Safety and Security Manual for Women Aspirants Consultancy

Centre for Rights Education and Awareness

Consultancy on Development of Safety and Security Manual for Women Aspirants

Introduction

Re: Terms of Reference for the Consultant

About CREAW

Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) is a non-governmental, non- partisan organization. 

Our Vision is a just and free society in which women and men exercise equal and full rights and opportunities, and our Mission is to transform the Kenyan society through the promotion and expansion of women’s human rights, rule of law and social justice.

Rationale

Violence is the greatest threat to free and fair elections in new and emerging democracies. 

Following the 2002 and 2007 general elections in Kenya, it emerged that most women political aspirants suffered some form of violence an excerpt from an article by COVAW indicates that gender specific violence, such as rape and threats of rape, were real issues of concern for women in past elections. 

The report indicates that women candidates faced violence from the communities, which are not accustomed to women's leadership, down to the family level.

The Kenyan constitution guarantees all Kenyans the right to life, liberty and security. In order for Women to fully exercise these fundamental rights there requires to be a secure environment that promotes women’s active involvement in all spheres of development including decision making. 

This requires a supportive community of both men and women  and requires that  responsible institutions  need to pay special attention to the issue of violence to ensure women are not intimidated or discriminated against particularly  during electoral cycles .

The violence meted against women aspirants has in the past ranged from use of abusive language and threats to brutal beatings, as tactics to scare and punish women who seem poised to win certain political positions. Studies have shown violence is being used systematically to stop women from exercising their democratic right to seek leadership positions. 

This trend poses a big challenge to many women especially those aspiring to civic, parliamentary and presidential seats. Due to the actual or perceived violence many of these competent women are prone to discontinue participation in electoral processes either as voters or candidates.

One of the ways to realise the goal on increased women participation in electoral processes and in decision making is to provide the current candidates – both parliamentary and civic – with skills to identify and diffuse violent or potentially violent situations through training on enhancing their personal security during the electoral cycle.

Terms of Reference

The scope of work will be to:

1. Undertake a desk review of past electoral violence against women aspirants during electoral processes in 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007 general elections
2.  Develop a training manual to enhance capacity of women aspirants on practical measures for early detection, prevention and possible responses to both actual and perceived physical and psychological violence during the 2012/13 electoral cycle.
3. The manual must outline the current electoral cycle and the different processes before, during and after the election and the potential scenarios for violence against women aspirants within those processes. The scope of violence must cover violence from immediate family members, political opponents, institutions/public officers and community members. The manual should address among other things how aspirants can mitigate and counter character assassination, hate speech, threats, harassment and intimidation via sms, kidnapping etc
4. Available channels for legal aid and psychosocial support and practical reporting channels and mechanisms to address violence such as UWIANO .
5. Finalize the manual and facilitate a validation on the same with stakeholders
6. Incorporate comments and amendments from the validation workshop and submit a final version of the manual to CREAW for publication

Expected output

An accurate, clear and concise manual on how women aspirants in Kenya can practically take charge of their personal safety and security before, during and after the 2012/13 general electoral process.

Remuneration:

The consultant’s fees shall be on negotiated rates, based on proven expertise and subject to statutory deduction

Terms and Conditions of application

The applying candidate must provide a detailed counter proposal that shall

• demonstrate expert knowledge and experience in electoral processes in Kenya.
• demonstrate proven practical experience in working around safety and security for women  and an understanding of practical safety and security measures for political aspirants specifically women.

All applications must be addressed to the selection panel –CREAW and submitted via electronic mail to vacancies@creawkenya.org latest by close of business 21st May 2012

More details on http://www.creawkenya.org/vacancies/consultancy-on-development-of-safety-and-security-manual-for-women-aspirants-introduction.html