National Consultant to Facilitate a ToT Training for Women Human Rights Defenders’ Network -Uganda (WHRDN-U)

Background

1.  Background:

UN Women is part of the UN Agencies that are implementing the European Union-United Nations global, multi-year Spotlight initiative that focuses on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, harmful practices and promotion of sexual and reproductive health rights. The initiative is being implemented in partnership with the Government of Uganda, Non-Governmental Organizations, and Civil Society Organizations in 7 districts of Uganda including Tororo, Kasese, Kitgum, Amudat, Arua, Kyenjojo and Kampala.

The overall aim of Spotlight Initiative is to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It aims to address gender inequality and violence against women and girls (VAWG), including sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and harmful practices (HP) of child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) and to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) working closely with civil society, the private sector, religious and cultural leaders, and academia. Pillar 6 of the Spotlight Initiative which UN Women leads, aims to create a strong, vibrant, inclusive and active women’s movement in Uganda which engages on a wider range of issues and with non-traditional groups, reaches from national to local levels, and is held together by a shared set of core values, rather than a single issue or advocacy initiative. The vision is to see ‘an inclusive and strengthened women’s movement [constituted of women’s rights groups, autonomous social movements, advocates, civil society organisations, including those representing youth and groups facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination/marginalization, religious and cultural leaders, the private sector and other stakeholders] more effectively influence and advance progress on GEWE and VAWG, including SGBV/HP.

One of Pillar 6 strategic partners is the Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) Network Uganda. It  is a network of women that are active in human rights defense and play a critical role in promoting accountability and respect for international Human rights standards. They promote, protect and advance human rights related to gender equality.    WHRDs are  exposed to different forms of violence and attacks because of who they are and the work they do in the field of human rights. They are often targeted with particular forms of violence and hostility from the public, state actors, the media, faith-based groups, the community, family and other non-State actors. They experience gender-based verbal abuse based on their sex, the use of gender and sexual stereotypes to harm WHRDS’s reputation, their image and also delegitimize their work. Even the use of digital technology and techniques has exposed them to new technology related forms of violence and restrictions and with such laws to govern online spaces such as the Computer Misuse Act. WHRDs are confronted with surveillance and censorship. As the UN agency for women’s empowerment and gender equality,

UN Women has a critical role to proactively facilitate an enabling environment for the work of WHRDs, and to work with other entities to support WHRDs whose safety and lives are at risk. In that regard, Women Human Rights Defenders in Uganda have developed and adopted Safety and Security Guidelines with support from UN Women, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Women Human Rights Defender’s Network (WHRDN-U) in an effort to enhance their skills on human rights defense. 

It is against this background that UN Women is seeking to hire a consultant to facilitate the planned ToT workshop aimed at further equipping a pool of WHRD with knowledge on how to mitigate the impact of both online and offline attacks. Through this workshop a group of WHRDs from across the country will be brought together to equip them on how to use and popularize the WHRDs Safety and Security guidelines. The ToTs will be expected to cascade the training to other WHRDs.

Duties and Responsibilities

2.  General objective:

The general objective of the consultancy is to strengthen the capacity of WHRDs to utilize the WHRD safety guidelines to mitigate the impact of online and offline attacks against WHRDs. The guidelines will be used as basic safety tools for WHRDs in preventing and responding to attacks against them.

Specific objectives :

• Enhance the capacity of WHRD to utilize, popularize and disseminate the safety guidelines developed by UN Women in partnership with OHCHR and WHRD network.
• Further enhance the knowledge of WHRDs by providing knowledge on preventing and mitigating gender-based attacks, criminalization of their work, as well as physical and personal security management
• Offer practical strategies for enhancing WHRD’s safety on line and offline.
• Create a pool of women human rights defenders’ trainers.

3.  Scope of work:

Under the guidance of Programme Specialist at UN Women for Women Political Participation and leadership at UN Women, the Consultant will undertake the following tasks :

1. Conduct a pre capacity assessment to establish the areas of focus for the training
2. Develop simplified training modules for the TOT in collaboration with OHCHR, UNWOMEN and WHRD-N.
3. Design PowerPoint presentations and learning materials to be used in the ToT training for WHRDs as guided by UN Women.
4. Attend a planning meeting and facilitators’ de-briefing meeting to share feedback on the organization, content, discussions, and results of the training.
5. Conduct the ToT in an interactive manner, using various participatory and adult learning methodologies.
6. Finalise the training modules based on feedback from the ToTs, relevant agencies, and incorporating the lessons learnt from the TOT.
7. Submit to UN Women a quality report at the end of the training.

4.  Duration of the Consultancy and Deliverables:

The consultation is scheduled for 12 days according the chronogram below;

1. #	ACTIVITIES	TIMEFRAME	DELIVERABLES	% OF PAYMENT
   1	Conduct a pre capacity assessment to establish the areas of focus for the training	14th to 16th September 2022		20%
   2	Develop training modules		Simplified training modules
   3	Develop PowerPoint presentations and Learning materials to be used in the ToT training for WHRDs as guided by UN Women.		PowerPoint presentations
   4	Attend a planning meeting and facilitators’ de-briefing meeting to discuss content and expected results of the training.		Agreed modalities for the training materials and programme.
   5	Conduct the ToT in an interactive manner, using various participatory and adult learning methodologies	19th to 23rd September 2022	Training Report	50%
   6	Finalise the training modules based on feedback from the ToTs, relevant agencies, and incorporating the lessons learnt from the TOT.		Updated Training modules.
   7	Submit to UN Women a quality report at the end of the training.	26th to 29th September 2022	Training Report	30%

Competencies

5.1  Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

5.2  Core Competencies:

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

5.3  Functional Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling the UN values and ethical standards, shows commitment to UN Women’s mission vision, values and strategic goals.
• Demonstrates professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
• Strong adult facilitation and analytical skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and professional communication skills and abilities.
• Stays composed and positive even in difficult moments, can handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact and have consistent behavior towards others.
• Strong teamwork spirit and interpersonal skills demonstrated by the ability to gain the assistance and cooperation of others in a team endeavor.
• Ability to build trust through operating with transparency and creating an open, positive and enabling environment,
• Ability to work in multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.
• Sound judgement and decision-making skills with the ability to make effectively timely decisions.
• Ability to stay diplomatic and impartial and operate in a highly politicized environment.

Required Skills and Experience

6.  Education:

Minimum of Master’s degree in related fields including Mass communication, Gender and Women Studies, Computer Science, Information Technology, Development Studies, Social Sciences, computer sciences or other related discipline

7.  Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years of both national and international proven and substantive experience in designing and developing handbooks, manuals on online or offline in relation to protection of WHRDs generally.
• At least 3 years’ experience in the field of Human rights, Women’s rights, preferably in the context of Human Rights Defenders.
• Demonstrates knowledge of violence against WHRDs in the context of both online and Offline
• At least 3 years of experience in designing, planning and conducting trainings on safety for WHRDs generally
• Track record in developing specific safety guidelines for WHRDs
• Demonstrated knowledge of the shrinking Civic Space
• Familiar with feminist and gender approach to documentation of women’s stories.
• Proven experience in writing manuals, booklets etc.

7.1  Other essential qualities:

• Possess excellent team spirit and be able to work in a multi-cultural environment;
• Demonstrate open-mindedness, objectivity and impartiality in all circumstances;
• Demonstrate knowledge of key principles of confidentiality, dignity of WHRDs, do-no- harm in the course of carrying out the assignment activities.

7.2  Application Procedure:

Interested qualified individual consultants must apply online by latest by 25th August 2022 . Candidates should submit one PDF File attachment containing:

1. a letter of interest,
2. a personal CV and
3. UN Women P11 dully filled form with at least three (3) professional references (UN Women Personal History Form (P11), can be downloaded at: http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
4. technical and financial proposal.

Note: The above documents need to be submitted and uploaded to the online application system as one document. Please scan and attach your CV as well as copy of certificate of your highest academic qualification.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Candidates will be selected based on cumulative analysis of:

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight [70%]

• Financial/Price Proposal (100 points) weight [30%]

A two-stage procedure will be utilised in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.