Facilitator for ESAR Senior Management Workshops (Retainer)

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.

UN Women leads and coordinates efforts across the United Nations system to ensure that commitments to gender equality and gender mainstreaming are translated into concrete action at national, regional, and global levels. In the East and Southern Africa Region (ESAR), UN Women provides strong and coherent leadership in advancing Member States’ priorities, while building effective partnerships with development partners, civil society, and the private sector to ensure that women and girls fully realize and enjoy their rights.

UN Women’s work is taking place amid significant global shifts, including a growing backlash against women’s rights, the erosion of multilateral norms, heightened geopolitical competition, and increasing political polarization. These challenges are further intensified by a shrinking and increasingly constrained development financing landscape, a rise in humanitarian crises driving a “humanitarian reset,” and ongoing major UN system reforms under the Secretary-General’s UN 80 Initiative. Collectively, these dynamics create strategic uncertainty, requiring UN Women to strengthen its value proposition, protect its mandate on gender equality and women’s empowerment, diversify partnerships and funding sources, and strategically position itself across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus through adaptive and forward-looking leadership.

The East and Southern Africa Region maintains a presence in 13 countries namely Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Somalia (Programme Presence), and works closely with Non-Resident Agencies throughout the region. The Regional Office is led by the Regional Director, supported by the Deputy Regional Director. Field offices are headed by Country Representatives, with support from Deputy Representatives and Operations Managers, who work together to provide effective leadership and ensure the successful delivery of the organizational mandate. Deputy Representatives play a pivotal role in ensuring programme quality, strengthening strategic partnerships, managing operations, promoting effective people management, and maintaining internal coherence.

The Facilitator will be engaged on an as-needed basis to facilitate and moderate high-level strategic forums for ESA Region Senior Management, enabling focused discussions, critical analysis, and the delivery of actionable outcomes from each workshop. He/she must demonstrate proven expertise in designing and delivering high-level workshops for similar multilateral senior leadership teams.

The consultant will report to the Human Resource Business Partner and work under the guidance of the Head of Office.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work:

The facilitator will be expected to develop a practical approach for facilitating the workshop, ensuring that sessions are interactive, engaging, participatory, and creatively organized in a culturally sensitive manner. The facilitations will be done virtually, requiring the facilitator to leverage on digital tools and approaches to ensure effective engagement and interaction. 

Specifically, the consultant will be required to undertake the following:

• Design Workshop Modalities: Develop the overall structure and approach for facilitating the workshops; 
• Finalize Methodology: Collaborate with the Senior Management Planning Committee to develop and refine the methodology, incorporating feedback to ensure the workshops meet their objectives and reflect regionally diverse contexts;
• Facilitate Key Sessions: Lead and moderate core sessions, promoting active participation, effective time management, and the achievement of defined objectives and results;
• Summarize Sessions: In consultation with the Workshop Planning Committee, prepare concise summaries of each session to support daily recaps and contribute to the overall workshop report;
• Prepare Technical Report: Compile a comprehensive workshop report outlining outcomes, recommendations, and actionable next steps.

Deliverables:

• Workshop facilitation methodology and approaches;
• Facilitation and moderation: Execution of workshop sessions with summaries of key deliberations and identified action points;
• Final Workshop Report: A concise report capturing the main discussions, action points, and recommendations from each workshop.

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