[Hiring] National Consultant on CSO Engagement @UN Women

Role Description

The objective is to strengthen meaningful, inclusive and effective CSO participation in gender equality policy, monitoring, advocacy and international normative processes in Viet Nam. Under the overall guidance of the Country Representative and in close coordination with the designated UN Women programme manager, the consultant will provide support in three interrelated areas, as specified in individual work requests:

• CSO network coordination and inclusive participation
  • Map relevant CSOs and networks, identify opportunities for collaboration, and support coordination within and across networks on shared gender equality priorities.
  • Plan, facilitate and document inclusive consultations, network meetings and exchanges, ensuring meaningful participation by women-led organizations and groups facing intersecting discrimination.
  • Support CSOs to identify common priorities, coordinate inputs, develop joint action plans and participate in national, regional and global processes such as CEDAW follow-up, the Beijing Platform for Action and CSW, while preserving their independence and distinct perspectives.
  • Liaise with participating organizations, UN Women and relevant partners on technical preparation and follow-up, as agreed; synthesize consultation outcomes and track agreed actions.
• Capacity building and experience sharing
  • Assess CSO learning needs and develop practical capacity-building plans, agendas, Vietnamese-language briefing materials, presentations, case studies, guidance notes and tools.
  • Facilitate or co-facilitate workshops, peer learning sessions and experience-sharing exchanges on international standards, national policy processes, evidence use, monitoring, advocacy and other agreed topics.
  • Provide tailored technical follow-up to help organizations apply learning, develop organizational commitments and monitoring approaches, and exchange effective practices across networks.
  • Document lessons, capacity gaps and recommendations for continued learning, including organizational approaches to care and resilience where requested; specialist clinical or psychosocial services are outside this role.
• Collective advocacy and communication
  • Help CSOs gather and synthesize evidence, ground experience and recommendations into joint positions, policy briefs, submissions, key messages and inputs to consultations or reporting processes.
  • Provide technical advice on advocacy strategies, campaign plans and accessible communication products that connect international commitments with national and local priorities.
  • Support the substantive preparation, facilitation and documentation of policy dialogues, public events, campaigns and exchanges with decision makers and other stakeholders.
  • Advise on dissemination and follow-up so that collective messages inform policy and programme discussions; apply rights-based, survivor-centred and do-no-harm principles to all public communication.

Qualifications

• Strong knowledge of gender equality, women’s rights and the role of civil society in policy development, implementation and accountability, including relevant national and international frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to support coordination and collaboration within and across CSO networks while ensuring inclusive participation and respecting organizations’ independence.
• Ability to design and facilitate participatory capacity-building, consultations and experience-sharing activities for diverse CSOs.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to turn evidence and community perspectives into practical advocacy messages, policy recommendations and communication materials.
• Excellent drafting, editing, presentation and facilitation skills in Vietnamese and English.
• Strong planning, coordination and stakeholder-engagement skills, with the ability to work independently and deliver high-quality outputs within agreed deadlines.

Requirements

• All work must follow UN Women guidance on safeguarding, confidentiality, informed consent, accessibility and do no harm.
• The consultant must not collect or disclose identifiable survivor information unless expressly authorized under an approved protocol.
• UN Women and partners retain responsibility for invitations, institutional approvals, event logistics and official representation unless a work request expressly assigns a defined task to the consultant.

Benefits

• This is an as-needed retainer, not a continuous full-time assignment.
• Payment will be made upon satisfactory completion of a deliverable or as agreed between the consultant and UN Women.

Company Description

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 Viet Nam, UN Women contributes to the development objectives of Viet Nam’s Socio-Economic Development Plan and the National Strategy for Gender Equality.