UN Women: Advocacy and Coordination Consultant, ESARO, Nairobi, Kenya

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 supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women and girls; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality. In East and Southern Africa, UN Women covers 25 countries through twelve country offices, a programme presence, as well as support to the UN Country Team where we do not have an office. The UN Women Liaison Office serves the African Union and UN Economic Commission for Africa, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In accordance with the UN Women Strategic Note (2026-2029) and in support of global and regional commitments for advancing gender equality, UN Women works to advance social, economic, and political rights of women and girls, including the right to live free of all forms of violence and the right to meaningfully engage in all aspects of peace and security across the humanitarian, development and peace nexus.Ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG) remains a priority area for UN Women in East and Southern Africa, as the most widespread violation of human rights. Regional prevalence estimates of women and girls’ experiences of different forms of violence are often higher than global averages. For example 35% of women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in their life time and 20% in the past year, above global average ( 27%vs 13%). Over 50 million girls in ESA were married before age of 18. seventeen countries have IPV prevalence data, eight reported femicide data and six track technology-facilitated-VAWG. Despite high IPV costs on GDP ( 0.9% in Ethiopia, 5.5% in Lesotho), funding gaps, weak legal implementation, shrinking civic space and perpetrator impunity hinder accountability. Despite these legal reforms, investment in prevention and survivor services is growing, offering opportunities or accelerated action.The ESARO also focuses on women and girls in their diversity, with attention to marginalized, excluded, and underrepresented groups, including, but not limited to rural women, women with disabilities, women living with or affected by HIV, women survivors of violence, women migrants, widows, elderly women among others. UN Women East and Southern Africa is working to improve the impact of existing programming in the region, with particular attention to enhancing holistic investments and accountability for addressing VAWG. This will focus on strengthening capacities of regional actors on effective approaches for the prevention and response to violence against women and girls (VAWG), improving access to evidence and facilitating learning of what works and enhancing the role of social influencers and non-traditional gender equality advocates for transforming discriminatory social norms in favour of gender equality. This requires deepening collaborative partnerships and multi-level and multi-sectoral programming for EVAWG across Africa. As part of these efforts, UN Women is working to strengthen feminist movements to coordinate efforts to end VAWG through the Advocacy, Coalition Building and Transformative Feminist Action (ACT) to End Violence Against Women ACT Programme, with support from the European Union, and in collaboration with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. ACT is designed to accelerate efforts to eliminate all forms of VAWG through transformative feminist action, movement strengthening, and coordinated advocacy. It builds on the foundation laid by the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative and responds directly to the rising urgency for systemic, cross-sectoral action to prevent and respond to VAWG. UN Women ESARO seeks to hire an Advocacy, communication and Coordination Consultant to enhance the ACT Programme implementation, with particular attention to regional convenings and advocacy. The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the ACT Regional Coordinator. Purpose of the Assignment:The purpose of this assignment is to provide support to the implementation and coordination of ongoing advocacy strategies under the ACT Programme. The role focuses on facilitating communication and collaboration among partner organizations, ensuring alignment of activities with the regional advocacy agenda, and supporting documentation, monitoring, and knowledge-sharing. The consultant will support enhanced efficiency, coherence, and impact of ongoing advocacy initiatives without duplicating existing strategic leadership provided by partner organizations. Scope of Work:The consultant will provide support in the following key areas:Strategic Coordination and Partnership Support - Facilitate regular coordination among ACT partners and broader EVAWG stakeholders, ensuring effective communication of updates, sharing of resources, alignment of activities, and identification of opportunities for collaboration across regional and country-level initiatives. - Support strengthening partnerships among feminist movements, women's rights organizations, UN partners, regional institutions, and development partners. - Coordinate follow-up actions arising from partner meetings, consultations, and regional convenings. - Maintain stakeholder mapping and partnership engagement records to support coalition building, movement strengthening, and collective advocacy efforts. Advocacy and Technical Support - Support planning and implementation of regional and country-level advocacy initiatives aligned with ACT Programme priorities. - Prepare advocacy briefs, talking points, presentations, stakeholder engagement materials, briefing notes, and background documents. - Facilitate engagement with regional institutions, governments, civil society organizations, and development partners to advance ACT advocacy priorities. - Support the development of outcome documents, advocacy messages, and high-visibility products highlighting programme results, lessons, and impact. - Contribute to the identification of strategic opportunities to elevate feminist voices and strengthen regional advocacy and influence on policy implementation. Strategic Communications and Visibility - Lead the development and implementation of ACT Programme communications and visibility plans. - Produce high-quality communication products including stories of change, newsletters, blogs, feature articles, success stories, donor updates, social media content, and partner spotlights. - Develop communication packages, key messages, and visibility materials for regional advocacy initiatives, campaigns, consultations, and high-level events. - Support ACT Programme visibility during strategic advocacy moments, including regional and global campaigns and relevant policy engagement opportunities. - Coordinate the dissemination of programme achievements, lessons learned, evidence, and knowledge products across internal and external communication platforms. - Support media engagement and the preparation of communication materials for senior leadership and external stakeholders as required. - Maintain ACT communications assets, visibility trackers, communication calendars, and repositories of stories, photographs, and audiovisual materials. - Monitor and