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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, 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 Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (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).

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 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 is a driver for the achievement of the African Union Agenda 2063 Goal 17, and Sustainable Development Goal 5, and prioritizes strengthening existing strategies and initiatives, such as the AU Gender Strategy, the Gender Observatory, the AU Campaign to end Child Marriage and the 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.

Justification for the development of fact sheets and policy briefs

Equality Now, through the SOAWR Coalition , is conducting in-country ratification missions as well as CSOs capacity building workshops in Madagascar and South Sudan (countries of focus). These activities will be carried out together with the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the African Union Commission.

The ratification missions aim to advocate for the ratification of the Maputo Protocol as a commitment to ending violence against women and girls in each country of focus and thereafter, through the capacity building workshops, increase the capacity of duty bearers to fulfil their mandate to protect women and girls from violence, and identify challenges and opportunities on ending violence against women and girls. The capacity building workshops will also reinforce efforts by civil society in Madagascar to advocate for the development of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security under UN Security Council Resolution 1325. Similarly, it will also enhance civil society in South Sudan to push for ratification of the National Action Plan.

Madagascar

Madagascar signed the Maputo Protocol on 28 February 2004 but has not ratified it. Madagascar has ratified CEDAW without any reservations, and has further taken steps aimed at ratification of the Protocol by even making requests to translate the Protocol to Malagasy for ease of reference among its own population.

Madagascar further experiences challenges on ending violence against women and girls, despite gender discrimination being prohibited under the country’s Constitution. For example there is a lack of sufficient provision of medical, legal and social services to survivors of violence. Moreover, accountability of perpetrators of violence against women and girls is low given the low reporting rates for these crimes. It is therefore pertinent to encapsulate these challenges and opportunities through a policy brief and fact sheet to enable the participating stakeholders to gauge the status of Ratification in the country and what advocacy strategies may be adopted in a bid to promote the ratification of the Maputo Protocol in Madagascar.

South Sudan

The Parliament of South Sudan, the youngest nation in Africa, passed a motion for the ratification of the Maputo Protocol in October 2017 with reservations on Articles 6 and 14. To date, the country’s instruments of ratification are yet to be submitted to the AUC.

The status of elimination of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in South Sudan is a bit gloomy. For example, South Sudan is yet to enact the Gender-Based Violence Bill of 2018. Despite sexual offences being covered under the Penal Code, the rights of survivors are not recognized due to lack of specific legislation. Moreover there are no legal protections against domestic violence. It is therefore pertinent to encapsulate these challenges and opportunities through a policy brief and fact sheet to enable the participating stakeholders to gauge the status of ratification in the country and what advocacy strategies may be adopted in a bid to promote the ratification of the Maputo Protocol in Madagascar.

About the Fact Sheets and Policy Briefs

Equality Now in partnership with UN Women seeks to develop fact sheets and policy briefs for South Sudan and Madagascar, highlighting the following: the status of sexual and gender based violence in each country of focus, status of ratification and implementation of women’s rights instruments in each country of focus, and the challenges and opportunities affecting ratification of the Maputo Protocol as a measure to eliminating violence against women in each country of focus.

The fact sheets and policy briefs are meant to capture the profiles of the two countries and provide a clear depiction of the main challenges and opportunities that can enable or hinder ratification of the Maputo Protocol, and subsequently provide a clear pathway for some advocacy strategies that can be used for the ratification missions to South Sudan and Madagascar.

Objectives of the Fact Sheets and Policy Briefs

Overall Objective

The main objective of the fact sheets and policy briefs is to address the status of the ratification and implementation of the Maputo Protocol as a commitment to ending violence against women and girls in South Sudan and Madagascar.

Specific Objectives

• Identify the process of ratification of treaties and at what stage the ratification of the Maputo Protocol is in the countries of focus;

• Analyse the situation of sexual and gender based violence in the two focus countries;

• Identify and analyse the challenges experienced towards ending violence against women and girls in the focus countries and suggest ways in which these can be addressed;

• Identify and propose methodologies that can be adopted to end violence against women in the countries of focus, through use of the Maputo Protocol; and

• Identify and analyse the available opportunities and mechanisms and propose strategies, approaches and activities that can be undertaken to encourage and accelerate the ratification and implementation of the Maputo Protocol in the two focus countries, using the Multi-Sectoral Approach.

Scope of Work and Deliverables

In developing the fact sheets and policy briefs described in the foregoing, the Consultant shall be required to do the following:

1. Review the Country Profiles and Desk-reviews on SGBV and WHRDs developed by Equality Now.

2. Develop an Inception Report setting out the conceptual framework to be used for the development of the Fact Sheets and Policy Briefs, the methodology and a detailed work plan with defined timelines. This should be done by 11th February 2022.

3. Develop a set of fact sheets and policy briefs for Madagascar and South Sudan, of not more than 20,000 words. The draft should be submitted by 28th February, 2022.

4. Incorporate the feedback from Equality Now, UN Women and other relevant stakeholders into the first and final versions of the Training Materials by 4th March, 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 - 7 days from date of contract.

• Development of fact sheets and policy briefs - 14 days from date of submission of inception report.

• Finalization of fact sheets and policy briefs - 7 days from receipt of feedback from Equality Now and UN Women.

Competencies

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

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

2. At least five (5) 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);

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

4. Strong understanding of global and regional human rights and women’s rights instruments and policies including CEDAW, BPfA, AU Gender Strategy, and Maputo Protocol;

5. 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.

6. Experience in developing policy briefs and fact sheets; and

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

Skills

1. Ability to work with minimal supervision.

2. 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.

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

4. 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 2 target countries; and

5. Have excellent writing skills.