BACKGROUND

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls, the empowerment of women, and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

UN Women’s goal in Liberia is to promote women’s human rights and gender equality which are key in sustaining and furthering achievements in stability and development.  In this regard, its programming in the Country is connected to five corporate priority areas: women’s leadership and political participation; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; engaging women in all aspects of women, peace and security processes; advancing women’s rights to live free from violence and Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) and governance. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s joint work in advancing gender equality.

Although Liberia has succeeded in ensuring a peaceful transition from conflict to peace, it still faces continued peacebuilding challenges due to unresolved grievances that are linked to the country’s 14-year civil war. A nation-wide conflict mapping exercise undertaken in 2016 by the Liberia Peacebuilding Office (PBO) revealed three key conflict drivers that pose a significant threat to national peace and stability, namely, land/property disputes, corruption and border/boundary disputes.

Land disputes are however frequent and occur at all levels due to reasons that are rooted in the past turbulent history. Liberia was founded by former slaves from the United States of America who attempted to create a Western statutory system of land ownership. The majority of the indigenous population however use the customary system, that is based on community or collective ownership of land. Until recently, there was never a clear definition of public land nor its relationship with pre-existing customary land rights. Such an ongoing practice became part of law and policy, rather than law and policy guiding the practice. Consequently, this has resulted in weakened ability of government to effectively manage and regulate land use. And in reference to access, use and ownership of land, there exist deep rooted gender disparities which require urgent redress mechanisms. In this regard, the Government passed the Land Rights Act (LRA) in 2018 which seeks to address the root cause of conflicts and sets a framework for building and sustaining the peace. This legal framework is a milestone in land legislation, where discrimination in all forms is prohibited in terms of access and ownership of land. It further ensures that customary and private rights are recognized on an equal basis.

Therefore, to support the Government to fully implement the LRA as well as sustain the fragile peace, UN Women, UNDP and WFP are jointly implementing the project “Sustaining Peace and Reconciliation through Strengthening Land Governance and Dispute Resolution”. This project is funded by the Liberian Multi Partner Trust Fund (LMPTF) and aims at strengthening the existing semi-formal and informal land dispute resolution mechanisms and new  land management mechanisms that were established through  the LRA such as the Community Land Development Management Committees (CLDMCs), with a view to reducing conflicts in a more transparent, effective and gender and youth responsive manner.

The project will support the communities including women and youth in targeted counties in the processes of formalization of customary land in accordance with Guidelines for Customary land governance that were developed by the Liberia Land Authority (LLA). In view of this, UN Women Liberia seeks to hire a National Consultant (NC) to develop   gender responsive guidelines and training materials on formalization of customary land.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Objectives of the assignment

The major objective of this consultancy is to Support the Gender Unit and the Customary Land Unit at the LLA in the development of Gender responsive guidelines and training materials on the formalization of Customary Land System. In addition, the NC will conduct a Training of Trainers (ToTs) for LLA.

Scope of work and tasks

Under the overall guidance and management of the UN Women, Liberia Country Office Peace and Security Programme Specialist and supervision from the Project Specialist on Gender and Land Management  in collaboration with UNDP, WFP  and the LLA, the  NC will perform the following tasks:

Task 1. Develop a consultancy Work Plan and Inception Report

• Develop a detailed work plan for the consultancy.
• Conduct a desk review of all relevant project documents including any existing guidelines and training materials available on formalization of customary land and customary land governance.
• Conduct an analysis of key trainings conducted for LLA county level staff on Customary land formalization.
• Draft and submit a consultancy plan and an Inception Report of the Assignment.

Task 2. Draft Gender Responsive Guidelines on Formalization of Customary land and Training Material.

• In reference to results from the Desk review, the NC will develop an initial draft and validate the Gender Responsive Guidelines and submit this to UN Women and the LLA for input.
• Map out existing training materials on formalization of customary land.
• Review all training materials available on Customary land formalization and develop them further if necessary, in consultation with UN Women and LLA. Where existing training material are deemed sufficient these will be adapted.
• With the LLA focal person, select participants for the TOT trainings from the Gender Unit of the LLA and Customary Land unit.
• Develop pre and posttests questionnaires in consultation with the LLA.

Task 3: Conduct TOTs for LLA staff

• Roll-out TOTs on the use and application of the guidelines and materials.
• Conduct TOTs for staff from both the LLA and UN Women’s Implementing partners (IP).
• Develop the TOT training report which should capture result of the pre and posttests.
• Support and monitor quality of trainings conducted in the counties by trainers.
• Draft and submit a final consultancy report.

Expected Deliverables

• The NC will produce the following deliverables:

COMPETENCIES

1. Performance evaluation:

Consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on

timeliness,

responsibility,

initiative,

communication,

accuracy, and

quality of the products delivered.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Education

Master’s degree in Gender and Development Studies, Sociology, Community Development, Law studies, Public policy or any other related fields.

Experience:

• At least 3 years work experience on Gender, Gender mainstreaming and Land governance
• Proven experience in developing and designing training materials and conducting trainings
• Knowledge of the Liberian Land Act and the Land sector in Liberia is desirable
• Previous experience in a similar assignment would be considered an asset

Language and other skills:

• Fluency in English, with the ability to produce well written reports
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, Internet and email.
• Excellent facilitation, training, public speaking and presentation skills

1. Submission of application

ISubmission of package           

1. Cover letter.
2. CV, including contact information of 3 referees.
3.  Attach proof of previous work (reports and Training Reports).
4. Financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount per each deliverable, including any administrative fees, based on the template in Annex 1. The lump sum costs must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs calculation.

Applications without any of the items listed above will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further processing.