Antecedentes

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 constitute approximately 49% of the country’s population; however, they play a very limited role in decision-making. Nigeria has one of the lowest rates of women members of parliament in Africa.

 After the 2019 general elections, only 4.5% of women were elected into the federal parliament compared to 5.6% in 2015 while only 3.8% of women were elected into the states’ Houses of Assembly compared to 5.8% in 2015. 

Moreover, there are no legal or institutionalised Temporary Special Measures (TSMs) to accelerate the representation of women. In 2017, CEDAW’s Concluding Observations on the country’s combined seventh and eighth periodic reports, contained a call upon Nigeria “to adopt legislation on temporary special measures in order to increase the participation of women in political and public life, education and employment (…), as a necessary strategy to accelerate the achievement of substantive equality between women and men in all areas covered by the Convention where women are underrepresented or disadvantaged, including employment.”

Women contribute actively to social and economic development and Nigerian women’s representation in the labour force stood at 50.4% Nevertheless, they are more likely to be unemployed than men, dominate the unprotected informal sector, earn less than men for work of equal value, and are poorly represented in public and corporate economic decision making.

In this context, UN Women is implementing a women’s political and leadership project funded by the Government of Canada as part of a regional initiative.

The ultimate outcome of this project is to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women and girls in West and Central Africa.

The intermediate outcomes for this Project include:

     i. increased effective participation of women as political leaders at the local, national and regional levels; and

     ii. Improved legislative practices and frameworks for the promotion of gender balance in politics in the Central African Republic, Liberia, Nigeria and the Republic of Guinea.

In terms of implementation, UN Women in Nigeria works with national governments, parliaments, electoral management bodies, political parties, NGOs and CSOs. The Project provides targeted and technical support and capacity building for key stakeholders through the provision of training, technical assistance, awareness raising and advocacy campaigns.  

UN-Women in Nigeria is therefore seeking the services of a senior national consultant to support and lead the technical implementation of the project. 

Deberes y responsabilidades

SCOPE OF WORK:

Under the direct supervision of the Country Representative, the Consultant will work with the UN Women team to develop programme activities targeting bringing together women’s groups and networks to form a strong invisible women’s movement with a common goal and agenda towards the attainment affirmative action for increased participation of women in governance. The National consultant will also provide support to facilitate processes for implementation of activities geared towards formation of a strong women movement in Nigeria. 

MAIN TASKS:

Under this assignment, the Senior National Consultant will be responsible to undertake the following duties:

Summary of Key Functions:

 Develop the NWM Program document, work plan and implementation plan

• Ensure implementation of the Annual Work Plans (AWPs) of the project by designing the activities planned (concept notes and programme) and conducting the consultations needed for the implementation with special focus on the activities related to women elected members  
• Produce the report of the activities
• Produce a mapping of existing women coalition and networks and ongoing initiatives in Nigeria including regional coalitions and lesson learned.
• Design initiatives to be conducted at the national level and sub-national levels
• Contribute to the program development of women’s movement in Nigeria
• Coordinate the process of validation, revision and finalization of the project documents
• Research opportunities and avenues for expanding resource mobilization partnerships, including through existing capacities of networks, government, the private sector in Nigeria and donor community to fund the programme.
• Facilitate the set-up and functioning of the program between UN Women with national counterparts, donors, and partners to ensure they are consulted when elaborating the work plan and implementation.
• Establish systems for project monitoring, in collaboration with partners;
• Organize the steering committees of the project

 Establish coordination with national partners and other stakeholders and networks

• Identify potential national and international partners and existing coalition and networks for formation of a strong NWMC
• Develop a coordination matrix and lead the coordination meetings  
• Liaise with the donor and ensure regular and businesslike communication
• Provide guidance to NWMC on establishment of performance indicators, and monitoring and achievement of results;
• Gather and compile all information necessary for monitoring and reporting on the NWMC programme
• Identify potential programmatic areas of cooperation between NWMC and development partners.
• Provide exit point strategy for programme implementation 

Summary of Deliverables:

• Concept notes of activities to be implemented
• Activities and meetings reports
• Project’s annual reports
• Matrix of coordination
• Briefing notes on the consultations conducted with national and international partners
• Updated results framework
• Project implementing partners, list networks and coalitions 

Duration of the Assignment:

The total duration of this assignment is initially 6 months starting on October 1, 2019. The Senior National Consultant is responsible for accomplishing the deliverables listed above 

Contributions: UN Women will put at the disposal of selected individuals all available materials and necessary information for tasks achievement and will facilitate the meetings and discussions, as needed.  During assignment’s related missions, the Consultants may use the facilities of the office (i.e. internet access, printing, copying, local phone calls, including office laptop etc.). However, he or she is expected to use his/her own personal computer for nor office related matters.

Location of work:

The national consultant will be located in the UN Women Office for the implementation of the assignment.

Performance evaluation:

Performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Financial arrangements:

Payment will be disbursed in installments upon the satisfactory submission of the deliverables 

Competencias

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.
• Able to relate to external partners, including other international organizations and agencies, NGOs, grassroots community groups, etc.

Functional Competencies

• Good knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment, including women’s political participation
• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail.
• Good communication skills.
• Demonstrated leadership and personal examples of promoting knowledge management and a professional learning environment.
• Outstanding networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.
• Capacity to work with diverse partners including governments, donors and civil society.
• Ability to use Microsoft word, excel, e-mail, web-based applications and databases.
• Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with people from varied cultures and professional backgrounds
• Results based management skills.
• In-depth knowledge of development issues
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice
• Ability in strategic planning, results-based management and reporting

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Gender Studies, Law, Political Science, Sociology, International Relations, Law-related fields and equivalent practical experiences.

Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years (Master’s degree) relevant work experience in the field of gender equality and women’s political empowerment, International partners and donor relations
• Substantive experience in women’s leadership and participation.
• Experience in working in a multicultural environment.
• Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women’s rights and related instruments.
• Experience working with multi-stakeholder organizations is essential: governments, CSOs, and the UN/ multilateral/bilateral institutions. 

Language:

• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Working knowledge of other UN languages is an asset.

UN Women is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence