UN Women: National Consultant on Programme Financial Management and Reporting, Home-Based, SSA

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 Ukraine, UN Women delivers results across its strategic priorities through its triple mandate of normative support, UN system coordination, and operational activities, mobilizing urgent and sustained action to advance gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Prior to the full-scale invasion, UN Women had already been actively supporting national priorities, including women’s political participation, gender-responsive public policy, and women’s economic empowerment.

From the start of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2022) until 30 November 2025, the United Nations has documented 743 cases of conflict-related sexual violence (590 men, 136 women, 15 girls and two boys). Among these cases, 664 were perpetrated by Russian officials against 523 men, 124 women, 15 girls, and two boys. Other 79 cases were perpetrated by Ukrainian officials against 67 men and 12 women. The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine reported 412 facts of CRSV (244 women, 145 men, 1 boy and 22 girls) as of 2 December 2025 perpetrated by Russian Federation authorities.
On 3 May 2022, the Government of Ukraine and the United Nations signed the Framework of Cooperation on the Prevention and Response to Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, establishing justice and accountability alongside comprehensive, survivor-centered services as core pillars of action. Supported by UN Women and the UN Country Team, the Framework has been operationalized through successive Implementation Plans, culminating in the adoption of the 2026–2027 Implementation Plan, which reinforces national leadership, coordination, and survivor-centered approaches. Structured around five priority areas—ranging from trafficking and survivor assistance to justice, security sector reform, and reparations—the Framework is implemented through dedicated inter-agency working groups co-chaired by the Office of the SRSG-SVC with UN entities and national counterparts.

Women-led civil society organizations and women human rights defenders have played a pivotal role in responding to urgent humanitarian and protection needs, often acting as first responders in high-risk and hard-to-reach areas. Grassroots women’s CSOs have delivered critical psychological support, protection counseling, and free legal aid to CRSV survivors and their families, frequently filling gaps left by disrupted formal services and referral pathways. Beyond service delivery, these organizations have strengthened social cohesion between displaced and host communities and advanced national and international advocacy for peace, recovery, reconstruction, and reparations for CRSV survivors and other victims of the conflict.

UN Women has worked closely with government counterparts, the United Nations Country Team, women-led civil society organizations, survivors’ networks, and other key partners to support the operationalization of the Framework of Cooperation (FoC). Following the adoption of the initial FoC Implementation Plan in 2022 and its subsequent update in 2023, the Government of Ukraine has recently adopted a new Implementation Plan for 2026–2027, reaffirming national leadership and commitment to sustained, system-wide action on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). The 2026–2027 Implementation Plan builds on lessons learned and evolving needs, strengthening coordination, accountability, and survivor-centered approaches across institutions and sectors.

At the same time, Ukraine's evolving governance landscape creates an urgent need for strengthened governance and leadership capacities across national and subnational institutions. Ongoing restructuring and personnel changes within government institutions, the prospect of national and local elections following the lifting of martial law, and the increasing demands of the EU accession process require adaptive, resilient, and strategically oriented public administration. Particular attention will be needed to support leadership capacities for managing complex reforms, coordinating accession-related commitments across ministries and levels of government, and ensuring policy continuity during periods of political transition. The opening of the first negotiation clusters, including Fundamentals and External Relations, as well as the anticipated opening of the remaining clusters, will further increase demands on government institutions to strengthen governance systems, policy coordination, strategic planning, stakeholder engag