Consultant to design CHANGE capacity building for human rights defenders (HRDs) and those working on gender equality

Background:

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is implementing a "Capitalizing on Human Dimension Mandate to Advance Gender Equality (CHANGE)” project. The CHANGE project is designed as a policy and innovation project. It attempts to address the status quo where the desired change in advancing gender equality has not yet materialized fully. Further considerable advances depend on gender transformative approaches. Thus, the CHANGE project integrates the most prominent elements and approaches from across ODIHR's mandate required to address the existing obstacles to gender equality. It is an intervention that creates opportunities for individuals and institutions to actively challenge gender norms, promote positions of social and political influence for women in communities, and address power inequalities between persons of different genders in five project target countries. 

The project activates CHANGE at the individual, collective and institutional levels. At the individual level, the project will target both women and men to shift discriminatory attitudes and stereotypes, in particular toward women's leadership and empowerment. At the collective level, CHANGE will be promoted by supporting women's networks, movements and human rights organizations. It will reach out to government bodies, religious, community-based and other organizations that can have a positive impact on de jure and de facto gender equality. Coming together, women and male allies will be able to formulate strategies for change, channel their voices and challenge existing power structures. At the institutional level, the project will support policy making and strengthening democratic institutions to make them (more) gender responsive and inclusive in decision-making. Such institutions will be able to better formulate and deliver on OSCE commitments related to gender equality and women's human rights standards.

Building on its long-standing engagement on the protection of human rights defenders (HRDs), in June 2014 the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) published the Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, available in eight languages. Since then ODIHR has worked to make the Guidelines known to the general public and to specific audiences, such as government officials, the media, other OSCE executive structures and HRDs themselves. National events to promote the Guidelines in Belgrade, Bishkek and Budapest, among other activities, were organized with this aim. ODIHR has also made efforts to stimulate dialogue between HRDs and state authorities, to support HRDs' participation in public decision making, to build the capacity of HRDs in human rights monitoring/reporting and their safety and security, and to raise the profile of HRDs and their work in public and political discourse.

ODIHR requires the services of an experienced professional who will design specific exercises and adapt ODIHRs Human Rights Monitoring and Safety and Security curriculum for HRDs working on Gender Equality.

Objectives:

The overall objective of the curriculum on human rights monitoring methodology and safety and security is to build HRDs’ capacity for observing, assessing and reporting on situations where there are credible allegations of serious violations of human rights; as well as to provide HRDs with the tools and skills to tackle issues related to their security, including digital security, particularly when carrying out human rights work in hostile or higher risk environments.  The curriculum will be adapted to the specific needs and situations faced by HRDs working on gender equality in CHANGE target countries.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

Under the supervision of Human Rights Advisor/Capacity Building Co-ordinator and CHANGE Project ManagerOfficer, the Consultant will perform the following responsibilitiesshall: 

1. Review the HRMSS curriculum, in close coordination with ODIHR representatives, The review will include a one-day remote consultation session (2 Days)
2. Develop and conduct a needs assessment (remote) with a group of 10 “beginner” HRDs working on Gender Equality to identify needs related to knowledge and skills on human rights monitoring and safety and security (3 Days)
3. Develop specific case studies, exercises and quizzes for each module of the 3 days human rights monitoring training, adapting it to the needs HRDs working on gender equality (6 Days)
4. Adapt each module of the 2 days safety and security curricula to the needs of HRDs working on gender equality, including exercises, case studies and quizzes (4 Days) 
5. Present a final draft to the Capacity Building team and operate needed modifications and revisions (2 Days)
6. Record a short video clip for the FreedomLab online platform on how to Gender mainstream Human Rights Monitoring. The filming will be assisted by ODIHR’s video editor (2 Days)

Qualifications:

The successful candidate will have the following qualifications: 

• Master degree in law, human rights, political science, sociology, non-discrimination or related area; 
• Six (6) years of relevant professional experience in areas relating to international policy, international human rights law, advocacy and human rights monitoring in particular related to issues of Gender Equality, including security.  
• Proven track record of successfully implementing and adjusting training sessions for human rights defenders and civil society organizations; 
• Thorough understanding of international human rights standards and OSCE human dimension commitments;
• Excellent knowledge of human rights monitoring methodologies and approaches;   
• Excellent English written and oral communication skills;
• Demonstrated gender and cultural awareness, and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities;
• Relevant professional experience in human rights monitoring in the OSCE region is considered an asset.

Deliverables and performance indicators

1. Deliverable 1 - Drafted and submitted a short report of the review process with conclusions and proposals – within 10 days upon contract signing.
2. Deliverable 2  - Drafted and submitted a report of the remote needs assessment exercise – within 20 days upon contract signing.
3. Deliverable 3  - Drafted and submitted adjusted and complete exercises and case studies for human rights monitoring modules and safety and security modules, adjusted according to the experiences and evaluation forms of the training sessions – within 40 days upon contract signing.

Consultancy period: 25 October 2021 – 8 December 2021 

The number of working days envisaged: 19 working days 

Location: Home based

Remuneration Package:

Remuneration will be based on the selected consultant’s/expert’s qualifications, experience, the tasks and deliverables for this position and in accordance with the OSCE established rates.

If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://jobs.osce.org/vacancies.

If you are not a national of a participating State, you must apply by submitting an offline application form which can be found under https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/offline-application-form.

The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment or to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.

Only those candidates who are selected to participate in the subsequent stages of recruitment will be contacted.

The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply to become a part of the Organization. 

Candidates should be aware that OSCE officials shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting the status of an international civil servant. This includes avoiding any action which may adversely reflect on the integrity, independence and impartiality of their position and function as officials of the OSCE. The OSCE is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. For more information on the values set out in OSCE Competency Model, please see https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/our-competency-model.

Please be aware that the OSCE does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process.