National Consultant-Women Enhancing Coordination and Communication Knowledge Based Approach for Women Empowerment

Background

Background/Context

Following the outbreak of war between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces on April 15, Sudanese women’ groups organized themselves in many forms in response to the war. They have organized themselves in an unprecedented manner, calling for ending the war and accountability to conflict related sexual violence, while others took the lead in providing humanitarian assistance and ensuring gender responsive humanitarian actions across the country. Women’s political participation in the peace talks and political processes remains a challenge, despite the critical roles that women have played in previous change processes, and peace negotiations. Therefore, it is becoming crucial that coordination amongst the women-led initiatives is strengthened and their efforts, different experiences and capabilities are unified for inclusive and sustainable peace.  In conflict-affected regions, the need for effective coordination among diverse women's groups cannot be overstated. As the very fabric of society is torn by the effects of war, women often find themselves at the forefront of resilience, resourcefulness, and resistance; yet, their efforts are frequently fragmented, hindered by internal and external challenges that impede communication and collaboration.

UN Women has been actively engaged with the Sudanese women’s movement to promote their role in peace as per their demands. The voices of Sudanese women have been amplified calling for enhanced coordination to unify and strengthen their efforts for peace. In October 2023, UN Women, UNITAMS and Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation (CMI) held wide range on consultations with women’s groups and organizations. The results of the consultation were compiled, leading to a three-day workshop held in Cairo. During this workshop, participants identified good practices and challenges facing women in coordination efforts. Subsequently, women participants released a statement articulating the basic principles for promoting coordination among women's peace initiatives. Coordination has been a significant concern for the Sudanese women’s movement in shaping the path to end the war.

Rationale

The project, funded by Sida, is aimed at empowering Sudanese women across various intersecting identities to effectively influence the trajectory of ending the war and promoting peacebuilding initiatives in Sudan. Rooted in the nexus between inclusivity of women-led peace movements, leadership development, and economic empowerment, the project seeks to address key challenges and opportunities facing women in conflict-affected contexts.

Objectives:

The project comprises two interrelated objectives that contribute to its overarching goal:

1. Strengthening the Women-Led Peace Movement: This objective focuses on leveraging coordination and communication among women in civic and political organizations, as well as those who are displaced, including those in the diaspora and women in hosting communities. By fostering collaboration and dialogue among diverse groups of women, the project aims to bolster the effectiveness of the women-led peace movement in advocating for sustainable peace and participating in regional and international political and peace processes.
2. Enhancing Livelihood Opportunities: This objective seeks to improve livelihood opportunities for both host communities and internally displaced persons (IDPs), with a particular emphasis on enhancing women's well-being and economic empowerment. By providing avenues for income generation and strengthening economic leadership among women, the project aims to not only improve livelihoods but also foster their active participation in peace initiatives at the grassroots level.

Outcome:

The expected outcome of the project is a more inclusive, coordinated, and sustainable women's movement grounded in the nexus of feminism, peace, and humanitarianism. This empowered movement will actively influence regional and international political and peace processes, ensuring that women's voices and perspectives are integrated into decision-making forums.

Outputs:

1. Enhanced Institutional Capacity of Women's Organizations:

• This output focuses on developing the institutional capacity of women's organizations, both civic and political, to effectively advocate for sustainable peace and participate in regional and international political and peace processes.
• Through capacity-building initiatives, women's organizations will be equipped with the tools and resources necessary to advance a feminist agenda on peace and amplify their influence on the global stage.

1. Adoption of New Coordination Modalities:

• This output aims to introduce new forms and modalities of coordination and communication among women's groups, ensuring that their coordinated peace efforts are systematically reflected in media forums at the local, regional, and international levels.
• By enhancing visibility and amplifying the voices of women peacebuilders, the project seeks to raise awareness and garner support for their initiatives on a broader scale.

1. Enhanced Access to Livelihood Opportunities:

• This output focuses on enhancing access to livelihood opportunities for women from hosting communities and displaced women, ultimately generating income and strengthening their participation in peace initiatives.
• By addressing economic vulnerabilities and promoting self-sufficiency, the project aims to empower women economically and enable them to contribute meaningfully to peacebuilding efforts in their communities.

 

Overall, the project embodies a comprehensive approach to women's empowerment, peacebuilding, and economic development, with the goal of fostering sustainable peace in Sudan through the active engagement and leadership of women.

The project's objectives, outcomes, and outputs strongly resonate with UN Women's Annual Work Plan for 2024 in Sudan, as well as its broader strategic objectives outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for Sudan. Specifically, the project's focus on empowering Sudanese women to actively participate in peace processes, enhancing their economic opportunities, and creating diverse networks of support for women leaders directly aligns with UN Women's mandate to promote gender equality and women's empowerment. By addressing the root causes of gender inequalities and strengthening women's leadership and engagement in political and economic institutions, the project contributes significantly to advancing UN Women's objectives in Sudan and underscores the importance of sustained support for women's rights and empowerment initiatives.

Amidst the conflict, women's groups face obstacles to effective coordination. Internal dynamics, such as different priorities and strategies, can spread fragmentation. External pressures, including limited resources and societal barriers, further complicate the landscape, isolating groups and impeding the exchange of vital information.

The proposed ToR embarks on a journey to help Sudanese women to redefine coordination in the context of conflict, recognizing it as a powerful tool for amplifying the voices of women and catalyzing impactful change. At its core, coordination is not merely about aligning actions towards a common goal; it is a dynamic process that thrives on consensus, inclusivity, and strategic collaboration.

Accordingly support to Sudanese women efforts in coordination, has been included in a strategic project that aims to strengthen the Sudanese women movement during the armed conflict by addressing three interrelated actions; i) development of the women’s agenda; ii) economic empowerment in Red Sea and Blue Nile States; and iii) capacity building of women’s groups and organizations. In all the three thematic focuses, media has been mainstreamed to amplify women’s voices.

Therefore, UN Women will scale up the work around coordination in a more constructed manner to feed into enhancing the feminist agenda for peace as well as backing up women’s groups with capacity building.

It is against this backdrop that UN Women seeks to recruit a consultant to undertake this assignment in strengthening the women led peace movement by leveraging coordination between women in civic and political organizations and those who are displaced, including in the diaspora and women in hosting communities.

The consultant will be reporting to the Women Peace and Security Programme Specialist and will be supported by the Women’s Political Participation Consultant, who will serve as the primary contact for contractual and payment matters

Duties and Responsibilities

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

Goal: Sudanese women in their different intersectionality effectively influence the course of direction of ending the war and peacebuilding in Sudan.

Overall objective: Strengthening the women led peace movement by leveraging coordination between women in civic and political organizations and those who are displaced, including in the diaspora and women in hosting communities.

Specific Objectives

• To facilitate the development of a knowledge base that reexamines the concept and implementation of coordination, working modalities, and mechanisms.
• To Foster dialogue among women's groups, exploring and redefining strategies for coordination and communication, and reaching agreement on the most effective approaches.
• Conduct consultative workshops, bringing together diverse women’s movements, organizations, initiatives, displaced women, and women from hosting communities, to collectively establish ethical guidelines and core principles for communication and agree upon specific modalities for effective coordination.
• Coordination for peace efforts is systematically reflected in media platforms (at local, regional, and international levels) by leasing with UN Women media partners.

 

Outcome: Enhanced understanding and agreement among women's groups on effective strategies for coordination and communication.

Scope of the work

In order to ensure the coherence of the project’s three streams of feminist agenda for peace development, capacity building and economic empowerment, the coordination work will be demonstrated as models in both Red Sea and Blue Nile states while benefiting other women’s groups and organizations. While the development of the women’s agenda will start, the coordination related activities will start in parallel and by the time the feminist agenda for peace is developed, women’s originations will coordinate in the most effective manner the implementation of the agenda.

Though there are different stakeholders in coordination, the work on coordination focuses on coordination among women’s groups and organizations.

Duties and responsibilities of the consultant.

The consultant is expected to perform the following tasks:

• Conduct a comprehensive desk review of existing literature on coordination and women movements across various domains, analyzing coordination and communication modalities.
• Collaborate closely with UN Women partners to conceptualize and design primary data collection tools, while also identifying key stakeholders for consultation.
• Identify and use criteria for selecting targeted women peace movements.
• Facilitate interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs), and other tools with specified groups and stakeholders, in close partnership with UN Women partners.
• Produce a paper that challenge current coordination and communication paradigms, proposing and implementing innovative modalities.
• Organize workshops to foster consensus on effective coordination mechanisms among women's groups at national, state, and local levels, and to establish Ethical Guidelines and Core Principles of Coordination.
• Develop a comprehensive knowledge base document on coordination and draft Ethical Guidelines and Core Principles of Coordination.
• Conduct preliminary validation exercises and engage in dialogues to refine strategies and approaches.
• Prepare the final coordination report and a dissemination plan.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This consultancy is home-based. Any trips to other cities will be confirmed accordingly.

Deliverables;

Deliverable

Time frame

Payment Schedule (optional)

Inception report within 10 days   outlining secondary data reviewing on coordination modalities, objectives, methodology and target respondents, work plan, risk factors, and mitigation strategy.

6 days

20% upon the submission of the inception report by the consultant.

Consultations with women’s groups and organizations in Red Sea Blue Nile and in the diaspora on coordination modalities

3 days

 

10% after completion of the consultations

Compile the data collected in one consolidated report and draft the coordination report with sections on background, objectives, methodology, literature review, contextual analysis, findings, conclusion, and recommendations.

9 days

30 % after submission of the report to be reviewed and approved by UN Women.

Organize one workshop in both Red Sea and Blue Nile to present and validate the draft report and to come up with Ethical Guidelines and Core Principles of Coordination.

9 days

30% upon the completion of the validation workshops and develop the Ethical Guidelines.

Final coordination report with a clear dissemination plan, position paper on rethinking coordination new modalities and ethical guidelines and core principles.

5 days

10% upon submission of the final report.

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:  

 

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: 

• Research and analytical skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Strong organizational and project management skills.
• Excellent management of the data collection process, including overseeing data entry and ensuring the accuracy of collected information.
• Knowledge of the socio-economic, political, and cultural situations of displaced women and women from host communities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Minimum M.SC degree in gender, social sciences, or any other related discipline.

Experience:

• Expertise in gender-related aspects
• At least five years’ experience in conducting research, mapping, assessments, and analyses.
• Knowledge, and skills in the use of qualitative and quantitative data collection tools
• Sound knowledge of women dynamics, and movement

Languages:

• Fluency in Arabic and English is required.

How to Apply 

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from:
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)