Consultancy: Support for the Development of a Regional Action Plan for Africa on EVAWG at Equality Now

About the Spotlight Initiative
 

The Spotlight Initiative is a global partnership between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. The Spotlight Initiative Africa Regional Program aims to address regional bottlenecks and support regional commitments towards Ending Violence against Women and Girls (EVAWG) including strengthening existing strategies and initiatives. The project contributes towards the achievements of gender equality and women’s empowerment as a precondition and driver for the achievement of the African Union Agenda 2063 Goal 17, and Sustainable Development Goal 5, and prioritizes strengthening existing strategies and initiatives, such as the AU Gender Strategy, the Gender Observatory, and the AU Campaign to end Child Marriage and AU Initiative on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

The Spotlight Initiative adopts a strategy of harnessing the respective strengths of multi-sectoral, multilevel partnerships which will support the acceleration of transformative change. This will be achieved through working with individual member states, the African Union (AU), the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the Pan-African Women Organization.

Rationale for the Development of the Regional Action Plan for Africa on EVAWG.

The development and rollout of a Regional Action Plan on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) including Sexual and Gender Based Violence/ Harmful Practices (SGBV/HP) and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights (SRH&RR) has as its purpose redressing the factors that have impeded progression towards the elimination of violence against women and girls on the African continent. The need for the Regional Action Plan is therefore pre

empted by the lack of a number of member states to prioritize the development and implementation of national Action Plans as well as poor commitment by regional and national partners to increase investment on EVAWG by integrating SGBV/HP and SRH&RR into the planning and budget frameworks; and the need to fast track, monitor, and report on member states’ compliance, commitment and achievement on EVAW. With only 26 countries out of 55 AU member states with NAPs on EVAWG, there is a need to have a regional framework to boost member states’ efforts to EVAWG. The proposed Regional Action Plan will serve as a regional framework that will guide regional partners and member states to translate global and regional commitments into strategies and actions to be undertaken at regional and national levels on ending violence against women and girls through the development of a Regional Action Plan with a Monitoring and Evaluation framework on EVAWG including SGBV/HP and SRH&RR.

The Process for the Development of the Regional Action Plan for Africa on EVAWG

The development of the Regional Action Plan is led by UNDP in collaboration with Equality Now. UNDP has recruited a team of consultants who are currently developing the Regional Action Plan for Africa on EVAWG. This process will involve a number of actions/ sub-activities:

• Regional consultations with different stakeholders including AU Member States, RECs, the AUC and CSOs
• Data collection and analysis
• Validation workshops for the Regional Action Plan at the regional level d. Rollout of the Regional Action Plan with an M&E Framework in collaboration with AUC, Regional Partners and Members States
• Responsibilities of the Consultant(s)

The consultant(s) shall have the overall responsibility of supporting Equality Now in offering technical expertise in the development of the Regional Action Plan and related activity actions including the regional consultations, review of the inception reports, draft action plan, regional validation reports and rollout of the Regional Action Plan and training manual.

• Scope of Work and Deliverables

The Consultant shall be expected to do the following in support of the development of the RAP:

• Review and give input to related documents - concept notes, agenda, regional action plan, training manual, training needs assessment tools etc
• Support the regional consultations - this entails offering technical support and guidance towards ensuring that the training manual and action plan are comprehensive, responsive to the needs and gaps and serves its intended purpose.
• Giving written comments, submissions on the different aspects above, in addition to attending meetings with Equality Now, UNDP, AUC and UNDP's consultant(s)
• Reviewing the inception reports, training needs assessment tools and training manual and give technical and comprehensive input on these
• Participating in the validation workshops - and identify areas of the training manual that may need to be revised, strengthened and also give technical advice on how to ensure buy in/ownership of the document by the different actors.
• Supporting the development of clear action plans reflected by different regional bodies during the consultation and validation workshops.
• Supporting the rollout of the Regional Action Plan and the Training Manual particularly to CSOs.
• Time Allocation

The consultant(s) is prescribed a timeline as follows:

• Onboarding and review of related documents- 3 days
• CSOs Regional pre- Consultative meeting in preparation for the Regional Consultative meeting - virtual, 2 December 2021
• Regional Consultative meeting with AU,RECs, Member States and CSOs on the Development of a Regional Action Plan on EVAWG- virtual, 6-8th December 2021
• Feedback from Consultative Meeting-3 days
• Review of regional action plan, training manual, training needs assessment tools etc-5 days
• Validation Workshop- 2022
• Rollout of Training Manual- 2022

It is estimated that the consultant (s) will offer support to Equality Now for an approximated 25- 30 days spread out over a period of not more than 5 months, from December 2021. As such, the estimated timelines above are indicative and meant for guidance only. Indicated dates may change.

Competencies

The following are required expertise and qualification of the Consultant(s):

• A postgraduate degree or other advanced university degree (a minimum of a master’s degree or equivalent) in law, gender or social sciences or any other relevant field. (In the case of a team of consultants, the lead consultant must have this minimum requirement)
• At least 7 years of professional experience in legal/ policy research and analysis related to international human rights law and/or gender equality in Africa. (Mandatory for the lead consultant in the case of a team of consultants)
• Prior experience in development of national or regional action plans on human rights as well as training manual development.
• Demonstrable experience in human rights, and particularly, the rights of women and girls in Africa. Experience working with women’s rights organisations is especially desirable.
• Demonstrable experience and ability to develop highly specialised analytical writing
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, a working knowledge of French would be an added advantage.
• Experience undertaking projects and related activity using a gender sensitive approach.
• Application Procedure