Expert/Penholder Minority Women and Conflict Prevention Recommendations and Roster Recruitment

Background:

Over the years, successive High Commissioners have developed a number of thematic Recommendations and Guidelines to assist participating States in addressing issues that can cause or exacerbate tensions between communities or States. Conflicts in diverse societies are often rooted in the denial of basic minority rights and the marginalization of minority communities in ways that amount to systemic discrimination. The Recommendations and Guidelines advocate for policies and practices that promote full effective participation and equality for all members of society, while acknowledging that peace and security are inextricably linked to respect for human rights, including minority rights.

 The HCNM has long recognised the need to address issues related to gender mainstreaming and minority women in its work and in its recommendations in a unified and systematic way. Over the last several years the office has been looking into these issues from the perspective of its conflict prevention mandate. Due to the limited amount of research and analysis on the nexus of gender, national minorities and conflict prevention, the HCNM is dedicated to addressing this area deliberately, critically and with guidance drawn from across the thematic spectrum. To advance the research and inform potential advice to participating States, the HCNM has undertaken a number of activities, including research projects related to the situation of minority women in the OSCE area and targeted expert consultations. Through the course of these activities, the HCNM came to recognize the value of developing and publishing a set of constructive and practical recommendations on national minority women and conflict prevention. Therefore, the office hired consultants for the last quarter of 2024 to start the drafting process, and produced a structure around key principles and a preliminary comprehensive set of recommendations with rationale. The preliminary recommendations encompass the breadth of the HCNM’s traditional thematic areas of interest, including political and public participation, language, education, and access to justice and economic opportunities. They also preliminarily cover some emerging areas such as technology, climate security, data collection and national minority women’s roles in peace processes. This document will serve as the basis for further developing the draft Recommendations and Explanatory Note.

 The long-term process of developing the Recommendations envisages a consultative roundtable and further drafting in 2025, an expert review meeting and a wider review and validation meeting in 2026, followed by finalizing, publishing and launching the Recommendations in 2027.

 Specifically, to continue the drafting process in 2025, the HCNM will hire a Penholder/Consultant to serve as the principal drafter. The planned activities that will feed into the drafting process include desk research, consultations with relevant experts and meetings on targeted aspects of the recommendations.

 The consultant will also be involved in the preparations and execution of a roundtable event planned for summer 2025. The consultative roundtable will be held in order for the HCNM to gain a better understanding of the obstacles that national minority women face in day-to-day life, especially in the spheres of life that impact on the success or failure of integration strategies in diverse societies. The consultant will then collect and analyse the outcomes from the roundtable and incorporate them into the ongoing drafting process.

To ensure a comprehensive approach, across several areas of expertise and from both practical and legal perspectives, and ensure that the Recommendations are relevant to the HCNM conflict prevention mandate, the HCNM will supervise the drafting process and include relevant broad consultations. The HCNM will also provide guidance to the Penholder/Consultant on the relevant work of other OSCE structures to ensure the Recommendations are aligned and complimentary to all OSCE commitments and activities in this field.

Objective of Assignment: 

Through this recruitment, the HCNM also aims to identify experts to add to its roster -  those who can speak to relevant issues of national minority women, conflict prevention and integration policies. The HCNM plans to draw upon rostered experts for participation in its meetings, consultations and/or review of draft recommendations over the next several stages of drafting, as well as in HCNM’s future work on this topic.

The overall project objective is to contribute to increasing the capacity of the HCNM to prevent conflict over issues related to thematic areas, in light of the institution’s mandate; 

Specific objectives include: 

·      increasing the HCNM’s internal expertise on issues related to national minority women and conflict prevention and expanding its network of relevant external experts and practitioners; 

 ·   advancing the development of a concrete set of draft HCNM Recommendations for policymakers and decision-makers to use when developing policies and addressing issues related to national minority women and conflict prevention;

Duration of Assignment: 20 working days in the period from 19 May to 31 December 2025.

 Tasks and Responsibilities:

Under the overall supervision of the designated HCNM members, the successful candidate will be tasked with the following duties:

Ø  Familiarize him/herself with past HCNM thematic Recommendations and Guidelines, as well as with prior research and analysis on gender and national minorities conducted by HCNM;

Ø  Participate in preparations for the roundtable event planned for June 2025 (preparations include identifying and developing relevant materials, topics and guiding questions with invited participants prior to the meeting);

Ø  Participate in the roundtable, including as facilitator;

Ø  Based on insights and conclusions from the roundtable, further research and analysis, and with insights and guidance from HCNM staff, revise, refine and focus the draft Recommendations and develop Explanatory Note for each of the recommendations;

Ø  Identify areas in need of further understanding and provide suggestions and input for follow-up activities, including further research or consultations;

Ø  Understand the confidentiality of the mandate and commit not to disclose the content of the work and proceedings of the consultations without prior approval of the HCNM;

Ø  The Consultant will work from home/remotely, and will travel to The Hague at least once to attend the roundtable event.

Deliverables:

•  Participate in development of meeting materials for a roundtable event scheduled for 13 June 2025; including serve as facilitator in roundtable event as needed;
• Develop and submit for feedback a revised and updated version of the draft Recommendations and Explanatory Note(starting from the draft version provided to them by HCNM). (The 20–30-page document should include updated and more developed language for approximately 20 recommendations with updated structure and elaborated draft Explanatory Note for each recommendation. Engagement and consultation with HCNM during this drafting process is expected.) Submit the updated version of the document to HCNM by 1 November 2025 tentatively.
• Receive feedback from HCNM on draft and submit updated draft Recommendations and Explanatory Note incorporating HCNM feedback by 31 December 2025. 

For more detailed information on the structure and work of the OSCE HCNM, please visit «https://www.osce.org/hcnm»

Necessary Qualifications:

•    Advanced University Degree in political science, sociology, or law, preferably with specialization in governance, policy and management of diverse societies, gender studies, inter-ethnic relations;
•     Minimum of eight (8) years of continued professional experience in the fields of integration of diverse societies, minority rights, and/or gender issues, each with relevance to the OSCE area;
•      Professional experience in developing or assisting the development of policies with relevance to national minorities, integration, and/or topics related to the women, peace and security agenda;
•   Excellent analytical, drafting and research skills, including experience in research, analysis, and elaboration and presentation of studies and procedural documents; 
• Professional fluency in English with excellent communication (both oral and written) skills; professional fluency in Russian would be an asset;
• Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity, and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities;
• Ability and willingness to work as a member of team, with people of different cultural, and religious backgrounds, different gender, and diverse political views, while maintaining impartiality and objectivity;
• Computer literate with practical experience using Microsoft applications.

Remuneration Package:

Remuneration will be based on the selected consultant's/expert's qualifications, experience, the tasks and deliverables for this position and in accordance with the OSCE established rates.

If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://vacancies.osce.org/.

The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment or to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.

Only those candidates who are selected to participate in the subsequent stages of recruitment will be contacted.

The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply to become a part of the Organization. 

Candidates should be aware that OSCE officials shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting the status of an international civil servant. This includes avoiding any action which may adversely reflect on the integrity, independence and impartiality of their position and function as officials of the OSCE. The OSCE is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. For more information on the values set out in OSCE Competency Model, please see https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/our-competency-model.

Please be aware that the OSCE does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process.