Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women through its engagement in Somalia, has prioritized to work in promoting women political participation, ensuring women peace and security and increasing women’s access to justice. UN Women’s existing country program for Somalia, the Strategic Note, was developed at the end of 2016 with a three-year time span from 2017 to the end of 2019 and was updated in mid-2017 to align with the emerging and national priorities. The Strategic Note, at the moment, is being extended till December 2020. UN Women’s engagement in Somalia is based on the National Development Plan 9 (2020-2024) and the new UN Strategic Framework (2017-2020) which outlined UN’s support to the implementation of the National Plan.

The Somalia justice system is in the process of strengthening. Traditional justice mechanisms exists in Somalia and serve as an  alternative to the  formal justice institutions and remain the main providers of justice services as a choice otherwise the only option in places where formal justice institutions doesn’t  These administer justice on issues ranging from inheritance, land and property disputes to cases involving sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Therefore, customary courts can play a vital role in prevention and responding to violence against women, particularly in relation to harmful traditional practices such as high bride price, forced marriage and girl-child compensation or woman and girl as part of a diya/mag payment to the aggrieved family (Godobtir).At present, however, often customary court officials interpret customary laws in ways that often conflict with international human rights principles and the rights of women and girls under Somalia’s Transitional Constitution.  As with most African cultural practices, the Somalia customary courts follow a patriarchal system of governance. In patriarchal systems men have predominance in power mainly political leadership, over society’s moral authority, social privileges and control over property (patrilineal). This system of social stratification and differentiation based on sex provides material advantages to males while simultaneously placing severe constraints on the roles and activities of females; with various taboos to ensure conformity with specified gender roles.

Thus, UN Women in Somalia is committed to strengthening the capacity of the law enforcement and access to justice systems including customary courts to respond effectively to issues relating to women's human rights, including harmful traditional practices and SGBV. In light of this, UN Women is partnering with UNDP and IDLO to increase women’s access to justice at the community level. Working closely with the customary law courts, UN Women jointly with UNDP and IDLO will build the capacity of the traditional justice system over the short, medium, and long-term to prevent and respond to SGBV and pervasive harmful traditional practices.

UN Women is seeking a national consultant to develop a gender responsive justice and customary law training manual for traditional authorities in Somalia. The consultant will conduct consultative workshops on the manual with rule of law actors in Somalia including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Women and Human Rights Development (MOWHRD), the Customary Chiefs and national CSOs in South West State of Somalia. The consultant will incorporate feedback from the consultative forums and support in organization and presentations for the stakeholder’s validation workshop and thereafter prepare and submit a final version of the training manual.

Methodology:

The consultant will carry out the task in Somalia (Mogadishu and Baidoa) within the stipulated period. UN Women will provide the consultant with all necessary legal documentation and relevant background information and will facilitate meetings with relevant actors where needed. The consultant will then review and consolidate the training manual. On completion, UN Women will distribute the draft manual to relevant rule of law actors in Somalia for review. UN Women jointly with relevant partner agencies will also organize a validation session to field test and finalize the manual with inputs of relevant stakeholders.  Ministry of Justice South West State will support the logistics and preparations for the consultative workshop in Baidoa, besides the virtual sessions.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope and tasks to be performed:

The consultant is expected to perform the following activities among others:

• Prepare an inception report outlining the planned activities and the deliverables linked to the ToR;
• Conduct a desk analysis of customary and statutory laws across Somalia with focus on South West State. The analysis will identify gender issues in the current customary laws of Somalia that are divergent from the Statutory laws;
• Thoroughly review the Sharia Law from a gender perspective to document best practices and harmony with the international and national laws;
• Review the existing training manuals and other available resources;
• Conduct individual meetings and consultative workshop with different justice stakeholders in South West State for development of the training manual;
• Develop a training manual for traditional authorities on gender justice and customary law in Somalia;
• Present the training manual draft at a consultative workshop for review by relevant rule of law actors in Somalia;
• Update feedbacks from the consultative workshops into the final version of the training manual;
• Finalise the training manual for traditional authorities on gender and customary law in Somalia based on feedback received during the consultation process;
• Field test the training manual through facilitating a training of trainers workshop for Ministry Justice South West State, Attorney General Office and select customary courts personnel who would be responsible for training customary court officials on human rights standards, women’s rights and gender-responsive decision-making, using the developed training manual.

Expected Outputs:

• Gender inclusive training manual for traditional authorities on customary law promoting gender equality in traditional justice;
• Documentation of best practices and harmonization of customary and formal laws;
• Increased appreciation by customary leaders of the different needs of men and women in the customary court system;
• Enhanced effectiveness of customary court officials to dispense justice expeditiously and in conformity with the principles of gender equality, fair trials and human rights standards;
• Increased awareness by customary court officials of the effect of harmful traditional practices on women and girls;
• Increased access to justice for women and girls in the customary court system.

Expected Deliverable:

Gender-responsive justice and customary law training manual for traditional authorities validated by the Ministry of Justice.

Payment Schedule:

• Submission of Inception Report- 10%
• Submission of the draft manual – 40 %
• Submission of the final Manual - 50%

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

• Strong skills in high quality report production;
• Flexible to work in an extremely hardship location and insecure environment;
• Should possess ability to produce in a tight deadline;
• A strong understanding of Somalia context and dynamics is a distinct advantage.

Required Skills and Experience

Education requirement:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in law, social sciences, international relations, gender affairs, political science or other related field. 

Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience in areas of access to justice, customary justice, conflict resolutions linked to governance or related area;
• Experience in developing similar training manuals or related will be an added advantage;
• Experience in working in Traditional or Customary Justice System. Sharia Law will be an added advantage;
• Previous of experience of working with Law Enforcement Agencies;
• Experience in designing Training manuals on women Access to Justice;
• Experience working in the Somalia context is highly desirable.

Language requirement:

• Fluency in spoken and written English is essential.

UNWOMEN 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.