National Consultant - Conduct a gendered needs assessment that identifies the specific health challenges of women personnel within the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces

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.

Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates 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 project aimed at enhancing the participation and leadership opportunities of women within the Republic of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) and thereby improving the eligible pool of uniformed women available for peacekeeping deployments through the promotion of institutional policies, training facilities, healthcare for female personnel and accountability for sexual harassment and abuse at institutional level

The RSLAF MOWIP Assessment under Issue Area 1 analysis identifies that “Women Do Not Feel Their Health Care Needs are Adequately Met or Their Lives are Equally Valued.”21 Of the various concerns expressed by women officers, including, lack of specialized healthcare lack of medical care for injuries sustained from tactical and other operations including all healthcare concerns that affects women officers/soldiers in RSLAF. In response to this high priority barrier identified and the relevant recommendation from the RSLAF MOWIP Assessment this project will support the conduct of a Healthcare Needs Assessment for identifying and prioritizing action on behalf of the RSLAF on what specific areas of healthcare needs can be prioritized. The Healthcare Needs Assessment will focus on the needs of both women and male officers – as recommended by the RSLAF MOWIP Assessment Report

Reporting to the Head of Office, with technical support from the programs team, the consultant in collaboration with UN Women, and RSALF medical team, will support in conducting a gendered needs assessment that identifies the specific health challenges of women personnel that will be translated into an action plan for further implementation by RSLAF.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

• Stakeholders’ consultation and development of assessment tools and a suitable methodology that can be agreed with the RSLAF medical team with advisory role from the ministry of Health and other relevant partners
• Conduct an Assessment across all units and brigades. Including a validation to ascertain the findings of the report.
• Organize a Roundtable Discussion with the medical committee of RSLAF and the Ministry of Health including other relevant stakeholders on the outcomes and recommendations of the report
• Stakeholder Engagement on Action Plan including Development of Action Plan
• Provide all required reports in a timely manner including Final Assessment Report including

Deliverable

Deliverable Expected completion time (due day)

Inception Report including:

• Concept notes with proposed methodology Assessment tools
• Detailed communication and stakeholder engagement strategy

11th August

• Draft Assessment Report including preliminary findings and identified gaps
• Validation workshop/meeting report

September 30th

• Roundtable report capturing key discussions, conclusions and recommendations

20th October

• Draft 3–5-year Action Plan including priority interventions and partnership framework
• Action Plan validation report
• Stakeholder feedback incorporated into final action plan

November 30th

• Identified gaps and recommendations
• Final validated Action Plan
• End-of-assignment report

December 20th

January 30th

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy of 120 days and is open to residents living in Sierra Leone and expected to be traveling in all RSLAF locations in the regions on regular

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Demonstrates strong knowledge of gender equality, women’s rights, with the ability to apply gender analysis frameworks to institutional and security sector contexts.
• Proven expertise in public health, particularly maternal, reproductive, and occupational health, with the ability to assess gender-specific health needs within structured institutions such as the military.
• Strong experience in designing and implementing qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, to identify health gaps and priorities.
• Ability to conduct comprehensive needs assessments, analyse complex datasets, and translate findings into actionable recommendations
• Demonstrated capacity to develop assessment tools, methodologies, and data collection instruments in collaboration with technical stakeholders (e.g., medical teams, Ministry of Health), ensuring validity and reliability of findings.
• Proven ability to engage and coordinate with multiple stakeholders,
• Experience in translating assessment findings into strategic, evidence-based action plans, including medium- to long-term interventions aligned with national frameworks and institutional priorities.
• Excellent writing skills with the ability to produce high-quality technical reports, policy briefs, and presentations, clearly communicating complex findings to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, fostering collaboration and ownership of assessment results.
• Demonstrates high standards of professionalism, ethical conduct (especially handling sensitive health and gender data), and respect for diversity and confidentiality in data collection and analysis.

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in public health, medicine, gender/women’s studies, public policy, international development, or a related field is required.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in public health, gender equality, research, or related fields, including conducting assessments, studies, or programme implementation.
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in conducting research, assessments, or programme implementation related to public health, gender equality, or institutional strengthening, preferably with international organizations, government institutions, or the security sector
• Demonstrated experience in conducting research and analysis of health, social, economic, and public policy issues, with the ability to generate evidence-based findings and recommendations.
• Strong experience and knowledge in gender equality and women’s empowerment, including EVAWG and Women, Peace and Security (WPS) frameworks, and application of gender analysis in institutional settings.
• Extensive experience engaging and managing stakeholders in complex environments
• Excellent facilitation, negotiation, and coordination skills, with the ability to lead consultations, validation workshops, and multi-stakeholder processes.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, with demonstrated ability to produce high-quality technical reports, assessment findings, and policy-oriented documents.
• Experience in developing analytical outputs, including assessment reports, policy briefs, and strategic recommendations, is a strong asset.
• Demonstrated experience in public health research, including maternal, reproductive, and occupational health, with the ability to analyze health systems and identify service delivery gaps affecting women.
• Proven experience in designing and conducting needs assessments, including data collection, analysis, and validation processes across diverse contexts.
• Experience working with government institutions, medical professionals, and/or security sector actors (e.g., military, police) is highly desirable.
• Strong knowledge of data management tools, research software, and Microsoft Office applications; familiarity with digital data collection tools is an advantage.
• Familiarity with the Sierra Leone policy environment, particularly the health sector and/or security sector institutions, is an asset.

Languages:

Fluency in English required required

Fluency in Krio is an added advantage

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.

Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.