UN Women: Female Photography Trainer - Consultant

Location :Occupied Palestinian territory (West Bank)
Application Deadline :12 May 2012
Type of Contract :SSA
Languages Required : English and Arabic 
Starting Date : (date when the selected candidate is expected to start) :21 May 2012
Duration of Initial Contract :2 months
 
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 centre of all its efforts, 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. According to its mandate, UN Women provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
In the oPt context and as part of its overall national action plan, UN Women works towards achieving the priority goal of “preventing violence against women and girls and expanding access to services”, in line with the Palestinian Authority commitment to fight Violence Against Women (VAW) as set in the National Strategy to Combat VAW approved by the Palestinian Cabinet in January 2011. Within this strategic framework, UN Women oPt, in full partnership with the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), through the “Mehwar Centre for the Protection and Empowerment of Women and Families” project funded by the Government of Italy, supports the operation of the first specialized anti-violence center in the oPt working towards the adoption of human rights-based standards while offering integrated services to prevent family violence, as well as to protect and empower women and children victims and survivors of violence in the oPt.
As part of the empowerment services provided to women victims by the Mehwar Centre, UN Women promotes initiatives aimed at the development of “an integrated, inclusive social safety net, which responds to the needs of marginalized groups; reduce the poverty rate; create employment opportunities to minimize vulnerability and promote self-sufficiency” (Palestinian National Development Plan 2011-2013). With this primary objective and with the further goal of creating an effective advocacy tool informing public opinion and stakeholders’ responses, UN Women intends to support women sheltered at Mehwar in acquiring technical skills in the field of photography, so as to be able to produce, for the first time, a photo reportage portraying the reality of violence against women and of women’s shelters capturing the victims’ /survivors’ perspective. In order to achieve these objectives, UN Women plans to recruit a professional female photographer to train women sheltered at the Mehwar Centre in photography. The professional photographer will be in charge of organizing a photo exhibition with the photos developed by the sheltered women during the training, and will furthermore have the task to organize a photography contest where all sheltered women will be invited to participate. The most talented one will be awarded with the income-generating opportunity to develop a photo-reportage about the Mehwar Centre.  

Duties and Responsibilities
The Consultant will work under the overall supervision of UN Women oPt Head of Office and the direct supervision of the Women Human Rights Unit (WHRU) Project Manager, and will carry out his/her duties and responsibilities in consultation with the WHRU Technical Advisor, and in partnership and coordination with the Mehwar Centre Director and the Director General for Family and Child Protection at the Ministry of Social Affairs.

Within the above delineated framework, the Consultant will undertake the following tasks, duties and responsibilities:

-Draft an action plan for the assignment to be submitted to and approved by UN Women;
-Familiarize with the mission, vision and mandate of the Mehwar Centre, as facilitated by UN Women;
-Conduct, under the supervision and with the support of the Mehwar team, an introductory meeting with the group of sheltered women at the Mehwar Centre, assessing their skills and resources in terms of self-expression, while stimulating their creativity;
-Develop a training plan in photography for sheltered women in consultation with the Mehwar Centre director and team; the sheltered women should be stimulated to express themselves through the camera while looking at diversified environments also outside the Mehwar Centre premises; accordingly, the training plan should include outdoor visits with small groups of women at the time;
-Submit training plan to UN Women for approval;
-Carry out the agreed upon training plan in close coordination with the Mehwar Centre director and team, and while providing regular feedback to UN Women. The training program will be implemented at the Mehwar Center and other outreach locations as per agreed upon plan;
-Organize a photo exhibition displaying the photos developed by the sheltered women at the Mehwar Centre premises and in another strategic location to be determined in consultation with the Mehwar team and MoSA;
-Organize a photography contest for the sheltered women and define criteria, in close consultation with Mehwar team and UN Women, for awarding the winner;
-Provide coaching to the awarded woman while undertaking the assignment of developing a photo reportage about the Mehwar Centre; the woman’s creativity and perspective shall be valued at maximum, while supporting her to best use the technical skills acquired for the production of the reportage;
-Draft and submit to UN Women a summary of the achievement realized through the implemented training, while underlining women’s response to the training program and their potentials for further capacity development programs;
-Submit deliverables to UN Women, as per contract.

Time frame: the assignment is expected to start on 21 May 2012 and to be finalized in two months. 
Deliverables
1-Training plan;
2-Summary of achievements realized through the training;
 
Competencies
CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES:
-Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
-Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

CORE COMPETENCIES:
-Ethics and Values: Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity;
-Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
-Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring: Initiative-taking; coaching and mentoring ability;
-Working in Teams: Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
-Communicating Information and Ideas: Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
-Self-management and Emotional intelligence: Creating synergies through self-control.
-Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements: Managing conflict;
-Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of other.
 
FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:
Demonstrated professionalism in the field of photography;
Strong communication skills;
Ability to work in complex settings;
Demonstrated commitment towards human rights, and women’s rights;
Gender sensitivity;

Required Skills and Experience
Education:
University Degree.

Experience:
-At least 5 years of relevant professional experience as a professional photographer;
-Track records as trainer in photography;
-Proven experience working with marginalized and traumatized groups;

Language Requirements:
-Arabic as mother language;
-Fluency in English (written and oral);

 
Based on the nature of the setting of anti-violence women’s shelters, the Candidate is required to be female.
Submission of application:
 
Interested candidates must submit application, including complete and up to date CV, as per deadline indicated (12/05/2012), to the following email [email protected], indicating in the subject line: PHOTOGRAPHER, CONSULTANT.
UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest.