Consultant for Mandate Protection Training at Mercy Corps

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Employment Type: Contract
The Consultant will report to: Program Manager, NE-CMS
The Consultant will work closely with: Governance and Advocacy Coordinator, NE-CMS

Description
The Northeast Conflict Management and Stabilization (NE-CMS) Program is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to improve security and reduce support for violence in Borno State in Northeast Nigeria. Following two previous phases of the program starting in August 2016, the NE-CMS program entered Phase III in August 2019 for an additional two-year implementation period, which is expected to result in:

• Citizens are more civically engaged, and civilian government are more transparent and inclusive in addressing community needs around service delivery
• Communities demonstrate improved trust and social cohesion within and between actors at the local level
• Local decision-making and peacebuilding processes are equitable and inclusive of marginalized social groups, especially youth and women.

The consortium aims to achieve these outcomes through a range of activities: engaging government in capacity building and mentorship, supporting traditional leaders and communities to conduct advocacy and accountability activities; encouraging dialogue and psychological trauma healing among diverse stakeholders to generate trusting relationships, nurture reconciliation, and mitigate potential future crises; and establishing parallel safe spaces for women and youth to ensure that they can effectively contribute to peacebuilding. NE-CMS operates in five targets LGAs, namely: Maiduguri Municipal Council (MMC), Jere, Dikwa, Damboa, Gwoza. A key output expected of Outcome one of NE-CMS, as stated above, is Capacity Building for Participatory Governance. This assignment will contribute significantly to delivering on this output, hence the actualization of Outcome 1 of the NE-CMS program.

Mandate Protection
People’s participation in the electoral process means giving their consent to the candidate they vote for to govern on their behalf. A candidate who wins a majority of the votes is said to have won the people’s mandate to govern. People’s right to choose and vote for candidates of their choice and participate in an electoral process is a fundamental right.

However, citizens also have a responsibility to play, including engaging in the electoral process and ensuring the process is free and fair. Protecting people’s mandate means mobilizing and empowering citizens to engage election stakeholders to conduct elections within the law, monitor and expose corruption, fraud, election flaws, and defend their votes. Lack of mandate protection negatively affects democracy and good governance. It, therefore, requires the collective effort of all stakeholders and Civil Society actors.

To protect the people’s, mandate will require a combination of skills and tools namely:

• Community mobilizing,
• Sensitizing and community organizing,
• Monitoring, exposing and challenging fraud and abuse in the public service
• Accountability and Voice (V&A) Mechanism (citizen’s ability to raise their “voice” and demand “accountability” from government and political office holders.
• Public service score card (this is used to raise and praise performing MDAs and to name and shame nonperforming ones)

Consultancy Objectives
The overall objective of this consultancy is to empower the Good Governance Committees (GGC) Women Council (WC), Youth Support Network (YSN) and LGA officials in NE-CMS-supported LGAs with the skill to engage election stakeholders, government actors, and the civil society to protect the people’s election mandate in their communities. The training targets a total of 35 participants. Specifically, the training will empower the participants with a combination of skills required to protect the peoples' mandate, namely:

• Community mobilizing,
• Sensitizing and community organizing.
• Election Monitoring
• Exposing and challenging fraud and abuse in the public service
• Development networks/ advocacy coalition

Deliverables and Timeframe: (February 22 – March 22, 2021)
For effective mandate protection training, the Consultant will be expected to develop training modules to cover the following areas:

• Best practice approach for ensuring a free and fair electoral process
• Monitoring and reporting on the activities of political and government officials.
• Facilitating Accountability and Voice (V&A) Mechanism; this involves the citizen's ability to raise their "voice" and demand "accountability" from government and political officeholders.
• Developing public service score card; this is used to raise and appraise performing MDAs and to name and shame nonperforming ones. Public service score card will be developed as part of the output for this training.

Methodology

• The workshop will adopt a combination of direct presentation, syndicate group work, presentations/ Brainstorming exercises, question and answer sessions, and case studies to ensure all participants' full participation.
• The Consultant will develop handouts and reference materials for participants. Take-home assignments will also be given to participants to ensure that they continue to practice and implement learning.

Skills and Experience Required of the Consultant
The Consultant is expected to have the following skills and qualifications:

• Advanced Degree in Public Policy and Management, Democracy and Good Governance, Development Studies, Social Sciences or related discipline; A minimum of ten (7) years’ experience in conducting and supporting capacity building activities in election mandate protection and related fields including but not limited to election monitoring, organizing election, etc.;
• Demonstrable experience in working with communities in Borno State.
• An understanding of the socio-political and economic context of Borno state;
• Excellent writing and communication skills in English
• Ability to facilitate training in Hausa;
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate and work well with diverse people.
• Applicants are required to submit a cover letter, CV, and a brief concept note (not more than 3 pages).