Historique

The United Nations (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.

Aligned with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Women’s Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning (SCE) Programme is a solution for women who have missed out on education. Second Chance Education and vocational learning Project (SCE) is a UN Women’s Project that aims at breaking current trends and providing comprehensive solutions for marginalized women and young women who have missed out on education and who are at risk of being left behind.  SCE is executed under the canopy of UN Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access & Protection in Crisis Response (LEAP) program that addresses immediate needs of refugees, IDPs and host communities. In this light, the implementation of SCE in Cameroon focuses on conflict affected areas. The project started in Cameroon in 2018 in the East,  Admawa and Far north regions and has reached almost 12,000 men and women, providing 2500 women and girls with professional trainings (Crop farming, animal husbandry, petty trade and tailoring) and start-up kits that has enabled them become autonomous.  The grandiose results recorded so far in three regions (East, Adamawa and Far North), impressed the funder and thus recommends the extension of the project in North West and South West regions that are also presently facing socio-political crisis

The two regions are facing socio political crisis which degenerated into armed conflict between the Cameroonian army and separatists fighters for close to five years now. Conflicts between armed groups and the national army, and fear of being assaulted by armed groups have reduced the presence of public institutions, contractors, and civil society organizations in these regions. The combination of these factors including the low economic opportunities due to ghost towns policy imposed by separatists and the destruction of houses, public buildings, and social amenities forced communities mainly women and children to migrate inside the two regions (toward more secured places) or to neighboring municipalities outside the North West and South West regions.  

this crisis in the North West and South West regions started in in 2016like a joke and  escalated into an increased violent conflict in 2018, triggering 459,000 displacements distributed inside and outside the regions.  Out of the 1,001,279 IDPs recorded by UNHCR in September 2020[1], 51% are children. In general, 20.5% are located in the West, Littoral and Adamaoua region. The majority are from the North West and South West region (NWSW).  Only 3.8% of IDPs come from other regions. Among IDPs, 53% are women. Overall, 46% are youth and children under 18. The active population represents 50% of the IDPs compared to 4% of the elderly (60 years and older)[2].

From the observations made during the pre needs assessment mission conducted In the two regions from the 26/04 – 05/05/2021, we have discovered a population difficult to identify because of the loss of their civil status documents, these populations live crammed into makeshift housing with very limited hygiene and sanitation conditions, very prejudicial for the health of women and children in particular. Income-generating activities most often come down to poorly decent jobs in the informal sector or prostitution for young girls. Some of them who remained in their localities are regularly raped or sexually harassed.  In addition to the school fees which they are most often unable to pay, the lack of civil documentation is a real difficulty for children of school age. the Covid_19 pandemic, adds a layer of vulnerability to this population plagued by survival concerns. The local authorities report increased pressure on basic social services, the precariousness of which was already remarkable long before the arrival of these populations.

In addition to the existing deeply rooted discriminatory cultural practices that already expose women to vulnerable situations before the crisis, women’s vulnerability situation becomes aggravated with the challenges of crisis including increased of gender based violence. Moreover, the conflict has generally restricted women’s freedom of movement and has greatly affected their level of education and employment. Many girls have been dropped out of schools over more than four years now.  Many have also lost their jobs in the informal sector.

[1] https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/78879

[2] OCHA.December 2019. Cameroon: North-West and South-West Regions.IDPs and Returnees factsheet. A recent report of OCHA and MINAT under completion indicated that the Norh West and South West regions have Nord-ouest et sud-ouest 409173 IDPs, Littoral region: 80925, West region: 162726, Centre region: 5293, Adamaoua region: 5300.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Scope of service:

The scope of the Needs Assessment is to conduct an education and labour market assessment focusing on the aspirations and opportunities for young women in relation to the local labour market. It equally focuses on identifying the support needed to facilitate the transition of targeted women and young women to gainful employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in their respective communities and beyond. This will be in targeted locations in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon.

The following key tasks are included:

          Identify, analyse and recommend economic sectors where gainful employment opportunities exist for the identified women and young women.

• Develop literature reviews on best practices on SCE

• Identify barriers which prevent women and young women from accessing economic opportunities where they have interests and aspirations, particularly barriers relating to skills needs and mismatch.

• Map and engage with communities, community leaders, women and young women to identify harmful norms, challenges and stigma.

Facilitate identification of solutions e.g. learning hours for women and young women, community dialogue sessions; door-to-door engagement

• Identify and analyse barriers to education, vocational learning and basic education for the identified women and young women.

• Identify psychosocial barriers plaguing women and young women from living their dreams and full potentials due to the IdentifIED safe and secured locations where the SCE can be implemented in the two regions.

• Recommend potential appropriate technical, vocational and/or business skills training opportunities necessary for target beneficiaries to overcome the identified barriers.

• Identify specific education and skill development service providers to help implement the.

• Identify and analyze possible collaboration lines with the DDR committees in the two regions.

• Working with UN Women Cameroon, gather primary data regarding the interests and aspirations of target groups and ensure that such inputs are informing programmatic recommendations. This data will be through qualitative methodologies, primarily interviews and focus groups.

• Identify other projects and initiatives working in the same strategic orientation, and prospective partnership opportunities base on complementarities,

• Identify and analyse potential implementing partners in the two regions ;

• Sketch the scope of the upcoming intervention (geographic area as well as potential and target beneficiaries) ;

Compétences

Core Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Ability to work independently and deliver results within expected deadlines;

• Strong ability and capacity to conduct policy/action research using both quantitative and qualitative techniques;

• Strong ability and experience in collecting and analyzing primary and secondary data;

• Strong capacity to work and deliver effectively and efficiently under pressure;

• Excellent computer skills and experience related to data analysis;

• Readiness to work high security risk zones;

• Excellency communication skills including fluency in English language is highly required;

• Excellent skills in reporting and policy oriented recommendations

Qualifications et expériences requises

• Minimum Master’s degree or equivalent in Social science disciplines including Sociology, Anthropology, social work, Gender Studies,Economics, Human Rights, Development or related subject;

• Minimum five years of working experience in related task and preferably possesses extensive knowledge and experiences on GBV prevention and response, and women’s empowerment in conflict and humanitarian contexts;

• Demonstrated ability to conduct needs assessments, and propose context-appropriate solutions based on analysis of needs and gaps;

• Evidence of previous experience and deliverables in a similar context

• Language of service: English

• Expected Deliverables

  Inception Report: The inception report will define the more detailed methodology, work plan and fieldwork schedule. This will incorporate the recommendations of the UN Women Country Office in Cameroon.

  Preliminary presented in a workshop

  Final Report: the final report will be partitioned in four sections (to be discuss during the inception period) and will include an overview of assessment as a whole, executive summary, methodology, key findings and programmatic recommendations. The final report will incorporate the feedback from UN Women. Additionally, a PowerPoint presentation will be prepared, for use by UN Women.

   

  Plan of work (Important dates)

Application process: Interested candidates are expected to express their interest through the UNWOMEN online application portal including

• Detailed CVs/Resumes,

• letter of interest

• sample report of previous work.

• Technical proposal giving details on methodological approach

• Detailed Budget required for this mission

Proposal assessment

Candidates with best technical scores (More than 70%) will be called upon for discussion and agreement on financial aspects