Consultant to Develop, Launch and Publish Regional Accountability Framework for Traditional Leaders on issues of EVAWG, HP, SRHR, WEE, WPE, WPS

Contract

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Background

UN Women is the United Nations agency responsible for promoting gender equality and women's empowerment worldwide. In Nigeria, UN Women has been active since 2004, working closely with the Nigerian government, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women through key thematic areas such as Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW), Women Political Empowerment (WPE), Women Economic Empowerment (WEE), Women, Peace and Security (WPS) towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5.

Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is a human rights violation and public health concern and a ubiquitous phenomenon that has cross-cutting implications for the actualization of women’s rights and achieving gender equality. Therefore, the elimination of VAWG requires multi-sectoral interventions and multi-stakeholder engagements in addressing its root causes and manifestations. Meanwhile, one of the root causes of VAWG is rigid social and gender norms often interpreted as cultural and traditional practices at household and community levels.

Traditional leaders play a significant role in many societies where they are often the main custodians of cultural and traditional practices. However, some of these practices such child early and forced marriage (CEFM), widowhood practices, and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), are harmful and violate women and girls’ human rights. Traditional can play a vital role in ending these practices by promoting positive cultural values and practices that promote gender equality and respect for women and girls’ rights.

UN Women is seeking proposals from qualified and experienced individuals to develop an accountability framework for traditional leaders on issues of ending VAWG and harmful practices. This framework aims to promote accountability among traditional leaders at national and regional (West Africa) in addressing and preventing VAWG and harmful practices such as CEFM, FGM/C, widowhood practices, and advancing the Promotion of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), Women Economic Empowerment (WEE), Women, Peace and Security (WPS), and Women Political Empowerment (WPE).

Background information on the Project:

UN Women has received a three (3) year funding (2023-2026) from Ford Foundation to implement “Faith and Cultural Leaders for Ending GBV by Advancing Advocacy, Policy and Social Norms Change in Nigeria and West Africa” – LEAP Project. The project aims to meaningfully partner with powerful agents of social change to shift underlying structures of power within communities, end harmful practices, address religious misconceptions, and transform cultural norms around violence against women and girls. The sustainable elimination of violence against women and girls requires approaches that are community-led and that embrace decision-makers and leaders as allies.

Objectives of the Assignment:

The objective of this assignment is to develop an accountability framework for traditional leaders in Nigeria and West Africa on issues of ending VAWG and harmful practices. The framework will guide traditional leaders in promoting positive cultural values and practices that prevent VAWG and harmful practices through community-led social mobilization and hold them accountable for violations of women's and girls‘ rights.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work, Consistent with the Budget:

The consultant(s) will work closely with UN Women to develop an accountability framework that includes the following elements:

• A definition of harmful practices and GBV that traditional leaders are accountable for preventing and addressing.
• Guidelines on how traditional leaders can promote positive cultural values and practices that prevent GBV and harmful practices.
• Develop a checklist of actions to inform key accountability demands to be reviewed from time to time with traditional and faith leaders
• Procedures for reporting and addressing violations of women's and girls' rights by traditional leaders.
• Guidelines on how traditional leaders can collaborate with other stakeholders, such as law enforcement agencies, to prevent and address GBV and harmful practices.
• Strategies for monitoring and evaluating the accountability framework's effectiveness in preventing and addressing GBV and harmful practices.

Deliverable Schedule

Deliverable

Timeframe

Deliverable 1: A detailed accountability framework for traditional leaders on issues of ending violence against women and girls and harmful practices.

October 2023

Deliverable 2: Guidelines for implementing the accountability framework, including reporting and monitoring procedures.

November 2023

Deliverable 3: A report on the consultation process with traditional leaders and other stakeholders in developing the accountability framework

November 2023

Deliverable 4: A training manual on the accountability framework for traditional leaders.

January 2024

Competencies

Core Values / Guiding Principles:

• Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
• Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff; Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.
• Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Core Competencies

• Solid understanding of GBV guiding principles.
• Flexible work attitude: ability to work productively in a team environment and independently, and to handle requests or issues as they arise.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills: the ability to liaise with people successfully and effectively in a wide range of functions in a multicultural environment.

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification

• Advanced Degree in social science, gender, health, international relations, and related fields

Experience

• Minimum 15 years of relevant experience and involvement in ending violence against women (EVAW) evaluations.
• Experience in conducting evaluations within the United Nations system will be considered an asset.
• Minimum 5 years of proven experience working with Women CSOs, and grassroots organizations.
• Minimum 5 years of experience/knowledge of gender equality and GBV programming at the country or international level is desired.
• Demonstrate facilitation and communications skills, experience in participatory approaches, and ability to negotiate amongst various stakeholders.
• Experience in using computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, and experience in handling web-based management systems.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in English required
• Knowledge of a 2nd UN official working language is an advantage.

Notes:

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.)