Vacancy title:
Development of a Bench Book on Family and Personal Laws Consultant

[Type: FULL_TIME, Industry: Nonprofit, and NGO, Category: Management]

Jobs at:
UN Women

Deadline of this Job:
Wednesday, October 29 2025

Duty Station:
Kenya | Nairobi | Kenya

Summary
Date Posted: Wednesday, October 15 2025, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

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JOB DETAILS:

Objective of the Consultancy:
The objective of this consultancy is to develop a publication-ready Family Law Bench Book that serves as a practical, authoritative, and accessible tool for judicial officers. The Bench Book will include clear guidance, case law digests, checklists, and other practical tools to support efficient, gender-sensitive, and rights-based adjudication of family law cases. Specifically, the consultancy aims to:

• Support the drafting, consolidation, and structuring of the Bench Book content in line with constitutional principles, statutory provisions, jurisprudence, and international standards
• Ensure inclusion of practical tools (e.g., checklists, case law summaries, reference frameworks) to guide judicial officers in adjudication of family law matters
• Facilitate expert consultations, technical working group sessions, and validation workshops
• Produce a finalized Bench Book ready for review, publication, and dissemination

Description of Responsibilities/Scope of Work:
Under the supervision of the UN Women Team Lead, EVAW and the Presiding Judge of the Family Division of the High Court, and working in close collaboration with the Judiciary Technical working group, the Consultant will be responsible for the following:

• Conduct comprehensive desk research and literature review on Kenya's family law statutes, case law, and comparative jurisprudence - including outcomes of the various policy dialogues with the Judiciary and LSK, wherein conflicting court decisions and emerging issues were highlighted
• Draft and structure clear, well-referenced chapters covering key areas such as marriage, divorce, custody, succession, adoption, and protection against domestic violence and emerging issues
• Integrate case law analyses, practical checklists, and international/regional human rights standards into the draft text
• Work with the technical working group and subject matter experts to harmonize inputs
• Present draft sections during validation workshops with Judiciary, KLRC, FIDA, LSK, civil society, and other stakeholders
• Revise and finalize the Bench Book based on feedback

Consultant's Workplace and Official Travel:
This is a home-based consultancy with consultants expected to be physically present at the various consultative meetings/convenings to be held in Nairobi.

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

Functional Competencies:

• A good grasp and personal experience around the area of family and personal law through litigation, and research
• Practical knowledge of conflicting court decisions on matters family and personal law
• A good understanding of the Intersectionality of Culture, Religion, Personal and Family Laws

Required Qualifications:

Education and Certification:

• Master's Degree in Law or relevant Social Sciences with a bias to human rights or gender and development 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
• Advocate of the High Court of Kenya

Experience:

• At least 7 years' post admission experience in family, marriage and divorce, succession and inheritance matters in Kenya
• Demonstrable experience in family law research, teaching/academia and legal practice in family, marriage and divorce, succession and inheritance matters in Kenya
• Experience in the development of practical tools and resources for the Judiciary or other justice actors, and facilitating High-Level consultative forums with justice actors and other key stakeholders
• Knowledge and appreciating of the law reform process and the key stakeholders engaged therein

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Kiswahili is required
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish)

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 84

Level of Education: bachelor degree

Job application procedure

Interested and Qualified candidates can Click to apply

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