Background and rationale:

Guinea-Bissau is a country which has experienced a recurring political and institutional instability since its independence in 1973. The Guinea-Bissau’s peacebuilding context reveals that there is a persisting lack of readiness to engage in constructive dialogue, which represents a prominent factor driving subsequent crisis. Lacking meaningful dialogue among key political actors has also prevented progress in advancing the State and institutional reforms, which are key to political and institutional stability in the country.

Women have continued to bear the brunt of intra-community and inter/party conflicts and yet were underrepresented in the peace process for many years. In this context, they have organised themselves around women’s civil society organisations and have been gaining momentum as a credible facilitator for constructive dialogue. There has been efforts to bridge the disconnection between the available mediation capacities of women and the formal and informal peace processes. In some cases, through organised approaches such as networks and associations that bring the experiences of women in mediation to a common or/a shared platform, for ease of access and use. In Guinea Bissau, structures to support mediation were created, such as the Women’s Mediation Network (WMN).

The WMN was created on 2015 with the UN support. Their mandate and vision is to mobilize a critical mass of women and men from the community to national levels and develop their capacities in dialogue and mediation processes. The network seeks to be a voice for women and support/contribute to a larger infrastructure for peace in the ongoing national reconciliation and peacebuilding in GB. Women’s Mediation Network has structures on the different regions of GB and a total of 55 members: 20 in the autonomous sector of Bissau, 8 in east province (Bafata and Gabu), 19 in south province, and 8 in north province.

Within the framework of the project “Support to political dialogue and national reconciliation in Guinea-Bissau”, implemented by the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) and funded by the Peacebuilding Fund, the UNIOGBIS/Gender Unit seeks to ensure that the Women’s Mediation Network, and other relevant mediation actors and leaders, strengthen and enhance their skills to better be able to play an active role and engage more effectively in peace processes.

The overall purpose of the action is to help women have their interests reflected in decision-making processes, including agenda-setting, and constitutional reforms required to put the country on the path of stability and development. 

Objective of the assignment:

The objective is to strengthen inclusive and sustainable national capacities for dialogue and mediation with effective mechanisms to engage in constructive dialogue early on, including at the community level, when tensions arise, and to prevent escalation into political and institutional crises.

The International Consultant, under the supervision of the Chief of Gender Unit, is expected to perform the following activities:

• Grey literature review of mediation related documentation in Guinea Bissau;
• Interviews with key informers;
• Design and lead a stocktaking workshop of two days aimed at developing training modules for dialogue and mediation;
• Field work on 3 or 4 selected regions to consult and collect data about mediation actors and types of conflicts and their roots;
• Briefing of the reference group on the analysis of conflict and assessment of existing mediation capacities;
• Design and initiate the population of a database of trained women and community mediators, with the identification of trained, experienced and competent mediators, including their areas of expertise, scope of skills and comparative advantage.
• Develop an Operational Framework and Guidance for the Women’s Mediation Network.
• Organize a series of training courses in dialogue and mediation and in advocacy, negotiation and leadership skills;
• Develop and complete the database;
• Provide technical capacity to the Women’s Mediators Network for the development of a Strategic Plan to expand dialogue and mediation work.

Expected deliverables:

The following products/outputs are expected:

• Deliverable 1.    Mapping and analysis of local level conflicts, mediation experiences, gaps and good practices. Training modules developed for dialogue and mediation;
• Deliverable 2.    Report of the training sessions focusing on dialogue and mediation process design;
• Deliverable 3.    Report of training session focusing on advocacy and leadership skills in the area of dialogue and mediation;
• Deliverable 4.    Final operational framework for the Women Mediation Network.
• Deliverable 5.    Final database of trained women and community mediators;
• Deliverable 6.    Final Strategic Plan for the Women Mediation Network.

Duration of the assignment

The assignment should be conducted within 40 working days, in a scope of 2 months.

Consultant Profile

• Excellent field research, analysis, facilitation and reporting skills;
• Demonstrate ability to produce high quality training contents and effectively deliver in a timely manner;
• Proven impartiality, cultural and human rights sensitivity;
• Ability to build strong relations with local actors using inter-personal skills to network effectively;
• Ability to meet deadlines and show a high degree of flexibility and tolerance;
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards.

Education:

• Advanced university degree in the areas of conflict management, gender issues, human rights or any other relevant social science.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of professional experience in working on mediation, conflict management, gender and peacebuilding;
• Proven experience on conducting workshops and trainings on mediation, and designing processes of peacebuilding and mediation;
• Proven experience on working with mediation or conflict management in local communities;
• Sound knowledge and understanding of gender-sensitive conflict analysis, gender inclusive mediation, and gender responsive mediation;
• Experience working in African, and a good knowledge of Guinea-Bissau’s general country context is strongly desirable;

Language:

• Good written and verbal communication skills in English or French are required.
• Proficiency in Portuguese is highly desirable or proficiency in French with a good working knowledge of Portuguese;

Guidelines for Application

The applications must be sent by 15 days after date of publication, and should contain the Curriculum Vitae and a letter of motivation for the following address:

Guidelines for Application

Required documents:

• A cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for this assignment;
• A brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the tasks, describing the tools and workplan proposed of this assignment;
• A financial proposal;
• A personal CV including past experiences and at least 3 professional references.

Lump sum contracts: The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the ToR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

Travel: All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Individual Consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation: Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation;
• Technical Criteria weight – 70 points;
• Financial Criteria weight – 30 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Evaluation criteria:

• Education background - 10 points;
• Experience as defined in the ToR - 20 points;
• Competences as defined in the ToR - 10 points;
• Understating of the ToR - 15 points;
• Methodology and overall approach - 25 points;
• Overall quality of the proposal (comprehensiveness, structure, language and clarity) - 20 points.