National Consultancy - Gender Consultant, Islamabad, Pakistan (12 months)

Overview

Provide technical support on gender integration across UNICEF Pakistan’s country programme and ensure alignment with UNICEF’s GAP and global/regional priorities. Support the design, review, and quality assurance of gender-responsive strategies, policies, sector plans, and programme initiatives.

Tasks Summary

• Provide technical support on gender integration across all aspects of UNICEF Pakistan’s country programme and ensure alignment with UNICEF’s GAP and global/regional priorities.
• Support design, review and quality assurance of gender-responsive strategies, policies, sector plans, and programme initiatives.
• Facilitate development of gender analyses, contextual evidence and strategic recommendations to inform policy dialogue, planning and budgeting.
• Integrate gender objectives, indicators monitoring, and evaluation frameworks through the programme cycle.
• Generate and promote gender disaggregated data in implementation research, behavioral insights, and tracking of social norms/power shifts.
• Provide gender-responsive policy analysis and advocacy to position change strategies as a key driver in challenging social norms.
• Provide technical expertise in gender-responsive and transformative community engagement interventions.
• Strengthen monitoring systems and tools to track progress on gender results and improve reporting quality.
• Support coordination of gender dimensions in emergency preparedness and response initiatives.
• Support the operationalization of Gender Toolkits and Guidance Notes for mainstreaming into professional institutions, women-led organizations, and networks.
• Lead capacity-building initiatives for UNICEF staff, partners and government actors on gender concepts, tools, and gender-responsive programming approaches.
• Promote knowledge sharing and learning on gender equality practices across sectors and partners.
• Cultivate strategic partnerships with government ministries, academia, civil society organizations, UN partners, and donors to advance gender equality outcomes.
• Represent UNICEF in inter-agency coordination bodies and national-level forums on gender and development.
• Support gender advocacy messaging and external communication to raise awareness and influence behaviour change.
• Contribute to programme reviews, donor reporting, and coordination.

Experience Requirements

• Minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience in gender equality programming, evidence-led strategy development, gender mainstreaming, gender-responsive policy analysis and advocacy, and institutional capacity building.
• Demonstrated track record of working with government, UN agencies or civil society in Pakistan or similar contexts.
• Experience in research, gender analysis, policy development and results-based programming.
• Familiarity with humanitarian settings and emergency gender programming is an asset.
• Prior extensive experience of developing evidence led gender responsive and transformative programming, strategies, approaches and tools and project management skills for coordinating multi-sectoral gender programming.
• Experience of managing large and complex partnerships.

Qualification Requirements

Advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in Gender Studies, Social Sciences (sociology, psychology), Public and Social Policy, International Development.

Other Details

Languages Required: Fluency in English and Urdu is required.

Languages Preferred: Knowledge of a local language is an asset.

Contract Duration: 12 months

Work Modality: Consultant will be based in Islamabad, will be required to travel with in-country (Travel to 4 Field Offices in each quarter: 3 days each office. KP by road, Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan by air.)

Remuneration: Applicants must submit a financial quotation indicating consultant fee against monthly deliverables as part of the application.