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. 

Under its Strategic Note 2016-2020 which has been extended pending finalization of a new one for the period 2021 - 2025. Uganda Country Office focuses on delivering programs under four thematic areas: 

  • Governance, including: Women’s leadership and political participation; Inter-Governmental Support; National Planning and Accountability;
  • Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE);
  • Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG);
  • Women, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Actions (WPS-HA);

UN Women is seeking the services of a national consultant to review and develop a revised Gender Policy and Strategy for the Judiciary 2021 - 2026. 

 

CONTEXT AND RATIONALE 

Uganda has a conducive policy and legislative environment that promotes gender equality and women’s rights.  The Uganda Constitution has a clear statement on equality and has specific provisions that focus on women’s rights that among others are against discrimination and provide for the use of affirmative action in order to attain equity. Constitutional provisions have been translated into national legislation like the Domestic Violence Act (2010), the Female Genital Mutilation Act (2010), and the Local Government’s Act (1997), which provides for at least 30% representation of women at all elected levels. 

Uganda also has a National Gender Policy (2017) whose purpose is “to establish a clear framework for identification, implementation and coordination of interventions designed to achieve gender equality and women's empowerment in Uganda.” The policy is accompanied by a strategy. The National Gender Policy highlights that gender mainstreaming is not just about achieving gender equality, but ultimately about social justice and sustainable development. 

At regional level, Uganda ratified the African Union (AU) Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, commonly referred to as the Maputo protocol. At the international level, the Uganda Government ratified International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Cultural, Social and Economic Rights (ICSER) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Government has also signed on to the Action plan for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820 and the Goma Declaration.  

The Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS), like all other Government sectors has a duty to ensure that the sector identifies and addresses any gender inequalities in line with the Constitution, the National Gender Policy and Government’s regional and international commitments to securing women’s rights and addressing discrimination.  The Sector has a Gender and Equity Strategy, while three institutions under the sector - Judiciary, Uganda Police Force (UPF), and Uganda Prisons Services (UPS) - have gender policies while the (Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has a Gender, Children and Sexual Offences unit.   

In 2012 the Judiciary launched its Gender Policy and Strategy with an overall objective of ensuring that there is gender sensitivity and responsiveness in the delivery of justice in Uganda.

The policy aims to provide a framework for gender mainstreaming within the Judiciary by addressing gender concerns within the Judiciary as an institution and addressing key gender obstacles to court users. More specifically, this policy focuses on two key areas: (i) Access and delivery of justice to females and males and (ii) Organizational development and management (in terms of representation, and how the Judiciary can be more gender-responsive, gender-aware and gender-sensitive in its day -to- day working and address sexual harassment).   

 

 JUSTIFICATION 

After 10 years of implementation, there is need to review the Policy and respond to new challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s need to assess progress in terms of achievements, challenges and lessons learnt in addressing elements of discrimination or inequality within the institution as well as ensuring that both treatment of court users and content of judgements are gender sensitive. Significant progress has been made in the number of female judicial officers joining the Judiciary, with their current composition standing at 172 (45.4%) and their male counterparts 207 (54.6%). Such shifts however need to be interrogated further to establish whether they have been accompanied by measures to address to increase recruitment, promotion, and retainment of females in the judiciary.

 

Duties and Responsibilities

PURPOSE 

The overall purpose of this assignment is to review and update the Gender Policy and Strategy for the Judiciary. It is expected that the revised policy and strategy will address collectively identified gaps in the current policy. This time round the strategy and policy will be separate documents since having them together does not allow for differentiation of critical issues and appropriate response.

 

SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES

Under the supervision of UN Women’s Access to Justice Programme Specialist, the PS Judiciary and Chief Registrar, the consultant will: 

  • Hold an inception meeting with the Judiciary and UN Women
  • Review the Judiciary Gender Policy and Strategy and identify the extent to which the provisions give guidance in addressing gender concerns in the delivery of justice and within the institution. Further the gender policies and strategies of UPF, UPS JLOS Secretariat, and MGLSD (if available because it is currently at Cabinet level) should be reviewed for comparison purposes and identify provisions that can be used with adaptations.
  • Review relevant international, regional, and national instruments and laws respectively on gender and access to justice and identify principles which should be integrated in the Policy and Strategy. 
  • Conduct consultations with the representatives from Government institutions (Judiciary, National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ), ODPP, UPF, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD), JLOS Secretariat; Uganda Prisons Service; selected high court circuits and chief magisterial areas, UN agencies (UN Women, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, RC), CSOs (including WROs), Cultural and Religious leaders and their institutions (,Local Government authorities, Gender and JLOS Development Partners’ Group and other development actors, including the donor community. 
  • Hold focus group discussions with users of the justice system in particular women, men, disabled people who have interfaced with the Judiciary either as users, witnesses or know someone else who has interfaced with the Judiciary.  
  • Draft a revised Policy and Strategy. 
  • Conduct a validation workshop and refine the Revised Policy and Strategy for the Judiciary.  

 

Expected Deliverables:

  1. An inception report on the content and methodology for review of the policy and strategy. The inception report should provide information on the following: understanding of the assignment, identify documentation to be reviewed and persons to be consulted. Tools for review of documents and conducting consultations. Workplan. 4th - 8th Oct 2021 (20%)
  2. A report on the analysis of desk-based research and the consultations highlighting new provisions to be included in the revised policy and strategy. Draft Policy and Strategy. 11th Oct– 5th Nov 2021 (65%)
  3. Workshop report highlighting recommendations. Final Revised Policy and Strategy. 8th – 12th Nov 2021 (15%)

 

Inputs:

  • Documents for review will be provided by both UN Women and the Judiciary but the consultant has the responsibility to conduct research for relevant materials.
  • Further the consultant is expected to have a laptop.
  • UN Women and the Judiciary will provide the consultant with background materials related to the assignment. 

 

Performance evaluation: 

The contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, comprehensiveness, readability, structure, accuracy, quality of the products delivered and alignment to agreed principles and standards. The evaluation will be carried out and cleared by the appointed task force composed of UN Women, and the Judiciary.  

 

 

Competencies

 

Core Values and Guiding Principles:

  • Integrity
  • Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of the UN systemin actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
  • Ability to maintain confidentiality and a high degree of professionalism when dealing with survivors and sensitive information.
  • Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity
  • Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff, and of those of Government of Uganda entities.
  • Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values, and learning from cultural diversity.

 

Corporate Competencies

  • Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards.
  • Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN, particularly relating to gender equality and the empowerment of women.
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, sexual orientation, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
  • Treats all people fairly and without favoritism.

 

Functional Competencies

  • Ability to create, edit, and present information in clear and appealing formats.
  • Ability to manage data, documents, correspondences, and reports.
  • Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate and work well with diverse and multicultural supervisors and staff members.
  • Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure.
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
  • Focuses on impact and result for the partners and responds positively to feedback.

 

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Experience  

The assignment may be undertaken by an individual with the competencies indicated below. 

Academic qualifications:

  • Master’s (or equivalent) or higher Degree in Criminal Justice, Law, Human Rights, Gender, International Relations, or related field

 

Experience and Skills:

  • Minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience in developing legal or policy documents and in operationalized research on justice systems. 
  • Experience of working with the Justice, Law and Order Sector is required.
  • Experience in conducting consultations with diverse stakeholders to elicit actionable information would be an asset. 
  • Ability to easily communicate with stakeholders from different socio cultural and economic backgrounds. 
  • Fluent level of written and spoken English. 

 

Language:

English, and any other official UN languages would be an added advantage.

 

Application Procedure:

The consultants should submit their application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file): 

  • A technical proposal indicating how the assignment will be carried out including interpretation of the ToR and methodology for execution of the assignment. 
  • The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around the specific and measurable deliverables of the ToR. Payments are based upon output, i.e., upon delivery of the services specified in the ToR, and deliverables accepted and certified by the Judiciary and UN Women. 
  • The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and consider various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; cost of travel and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract. 
  • Please provide a short (1000 words) writing sample, or link to a similar project that you have completed. Applications without sample/link will not be considered.