National Consultant, Women Peace & Security (WPS) at UN Women

Objective of the Assignment:

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Programme Manager, Women Peace and Security and the WPS Section of UN Women Head Quarters, the Consultant will form and lead a team to undertake the studies in each of the three states, and offer options and experience drawn from international best practice.  The Consultant will engage relevant stakeholders, including Government Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs), CSOs, Development Partners, Security Agencies and exiting Peace Committees in each state, with clear collaborative roles in the implementation, monitoring and reporting of relevant elements of the peace architecture. The consultants will also assess the activities and plans of other donors – notably the National Stability and Reconciliation Programme of UK DfID – as well as of other UN Agencies such as UNDP, to ensure substantive coordination and synergy wherever possible.

The specific objectives of the assignment is to review the existing peace and security architecture in Adamawa, Plateau and Gombe States  from a gender and human rights perspective and provide recommendations to strengthen the system for sustainable peace and security.

Tasks:

• Form a technical research/review team, lead and coordinate the processes involved in the review of Peace and  Security Architecture in Adamawa, Plateau and Gombe States;
• Undertake desk reviews of relevant peace and security literature and documentation in Nigeria, with special focus on gender dimension in Northern Nigeria;
• Undertake a gender analysis of existing peace and security architectures globally with the aim of documenting best practices and lessons learned;
• Review and document findings and lessons learned from other international experiences of integrating gender perspective in contexts of conflict and insecurity, and bring value addition  into the Northern Nigeria WPS programme;
• Develop relevant research instruments and methodology;
• Engage local data collectors at federal and state levels to generate information required to strengthen existing peace and security architecture in target states from a gender perspective;
• Collect relevant gender disaggregated data at federal and state levels on existing peace and security mechanisms, including Early Warning and Early Response, Local Peace and Security structures and their capacity to reduce insecurity;
• Drawing from the baseline survey of the Northern Nigeria Women Peace and Security Programme,  identify gaps and needs particularly in the engagement of women in peace and security in the three states of focus, and the impact of violent conflicts and insurgency in neighboring states of Yobe and Borno;
• Based on the findings of the baseline survey and other primary and secondary data, develop a Gender Sensitive Peace Architecture for each of the target states;
• Drawing from review findings, both locally and internationally, identify opportunities for mainstreaming gender perspectives in peace and security frameworks in Northern Nigeria.

Methodology:  

It is expected that the Consultant would adopt participatory methodologies at every stage of the process, involving all relevant stakeholders at federal and state levels. This will involve gap analysis, focus group discussions (where appropriate), community dialogue, key informant interviews (KIIs) with selected Stakeholders, memoranda from relevant stakeholders(especially the Civil Society Organizations), Validation/Review Meetings with Stakeholders, Desk Review of existing local, national and international documents and instruments in relevant areas, amongst others to achieve expected outputs.

Scope of Work:

The review of the existing Peace and Security architecture from a gender and human rights perspective will be conducted in Adamawa, Plateau and Gombe States, as well as Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. Efforts will be made to concentrate more on each of the state capitals and the selected Local Government Areas (LGAs) for Programme implementation (i.e. four LGAs per state).

The Consultant will be supported by team members to:

• develop the research/review methodology for the assignment;
• conduct data analysis of key findings, and provide comprehensive report, with substantive  recommendations to stakeholders at all levels;
• facilitate stakeholders validation meetings in each of the target states on key findings, gaps analysis and recommendations, as  well as the revised version of peace and security architecture in each of the target states; 
• develop a comprehensive peace and security architecture from a gender and human rights perspective in each of the target states, reflecting synergy at local, state, national and regional levels for publication and dissemination.

Deliverables:

• Programme implementation plan for the assignment;
• Methodology including research and review  instruments;
• Report of Situation Analysis on Peace and Security Architecture in Adamawa, Plateau and Gombe States, Nigeria. The report, among others should contain analysed data, including tables and background information covering findings, value addition to knowledge management,  conclusions and recommendations;
• A Comprehensive Gender Strategy/Peace and Security Architecture for Government and stakeholders in Adamawa, Plateau and Gombe States, as well as the Federal Government of Nigeria. The document should include synergy with neighbouring states in Northern Nigeria, as well as national and regional integration for sustainable peace and security;
• Final report (narrative and financial) of all activities conducted within the framework of the assignment with recommendations.

Competencies Summary:

Integrity:

• Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions as well as values and ethical standards, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Ethics & values:

• Promoting Ethics and Integrity / Creating Organizational Precedents.

Commitment:

• Demonstrates commitment to UN Women’s mission and vision.

Cultural Sensitivity and Adaptability/Valuing Diversity:

• Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
• Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Education: 

• Master`s degree or equivalent in security studies, gender studies, social sciences or related disciplines.  

Experience:

• A minimum of 15 years of relevant international experience in women;
• Of which a minimum of 15 years of demonstrated international experience in conducting gender analysis and developing gender responsive policies, programs and strategies;
• Peace and security research;
• Strong knowledge of the women, peace and security agenda, in particular the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and subsequent resolutions;
• Demonstrated competencies in the application of gender analysis tools and methodologies;
• Demonstrated competencies in the conduct of participatory multi-stakeholder approaches;

Language Requirements:

• Written and oral proficiency in English is required.