National Consultant to Develop a Harmonized Strategy and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Engagement with Peace Huts and Atayee Centers

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

UN Women’s goal in Liberia is to promote women’s human rights and gender equality which are key in sustaining and furthering achievements in stability and development. In this regard, its programming in the Country is connected to four strategic priorities: Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems; Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy; All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence; Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience, and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s joint work in advancing gender equality.

UN Women Liberia is implementing a joint program with UNFPA and OHCHR called the “Youth Promotion Initiative – Accelerating Digital Opportunities for Youth Civic Participation as a lever for Building and Sustaining Peace in Liberia” (2024 – 2026). The project goal is to increase opportunities for youth participation in decision making processes through the digitalization of existing youth and women-led informal platforms. This will be achieved by transforming the youth-led “Atayee centers” and women-led Peace Huts into spaces where youth can meaningfully participate in political and intergenerational dialogues, interact with political actors, women leaders, mentors, traditional and religious leaders, and other state actors, and connect to formal civic platforms using a digital interface.

Since 2009, UN Women began working with Peace Huts at the community level to enhance women’s participation in peacebuilding and decision-making, and to empower them economically, among other aims. The Peace Huts initiative was a homegrown initiative led by women that offer a space for women to engage in mediating local disputes, act as watchdogs over justice delivery services, prevent gender-based violence (GBV) and refer GBV survivors to support services. Over the years, this initiative has proven to be a viable mechanism for addressing perspectives on peacebuilding, including past, present, and future initiatives. To date, UN Women have recorded 30 active Peace Huts in 15 counties.

The Atayee Centres were established after the Civil War as a mechanism to increase public awareness about political issues as well as discuss various cultural and social issues. The main objective of the centres is to unite, seek, strengthen, and advance intellectual, social, political, traditional, and developmental practices through intellectualism. Today, several of the centres work as a platform for citizens to interact with leading political leaders and policymakers, which provides a good entry point, especially for impoverished young people, to both gain more information and awareness on ongoing and trending policy dialogues and to enter and impact the decision-making process. While the centers provide a good entry point for youth participation and civic engagement, they still face several challenges that must be addressed to ensure an inclusive and effective platform for young women’s participation and engagement. One of the most prominent challenges is the male dominant management structure, which requires targeted activities to increase female participation in both the leadership structure and as members.

The joint program with UNFPA and OHCHR called the “Youth Promotion Initiative – Accelerating Digital Opportunities for Youth Civic Participation as a lever for Building and Sustaining Peace in Liberia” will be implemented in two counties: Montserrado and Lofa. One key activity under this project is to revise the Standard Operating Procedures for the Peace Huts and Atayee centers in collaboration with youth-led organizations to integrate civic discussion, the participation of young women and the intergenerational dialogue

Under the overall guidance and management of the UN Women Deputy Country Representative and direct supervision of the Women, Peace, and Security Programme Specialist, UN Women is therefore planning to recruit a national consultant to develop a Harmonized Strategy for the engagement with the Peace Huts and a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Peace Huts and Atayee Center. The national consultant will consult with Peace Hut, Atayee Centers and other stakeholders to develop/revise a harmonized strategy for engagement with the Peace Huts, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the Peace Huts and Atayee centers and support the elections of the National Peace Hut structure in Liberia in undertaking this task. 

Duties and Responsibilities

In close collaboration with the Peace Huts, Atayee Centers, and other youth-led and women-led organizations, the Consultant will perform the following tasks:

Task 1:  Desk Review and development of the inception plan

• Conduct a desk review of existing literature, documentary and relevant documents including the existing SOPs, By-laws, and management structures of Peace Hut and Atayee centers.
• Conduct preliminary consultations with the Peace Huts leadership and review all peace hut related materials.
• Consult Atayee Centers, UN Women, and other UN and international and local partners, youth-led and women-led CSOs and develop an inception plan.

Task 2:  Update and develop the SOPs for the Peace Huts and Atayee Centers

• Conduct an evaluation of the current SOPs to determine what worked well and what did not and what lessons were learned in connection to the mainstreaming of youth and women participation
• Revise the SOPs with a clear focus on youth mainstreaming for the Peace Huts and gender mainstreaming for the Atayee Centers.
• Develop a concept note to facilitate the validation workshop on the revised SOPs.
• Facilitate the validation workshop.
• Incorporate recommendations from participants into the draft SOPs.
• Submit the revised validated SOPs

Task 3: Development of a Harmonized Strategy for the engagement with the Peace Huts

• Hold a half day stakeholders’ consultation with all partners supporting the peace hut (Develop concept note, PowerPoint presentations, agenda and run of the show)
• Hold a one-day workshop with National Peace Hut leadership and other peace hut (Develop concept note, agenda, presentations)
• Draft Harmonized strategy based on information gathered from desk review, workshop, and consultations
• Hold a working session to validate the strategy
• Submit endorsed a Harmonized Strategy for the engagement with the Peace Huts

Task 4. Strengthen the capacity of the leadership of the Peace Huts and Atayee Centers towards the implementation of the SOPs 

• Develop training materials on the implementation of the SOP’s to be approved by UN Women
• Conduct TOT training for the leadership of the Peace Huts and Atayee Centers on the implementation of the SOPs.
• submit a final training report measuring changes in knowledge and skills by pre and post-tests.

Task 5: Submit final consultant report with all documents developed and recommendations to take forward.

Deliverables 

Deliverables	Expected completion time (due day)	Payment Schedule (optional)
Inception plan to develop a Harmonized Strategy for the engagement with the Peace Huts and a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Peace Huts and Atayee Center	18th July 2024	July 2024
Validated Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Peace Huts and Atayee Center	9th August 2024	August 2024
Endorsed harmonized Strategy for the engagement with the Peace Huts	23 August 2024	September 2024
Training report on the implementation of the SOPs (with pre and posttest analysis)	6th September 2024	September 2024
Final consultancy report	13th September 2024	September 2024

Competencies

Core Values: 

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies: 

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:  

 

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: 

• Excellent research and analytical skills
• Excellent workshop facilitating skills
• Excellent knowledge about key international resolutions for youth empowerment and gender equality

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Gender Studies, Social Science, .or a related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A project/Programme management certification would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of experience in the field of policy making and organizational development with emphasis on Human Rights, Gender Equality, peace and security and Youths.
• Proven experience facilitating high-level consultative workshops and dialogues for institution at national and local level.
• Prior proven experience in strengthening the capacity of women and youth-led organizations and networks gender, youth, and peacebuilding human rights.
• Proven experience in developing policies or strategies is a MUST.
• Knowledge of Monitoring and Results-based Management.
• Excellent English communication and writing skills; (Samples of previous work will be required.)

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of any other UN official language is an asset

How To Apply 

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: )
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.

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