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 center of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system 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, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Peace and security represent one of the key thematic areas of UN Women’s mandate. Based on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and nine subsequently adopted resolutions, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda, recognizes the gendered nature of conflict and peacebuilding. Accordingly, one of the goals of the WPS Agenda is to promote gender equality and strengthen the participation of women in all aspects of conflict prevention, peace processes, peace operations and peacebuilding. Participation of women in peacebuilding and conflict resolution is one of the four pillars of UNSCR 1325 and WPS agenda. Though efforts are being made to include Women in Peacebuilding and conflict resolution efforts, women are still absent from peace processes. This is due to absence of comprehensive response on the participation of women in peace and security among other hindrances such as gender inequality at all levels.

At the grass root level, different societies use customary dispute resolution mechanisms (CDRMs) to resolve conflicts. These include mediation, reconciliation, and arbitration. In different parts of Ethiopia these CDRMs are given different names like Shimglina, Jarsumma, mada’a in Afar, Afocha in Harari and etc.

Recently the conflicts in Ethiopia have created rifts in the society disconnecting the friendly relationship among regions and people. To deal with such conflicts, in addition to the formal legal system, the values of community participation is crucial. For these the CDRMs must be strengthened and utilized. This is true in Ethiopia where there is a multi-cultural and diverse society exists and the solidarity of the people based on the cultural and social values. The CDRMs emphasize the restitution of victims and reintegration of offenders; and aim at restoring the previous peaceful relationship within the community as well as maintaining their future peaceful relationships by avoiding the culturally accepted practices of revenge. Many CDRMs are patriarchal in nature and focused on the needs and experiences of men and hence reinforce existing gender inequalities. The inclusion of a gender perspective (gender mainstreaming) in CDRMs is essential to ensure that they address the different ways in which conflict and disputes affect women and men, are accessible to them and respond to the needs and realities of both men and women in the communities.

To strengthen the customary resolution mechanisms and their gender perspective, three-day capacity building training is prepared on topic of ‘Using Costmary Dispute Resolution Mechanisms to Resolve Conflicts in Ethiopia’ in collaboration with Ministry of Women and Social Affairs. The aim of this capacity building training is to provide training to 55 participants from government, community leaders, elders, women peacebuilders and young women and men in post conflict reconciliation and mediation efforts in Afar, Amhara, Benishangul Gumuz and Southwestern regions.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be reporting to Program Specialist, WPSHA, and will be supported by WPS Programme Officer, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues. Inputs on the documents will be provided by UN Women and MoWSA.

Monitoring and including reporting requirements

The consultant will work closely with UN Women and MoWSA. The training content and materials will be shared in advance to UN Women and MoWSA for comments and close follow up. The reviewed content will be shared back to the consultant who will incorporate comments as a way forward proceeding to the training.

Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work

The national consultant will be engaged in preparing and delivering the training and is expected to carry out the following tasks:

• Develop and design a three-day training Programme on using Costmary Dispute Resolution Mechanisms to resolve conflicts in Ethiopia, incorporating a gender perspective in these mechanisms and the role women can play in customary dispute resolution mechanisms.
• Prepare major points of discussion (e.g., using Power Point) that could be easily referred to in the organization of the training.
• Contextualize the training to reality of the participants; develop exercises and simulations by collecting stories reported on how Costmary Dispute Resolution Mechanisms have been used to resolve conflicts in Ethiopia and international best practices and existing research on incorporating a gender perspective and increasing women’s participation in CDRMs.
• Develop and conduct pre- and post-assessment of the training and prepare a final workshop report of the consultancy that includes assessment of participant evaluations.

Deliverables

1. A comprehensive training program with the following components for individual sessions: Learner Objectives, Time, Session Overview, Materials, Handouts, Special Preparation Steps, Tasks, Key Points for Discussion
2. A PowerPoint presentation and other reading materials to be shared during the training.
3. Conduct a three-day capacity building training program.
4. A workshop report covering the pre and post assessment evaluation, challenges and lessons learned on the training.

The training is expected to have a practical component where the trainees are able to deliberate on sample stories and come up with their own examples and share their experiences.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy. As part of this assignment, there will be a maximum of 1 trip to Adama to conduct the capacity building training.

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:

https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Sharing knowledge and experience
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women
• Demonstrates excellent written and oral communication skills. Communicates sensitively, effectively, and creatively across different constituencies.
• Demonstrates very good understanding of and experience in communications and outreach/advocacy.
• Focuses on results for the client and responds positively to feedback.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
• Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate.
• Multidisciplinary skills and the ability to communicate effectively.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Sensitivity to regional political, gender and cultural balance.

A high standard of professionalism.

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Gender/women’s studies, Peace and Security Studies, Peace and Development, Sociology, Human Rights, or related field is required.

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Experience and skills

• A minimum of 7 years of demonstrable experience in area of peacebuilding, conflict transformation, gender and conflict at the national, regional and/or international level
• The consultant should have in depth knowledge of customary dispute resolution mechanisms and their use in Ethiopian context.
• Technical expertise and strong understanding of gender and the role of women in customary dispute resolution.
• Demonstrated ability and experience to facilitate trainings for adults, senior experts and officials in the areas outlined.
• The consultant should especially have an experience giving creative and engaging trainings.
• Prior experience in providing training on gender and peacebuilding is an advantage.
• Experience in developing lessons plan with relevant learning topics and exercises.
• The ability to engage and motivate interactive dialogue and peer learnings amongst trainees.
• Experience in working in a diversity team is an asset.
• An ideal candidate should have creativity, strong organizational ability, capacity to deliver on time, excellent presentation skill and be responsive to feedback.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Amharic is required.
• Knowledge of any other Languages an asset.