National Lead Consultant to Conduct Inter-community Dialogues on Peacebuilding, Collective Leadership, and Women’s Engagement in Communities (Local post for nationals of Sri Lanka)

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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system’s efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts towards building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

 

The UN Security Council Resolution 1325, unanimously adopted in October 2000, stressed the importance of the equal participation and full involvement of women in all efforts to maintain and promote peace and security. In the years since, seven additional resolutions on Women, Peace and Security have been adopted, creating a robust framework for implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda and reinforcing global commitments, treaties and conventions on women’s rights, including the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. To deliver these commitments at the national level, the United Nations has encouraged Member States to adopt policies to implement the resolutions and monitor the progress of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, including National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security.

 

In Sri Lanka, the Government adopted country’s first-ever National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security in February 2023. The development of this National Action Plan was led by the Ministry of Women, Child Affairs, and Social Empowerment, with technical support from UN Women in partnership with the Government of Japan, in consultation with Sri Lankan women across all 25 districts of the country. Following the adoption of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, UN Women is committed to support the implementation of the Women Peace and Security agenda through the increased engagement of national and local level government authorities, civil society organisations, women leaders and the development community.

 

Against this background, UN Women is seeking to hire a National Lead Consultant to conduct Inter-community, Multi-stakeholder Dialogues (IMDs) at grassroot level to promote women’s engagement in peacebuilding through collective leadership. IMDs are conceptualised and implemented under the project “Pathways to Peace: Realizing the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security in Sri Lanka” with the funding support from the Government of Japan. The IMDs are expected to engage community-level women leaders, local-level government officials, CSO representatives, religious bodies, media representatives in Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Mannar and Mullaitivu districts. IMDs will be accompanied by capacity building and workplan development workshops as mentioned below under Section 02.

 

The National Lead Consultant will be reporting to the Head of Office of UN Women Sri Lanka, and will be supported by the Project Officer, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

 

Duties and Responsibilities

 

Under the supervision and guidance of the UN Women Head of Office of Sri Lanka, the National Lead Consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks, with the support of a Co-facilitator, a Coordinator and a Rapporteur. The Co-facilitator, and the coordinator will assist the National Lead Consultant with mobilising the participants for the IMDs and the accompanying activities and the rapporteur will develop district-specific reports from the IMDs and the follow-up workshops. The National Lead Consultant will remain accountable for the timely submission of the deliverables as per the timeline given below. The National Lead Consultant’s duties and responsibilities have been defined as follows:

 

No.	Duties and Responsibilities
1.	Develop the inception report for the execution of the Inter-community Dialogues and the accompanying programmes, in consultation with UN Women. The inception report should consist of the methodology, including the criteria for the selection of participants, mapping of potential participants, programme flow, workplan and the timeline for the components of the consultancy.
2.	Convene and facilitate 08 Inter-community, Multi-stakeholder Dialogues (IMDs) at the selected districts below. IMDs will aim to provide inclusive space for diverse stakeholders, including women for exchange of ideas to foster collaboration and consensus-building for social cohesion. Each IMD will be for 3 days and be convened as residential workshops as per the tentative schedule below.             District          Division      No. of days     Tentative Dates    Mannar (in Jaffna)         Division 1           3      22-24 July 2024         Division 2           3      25-27 July 2024    Mullaitivu         Division 1           3      29-31 July 2024         Division 2           3      1-3 August 2024    Batticaloa        Division 1           3      12-14 August 2024        Division 2           3      15-17 August 2024    Anuradhapura         Division 1           3      22-24 August 2024        Division 2           3      26-28 August 2024   The National Lead Consultant is also expected to provide technical support to the rapporteur to finalise the reports following its completion of the Dialogues.
3.	Conduct a rapid training needs assessment to identify the training needs of the participants as discussed during the IMDs. The rapid needs assessment should be less than 40 pages and the report can be submitted in any of the local languages (Sinhala/ Tamil) or in English.   National Lead Consultant will be supported by the two Assistant Consultants with the data collection process.
4.	Develop a capacity building training module on collective leadership for peacebuilding and governance for the programme based on the findings of the rapid needs assessment and the outcomes of the IMDs. Training modules are expected to be finalised in one of the local languages (Sinhala or Tamil) or in English.
5.	Convene and facilitate 08 workshops for capacity building and workplan development as per the schedule below.            District          Division     No. of days      Tentative Dates    Mannar (in Jaffna)         Division 1           3    21-23 October 2024         Division 2           3    24-26 October 2024    Mullaitivu         Division 1           3    4-6 November 2024         Division 2           3    7-9 November 2024    Batticaloa         Division 1           3    18-20 November 2024         Division 2           3    21-23 November 2024    Anuradhapura         Division 1           3    25-27 November 2024         Division 2           3    28-30 November 2024   National Lead Consultant is expected to prepare a detailed report with the proceedings of the capacity building and workplan development workshops. The report can be submitted in one of the local languages (Sinhala or Tamil), or in English.
6,	Conduct 08 follow-up assessment workshops at each project location as per the tentative schedule given below.              District         Division       No. of days      Tentative Dates    Mannar (in Jaffna)         Division 1             1     5 February 2025         Division 2             1     6 February 2025    Mullaitivu         Division 1             1     7 February 2025         Division 2             1     8 February 2025    Batticaloa        Division 1             1     10 February 2025        Division 2             1     11 February 2025    Anuradhapura        Division 1             1     13 February 2025         Division 2             1     14 February 2025   The National Lead Consultant is also expected to provide technical support to the rapporteur to finalise the district reports.
7.	Record the proceedings from the dialogues and accompanying programmes and submit a final outcome-based report devising specific recommendations for follow-up action.

 

 

Deliverables

No.	Deliverables	Expected completion time (due day)
1.1	Draft Inception Report	10 May 2024
1.2	Finalised Inception Report Note: Deliverable should be finalised in line with the feedback given by UN Women	20 May 2024
2.1	Completion of the 08 IMDs in the selected project districts.	30 August 2024
2.2	A brief report indicating the technical feedback given to finalise district-specific IMD reports.	15 September 2024
3.1	Draft Rapid Needs Assessment Report	10 September 2024
3.2	Finalised Rapid Training Needs Assessment Report	15 September 2024
4.1	Draft Training Module on Collective Leadership for Peacebuilding.	30 September 2024
4.2	Finalised Training Module on Collective Leadership for Peacebuilding Note: Deliverable should be finalised in line with the feedback given by UN Women	05 October 2024
5.1	Completion of 08 Capacity Building and Workplan Development Workshops at the project districts.	30 November 2024
5.2	A detailed report following the completion of the Capacity Building and Workplan Development Workshops.	30 December 2024
6.1	Completion of the 08 Follow-up Workshops in the project 4 districts	15 February 2025
6.2	A brief report indicating the technical feedback given to finalise district-specific reports of the Follow-up workshops.	20 February 2025
7.1	Draft Final report	20 February 2025
7.2	Finalised final report. Note: Deliverable should be finalised in line with the feedback given by UN Women	28 February 2025

 

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

 

The consultancy is expected to be started on 22 April 2024 and continue until 28 February 2025. The National Lead Consultant is expected to visit the project locations to undertake the project activities, if travel is not restricted by national health authorities or UN Women due to the COVID 19 health emergency. For all travel, the cost of most economic and direct travel on mission must be pre-approved by the Head of Office of UN Women Sri Lanka and will be reimbursed following UN Women travel guidelines. Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) and travel costs in compliance with UN Women Travel Guideline will be reimbursed to the consultant at actual amount upon submission of receipts and travel stubs. 

 

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:  

 

 

Required Skills and Experience

 

Education and Certification:
 

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Conflict and Peace Studies, Gender and Development, International Relations, Public Administration, Law, Human Rights 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.

 

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible work experience in working on programmes on peacebuilding and reconciliation, governance and WPS.
• Previous experience in conducting training programmes for women and youth on women’s leadership in governance and peacebuilding is required.
• Experience of working with provincial/local levels of governments is required.
• Excellent analytical skills with strong drive for results and capacity to work independently.

 

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Sinhala or Tamil is required.

 

How to Apply

 

Interest candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to with cc to   no later than 16 April 2024.

 

Submission package includes:

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: )
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• Sample training modules developed for similar assignments
• Writing sample of research studies/reports/assessments
  

 

Payments

 

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will be based on the number of days worked in correlation to the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes. Payments will be made upon submission of deliverables with an approval of the Head of Office of UN Women Sri Lanka

 

 

Diversity and Inclusion Statement

 

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

 

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

 

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)