CONSULTANCY: Development of an Advocacy Training Reference Guide on the rights of women working in the informal economy

Description:  Consultancy for the development of an Advocacy Training Reference guide on the rights of women in the informal economy;

Project Name: Invisible Labourers: Addressing the challenges of urban poor women street vendors in Uganda and Somaliland;

Duration: Fourteen (14) days

Expected start date:  20th June 2019

INTRODUCTION

The  Strategic  Initiative  for  Women  in the Horn of  Africa  (SIHA)  is a  civil  society coalition bringing together grassroots women’s rights organizations from Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Uganda. Established in 1995, SIHA advocates for social change and gender equality in the Horn of Africa and works specifically on challenging all forms of discrimination and violations against women’s rights, protecting women against sexual and gender based violence, promoting women’s access to justice, supporting economic empowerment and activating women’s political participation.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA Network was awarded a grant from the African Women Development Fund in support of the rights of the marginalized women working in the informal economy in Kampala and Hargeisa to earn a living. The project advocates for an end to domestic laws that discriminate and violate the rights of the urban poor women and empower these women to increase their access to decision making and participation in the political arena. The project also advocates for opportunities for urban poor women to access resources to support their livelihoods and build the women street vendors’ organisational, networking and leadership skills giving them a stronger voice to advocate for their rights and dignity. With this, it has been realized throughout the tenure of the project that advocacy is one of the drivers to seeing the changes in the laws that keep the women marginalized in the informal economy.

To achieve this goal, SIHA has continuously built the capacity of the women street vendors in advocacy and influencing in order to challenge the status quo.

OBJECTIVES

SIHA is recruiting a consultant to develop an advocacy training reference guide to be delivered during the advocacy training of women street vendors in Kampala and Hargeisa. The consultant will draw on a number of existing training manuals as well as good practice materials from other organizations. The consultant will:-

Develop an advocacy training reference guide that can be used to build the capacity of women working in the informal economy to improve their existing skills on advocacy, negotiation and lobbying for their rights. The guide is suitable for women working in the informal economy, women community leaders and activists, grassroots women rights organizations, schools;

KEY DELIVERABLES

The Advocacy Training Reference Guide will focus on developing the knowledge and skills that the women street vendors require to design, lead, monitor and evaluate advocacy initiatives in relation to the economic, social and cultural rights of women in the informal economy.  It will include content on the following four areas:

1. Women’s civic engagement – Introductory sessions on key concepts such as power, gender, equity, democracy, citizenship and participation that shape advocacy approaches and strategies;
2. Planning advocacy – This will include sessions on context mapping, problem analysis and prioritization. It will also include information on identifying advocacy targets, developing advocacy strategies and activities, messaging and, agreed upon resources and a timeline;
3. Doing advocacy – This will include sessions on different approaches for reaching, educating and persuading a range of audiences using mass and other media. It will also explore outreach and mobilization initiatives, taking a seat at the table, lobbying, and working in coalitions and cooperatives;
4. Advocacy skills – This will include sessions on the leadership skills that the women in the informal economy require to oversee effective advocacy efforts.  It will include information on core life skills such as decision-making to mention a few.

The Training Reference Guide should be highly-interactive and participatory, using real life situations relevant to the Horn of Africa context. The templates required for the various activities and exercises will be annexed. This will include pre and post-tests to assess participant knowledge and skill acquisition. The guide should be logically-structured, contain evidence-based findings, conclusions. Lessons and recommendations and should be free of information that is not relevant to the overall analysis.

SPECIFICATIONS

A 12-15 page advocacy training reference guide with elaborate source of information, relevant examples and well-training referenced;

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Expert knowledge of human rights, the Horn of Africa policy environment and legal framework, gender and the law;
• Experience of developing training reference materials;
• Ability to write in diction that the women street vendors of various capacities can read, understand and apply;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advance knowledge of spread-sheet and database packages;

CORE COMPETENCIES:

• Ability to produce high quality outputs in a timely manner while understanding and anticipating the evolving SIHA’s needs.
• Strong organizational skills;
• Ability to work independently, produce high quality outputs;
• Sound judgment, strategic thinking and the ability to manage competing priorities;
• Demonstrates integrity by modelling SIHA’s values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment;

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Education: Advanced University degree in Gender, Law or Human Rights;

Experience: Minimum of 7 years of relevant experience is required.

Language: Excellent written and spoken English;

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Interested consultants are expected to send an expression of interest (Maximum 2 pages) demonstrating their suitability and motivation for the tasks and past experience of conducting similar tasks, including their current CV. The consultant should also send a semi-detailed financial proposal to SIHA‟s Human Resources Department humanresourcesiha@gmail.com by 20th June 2019. Please enter “Application Materials: SIHA Consultancy on Development of Advocacy Training Reference Guide on the rights of women in the informal economy” in the subject line.

SIHA may, because of the immediate need of the recruitment, contact shortlisted candidates before 20th June, 2019. Due to the anticipated volume of applications, please note that SIHA will contact only shortlisted candidates.