The EU – UN- AUC Spotlight Initiative Africa Regional Program (SIARP) is guided by the 2030 Agenda, the AU Agenda 2063, AU Gender Strategy, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol), and other Africa regional instruments. SIARP has a continental scope and works towards the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, including harmful practices.

The SIARP is implemented in two streams whereby UN Women leads the overall coordination of Stream I that aims to promote regional responses to addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), Harmful Practices (HP) and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights (SRH &RR) in Africa and the effort on supporting women’s movements and relevant civil society organizations.

Given the key role of traditional leaders in addressing harmful gendered norms and bring meaningful social shifts in the region, SIARP aims to strenthen, partnerships and skills of regional traditional leaders and FBOs to meaningfully engage in AUC and platforms and other high-level forums in preventing and responding to SGBV, harmful practices and promotion of SRH&RR in Africa. The program also intends to establish linkages of RECs (the EAC, COMESA, ECOWAS, SADC, etc) with the traditional leaders and the CSOs to strengthen collaboration and coordination of efforts on EVAWG, HP and SRH &RR.

In line with this objective, UN Women organized the first round of strategic consultations with the African Union (AU), regional faith-based organizations, communities of traditional leaders, RECs, CSOs and Youth groups in October 2021 which resulted in the development of a guideline on engagement of traditional and religious leaders with the AUC.  As a follow-up of this consultation, the 2nd round of consultation is planned to be held in October 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The planned consultation with traditional and religious leaders will be organized in collaboration with the AUC as part of the AU Men’s Conference on Positive Masculinity in Leadership to End Violence Against Women and Girls. The first Positive Masculinity Conference was held in DRC in Nov 2021 and adopted the Kinshasa Declaration and Call to Action on positive Masculinity in Leadership to End Violence Against Women and Girls which was subsequently adopted as an AU Assembly decision during the AU Heads of State Summit in February 2022. Based on the commitment made in the Declaration and Call to Action, AU Heads of State will reconvene to take stock of the progress made towards the implementation of the Kinshasa Declaration and other initiatives to engage men and boys towards gender equality.

UN Women seeks to hire an international consultant who can coordinate and facilitate the consultation in close collaboration with the African Union Commission, UN Women and other relevant stakeholders

The consultation with the traditional and religious leaders, faith-based organizations, AUC, RECs etc.  aims at strengthening interlinkages between regional and traditional leaders with AUC, RECs other platforms and high-level forums in preventing and responding to SGBV, harmful practices and promotion of SRH and RR in Africa.  

The Specific objectives include

• Building on the outcome of the 2021 consultations propose key strategies for AU Heads of states and governments towards the implementations of the Kinshasa Declaration 41226-pr-Declaration_Mens_Conference_English.pdf (au.int) which would be submitted during the Positive Masculinity Conference to be held in Dakar, Senegal in November 2022

• Discuss strategies towards the development, adoption, ratification, domestication, and implementation of the Convention on Ending VAWG as well as implementation of the AU Campaign on Ending VAWG.

• Launch and initiate discussions on the operationalization of the Guidelines to support partnerships between the AUC, faith-based organizations (FBOs), and communities of traditional leaders (CTLs)  

To achieve these objectives, the International Consultant will be responsible for the technical coordination of the activity including

• Coordinate the 2nd round of consultations, including an in-person meeting that will involve faith leaders, traditional leaders, taking into account age and geographical balance, as well as leaders from marginalized groups as defined in the SIARP Prodoc, the AUC and UN agencies, with the aim of
  • Strengthening linkages with RECs, in addition to the AUC physically launching the Guidelines developed from the first round of consultations
  • Advancing discussions on operationalizing the guidelines from the first round and facilitate links with existing and upcoming initiatives, including AUC Ending VAWG Campaign, engagement in AU Convention on GBV and implementation of the GBV Action Coalition Commitment made by COTLA
• Develop recommendation/outcome statement for the Heads of States and the African Union for the 2nd Positive Masculinities conference to be held in Dakar Senegal in November 2022 
• Facilitate the in-person meeting, providing technical and coordination support, including the development of the concept note, agenda and participants list, as well as supporting the planning of procurement and logistics aspects of the activity, in close collaboration with UN Women
• Development of a meeting report summarizing key discussions and recommended actions for the AUC, FBOs, and CTLs to strengthen their collaboration
• Support the development of a joint roadmap to help strengthen partnerships amongst the AUC, Regional FBOs and CTLs 

?Deliverables

1. Development of an activity concept note, agenda and roadmap  
2. Finalize the list of participants in coordination with UN Women and AUC
3. Design and coordinate the in-person 2nd round consultation with traditional and religious leaders, faith-based organizations, AUC, RECs and any pre-consutlaion as needed
4. Develop recommendation/outcome statement to be submitted for the Positive Masculinity Conference to be held in Dakar, Senegal 
5. Summary Report/proceeding of the consultation report
6. Launch of the guidelines on the engagement of CTLs and FBOs

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

Functional Competencies

• Strong understanding of and commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment, including violence against women and girls and its policy implications
• Experience in leading regional convenings with high level stakeholders
• Excellent facilitation and capacity strengthening skills, including interactive approaches to strengthening knowledge and expertise
• Ability to work with and engage faith and traditional leaders, as well as representatives from the AUC and UN agencies
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment and in a team.
• Personal commitment, ability to work without constant supervision, and capacity to work effectively and harmoniously with diverse groups of people from across the African continent
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and organizational skills.
• Outgoing individual who is comfortable working in a team-oriented setting and possesses the ability to work with a diverse group of people.
• Excellent writing, analytical, research and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent in coordinating events, developing reports and assessing project performance.
• Extensive experience of managing in a multidisciplinary team and sustaining various aspects of project activities.

Education and certification

• M.A./M.Sc. or Post graduate degree in gender, development studies, social science or related fields

Experience         

• Experience of at least 7 years working on ending violence against women and girls or the promotion of gender equality with diverse partners, including engagement with UN Agencies, the AUC, and civil society, particularly faith and traditional leaders
• Experience facilitating consultations and partnership-building processes with diverse groups of people, including high level partners
• Proven ability to coordinate multi-stakeholder workshops or consultations, managing both substantive and administrative aspects of planning.
• Full command of Microsoft applications, particularly Word, and other relevant software.

Language requirements

• Fluency in English is required
• Working knowledge of the French language is an asset.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) a completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment.