UNDP Jobs - 55867- Gender and Media Consultant

Gender and Media Consultant

Location :

Garowe, Puntland State of Somalia

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Jun-2015

Application Deadline :

06-May-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

10 working days over a period of one (1) month

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The UNDP Country Office for Somalia (CO) has since 2010 been re-positioning itself for a more effective and coherent response to gender equality and women’s empowerment in its programmes. While CO programming to date has been informed by significant efforts to ensure gender sensitivity and gender responsiveness, the current move is to upscale to a more gender transformative programming i.e. by addressing the causes of gender inequality through addressing root causes and strategic actions that seek to transform the unequal power relations between women and men resulting in the improved status of women and gender equality. Subsequently, in 2012 the CO established a Gender Unit in order to have dedicated capability to implement the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) project, and to support mainstreaming gender into all other UNDP projects. These efforts respond to Outcome 4 of the Country Programme Document: “Somali women and men attain greater gender equality and are empowered.” The project has updated the first GEWE Project Document (2012 – 2015) this year to build on its achievements to address gender imbalances in Somali society as well as respond to the acute challenges faced by Somali women today. The project aims to strengthen women’s representation and participation in public decision-making processes rendering them more inclusive; engage community structures to transform negative traditions which limit women’s and girls’ rights; and address challenges of limited capacity and insecurity all of which adversely affect women’s ability to voice their concerns, put forward their agenda, negotiate their interests, claim their rightful space in society and enhance their access to resources and opportunities.

The GEWE project works through a number of governmental counterparts and non-governmental partners in Puntland, Somaliland and South Central Somalia to achieve this outcome. However, there is also a need to engage the media in all three regions towards changing the public’s attitudes to gender equality and women’s empowerment. There is a need to train journalists in basic journalistic skills and best practices in relation to supporting a gender responsive media.

The GEWE project aims to engage a consultant to train Media houses/journalists on gender and women’s rights in the emerging political processes and gender sensitive reporting.

Duties and Responsibilities

The purpose of the consultancy is to empower Somali journalists to apply gender sensitivity in their work and as a medium to lobby for more women in politics and decision making.

The specific objectives of the consultancy are:

To train journalists/media houses on gender sensitive reporting so as to promote a more diverse and gender sensitive media and at the same time build the general professional capacity of the journalist;
To train journalists/media houses on gender and women’s rights in the emerging political processes in Somalia.

Scope of work

The consultant will work closely with the Gender Unit to plan consultations and trainings and will be supervised by the Gender Project Manager.

Monitoring and Progress controls

This consultancy is for 10 working days over a one (1) month period from the date of issuance of consultancy contract broken down as follows:

Activity 1:

Initial meeting with the Gender Unit and other relevant stakeholders in Nairobi, including the Somalia Media Support Group (SMSG);
Output: Notes of meeting;
Schedule: 2 days.

Activity 2:

Production of gender training materials;
Output: Final training materials;
Schedule: 2 days.

Activity 3:

Delivery of Gender Sensitive Media training for Journalists and Media Houses;
Output: Training conducted;
Schedule: 4 days.

Activity 4:

Preparation of final report;
Output: Final Report;
Schedule: 2 days.

Final product/Deliverables:

Training and training report.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Proven ability to plan and manage training programmes and developing curricula;
Excellent communication skills (spoken, written and presentational);
Good interpersonal skills and ability to work in and with teams;
Ability to set priorities and manage time effectively;
Knowledge of critical gender issues in the Somali context, in addition in a conflict and Islamic context.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in relevant social science discipline (preferably gender studies or journalism).

Experience:

Minimum of 6 years’ practical experience in the field of gender and media;
Experience in developing training and curricula;
Experience in participatory training and adult experiential learning techniques;
Good working knowledge and experience of the UN System; knowledge of UNDP processes and gender equality policies is an asset;
Experience working in conflict settings and complex political situations;
Experience in delivering presentations with translation;
Extensive knowledge of international standards on gender mainstreaming in media work.

Language:

Strong written and spoken English language skills;
Somali language is an asset.

This is a non-staff contract under the Individual Contractor (IC) modality of hiring of the UNDP. Individuals engaged under an IC serve in their individual capacity and not as representative of a government institutions, corporate body or other authority external to UNDP. The incumbent shall not be considered as staff of UNDP, the UN common system or the government and are therefore not entitled to any diplomatic privileges or any other special status or conditions.

Males and females are equally encouraged to apply.