Job Description
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 Jordan Country Office (JCO) supports the Government of Jordan in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in line with global norms and standards. Under its Strategic Note (2023–2027), UN Women Jordan prioritizes women’s economic empowerment, gender-responsive governance, and women’s political participation in alignment with Jordan’s Triple Modernization Agenda—Political, Economic, and Public Sector Modernization. The Country Office also advances the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda through the Jordan National Action Plan for WPS (JONAP) and implements resilience and empowerment initiatives for Syrian refugee and vulnerable Jordanian women under the Jordan Response Plan (JRP)
In alignment with Jordan’s modernization priorities, UN Women supports national legislative and institutional efforts to strengthen gender-responsive governance and enhance women’s leadership and participation in public and political life.
In Jordan, Women’s participation in local administration councils is a cornerstone of inclusive local governance, because these councils shape service delivery and local development priorities that directly affect daily life (infrastructure, municipal services, local planning, and community needs). Over the past decade, Jordan’s decentralization and local governance reforms have opened space for women’s engagement as candidates, elected members, and local leaders—yet women still face persistent barriers, including unequal access to campaign resources and networks, social norms and backlash, limited exposure to political skills-building, and uneven opportunities for meaningful influence inside councils.
Within the Political modernization agenda, the Royal Committee to Modernize the Political System emphasized expanding participation in public life and strengthening an enabling environment for women and youth, including in local governance and local administration reforms. In line with this direction—and specifically under the first pillar of women’s empowerment recommendations—Recommendation 6 calls to develop specialized programmes and targeted initiatives to equip women in local communities with the skills needed to contribute to comprehensive development (i.e., preparing women to lead, plan, advocate, and deliver results at the local level).
This need is particularly important as Jordan prepares for local administration elections, because skills-based readiness (policy and service analysis, campaigning, community engagement, negotiation, and oversight) is one of the most direct “bottlenecks” affecting women’s ability not only to win seats, but also to perform effectively once in office—making targeted capacity-building a high-impact intervention consistent with modernization priorities
In the most recent local administration elections, women’s representation in municipal and governorate councils was strengthened through both the women’s quota (25% of seats) and competitive wins. Official results indicated that 68 women won municipal council seats and 6 women won governorate council seats through competition, in addition to those elected through the quota. A widely cited aggregate figure for women’s overall share across municipal and governorate councils stands at around 28.5%. Following the Cabinet decision to dissolve municipal and governorate councils, interim committees were formed to ensure continuity of service delivery until elections; official communications emphasized the inclusion of women (alongside other groups), and a public statement attributed to the Ministry noted that women and youth together constituted 20% of the interim committees’ composition which is below the legal quota.
Within this framework, UN Women is implementing a capacity building program to equip women in local communities with the skills needed to effectively participate in local administration election, in collaboration with the Jordanian National Commission for Women. Building on the National team established in 2024 in collaboration with The Jordanian National Commission for Women, UN Women aims to contract 30 trainers who will be members of the national training team that will conduct the training sessions of the program in the governorates. The consultant will be reporting to the Assistant Representative for Gender Responsive Governance and Women’s Political Participation and will be supported by the Program Analyst, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.
The Consultant must attend and successfully pass the training of trainers delivered by UN Women before being hired.
The selection process will ensure equitable representation across all governorates, with two consultants selected from each governorate and at least 50% representation of female consultants.
Description Of Responsibilities/ Scope Of Work
After successfully passing the training of trainers that aims to familiarize all selected consultants to UN Women’s training guide on political leadership candidate training, each consultant will deliver trainings for potential female candidates for local administration elections. The consultant will coordinate closely with UN Women to ensure alignment with UN Women standards, the national electoral framework, and the broader political and governance context.
- Capacity Building for potential female candidates in local communities.
The consultant will deliver structured capacity building sessions for potential female candidates to ensure they are fully equipped with knowledge and skills needed to allow them to run for local administration elections. This shall include:
- Deliver three (one and a half days) interactive training sessions to potential female candidates, utilizing UN Women’s training guide on political leadership.
- Facilitate discussions, group activities, and case studies to ensure participants can apply the knowledge and skills gained during the training.
- Upon request by UN Women, deliver additional training days for potential female candidates.
- Capacity Assessment and Final Assessment Report
- Provide reports on training progress, participant achievements, and any key recommendations for enhancing the program.
- Support the support in the dissemination of information about the training in the governorates.
The consultants will support UN Women in the dissemination of information about the training each on her/his respective governorates and encourage potential female candidates to enroll.
Deliverables:
Deliverables: Expected Completion Time:
- Delivery of 3 governorate-based trainings (4.5 days ) August 2026
- 3 Training reports + consolidated summary report (1.5 day) By 10 Sep 2026
- Deliver requested additional trainings and provide reports
up to 4 days when and where needed By Oct 2026
Competencies :
Core Values:
- Integrity;
- Professionalism;
- Respect for Diversity.
Core Competencies:
- Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
- Accountability;
- Creative Problem Solving;
- Effective Communication;
- Inclusive Collaboration;
- Stakeholder Engagement;
- Leading by Example.
Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:
Functional Competencies:
- Expertise in gender-responsive governance and women’s political participation: Strong knowledge of political systems, governance structures, and electoral processes from a gender perspective.
- Facilitation and training skills: Ability to deliver training programs for diverse audiences, including political candidates, activists, and policymakers.
- Public speaking and communication skills: Ability to effectively communicate key messages and advocate for gender equality in political settings.
- Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving: Strong critical thinking abilities to evaluate complex legislative issues, identify gaps in policies, and propose innovative solutions.
- Apply integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standings.
Required Qualifications:
Education and Certification:
- Master’s degree or equivalent in law, political science, social studies or a related field is required
- A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Experience:
- Minimum 2 years of sound experience working in the field of training on political participation, gender equality, women’s political rights, electoral process and electoral systems in Jordan is required
- Good knowledge and understanding of the socio-political context and the legislative frameworks of elections in Jordan is required
- Experience working with different international and national organizations in Jordan is required
- Experience with UN Women and / or serving as a member of the national team on women political participation would be an asset.
Languages:
- Fluency in Arabic is required
In accordance with working with the United Nations, it is expected that any consultant or consultancy firm hired by UN Women will be fully aware of and uphold the ethical standards of the UN it all their dealings and will treat the stakeholders with the utmost respect and dignity, using a human right based approach in their work.
Statements :
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.
Diversity and inclusion:
At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.
If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.
UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)
Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.
