Gender and Governance Analysis Consultant at International Rescue Committee International Rescue Committee

Consultancy Assignment: Study to Assess the Participation of Displacement Affected Women and Girls in Formal Decision Making Processes in Turkana and Garissa, Kenya.

Background:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their lives. The IRC operates in more than 40 countries and has operated in Kenya since 1992, providing health care, women’s protection and empowerment, governance and rights, and nutrition services to hundreds of thousands of refugees and the Kenyan communities in Garissa, Turkana and Nairobi counties.

As a global leader in transforming the lives of women and girls, our programmes focus on prevention and response to violence against women and girls; narrowing the gender gap and ensuring the equality of women and girls so that all gender and age groups enjoy the same rights and opportunities. In Kenya, the IRC is implementing a 3-year project Addressing the Impact of Conflict and Displacement on Women and Girls to support communities affected by displacement to enhance the quality of participation of women and girls in formal socio-economic development processes. The project specifically targets refugees and host communities in Turkana and Garissa counties. It seeks to identify and support the development of replicable models for effective leadership and meaningful participation by displacement affected women and girls through advocacy in socio-economic development processes that affect their safety and wellbeing.

A consultant is required to establish the current status of women and girls’ inclusion in formal socio-economic decision making. By documenting and analyzing the current legal and policy framework and informal norms and practices around women’s engagement in socioeconomic development processes, the consultant will identify barriers, risks and opportunities. The findings will inform potential entry points for support towards building the capacity of women and girls to influence socio-economic development.

Scope of Work:

The analysis should provide qualitative information on the degree to which host and refugee women and girls participate in socio-economic development processes in Turkana and Garissa counties so as to identify priorities for capacity strengthening and advocacy for women’s socioeconomic inclusion. In this sense, the analysis should build on existing research and the current experiences of women and girls and should at a minimum meet the following criteria:

• Map and analyse current involvement of host and refugee women and girls in formal decision making processes, and the degree to which their needs/priorities are reflected in camp-based development plans, county integrated development plans and national development plans
• Obtain the views of host and refugee women and girls on their current level of participation in socioeconomic development processes, the challenges and barriers that stop them from participating, recognizing unequal power and control that promote violence against women and girls, opportunities for strengthening their role and influence in a safe manner, and assessing their leadership capacities and needs.
• Based on desk research and interviews with representatives of local government institutions, outline the legal and policy framework for public participation by host and refugee women and girls in local socio-economic development planning and analyse the extent to which they enable women and girls to effectively participate free from violence.
• Map regional and national institutions with a mandate and capacity to act for gender equality for displacement affected communities (NGOs, donors, International Organizations, International Financial Institutions, line ministries, gender equality national machineries, etc.) and an analysis of current initiatives to build women and girls’ leadership and ability to advocate for their needs in socioeconomic development processes.
• Provide recommendations on entry points, objectives/ opportunities for policy reform and political dialogue that promotes host and refugee women and girls’ participation and inclusion at all levels, and project components designed to elevate the voice and perspectives of women and girls in local socio-economic decision making.

Deliverables:

• Inception paper detailing the conceptual framework for undertaking the study, indicating the methodology, tools, report outline and results-based delivery framework for the research.
• A final report (no more than 30 pages) highlighting the safety and protection of women and girls against violence and the opportunities for supporting both host and refugee women and girls to increase their leadership and participation in socioeconomic development processes in Garissa and Turkana.

Timeframe: The consultancy should not exceed 20 days of work.

Qualifications:

• A post-graduate degree in social sciences or another relevant field with training in the field of gender and development
• Over 10 years’ experience conducting gender studies with evidence of publications or field reports on gender issues in East Africa.
• Experience implementing context and/or political economy analyses.
• Ability to communicate in English and Kiswahili and in local languages in Turkana and Garissa is an added advantage