Consultancy to Develop Training Materials

A. Background

Equality Now, founded in 1992, is an international human rights organization that works to achieve legal and systemic change that addresses violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world, with a focus on ending sexual violence, harmful practices, trafficking for sexual exploitation, and achieving legal equality. Combining grassroots activism with international, regional and national legal advocacy. Equality Now’s approach links high level policy advocacy and global activism with support and legal advice to grassroots partners and networks working on specific cases of women and girls in order to promote change at all levels.

Equality Now is also a founding member and the Secretariat of the SOAWR Coalition. Founded in 2004, SOAWR is a regional network of 63 national, regional, and international civil society organizations based in over 32 African countries. The primary area of focus for SOAWR has been advocacy for African States to urgently sign, ratify, domesticate and implement the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol).

B. About the Spotlight Initiative

The Spotlight Initiative is a global partnership between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. The Spotlight Initiative Africa Regional Program is being implemented in partnership with the African Union and aims to address regional bottlenecks and support regional commitments towards Ending Violence against Women and Girls (EVAWG) including strengthening existing strategies and initiatives.

The project contributes towards the achievements of gender equality and women’s empowerment as a precondition and driver for the achievement of the African Union Agenda 2063 Goal 17, and Sustainable Development Goal 5. It also prioritizes strengthening existing strategies and initiatives, such as the AU Gender Strategy, the Gender Observatory, and the AU Campaign to end Child Marriage and AU Saleema Initiative on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

The Spotlight Initiative adopts a strategy of harnessing the respective strengths of multi-sectoral and multilevel partnerships which will support the acceleration of transformative change. This will be achieved through working with individual member states, the African Union (AU), the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the Pan-African Women Organization.

C. Justification for the Development of training materials on the elimination of SGBV

Violence against women is rampant in Africa. Globally, 38% of women have undergone either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner violence. 7% of women have been assaulted by someone other than a partner, 38% murdered women are committed by intimate partners and 200 million women and girls have experienced Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Violence against women in Africa is exacerbated by the prevailing patriarchal norms that propagate inequality between men and women. Moreover, the COVID-19 Pandemic led to more vulnerability for women to be subjected to violence. Several African countries are also facing conflict, which creates an opportunity for violence against women and girls to be used as a weapon of war. Over the past few years, there has been growing attention to wartime SGBV as a broader part of the women, peace, and security agenda, signified by the adoption of nine UN Security Council Resolutions. However, many women and girls still face gruesome violations during wartime.

States have taken steps to promote and protect the rights of women by enacting legislation and policies however, some fall short of the international standard on state obligation to protect women from violence.

Despite the challenges noted above, there is a robust regional and global legal and policy framework as well as strategies and initiatives to address VAWG in Africa. These include the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the AU Gender Strategy (2017 - 2027), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Agenda 2063 of the African Union, the Maputo Plan of Action on the Operationalization of the Continental Policy Framework for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (2016 - 2030), the AU Roadmap on Harnessing the Demographic Dividend, the African Youth Charter (2006); and the Common Position on Ending Child Marriage in Africa (2015) and others. Therefore, there is a need to marry the said legal framework with strategies that will enhance their implementation, even at grassroots level in order to ensure women and girls are protected from violence.

D. About the Training Materials on Eliminating SGBV

Equality Now in partnership with UN Women seeks to develop training materials geared towards eliminating SGBV in the 13 focus countries which include Botswana, Burundi Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. The training materials include: a training manual for stakeholders (civil society organizations and state agencies) involved in efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls, analysing the laws, main challenges faced in EVAWG and various strategies each stakeholder can undertake to curb the same, with an intersectional lens; checklist for trainers on what is required to enhance strategies for elimination of violence against women and girls; and a simplified version of the manual for adolescent and young persons. These are collectively referred to as the training materials.

Equality Now has conducted a Desk Review of the status of laws on SGBV (“the study”) and the efforts adopted to implement and domesticate them in the 13 focus countries. The study further identified the main challenges experienced while seeking to eliminate SGBV in each jurisdiction. The Consultant shall update the study conducted by Equality Now and subsequently use the findings to develop the training materials.

Before the development of the training materials, the Consultant(s) shall be expected to undertake a capacity needs assessment and submit the report. The training materials, thus, will use the findings of the study and the analysis of the training needs assessment to create tailor- made methods and resources aimed at capacitating key stakeholders in their efforts to eliminate SGBV in the focus countries. The training materials will also include a comprehensive compilation of the laws and policies assessed in the study, the regional and international standards underpinning them and their enforcement mechanisms at national and international level.

The training materials are expected to provide guidance to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and states on what means can be used to curb the challenges identified in the journey to eliminating violence against women and girls. Moreover, the training will provide CSOs with an evidence-based advocacy strategy for engaging with states towards ratification, domestication and implementation of the Maputo Protocol, as the minimum standard for protecting women and girls against violence.

E. Objectives of the Training Materials

Overall Objective

The main objective of the training materials is to equip CSOs with information on SGBV and the strategies, skills and knowledge that can be used to contribute to ending violence against women and girls.

Specific Objectives

● Enhance the understanding of the status of violence against women in Africa;

● Analyze the laws and policies aimed at protecting women from violence;

● Provide evidence on law and policy gaps, scrutinize the retrogressive and repressive laws that limit the rights of women in the focus countries and steps needed to enhance the protection of women;

● Enhance the capacities of women’s rights organizations and CSOs in the select countries on legal standards and norms as well as advocacy tailored towards EVAWG.

● Provide legal advocacy strategies and methodologies that will enhance the ratification, domestication and implementation of the Maputo Protocol.

F. Scope of Work and Deliverables

The Consultant shall be required to do the following in the development of the Training Materials:

Review and update, as necessary, the study conducted on SGBV and harmful practices in the 13 countries that have not ratified the Maputo Protocol.

Develop an Inception Report setting out the conceptual framework to be used for the development of the Training Materials, the methodology and a detailed work plan with defined timelines.

Undertake a capacity/training needs assessment and develop a report analysing the findings of the assessment.

Develop the set of training materials of not more than 50,000 words providing relevant information pertaining to strategies to be used in the elimination of SGBV. This word count excludes the compilation of laws and policies, which will be annexed to the training materials. The draft should be submitted by 31st March 2022.

Incorporate the feedback from Equality Now, UN Women and other relevant stakeholders into the first and final versions of the Training Materials and attend any consultative and feedback meetings as may be necessary. The feedback should be incorporated by March 2022.

Support the validation of the Training Materials with Equality Now’s direction, which will tentatively be undertaken in April 2022.

Undertake 2 legal advocacy capacity building sessions for regional CSOs in the 13 countries of focus, which will tentatively be undertaken in April, 2022.Time Allocation: The consultancy will be carried out within a period of not more than 3 months with a timeline as follows:

Inception report - 15 days from date of contract.

Submission of capacity/training needs assessment report- 10 days from date of submission of inception report.

Development of Training materials/ tools - 30 days from date of submission of inception report.

Validation and finalizing of the Materials and tools- 15 days from date of receipt of feedback from Equality Now and UN Women.

G. Competencies

The following are the required expertise and qualification of the consultant (s):

A postgraduate degree or other advanced university degrees (a minimum of a master’s degree or equivalent) in law or social sciences, gender studies, development studies or any other relevant field;

At least seven (7) years of professional experience in legal/ capacity building, policy research and analysis related to international human rights law or gender equality in Africa. (Mandatory for this consultancy);

Extensive knowledge and experience on Sexual and Gender Based Violence at international, regional and domestic level;

Strong understanding of global and regional human rights and women’s rights instruments, including CEDAW, BPfA, AU gender strategy, and Maputo Protocol;

Prior working experience on human rights and gender equality and demonstrable experience working with global and regional human rights mechanisms and other partners, including AU and RECs and continental women’s rights movements, is an added advantage.

Experience in developing training materials; and

Demonstrable experience working in development programs especially in the area of capacity enhancement, human rights education and training, and awareness-raising.

Skills:

Ability to work with minimal supervision.

High level written and oral communications skills in English. A working knowledge of French, Portuguese or Arabic in the spirit of promoting all the four AU languages would be an added advantage.

Must be result-oriented, exhibiting high levels of enthusiasm, tact, diplomacy and integrity;

Demonstrate excellent interpersonal and professional skills in interacting with global and regional human rights mechanisms and other partners, including AU and RECs and continental women’s rights movement and preferably in the 13 select countries; and Have excellent writing skills.

G. Application Procedure

Qualified and interested candidates are requested to apply either as a team or individually by emailing the following application materials to equalitynownairobi@equalitynow.org, with a copy to mogeto@equalitynow.org with the subject “**Consultancy: Training Materials on Sexual and Gender Based Violence

Curriculum Vitae of the applicant(s) indicating their educational backgrounds and professional qualifications, including all relevant experience as well as contact information (email and phone number)

Three (3) professional references (including former clients) that can attest to past consulting experience, past curriculum design experience, and past legal/ policy analysis experience in the field of human rights.

Work plan/ timeline and financial proposal.

Please note that applications shall be received via email only. The deadline for application is 19th January, 2021 at 11:59pm EAT. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please note that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

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