International Consultancy : Regional Midwifery Consultant

Purpose of consultancy:

Midwifery is central to advancing sexual and reproductive health, particularly maternal and newborn care. In the Arab region, persistent challenges in human resources for reproductive health highlight the urgent need to expand access to qualified midwifery care, enhance education, and strengthen regulatory frameworks. Together with the League of Arab States and with technical support from UNFPA’s Arab States Regional Office (ASRO) and WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO), a regional strategic framework for midwifery and nursing was launched in December 2022.
Since then, ASRO has engaged with national decision-makers to implement the strategy, resulting in several countries—such as Yemen, Egypt, Somalia, and Syria—developing or updating national midwifery strategies, while others, like Libya, have revised midwifery curricula. However, midwifery in the region still faces significant challenges. It is not widely recognized as an autonomous profession, and midwives often encounter gender and systemic barriers, leading to a shortage of leaders and experts capable of shaping midwifery policy. This gap is particularly evident in the need for professionals with regional expertise, cultural understanding, and Arabic language proficiency.
To address these issues, ASRO has established the Arab Regional Midwifery Advisory Group (ARMAG), a platform to empower emerging midwifery leaders, support the implementation of the regional strategy, and provide technical assistance to countries developing their national plans. 
To continue to ensure that UNFPA ASRO is well positioned to support COs to advance midwifery across the region and to strengthen the ARMAG, ASRO requires an experienced international midwifery expert with strong regional expertise. In 2025, this expert will provide strategic guidance, support midwifery development efforts, and offer targeted technical assistance to priority countries.

The consultant will work under the supervision of the SRH advisor in ASRO, in collaboration with the ASRO SRH specialist.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Scope of work:

Advice on Trilingual Midwifery Policy Brief

• Provide final review of English, French and Arabic versions of midwifery policy brief to be drafted by ASRO in Quarter2.

Regional Discussions to disseminate findings from 2024 Midwifery Survey Undertaken with UNFPA Country Offices 

• Design and facilitate webinar to disseminate findings of 2024 Survey with a set of targeted country offices

Arab Regional Midwifery Advisory Group 

• Provide continued guidance and oversight to the ARMAG with a particular focus on: 
  • Leadership Development- identifying opportunities to expose and engage ARMAG members in the provision of TA, particularly to UNFPA Country Offices, as well as guiding capacity building and mentorship components.
  • Preparations for the ICM Triennial Conference 2026.
  • Supporting quarterly meetings supporting a shift from UNFPA-led to ARMAG led engagement.

Technical Assistance to UNFPA COs- based on findings from the Midwifery Survey and engagement with COs to date, there are identified needs for senior level midwifery expertise in multiple countries/contexts in the region.  It should be noted these needs are at times fluid given the rapidly changing contexts across the region, and hence it is expected that the consultant and ASRO will reprioritize, as needed.  The following priority contexts have been agreed at the time of contract drafting:

• Syria Country Office given opportunities to transition the role of midwives.
• Jordan Country Office particularly to support south-south engagement to advocate for revision of Midwifery Law.
• Morocco Country Office to provide support and discuss leveraging of experiences across the region.
• Oman Office and the GCC to advise on opportunities and leverage opportunities in the sub-region.

It is expected that the consultant will work remotely for most of the assignment.  If it is determined that technical missions to Country Offices or travel to regional meetings is required during the duration of the contract, UNFPA will provide travel costs according to the agency’s policies. 

Expected travel: This is primarily a home-based assignment.  Any travel that becomes necessary- and in particular related to a south-south exchange- will be covered by UNFPA ASRO or the respective country offices in accordance with UNFPA travel policies. 

Deliverables (specific output):

Written revision of final drafts of Midwifery Policy Brief (3 languages).
PPT from Midwifery Survey Dissemination Call.
Support to ARMAG 
Leadership Development plan documented.
Summary of planned engagement in 2026 ICM. 

Report summarizing: 
Technical assistance provided to Country Offices in 2025. 
Observations and recommendations for ARMAG for 2026.

Qualifications and Experience: 

Education:  Advanced University degree (PhD preferred)  in social and health sciences, education, and/or midwifery, or other related field.

Knowledge and Experience: 

• 20 years experience in regional and international expertise in the field of midwifery, strategy, education, evaluation, and research.
• Strong leadership skills,
• Inspiring facilitation and communication skills.

Languages: Fluency in Arabic, French and English.

UNFPA Work Environment:

UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click here to learn more.

Disclaimer:

Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, visa issuance and other administrative requirements. 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts. 

Applicants for positions in the international Professional and higher categories, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.