UN Women CPST Gender Advisor Short Term Consultant Job in Kenya

Terms of Reference for a Short Term Consultant to Mainstream Gender, Youth, Marginalized Communities and People Living With Disabilities in the Center for Parliamentary Studies and Training –CPST Manuals for National and County Assemblies.
 

1.0 Background
 

The general elections held on 4 March 2013 heralded a change in the governance structures of Kenya premised upon the foundations of the Constitution that was promulgated in 2010. 

The Constitution established a two-level governance structure, comprising a national government and 47 County governments. This system of government, commonly referred to as devolution, aims to improve public service reach and government responsiveness to the needs of all citizens. It also seeks to make access to, and use of public resources more equitable, efficient and transparent.

The new model intends to bring both decision making and financial resources closer to the people and enhance the space for citizen’s involvement in local governance and development. 

It recognizes the importance of gender equality as a key principle in achieving sustainable development. It shall be noted that the transfer of power to local institutions will result in the handling of key functions such as management of financial resources, local elections, tax management and administration. 

Since this is a new dispensation in Kenya, a key need is to support the smooth roll out of this system and assist county governments to perform their functions better and in particular, to deliver gender responsive public services. 

Overall, this model is expected to reduce the potential for social conflict around the quest for equitable distribution of resources and sharing of power, narrow the existing gender inequalities and is likely to lead to inclusive and sustainable development.
 

Significant progress has been registered since the promulgation of the Constitution. The March 2013 elections ushered in new institutions and a new crop of leaders. At the national level, the Constitution has created a two-chamber Parliament; the National Assembly and the Senate. 

Article 27 and 177 of the Constitution; include representatives of women, youth and persons with disabilities. At the county assemblies’ level, Members of County Assemblies, Speakers and Deputies Speakers were elected.

UN Women has in the last few years supported women’s leadership in line with UN Women’s strategic priorities. 

The devolved governance provides an opportunity for UN Women and strategic partners to scale up its work and broaden activities to support the development and enhancement of women’s political leadership.
 

Strategies aimed at ensuring the smooth evolution of the devolution model need to be thoroughly conceptualized so that its overall objective for poverty reduction, sustainable development, health, disaster prevention and management, social integration and overcoming social exclusion and discrimination are fulfilled as per the constitution goals.

1.1 Partnership with Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training- CPST.
 

The Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training is the government arm mandated to train the members of national and county assemblies on their role and mandate. 

UN Women partnered with CPST to mainstream gender, youth and marginalized groups in all the 18 courses and made the curriculum specific to the county needs. 

The framework for the development of the set of training curriculum was based on six thematic areas namely.
 

1. The Constitution, Parliament and Systems of Governance - for providing knowledge and information on the basis of people’s representation, the structure of parliament, devolution and bicameralism.
 

2. Legislative and Procedural Matters - for capacity development of Members of Parliament and staff of the House, Committees and Legal Services.
 

3. Information and Public Engagement - to offer courses for capacity development of Members of Parliament and staff in the Library, Research, Public Relations, Media, Clerks and the Hansard services.
 

4. Public Finance Management - to provide courses for Members of Parliament and staff of the Accounts, Budget, Finance, Procurement and Internal Audit departments.
 

5. Human Resource and Administration of Parliament - to offer courses for capacity development for
Members of Parliament and staff relating to Human Resource Management, Human Resource
Development, Pensions, Catering, Health and Recreation.

6. Facilitative/Cross-Cutting issues: to offer courses for capacity development for Members of Parliament and staff of the ICT, Language, Gender, Diplomacy, Protocol, Customer Care, Planning, Management, Strategic Planning and Oversight sections.
 

CPST is now developing seven manuals from the final curriculum to facilitate the trainings at national and county assemblies on gender equity and equality in their representative, legislation, and oversight roles.
 

A team of consultants have been contracted to work on the above six themes with a team leader who is working on the facilitators manual. An advisor on parliamentary matters has also been contracted. 

The work commenced on 10th March and will end on 16 May 2014.

CPST has requested for UN Women support for a gender advisor to the team to ensure that issues of gender, youth, marginalized communities and people living with disability are included and properly mainstreamed in all the manuals. 

In addition, the advisor will also work closely with the person working on the manual on cross cutting issues where the course of gender falls (The breakdown of the courses per thematic area is attached)
 

In this regard, UN Women is seeking for consultants to provide the overall advice to the team on issues of gender, youth, marginalized communities and people living with disability in all the manuals while also providing special support to the person working on cross cutting issues.

2.0 Aim and Objectives: The objective is to ensure that issues of gender, youth, marginalized communities and people living with disability are included and properly mainstreamed in all the seven manuals.

3.0 Scope of Work: The scope of work include providing the overall advice to the team on issues of gender, youth, marginalized communities and people living with disability in all the manuals while also providing special support to the person working on cross cutting issues.

The Task
 

The consultant is expected to;
 

1.0 Ensure that issues of gender, youth, marginalized communities and people living with disability are included and properly mainstreamed in all the manuals.
 

2.0 Provide the overall advice to the team on issues of gender, youth, marginalized communities and people living with disability in all the manuals.
 

3.0 Work closely with the person working on the manual on cross cutting issues where the course of gender falls (The breakdown of the courses per thematic area is attached).
 

4.0 Output – deliverables
 

The Consultant shall provide:- Seven thematic manuals that are fully mainstreamed with gender, youth, marginalized communities and people living with disabilities.

5.0 Time Schedule
 

The consultants will work for a total of fifteen (15) days between April and May 2014.
 

6.0 Key Performance Indicators

• Final thematic manuals fully mainstreaming gender, youth, marginalise communities and people living with disabilities.
• A brief summary report on mainstreaming, challenges and lessons learnt.

7.0 Evaluation Criteria:
 

7.1 Gender Expert

• At least a Masters degree in gender issues
• Minimum of ten years experience in gender and governance work.
• Proven experience in writing training manuals
• Proven Understanding of how parliament works.

N/B: The consultant will work with CPST technical team working on the seven manuals and UN Women. He/ she is expected to ensure quality of work and timely delivery of the final manuals.
 

8.0 Timeline
 

Duration: The consultants will work for a total of fifteen (15) days between April and May 2014.

Timelines for the Consultant

9.0 Application process
 

Applications should be sent to: consultancies.eharo@unwomen.org with the subject line clearly marked
“GENDER EXPERT, CPST MANUALS”

The deadline for submission of applications is COB Friday 2nd April 2014.