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.

UN Women Liberia Country Office contributes to its global corporate mandate to make the vision of the sustainable Development Goals a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life. Its main objective is to promote women’s human rights and gender equality which are key in sustaining and furthering achievements in stability and development.  In this regard, its programming in the Country is connected to four corporate priority areas: (1) women’s leadership and political participation; (2) enhancing women’s economic empowerment; (3) engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; and (4) advancing women’s rights to live free from violence. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s joint work in advancing gender equality.

About the assignment

Liberia has made significant strides in its efforts to eliminate female genital mutilation (FGM), a harmful practice that involves the removal or injury of external female genital organs for non-medical reasons. At least 200 million women and girls in 31 countries worldwide have been affected by FGM. In Liberia, an estimated 50 per cent of women and girls aged between 15 and 49 years have undergone FGM. FGM affects many women and girls both physically and psychologically, preventing them from realizing their rights and full potential.

Although Liberia is party to several international and regional human rights conventions and protocols calling for the protection of women and girls from FGM, such as the Maputo Protocol, in which Article 5 calls explicitly on State Parties to ban all forms of FGM through legislative measures, which Liberia ratified in 2008, the country does not have a law to criminalise FGM. It remains one of three countries in the region that does not have a law to criminalise FGM.

To eliminate the harmful practice, a landmark proclamation to ban FGM throughout Liberia was made by Chief Zanzan Karwor, the Chairperson of the National Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia (NACCEL) in Sonkay Town, Montserrado County on 6 February 2023 during the commemoration of the International Day for Zero Tolerance Against FGM. Traditional rites and closing ceremonies to mark the ban of FGM in other FGM-practicing counties are expected to take place soon. FGM is practiced in eleven out of fifteen Counties in Liberia. Further to the FGM ban implementation in Montserrado County, (one  out of 11 FGM-practicing counties in Liberia).  To support this initiative and ensure information dissemination on the ban of the practice, there is need to conduct massive awareness campaigns on the ban in all parts of the country to ensure that communities are receptive to public information efforts to support the elimination of FGM .

Rationale

The media play a pivotal role to inform and educate the public about the ban on FGM and increase public understanding about the implications of the practice. The media also have a role to set the agenda and help to determine what topics become the focus of public attention and interest, and they can influence what issues are perceived as a priority.

As the fourth estate, the media have a significant role to play in helping end FGM in Liberia by exposing abuses of power and holding authorities to account for the harmful practice and human rights violations as well as question the absence of laws that criminalise FGM despite signing of conventions. They also have the potential to influence public opinion as well as policy makers’ decisions. A cursory survey of media reportage on FGM showed that, some media practitioners are not objective when reporting about FGM. Some reports also show a lack of understanding of the critical issues around FGM.

In support to traditional leaders’ efforts to implement the FGM ban in Liberia, UN Women is organizing a media training workshop to increase the knowledge of media practitioners in Liberia to report on FGM in an objective, constructive and gender sensitive manner. During the workshop, media practitioners will be equipped with information on the status of FGM in Liberia, its impact on women and girls and the planned activities on the closure of Bush schools. They will also be informed about the importance of reporting about FGM in a gender sensitive manner and advocating for the elimination of FGM. We are therefore seeking to recruit a media training consultant to conduct the training.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective

• To capacitate the media to report about FGM in an objective and gender sensitive manner.
• To conscientise the media about their role in advocating for the elimination of FGM in Liberia
• To raise awareness about the status on the ban of female genital mutilation in Liberia
• To promote professionalism and ethical conduct of media personnel on issues affecting women and girls and support the development and dissemination of culturally sensitive media content.
• To encourage collaboration between journalists and end FGM actors to accelerated interventions towards the eradication of the practice.

• organise a media workshop for media practitioners to update them on the status of FGM in Liberia and provide training on objective and gender sensitive reporting on FGM.
• Develop a training manual on reporting about FGM in an objective and gender sensitive manner
• Launch media award for the best stories on elimination of FGM.  Award to be given on FGM Day in 2024
• Create a media cluster as a bold structure to consistently challenge FGM through reporting

Expected Deliverables

• Training materials
• Technical guidelines for sensitive reporting on FGM
• Training report

Institutional Arrangements

The consultant will work with the UN Women Communications team under the overall supervision of the Country Representative.

Duration of the Work

The actual training will take place for three days.

Duty Station

The duty station is Monrovia.

Competencies

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. One-page explaining why they are the most suitable for the work;
2. Detailed methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work;
3. Financial proposal;
4. The financial proposal shall specify an all-inclusive daily fee. Payments will be made to the Individual Consultant based on specific and measurable deliverables as specified in the TOR upon completion of all deliverables.
5. Selection criteria will be based on 70 percent technical capacity and 30 percent financial proposal

Required Skills and Experience

Required Qualification

1. The consultant must possess a Masters’ Degree in Journalisn and Media Studies.
2. Must have the requisite expertise and at least five years experience in media training on FGM
3. Must have knowledge about ethical practise of the media
4. Must have knowledge on FGM

Language Requirements

Fluency (both verbal and written) in English.