Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women works towards 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 will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Promoting women’s political participation is one of UN Women’s primary areas of work, in recognition of the integral role of women in strong and stable democratic processes. To strengthen the leadership and participation of women in decision-making processes, UN Women works to promote gender equality in legislatures at all levels, electoral processes, and political institutions, contributing to the entity’s achievement of UN Women SP UN-Women Strategic Plan 2022-2025 Impact Area 1, Participation and Governance in Public Life: Women and girls participate in leadership and decision making and benefit from gender responsive governance. These efforts are designed to guide countries towards reaching Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 5.5: “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.”

In Liberia, UN Women, in collaboration with key stakeholders such as the National Elections Commission, Women’s Legislative Caucus of Liberia, Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, and local civil society organizations (CSOs), has been implementing interventions focused on norm change, advocacy for the adoption of temporary special measures, capacity building and dialogue to promote women’s participation. One of our key intervention areas is the creation of a safe and enabling environment for women participating in politics, including strengthening the prevention and response of violence against women in politics (VAWP). As it is an obstacle to the realization of women’s civic and political rights and negatively affects the participation of women as voters, candidates, activists, campaign staff and volunteers, election officials, and political party leaders and undermines free, fair, and inclusive democratic processes, and threatens electoral integrity.

To this effect, UN Women in collaboration with National Elections Commission developed Violence Against Women in Politics and Election Protocol currently signed by 29 out of 36 registered political parties in Liberia. Considering the upcoming presidential and legislative elections, that will take place in October 2023, UN Women Liberia in collaboration with local partners had been making efforts to raise awareness and strengthen political will for the implementation of the Protocol through programs such as the Liberia Electoral Support Program (LESP) and Promoting Inclusive Political Participation and the Elimination of Violence Against Women program, in partnership with the United Nations Development Program, the Governments of Sweden and Ireland and the UN Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund.

Currently, the UN Women Liberia Country Office is planning to recruit a national consultant to simplify the existing VAWIE/P Protocol. The Consultant will work with the National Elections Commission and UN Women-Liberia’s Governance and Participation in Public Life pillar to develop a methodology for the simplification, hold consultations to develop the text and graphics, revise language and graphics according to feedback, and support the validation of the simplified VAWIE/P Protocol with key stakeholders including end users.

The consultant(s) will be responsible for the following tasks:

Task 1: Develop an inception brief

• Read and understand the VAWIE/P Protocol, which is about 6.5 pages
• Develop an inception brief outlining a participatory methodology and detailed plan for the simplification of the Protocol
• Revise and resubmit the brief according to feedback from NEC, UN Women, and UNDP.

Task 2: Simplify the VAWIE/P Protocol 

• In collaboration with the NEC Gender Section, facilitate working sessions and focus group discussions on proposed simplified text and accompanying graphics with diverse stakeholders (National Elections Commission personnel, especially magistrates/local NEC personnel, political party representatives, youth, women’s groups, traditional leaders, etc.)
• Draft simplified text.
• Revise and resubmit the simplified version according to feedback from NEC, UN Women, and UNDP

Task 3: Produce radio message, graphic art and design the simplified VAWIE/P Protocol

• Develop storyboard for proposed graphics and submit for feedback from NEC, UN Women, and UNDP
• Create (digital) graphic art and submit for feedback from NEC, UN Women, and UNDP
• Design booklet, format and layout with approved text and graphics
• Produce a radio message explaining key aspects of the protocol
• Facilitate a validation workshop
• Incorporate feedback and submit final simplified Protocol

III. KEY DELIVERABLES:  

• Simplified VAWIE/P Protocol inclusive of text and graphics
• Radio message conveying key messages in the Protocol

Confidentiality and Proprietary Interests

• The Individual Consultant shall not either during the term or after termination of the assignment, disclose any proprietary or confidential information related to the consultancy service. Proprietary interests on all materials and documents prepared by the consultants under the assignment shall become and remain properties of UN Women, UNDP and NEC.

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Functional Competencies

• Sound knowledge in gender equality and women’s empowerment, including on women’s political participation.
• Facilitation and data collection
• Fluent in Microsoft Word, e-mail, web-based applications and databases.
• Outstanding communication and organizational skills.
• Ability to work effectively with people from varied cultural groups and professional backgrounds.
• Ability to produce well-written documents demonstrating excellent interpersonal communication skills.

Submission of application

Interested consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications: 

• Cover letter outlining fit for the assignment (max 500 words)
• UN Women Personal History Form(P11) of the lead consultant and key team members member including experience in similar projects with 3 references.  The P11 Form can be downloaded from the following: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form-en.doc  or http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs 
• Technical proposal explaining proposed approach to the three tasks outlined in this ToR (max 1 page)
• Financial proposal which shall specify a total lump sum amount, breaking down the daily professional fee, proposed number of working days. Please see the financial proposal template as below.
• A sample of similar work.

• Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Gender Studies, Education-related fields, Political Science, Sociology, International Relations, or relevant field /or bachelor’s degree with relevant practical experience. 

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant research and writing experience, including curriculum/content development and design.
• Substantive knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment and experience in women’s political participation and electoral processes.
• Experience in simplification of policies, laws, development plans or other relevant content for mass consumption in a low-literacy environment.
• Experience working with multi-stakeholder organizations is essential: governments, CSOs, and the UN/multilateral/bilateral institutions. 
• Experience with UN organizations and programmes or intergovernmental processes, including those related to women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming and gender equality is an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in English and Liberian English / colloquia is required.