Consultant - Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Analysis for Nigeria Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) Project at Palladium Group

Job ID: req10739

Slot: 2

Introduction
Nigeria SCALE project is a USAID-funded 5-year project (Oct 08, 2020 – Oct 07, 2025), implemented by Palladium in collaboration with the local resource partners. The goal of the Nigeria SCALE project is to strengthen the financial, management and advocacy capacity of local civil society organizations (CSOs) and Business Membership Organizations (BMOs) in Nigeria to create a more accountable, transparent, peaceful, and democratic Nigeria with more effective and efficient public service delivery.

The SCALE project supports CSOs and BMOs across all of USAID/Nigeria’s programmatic sectors with a basket of managerial, business strengthening, and advocacy capacity-building interventions aimed at advancing Nigerian CSO sustainability combined with targeted grants to advance mutually agreed upon priorities. The project is designed to enhance local CSOs’ ability to be positive and responsible change agents in Nigeria.

The project has five main technical components: 1) Component One – Improve CSO organizational capacity, 2) Component Two – Enhance capacity for CSO advocacy, collaboration and management, 3) Component Three – Improve the policy and regulatory environment for civil society, 4) Component Four – Countering Trafficking in Persons (CTIP), and 5) Component Five – Sector strengthening and advocacy.

SCALE takes an intersectional approach to Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) and understands that social and political identities (e.g., gender, disability, age, class etc.) combine to create unique forms of discrimination.  SCALE is committed to ensuring GESI considerations are factored into all areas of project implementation such as identifying priorities, informing project design, ensuring that strategies and activities mainstream GESI, including analyzing how the project is affecting GESI outcomes.

Palladium is looking to engage the expertise of 2 consultants with backgrounds in GESI, development research, and other related qualitative assessment skills that will form a team to conduct a GESI analysis for the SCALE project across the six Nigeria geopolitical zones and the Federal Capital Territory. This analysis will collaborate closely with ongoing SCALE baseline, conflict sensitivity, and Applied Political Economy Analysis.

Purpose of Consultancy

• The purpose of this consultancy is to carry out Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Analysis at the national and sub-national levels to generate data that will ensure that activities that empower marginalized groups are adequately integrated into the project plans.
• The analysis will examine the state of gender equality, social inclusion, marginalization, and exclusion in priority sectors, including their underlying causes, as well as opportunities and barriers to positive change.
• The analysis will also examine how policies, governance structures, and civil society address those issues.
• The study will further build on existing analyses to inform GESI mainstreaming across all components of the project ensuring that the needs, priorities, and constraints of the different social groups particularly women, girls and people living with disability (PLWD) are consistently addressed.

Objective of Consultancy

• The objective of this assignment is to generate data for integrating GESI into the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of the SCALE project, and development of a GESI strategy which will include relevant training modules and GESI results framework.
• Findings from the analysis will be documented in a report highlighting the methodology used, data sources, key findings and recommendations, limitations, references, and any other information that will be necessary to substantiate the validity and quality of findings.

Specific Tasks
The consultants will be responsible for designing and conducting the GESI analysis, including developing the methodology, gathering and analyzing data, and submitting a report on key findings of the analysis. Specific tasks include the following:

• 1. Conduct GESI analysis of key sectors and issues relevant to Nigeria SCALE. The analysis will apply globally recognized GESI analysis frameworks. For example, the consultants may adapt the five gender analysis domains from USAID ADS Chapter 205:
  • Laws, policies, strategies, regulations and institutional context;
  • Influence of gender roles, responsibilities and time use;
  • Access to and control over health resources and services;
  • Cultural norms and belief;
  • Patterns of power and decision making. The key sectors for the GESI analysis include: education; health; water, sanitation, and hygiene; governance; economic growth; countering trafficking in persons (CTIP), agriculture, ICT and Communications; curbing child early and forced marriage (CEFM) and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV); and supporting inclusive participation in elections. Methods will include Key Informant Interviews (KII) targeting relevant stakeholders and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) OR any other qualitative approach deemed relevant by the consultants.
• Conduct a review to examine how select CSOs and BMOs in Nigeria mainstream GESI into their policies, procedures and activities. Methods will include an extensive desk review and qualitative approaches similar to those referenced above.
• Plan and facilitate a 2-day co-creation strategic workshop to inform development of the GESI strategy. This will include developing the agenda, facilitation guidelines, and materials, as well as facilitating the event. SCALE will handle logistics and invitations for the event.
• Identify priorities and design context appropriate approaches to mainstream GESI across all components of the Nigeria SCALE and activities of CSO partners in Nigeria
• Develop GESI strategy, and tools to support implementation of the strategy, e.g. training toolkits (training manual, facilitation guide, GESI checklist, Result framework, and GESI M&E tools).

Note: Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, researchers will demonstrate how technology will be deployed during data collection using virtual or remote platforms to reduce the risk of disease transmission.

Contract Type and Deliverables

• This consultancy will be a deliverable-based contract. Acceptance of the deliverables will be determined by the project’s Social Protection and Inclusion Advisor. Final report will be approved by the Chief of Party.

Key Deliverables
The consultants will submit the following deliverables to SCALE at an agreed schedule as follows:

GESI analysis inception report:

• This is a detailed description of the consultancy approach, including the overall design, GESI analysis framework, sampling framework, data collection tools, data sources, data analysis plan, quality assurance criteria, limitations, and a work plan for the implementation of the analysis and development of the GESI strategy and tools.

Literature Review Report:

• This is an analysis of all policy instruments, reports and documents reviewed for the purpose of this consultancy with clear indication of gaps requiring additional data to inform stakeholder interviews.

Report of qualitative inquiries with key stakeholders:

• This is a report of KIIs conducted including interview tools, transcribed responses and information on the persons interviewed with date of interview.

GESI analysis report – first draft:

• This is a report to document all the aspects of the GESI analysis, including its design, analysis, findings, recommendations, limitations, references, data collection tools and any other information to inform and support the findings. Report should be no more than 40 pages in length, excluding annexes.

GESI analysis Tools:

• This is a suite of easily adaptable GESI tools such as, training manual, facilitation guide, GESI checklist, Result framework, GESI M&E tools, etc. that will be deployed by SCALE partners for broad contextual adaptation by CSOs. The GESI tools will support CSOs to mainstream and integrate GESI into their policies and programs.

GESI analysis report – final version:

• This is a final report of the GESI analysis that should include all the components of the first draft and addressing all comments, edits and observations from the review of the first draft. Report should be no more than 40 pages in length, excluding annexes.

Anticipated Period of Performance and Level of Effort:

• Period of Performance: From contract inception to May 30, 2021
• Level of Effort: The LOE for the consultants should not exceed 30 days for each.

Required Qualifications
The consultants should have the following:

• Postgraduate Degree in Gender Studies, Political Science, Law, Public Policy Studies, Development Studies or other related fields
• Experience working in GESI analysis, policy development, civil society, government, the private sector, Early Child Marriage, Sexual and Gender-based Violence
• Demonstrable experience in carrying out gender and social inclusion analyses or similar forms of contextual analysis, and how they are used to advance development programming, work demonstrating the use of these tools strongly preferred.
• Strong evaluation report writing and documentation skills. Demonstrated analytical (statistical and data analysis) skills.
• Experience working with CSOs in Nigeria.
• Ability to work on own initiative and to meet deadlines.
• Good interpersonal skills including the ability to conduct discussion with diverse individuals ranging from senior government officials to ordinary citizens.
• Fluency in English and at least one local language required.
• Good computer skills.