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.
Women’s leadership and political participation is one of UN Women’s primary areas of work as mandated in its inception, recognizing the integral role of women in strong and stable democratic processes. UN Women in Niger works to implement in a cross-cutting manner Output 4: More women if all ages fully participate, lead and engage in political institutions and processes of the Strategic Plan 2018-2021
To promote the leadership and participation of women in all levels of decision-making processes, UN Women works with a range of stakeholders including women leaders and aspiring candidates, national parliaments and parliamentarians, political parties, media, civil society organizations, and electoral management bodies, in coordination with UN partner Entities, through a wide range of interventions which include: i) support gender responsive legal reforms, and institutional processes to advance women’s participation and representation (including initiatives to address violence against women in politics); ii) build capacities of women leaders and aspiring candidates; iii) promote change of gender norms through advocacy and outreach initiatives targeting communities, political leaders and the media; iv) and support women leaders in gender responsive political institutions.
Niger is planning to hold municipal and regional elections on January 2020, presidential and legislative election on December 2020; a second round of presidential elections, if needed, on February 2021. Within this context and following a request from the National Independent Electoral Commission, a UN Needs Assessment Mission was deployed in November 2018, resulting on concrete recommendations on how the UN will support Niger in preparations for the 2019-2021 electoral cycle.
UN Women has conducted a series of consultations with key national partners and stakeholders to set programming priorities and design targeted programming in alignment with UN Women Strategic Plan 2018-2021 and the UN Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) recommendations. Within this framework, UN Women’s priorities to promote and strengthen women’s political participation during the current electoral cycle will include: i) supporting national accountability mechanisms to monitor the quota law implementation; ii) a countrywide advocacy strategy on gender equality and women’s political participation; ii) support UN coordinated efforts on capacity building and technical assistance to electoral stakeholders ; iii) support the creation of a cadre of qualified women leaders and aspiring candidates, including through mentorship programmes for young women interested in politics; and v) strengthening capacities of elected and appointed women public officials.
To support this process, UN-Women programme in Niger is seeking the services of an international consultant, to support the implementation of this programming area of work. Under the supervision of the of the head of the office and in close coordination with the UN Women Regional Advisor on Women’s Political Participation, the international consultant will provide the technical support and UN coordination required to effectively launch and roll-out the women’s political participation programming priorities in line with the recent country assessment consultations and the UN NAM recommendations.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the head of the office, the international consultant will provide the technical support to the implementation of critical activities in women political participation and leadership in coordination to national stakeholders of the electoral process. The consultant will undertake the following task:
1. Technical support on gender mainstreaming into UN electoral assistance programming
Support UN coordinated advocacy, within the context of the political dialogue to promote women’s electoral and political participation and leadership, including prevention of VAWE;
Participate in the different coordination meetings around women political participation and leadership;
Participate in the formulation process of the UN electoral assistance project and other projects and ensure specific interventions targeting women with adequate resources;
Document all the activities undertaken and produce articles for press releases.
2. Coordinated technical assistance and targeted advocacy to electoral stakeholders to promote gender balance:
In coordination with UNDP provide technical support to the Electoral Commission (CENI) on gender mainstreaming in electoral management (e.g. CENI’s strategic plan and communications strategy);
Build the capacities of the members of the constitutional court officials on gender and elections;
Targeted advocacy and capacity building to all political parties represented in the National Parliament on gender and elections, particularly on gender equality in candidate nomination, including ways of identifying and supporting potential women leaders among their ranks and encouraging the development of a broader range of criteria for women’s promotion;
Support women’s networks advocacy efforts for the pending presidential signature of the decree applying the 15% women quota on electoral lists.
Provide institutional support to the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection in strengthening the functioning the gender observatory for reporting and accountability on the implementation of the quota law.
3. Enhanced capacities of aspiring women leaders and candidates and elected women to apply leadership skills:
Support the implementation of training/mentoring programmes for aspiring women candidates.
Support the implementation of training/mentoring programmes for of elected women (in both parliament and councils)
Technical support to MPs and parliamentary bodies to conduct a gender audit of the National Parliament on its existing policies, practices and rules of institutions (including legislative rules and procedure) and identify of areas for reform and proposals for mainstreaming gender into parliamentary structures and activities.
KEY DELIVERABLES:
Advocacy document on the implementation of the quota system in Niger;
Capacity building reports of the different workshops with aspiring candidates and elected women;
Communications and advocacy strategy and tools to transform gender norms, to sensitize the media and electorate on the need for women in public life developed and coordinated.
Gender audit report of the national assembly
Women political and leadership project component as integrated in the UN joint programme on electoral assistance
A final report of the programme activities undertaken, including highlighting outcomes, recommendations and lessons learned.
The assignment will take up a period of 6 months in country. The consultant will report to the UN-Women head of the office, with technical guidance from the UN Women Political Participation Advisor in the regional office and in HQ as needed
Competencies
Core Values and Guiding Principles
Demonstrates integrity by modeling UN Women values and ethical standards;
Demonstrates a commitment to UN Women’s mission and vision;
Able to work effectively within a team;
Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability;
Able to multi-task and juggle competing demands;
Can assess and prioritize work needs quickly; and
Able to relate to external partners, including other international organizations and agencies, NGOs, grassroots community groups, etc.
Demonstrates integrity by modeling UN Women values and ethical standards;
Able to relate to external partners, including other international organizations and agencies, NGOs, grassroots community groups, etc.
Functional Competencies
Sound practical knowledge on women’s political participation programming including on gender responsive electoral processes (i.e. sex disaggregated data collection, prevention and mitigation of violence against women in elections);
Previous experience in field-based election in a variety of cultural and political contexts;
Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with people from varied cultures and professional backgrounds, demonstrating excellent interpersonal communication skills.
Results based management skills;
Ability to produce well-written reports and/or programme documents demonstrating analytical ability;
Excellent communication skills;
Experience in working with UN Women or UN or international NGOs on women’s political participation;
Required Skills and Experience
REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
Education: Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) Political Science, Sociology, International Relations, or relevant field and/or equivalent practical experience.
Experience:
At least 7 years of experience integrating gender equality and political participation and representation; including proven experience integrating gender equality and electoral cycle, women’s political participation, and gender based electoral violence mitigation;
Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women’s rights and related instruments;
Experience with UN Intergovernmental processes including those related to women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming and gender equality;
Experience working with multi-stakeholder organizations is essential: governments, CSOs, and the UN/ multilateral/bilateral institutions.
Experience in programme design and results-based management;
Experience with UN electoral assistance processes.
Language: Fluency in oral and written French is required, fluency in English is an asset.