Consultant, Gender and the SDGs Advocacy at International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)

Job description

Project Background and Rationale: After several years of partnering to advance first the Millennium Development Goals, and now the Sustainable Development Goals alongside a number of women’s rights organizations, development agencies, and other stakeholders in the East Africa Region; ICRW seeks a consultant to help us identify ways in which our research products and policy analysis could be brought to bear in the advocacy space. We are particularly interested in how we might infuse a women’s rights and gender equality perspective into ongoing discussions about the achievement of Goal 5, and the mainstreaming of gender equality through the implementation, monitoring and learning processes across all goals.

Objectives: Explore opportunities to engage in movement-building and leverage ICRW research for policy impact in the region, starting with Kenya. The consultant will support the Acting Director, Africa Region, in creating linkages with existing coalitions engaging in the SDGs space, women’s rights organizations and movements, and other regional bodies engaged in this work. The final deliverable will be a written report with their findings on opportunities for further engagement for ICRW.

Length of the assignment: February to April 2019

Specific Responsibilities Of The Consultant

Inception meeting (1 day) : An inception meeting will be held with the Acting Africa Director and ICRW’s Director of Policy and Advocacy and Global Policy Advocate to understand advocacy at ICRW, the program’s aims and more details on the scope of the assignment.

Stakeholder mapping, desk review, and development of ICRW regional advocacy entry strategy (5 days): The consultant will carry out a comprehensive mapping of all relevant gender and SDG related stakeholders across all relevant sectors in East Africa (with a particular focus on Kenya). The consultant will familiarize themselves with current ICRW research priorities and projects based in the region as well as the ICRW advocacy strategy, in particular as regards the SDGs. The consultant will develop a regional advocacy entry strategy to accompany the stakeholder mapping that is based on ICRW’s advocacy priorities. The Consultant will meet with the ICRW Africa Director and ICRW Policy and Advocacy Director to report out on initial analysis of synergies with current advocacy platforms and opportunities s/he is aware of, and develop a pitch for external partners.

External Consultations (12 days): The consultant will conduct outreach to prospective partner organizations engaged in the SDG advocacy space to assess their current campaigns and identify opportunities for ICRW to bring a gender lens to that work. As feasible, the consultant will also conduct a few meetings with representatives of relevant line ministries in the Kenyan Government to discuss their progress on implementation of Goal 5 and gender mainstreaming in the wider SDG agenda. The consultant write up a summary of these interviews and submit to the Directors for review and a debriefing meeting to discuss recommendations and a plan of action forward. As necessary, the Consultant may represent ICRW at specific meetings and then report back to the Directors.

Final report (3 days): The consultant will write up their findings on opportunities for engagement in SDG advocacy in a final report of no more than 10 pages, including summary analysis, key contacts and recommendations for ICRW’s regional advocacy activities moving forward.