EXTENDED - Consultancy for Development of an Advocacy toolkit on Girls' rights and gender equality (5 months) LACRO

Consultant Human Rights Programme & Policy

Contract

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Background

The situation of girls in Latin America and the Caribbean has improved slowly but steadily over the past 25 years, although progress has been uneven and with significant differences between and within countries. However, most of the concerns raised in 1995 by the girl’s chapter of the Beijing Platform for Action remain. Socioeconomic and gender inequality continues to condition the lives of millions of girls and adolescents; in a context where the exercise of rights differs significantly according to the area of residence, socio-economic level, or belonging to indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants, among other factors. Family, social and cultural expectations towards girls, stereotypes and the social conception of what they should be, how they should act and how far they can go, generate situations of discrimination and inequality that seriously limit the full development of girls, adolescents and women. Girls often face disproportionate threats to their well-being and the realization of their human rights.

However, far from being passive victims of their reality, girls around the world have begun to act on unprecedented scales. Different global and regional movements and organizations are demanding greater action and commitment from governments to fight gender inequality and discrimination.

At the regional level, girls and adolescents are leading their own initiatives and campaigns and have actively started to participate in debates and conversations about their rights and gender equality. In 2018, more than 50 girls, adolescents and women of different generations, origins and life trajectories, reflected from the community on the progress, challenges and setbacks in the fulfillment of the rights of girls and women in the region, agreeing on the Declaration of Antigua . During 2019, adolescents and young people from several Latin American and Caribbean countries participated in various intergenerational spaces for dialogue at the national level to agree on joint solutions with adult feminists.

In 2020 60 youth and adolescents from the region participated in Regional Consultation, organized by UN agencies including UNICEF, in order to know their perception of the progress, setbacks, challenges and priorities in the objectives set by the Beijing Platform for Action. They drafted the Feminist Youth Declaration of Latin America and the Caribbean that was presented during the Regional Conference of Women in Santiago de Chile.

Also in 2020, for the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform (BPfA), the UNICEF Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office (LACRO) undertook an analysis aimed to know if 25 years later, were the objectives of the BPfA still valid according to the data and adolescent girls and, and what do girls in Latin America and the Caribbean say is needed to exercise their rights. 1,419 girls from 26 countries in Latin American and the Caribbean participated in the regional consultation, carried out through different online instruments due to mobility limitations imposed by COVID-19 containment measures. Afro-descendant, indigenous, mestizo, white, trans, lesbian, bisexual, disabled, migrant and displaced girls from Central America and Mexico, the Southern Cone, the Andean Region and the Caribbean were consulted through in-depth interviews and online platform.

As a result of this in-depth research process, in 2021 UNICEF published the report "Girls’ rights for an equal future: Renewing commitments in Latin America and the Caribbean" that identified girls’ priorities, as well as suggested recommendations, to position the voices, needs and demands of Latin American and Caribbean girls on national and public agendas and in organizational strategies responsible for its implementation.

Girls and adolescents have been claiming and gaining new spaces and opportunities to raise their voices and participate in negotiations about their rights and gender equality. As these opportunities continue to grow, they must acquire/strength the skills and capacities to contribute meaningfully to debates for equality, participate in technical conversations, influence decision-making and design advocacy plans appropriate to each context. UNICEF Gender Action Plan 2022-2025 will address targeted priorities for adolescent girls around learning, safety, nutrition and sexual and reproductive health and menstrual hygiene. UNICEF is aware that in order to face challenges in these and other areas, it is necessary to focus on girls' leadership, their collective power and their voices and agency.

The advocacy toolkit on girls' rights and gender equality and will contribute to roll out the Girls’ Rights Agenda in LAC and also fulfilling UNICEF's Gender Action Plan to raise girls’ voices and defend their rights to live without discrimination. In this sense, the general objective of the toolkit is to provide girls and adolescents with the skills and information necessary to commit to the defense of their rights and to be able to fully participate in negotiations on gender equality and platforms at the local, national and international level.

UNICEF promotes the rights and welfare of all children and adolescents in everything we do. Together with our allies, we work in 190 countries and territories to transform this commitment into practical actions that benefit all children, especially focusing our efforts on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded, worldwide.

The UNICEF Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office is based in in Panama, operating in 36 territories, including 24 country offices. UNICEF works to put the rights and well-being of the most disadvantaged children at the heart of the social, political, and economic agenda, in line with our equity focus, working across our organization and with our partners in government, civil society and the private sector to support shifts in public policy, fuel social engagement, and increase investment for children.

For more information about UNICEF and its work. (www.unicef.org/lac).

Purpose of the Assignment

In collaboration with the gender team of the UNICEF Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, the consultant will develop an advocacy toolkit that contribute to strengthen the capacities of girls in the processes of social mobilization and political negotiation around Girls’ Rights Agenda in LAC.

Specific Tasks

Under the direct supervision of the UNICEF Gender & Development Officer the consultant will engage in the following key activities:

1. Prepare the work plan and schedule.

2. Organize and coordinate consultation (online interviews, focal groups) with girls and adolescents to know in depth their needs for advocacy toolkit on gender equality, empowerment and girls' rights to identify the main needs and challenges in terms of advocacy tools.

3. Desk review of UNICEF Girls Rights report and related materials and documents developed. If necessary, desk review of documents and advocacy toolkits on gender equality aimed at girls and adolescents and young people.

4. Development of the toolkit content based on the needs and challenges identified, and the areas outlined in the Girls Agenda.

5. Establish a Review Committee / Advisory Committee of the toolkit made up of feminists of different age groups.

6. Develop and design the toolkit content according to desk review and consultation with girls, in line with the Girls ’Agenda and UNICEF GAP priorities.

7. Coordinate the meetings with the review committee and add - edit the toolkit according to their observations.

8. Write the final version of the toolkit.

9. Prepare a dissemination plan for the toolkit.

Expected Results

At the end of the contract the contractor will have achieved the following results:

- 1 Advocacy Toolkit on Girls’ Rights

- 8 webinar consultations

- 1 Toolkit dissemination plan

Deliverables

Description

Duration

[in days]

Expected deadline

1. Work plan

10 days

August 9

2. Contents plan of the Toolkit

30 days

Sept 13

3. Document with Advocacy Toolkit on Girls Rights

45 days

October 22

4. Toolkit dissemination plan

20 days

November 19

Minimum Requirements and Qualifications

Education

Studying or with an University degree in social sciences (i.e. sociology, gender and development, social work, anthropology, etc.) or international development or directly related technical fields, in combination with an academic background/ research experience in gender equality.

Work Experience

Proven experience participating and leading girls’ groups and/or civil society organizations since her/his adolescence. A good understanding of challenges that girls are facing in LAC region.

Experience in local or national consultations, especially with adolescents and/or women’s organizations would be an asset.

Experience on advocacy strategies on gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.

Knowledge and contacts with the networks of girls, youth and feminists in the LAC region.

Languages

Fluency in Spanish or English is required and high competence in the use of the other language in which the person is not fluent.

Technical knowledge (if applicable)

Technical knowledge and expertise in the LAC Region in the areas of: -Girls’s voices, leadership and agency -GbV, Education, Climate Justice, and/or Sexual and Reproductive Health -Gender equality advocacy process.

Other skills and attributes (optional)

Has between 19 to 29 years old. Be an active part of a girls' network or youth or feminist organization. Demonstrated experience on girls’s rights advocacy. Excellent organization and coordination skills. Highly self-motivated individual with strong initiative, organizational time management and technological abilities. Excellent communication skills. Able to work effectively in a multicultural environment.

Supervision: The consultant / individual contractor will work under the direct supervision of the Gender and Development Officer and in close collaboration with the Regional Gender Advisor.

Workplace: Home-Based - Not travel involved in this consultancy

How to apply: Application should be submitted online and should include: Resume, Cover Letter, and Financial proposal. Qualified candidates are requested to submit daily and monthly fees in their financial proposal.

Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

Duration of contract: Estimated start date of this consultancy is the last week of July for a period of 5 months.

Vacancy Announcement Remarks

Please note only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

UNICEF reserves the right to make additional assessment of the pre-selected candidates, if needed UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

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Added 2 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: unicef.org