Job no: 541869
Contract type: Consultancy
Level: L-4
Location: Mali
Categories: Child Protection, Gender Equality

Introduction/Background

UNICEF MALI, in line with the Gender Action Plan 2018-2021 (GAP2), the new Country Programme Document (CPD 2020-2024) has a strong focus on gender equality and adolescent girls’ empowerment and aims to shift to gender-responsive programming with targeted gender-transformative interventions. Applying a gender lens to programming in Mali has led to the adoption of a life-cycle approach for the CPD. The accompanying Programme Strategy Notes by age groups include specific strategies, activities and indicators for more gender-responsive programming, aligned to UNICEF global Gender Action Plan and considering Mali’s context. The GAP as well as UNICEF Strategic Plan include a dedicated result on gender norms and socialization.

Gender norms and socialization patterns in Mali lead to stereotypes, discrimination and limit girls’ opportunities while restricting boys to narrow possibilities. They are either upheld or challenged in programmes and services directed at, or for the wellbeing of, girls, boys and adolescents.  Therefore, addressing gender socialization is a high-impact solution that can ensure opportunities and possibilities for girls and boys in various aspects of their lives. 

Aware of the glaring lack of gender and age sensitive data, information and gender analysis on children, adolescents, community care and services providers systems, UNICEF Mali has and is currently conducting main researches/studies related to:

1) Gender dimensions on community health systems, results contribute to inform new community health systems reform and better adjust gender-responsive community health and integrated multisectoral package interventions.

2) Specific vulnerabilities of adolescents and youth focusing on how gender identities are linked to violence, exploitation, child marriage, early pregnancy, FGM, conflict, child labour, migration.

3) Social and gender norms and their relation to harmful practices such as child marriage and FGM, results will be able to adjust partners’ behaviour change tools towards gender-responsive programming (including positive masculinities).

These studies, as well as knowledge previously gathered through programming experience and context analyses, support UNICEF Mali in regularly improving its approaches and methodologies especially.

i) the harmonization of National case Management guidelines and tools for all child protection actors in Mali – the training and roll-out process will be started in the coming months and its gender-responsiveness must be strengthened.  

ii) the development of an MHPSS strategy adapted to the Malian context, focusing on community-based PSS – the consequent roll-out of its operational framework and capacity building plan is ongoing and their gender-responsiveness must be strengthened.

iii) the production of Early Childhood Learning/Development and gender positive socialisation videos for Early Child Learning educators with the Pre-School Direction (Ministry of Education).

Objectives

• Identify the necessary standardized gender competencies for front-line workers and service providers (health and WASH agents, social and child protection workers, etc.) for them to be able to ensure that harmful gender norms, attitudes and practices are not perpetuated in the provision of said services working with and for girls, boys and adolescents.
• Develop training modules on gender equality, gender discriminatory roles and practices adapted to the different frontline workers (child protection/health/WASH) in the Malian context and the necessary gender competencies identified.
• Integrate in ongoing sectorial capacity building processes and available competency frameworks (case management, MHPSS) dimensions related to gender equality, gender discriminatory roles and practices (including case study) in order to ensure training packages for child protection/case management services providers and community based front-line workers are gender responsive.
• Lead the testing of training modules in coordination with an organization identified by UNICEF to roll-out the modules.

Scope of Work

The duration of the contract will be of 9.5 working months over a period of 11.5 months, home-based with 3 missions to Mali.

Expected Results (measurable results)

Under the supervision of the Child Protection Chief of Section and in coordination with the Gender Specialist and Sections Specialists, the consultant will be responsible to achieve the following results, through the elaboration of related deliverables:

Result 1:  A conceptual framework of Gender Competencies is defined for child protection frontline workers (including teachers and juvenile justice actors), as well as health and WASH front-line workers (including public servants, NGOs field agents and community focal points) in Malian intervention contexts.

Result 2:  A capacity building plan for gender competencies is developed based on the gaps identified between frontline workers’ current skills and targeted gender competencies in the conceptual framework. The elaboration must be done participatively with the targeted stakeholders.

Result 3: Gender competencies are mainstreamed within ongoing sectorial capacity building processes (case management, MHPSS…) to ensure training packages are gender responsive for child protection service providers, community-based frontline actors and frontline workers, including social and para social workers, teachers, juvenile justice actors, health workers.

Result 4:  Training modules for system-wide and/or sector specific gender competencies are developed, as defined in the capacity-building plan.

Result 5: A pilot phase of the training modules and monitoring tools is carried out in coordination with the field-based organization selected by UNICEF and/or government counterparts.

Result 6: Final versions of training modules are submitted and shared with relevant partners employing child protection, health and WASH front-line workers in Mali.