
The development of a new UN Women Strategic Note in South Sudan is critical and takes cognizance of important development in the context of the country and the need to align UN Women’s interventions and priorities. Renewed conflict broke out in 2013 immediately after the approval of UN Women South Sudan Strategic Note, resulting in a massive humanitarian crisis with over 2 million displaced women and girls, high incidences of conflict-related sexual violence against women and girls committed by security forces on different sides of the divide, exacerbating an already fragile environment for women to recover and build resilience, claim and enjoy their human rights in a country that had been in conflict for nearly 50 years before independence.
The development of the UN Women South Sudan Strategic Note will draw from UN Women’s corporate Strategic Plan (SP) 2022 – 2025, the development of a new UN UNSDCF and an interim National Development Plan by the government of South Sudan to begin an economic recovery process and linked to the implementation of the Peace Agreement during the transitional process.
There has never been a better time for the centrality of gender equality and empowerment of women in development, affirmed by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as a dedicated Sustainable Development Goal and as central to the achievement of all SDGs. The 20-year High-Level Review of Security Council Resolution 1325 has further deepened and strengthened the need for an engaged women, peace and security agenda, critical for a country like South Sudan in between conflict and post–conflict reconstruction and recovery.
Even as the international agenda for gender equality remains high, women and girls continue to face major obstacles to equal opportunities and outcomes in a global context marked by many major challenges. In South Sudan, women and girls face extremely high illiteracy rates, one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, displacements and high numbers of women and girls forced to live in IDP camps or refugee camps outside the country, one of the highest rates of violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, and inability to access resources, assets and technology for their primary occupation which is agriculture.
UN Women in South Sudan is at a critical point, 11 years after the start of operations – with remarkable achievements using little resources. There is a need to analyze lessons learned, reaffirm our niche in a complex conflict environment with a multiplicity of partners, UN and international organizations, coupled with high humanitarian needs, priorities, capacities, and take note of the need to fully deliver on an ambitious mandate to bring about transformative change for women and girls in South Sudan. A transformative change that addresses deep-rooted and patriarchal gender norms and attitudes, that have been normalized by a militarized state, while also addressing women’s economic recovery, resilience, and freedom from violence and other forms of gender-based human rights violations.
The mid-term evaluation of UN Women South Sudan Strategic Note 2019 – 2021 provided major lessons and recommendations to strengthen UN Women’s strategic focus, institutional capacity, and internal systems. These lessons and recommendations will play a key role in informing the development of the Strategic Note 2023 – 2025. The new UN Women South Sudan Strategic Note will be in line with the UN Women Global Strategic Note 2022 – 2025, and will establish important priorities and intended results. The Strategic Note is expected to articulate a compelling vision of what UN Women can realistically achieve by 2025 given its mandate, niche, capacities, resources, within the context of conflict, the ongoing revitalization of the Peace Agreement and reforms proposed to end the conflict and rebuild South Sudan, and the massive humanitarian crisis. The SN will be supported by a robust results framework with a strong Theory of Change (ToC) to ensure that programme objectives are clearly linked with the organization’s mandate and needs of women and girls in South Sudan.
The New Strategic Note is expected to be flexible to take cognizance of an often and rapidly changing context, including gender in humanitarian coordination and response and what will be needed for UN Women Country Office to adapt, respond, and be effective. The Strategic Note will take account of the priorities identified in the UNSCDF around peacebuilding and recovery; the constitutional, governance and electoral reforms in the Agreement for the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCISS), women’s agency and leadership and donor priorities. The Strategic Note will aim to streamline the results framework, identify SMART indicators, and strengthen normative-coordination-operational linkages. The Strategic Note will also build on the achievements and lessons of past Strategic Note and lessons learned from relevant thematic and programmatic evaluations.
The Consultant is expected to provide technical expertise throughout the process of developing the SN. During the assignment, the consultant will work closely with the Country Representative, the Deputy Representative, Programs and Operations teams, and provide technical expertise, to follow up on, collate and coordinate the inputs of the different units in shaping the document which would include scoping, visioning, drafting, validating and finalization. S/he will conceptualize and hold a series of stakeholders’ consultations, consolidate stakeholders’ feedback and incorporate the feedback in the final SN.
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