UN Women: Development of a National Guideline on Mainstreaming Women’s Needs and Priorities in Sectoral and Local Policies and Plans, National Consultant, Homebased, Local post for the Nationals of Iraq, Home based, Remote

## UN Women: Development of a National Guideline on Mainstreaming Women’s Needs and Priorities in Sectoral and Local Policies and Plans, National Consultant, Homebased, Local post for the Nationals of Iraq, Home based, Remote - Organization:UN Women - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women - Office:UN Women in Home-based 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 Iraq, advancing equality for women requires that women's affairs are systematically integrated into the policies, plans, and programmes of all government sectors — at both the national and sub-national levels. Despite progress in recent years, sectoral and local plans frequently have limited explicit provisions addressing women's affairs, due in part to the absence of a standardized, institutionalized framework guiding ministries and local authorities on how to mainstream women's affairs into their planning processes. In response to this gap, and as requested by the National Directorate for Iraqi Women (NDIW) and the Ministry of Planning (MoP), UN Women Iraq Country Office is supporting the development of a National Guideline on Mainstreaming Women's Affairs in Sectoral and Local Policies and Plans. This guideline is intended to serve as a practical, government-endorsed tool, developed jointly with the Ministry of Planning and the National Directorate for Iraqi Women, to support line ministries and local planning bodies in systematically integrating women's needs and priorities into national, sectoral, and local policies and plans. The Ministry of Planning will serve as the technical lead on planning frameworks and integration within national and local planning processes, while the National Directorate for Iraqi Women will provide guidance on women's priorities and policy considerations. UN Women will provide technical assistance, coordination, and quality assurance throughout the development and validation of the guideline. This assignment forms part of a joint initiative of UN Women and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), developed and agreed with the Ministry of Planning and the National Directorate for Iraqi Women, comprising three interlinked components: (i) a national workshop to establish a shared understanding among stakeholders of existing challenges, capacities and coordination requirements; (ii) the development of the National Guideline; and (iii) a national capacity development programme and institutional follow-up mechanism. Under this joint initiative, and as agreed between UN Women, ESCWA, the Ministry of Planning and the National Directorate for Iraqi Women, ESCWA will engage an international consultant to lead the conceptual and methodological framing of the Guideline and to support the capacity development component, while UN Women will engage the national consultant covered by these Terms of Reference to lead the Iraq-specific evidence base and the national content of the Guideline and to anchor stakeholder engagement and day-to-day coordination with national counterparts. The two consultants will work as a technical team, on the basis of an outline agreed jointly between UN Women, ESCWA and the Ministry of Planning, and in line with the priorities set by the National Directorate for Iraqi Women. To carry this work forward, UN Women seeks to engage a qualified national technical expert who will work in close collaboration with NDIW, MoP, relevant line ministries, and UN Women to co-develop, validate and finalize the Guideline, in close technical collaboration with the international consultant engaged by ESCWA. Under the overall supervision and guidance of the UN Women ICO Officer in Charge, the consultant will be reporting to the Coordination and Partnership Specialist and will be supported by the Executive Associate, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues. The overall objective of this consultancy is to contribute to the development of a National Guideline on Mainstreaming Women's Affairs in Sectoral and Local Policies and Plans that: - Provides clear, actionable guidance for line ministries and local planning bodies on integrating women's affairs into their policies and plans; - Is grounded in Iraq's national legal and policy frameworks, as well as relevant international standards. - Is co-developed with the MoP, NDIW and relevant government stakeholders, and endorsed by the Government of Iraq. - Is practical, context-sensitive, and adaptable across different sectors and levels of governance; - Is aligned with UN Women Iraq Country Office programming priorities. Description of Responsibilities and Scope of Work The consultant will undertake the following tasks: 1. Inception and Preparatory Analysis - Review and analyze existing national legal and policy frameworks relevant to mainstreaming women's affairs, including the Iraqi Constitution, National Development Plan, sectoral strategies, sub-national planning frameworks and existing MoP planning and budgeting procedures. - Review regional and international guidelines and tools on mainstreaming women's affairs in public policy. - Identify gaps, entry points, and good practices applicable to the Iraqi context. - Prepare an inception note outlining the proposed methodology, workplan, and preliminary findings. - Map existing national, sectoral and local strategies, policies and plans, and assess the extent to which women's needs and priorities are currently reflected in them, including their stage of implementation, the institutional arrangements in place, and the availability of sex-, age- and location-disaggregated data. - Coordinate the inception note and workplan with the international consultant engaged by ESCWA so that the two assignments follow a single, sequenced workplan with clearly allocated tasks and no duplication of effort. 2. Contribution to the development of the National Guideline - Contribute to the drafting of the National Guideline on Mainstreaming Women's Affairs in Sectoral and Local Policies and Plans. - Ensure the guideline is practical, user-friendly, and written in clear language accessible to government planners and decision-makers. - Ensure full alignment with NDIW's mandate, Iraq's national priorities, and UN Women's programming frameworks. - Lead the drafting of the Iraq-specific components of the Guideline, including the national legal and policy basis, the mapping of national and sub-national planning and budgeting processes, sector-specific application, institutional arrangements and roles, and worked examples drawn from Iraqi practice. - Review and provide substantive written inputs on the remaining sections drafted by the international consultant engaged by ESCWA, ensuring contextual accuracy, consistency of terminology in Arabic, and applicability to Iraqi institutions. 3. Stakeholder Engagement and Validation - Support the organization of and actively participate in one or two technical meetings with NDIW, MoP and relevant line ministries, to present and validate the draft guideline. - Support the preparation of, and actively participate in, the national workshop (indicatively late September / October 2026). This includes identifying and mobilizing the relevant ministries and institutions and the appropriate representatives within them, preparing background and briefing material drawing on the desk review, supporting facilitation, and documenting outcomes so that they feed directly into the Guideline. - Serve as the day-to-day focal point in Baghdad for coordination between the Ministry of Planning, NDIW, UN Women and ESCWA on the implementation of the joint initiative. - Incorporate fe