State Coordinator

**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.

Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is an essential element of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - the roadmap to a more equal, just, peaceful, and sustainable world. Two of the key areas of concern are ending violence against women and the economic empowerment of women. It is expressed in targets and indicators of SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) SDG 11(Sustainable cities and communities) and SDG 8 (Promote inclusive and sustainable development, decent work, and employment for all). Progress toward it depends not only on the adoption of a set of public policies by governments, but also on the existence of an enabling environment and active engagement of relevant stakeholders.

UN Women promotes integrated approaches to ensure that all women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence. Gender-based violence (GBV) exists in various settings, including domestic, public, private, online, and workplaces and affects all genders, women and marginalized genders bear a disproportionate burden of its impact. Violence against women (VAW) is a grave violation of human rights with far-reaching consequences for women, their families and communities worldwide. It has tremendous costs from greater strains on health care to legal expenses and losses in productivity. The violence cuts across boundaries of age, class, caste, sexuality, sexual expression, education, marital status, race, culture, and geography, among others.

UN Women in India has played a pivotal role in supporting governments in eliminating violence and discrimination against women by demonstrating models of that work to prevent and respond to violence. Efforts towards promoting gender equality are multiplied through partnerships with governments, women’s organizations, civil society, academia, private sector, and the larger UN ecosystem. Initiatives range from strengthening legal frameworks and specific national and sub-national actions, including enhancing service provisioning for survivors of violence, and supporting prevention at the grassroots level. UN Women India supports strengthening data collection and knowledge generation on VAW, facilitating new learning on the issue. Through advocacy and communication campaigns, UN Women India works to transform gender norms, behaviors and attitudes that perpetuate gender inequality.

UN Women India has a donor funded project titled: ‘Gender Equality Xcelerate: Transformative Pathways towards Gender Justice’ for women’s social, economic and political equality and empowerment towards achievement of the 2030 agenda.

The overarching objective of this project is to strengthen women’s leadership in economic, social, and political spheres. The project will be implemented in India over a period of four years from 2024 to 2027 in the States of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Odisha, and Bihar.

The following are the intended outcomes of the project:

- UN Women's institutional impact on advancing gender equality is accelerated through outcome-driven advocacy efforts.
- Government and non-government stakeholders prioritize, monitor, and evaluate GEWE investments at the grassroots level.
- Transforming norms, strengthening response mechanisms, and empowering stakeholders for a survivor-centric environment through effectively utilizing the Nirbhaya Funds.

UN Women through this programme will work on ending violence against women issues in 3 States, namely, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, and Bihar. Within this context, UN Women seeks the services of State Coordinator (Bihar)
- Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW) to work under the guidance of Country Programme Manager, EVAW to address gender-based violence in the state. For this the State Coordinator need to work closely with Department of Women and Child in the state and the line departments.

Under the overall guidance of the Country Program Manager (EVAW), UN Women India, the State Coordinator will provide technical support to the State government to address issues of violence against women. The State Coordinator will work with the project team to ensure that the project produces the results in the State to the required standards of quality and within the given time and cost specifications.

Functions:
The State Coordinator will have the following tasks:
Strengthening Coordination and GBV Efforts at the State level:

- Establish/strengthen effective coordination mechanisms within and among Women and Child Development, Planning, Social Justice, Legal Affairs, Education, Police, Health Departments and other line Departments to institutionalize and prom