TORS FOR A CSO TO COORDINATE ANOBSERVATORYON ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS

  1. Background

Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP) is a five year programme aimed at supporting the initiatives of Nigerian actors and institutions to manage conflicts non-violently more often and reduce the impact of violent conflict on the most vulnerable population. The programme supports interventions at the federal level but focuses more on 8 states in 4 zones worse affected by violent conflict in Nigeria. These are the North East, North West, Middle Belt and the Niger Delta.

NRSP aims to strengthen conflict management institutions in order to reduce violent conflict through four inter-related areas of work – each taking place at Federal, State and LGA-levels:

  • Security and Governance: Strengthening the performance of - and public trust in - the way Nigeria manages violent conflict by helping the responsible organisations become more coordinated, participatory, inclusive and accountable.
  • Economics and Natural Resources: Addressing grievances around employment and resource competition, especially over land and water use.
  • Women and Girls: Reducing the impact of violence against women and girls and increasing their influence on peacebuilding.
  • Research, Advocacy and Media: Supporting design, commissioning and dissemination of impartial, independent, expert research and analysis to assist Nigerian decision takers and policy makers develop and deliver policies to reduce violent conflict as well as supporting these government agencies, development agencies and media organisations to adopt conflict-sensitive response to conflict situations.
  1. Rationale for the call for proposal

This assignment relates to Output 3 (above), with a focus on component 3.2: ‘Improving the prevention of and response to violence against girls and women by supporting safe spaces for girls and women and building a constituency of support amongst leaders, men and male youth'. Safe spaces’ here refers both to autonomous, physical and virtual spaces for women and girls and to ensuring that public space are safe for women and girls. The NSRP safe spaces consist of a three, interlinked “safe space’ initiatives:

a) Peace clubs for girls boys female, and male youth – a physical safe space

The Peace Clubs initiative focuses on building national capacity at the local level and at state level, to enable communities and states to prevent and more effectively respond to VAWG. In order to promote inclusion and to ensure that the most marginalised girls and boys are able to attend the peace clubs activities; sessions are held in both formal and informal educational settings. Participants are not required to belong to the educational setting in order to attend the club.

b) Training in mediation as a life skill -a physical safe space

The mediation training is directed at improving life-skillssuch asmediation and negotiation, advocacy, speaking up, how to participate in decision-making and leadership.as well as rights education. It is targeted at Peace Club Mentees. Beneficiaries of training will be tracked over the period of the programme to find out their progress in the community, in their life choices, and in their career path.

c) Observatory – a virtual safe space used to gather information about Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), its trends, prevalence and the response by state and non-state actors who bear responsibility.

  1. Objective of the call for proposal

The objective for this call for proposal is to invite suitable and qualified CSOs to submit technical and financial proposals for the coordination and management of two observatories for the NSRP in Port Harcourt, Rivers state and Jos, Plateau State.

Observatories currently exist in two NSRP target states of Kano and Plateau. The initiative aims to ensure both reporting and response to VAWG. It will create a ‘virtual’ safe space for women and girls (and men and boys) at state-level to record incidences and trigger action on VAWG. The observatory forms a repository of information that can be accessed by responders as well accumulating data of the prevalence and type of VAWG in the selected states. Information on VAWG is expected to come from the general public but especially those participating in the NSRP and other DFID VAWG programmes. The collection of information will also be done by mentoring CSOs, health workers, police, paralegals and other prominent members of the community.

It is expected that the successful CSO(s) will draw lessons from similar NSRP supported initiatives in Kaduna and Kano.

4. Scope of work for coordinating CSO(s)

The coordinatingCSO(s) will be expected to have linkages with the NSRP peace clubs as well as with statutoryagencies involved in the state-level conflict management networks, from which the Observatory Steering Committee will derive.

Information will be received into a central (state) repository, collated and analysed using the following:

  • a phone number
  • a social media platform
  • collation hub

The contributors will be girls, boys and women from the NSRP peace clubs and other ‘safe spaces’ through the use of mobile phone, radio (phone in programmes) or internet technology and reporting to statutory or non-statutory agencies such as police, health centres or NGOs. Contributors may be girls, women, boys or men,mediation life skill mentors health workers, police, paralegals or other community members who will be trained as ‘micro-journalists’ The information collected for the Observatory will form a repository of information that can be accessed by responders as well as building up knowledge of the prevalence and type of VAWG in the selected states.

A ‘steering committee’ will be formed in each state consisting of statutory service providers in the areas of security, justice, health and education as well as representation from the coordinating CSO/ NGO. The information will be used to inform the response of statutory services (and referral to non-statutory services). For example, if women report that there is systematic sexual harassment at a particular checkpoint, the relevant police or army commander will be approached to deal with this and to report back to the steering committee on action taken. Or, if a teacher is reported to be committing acts of sexual violence against his pupils, the education representative on the steering committee will be expected to take appropriate action.

The coordinating NGO will also have links with local and national journalists (trained in conflict management and in gender by NSRP and others) who will be expected to track trends and report on response to allegations.

The technical aspects of the Observatory will be managed by an observatory platform provider- Fund for Peace (FFP). FFP will maintain the data-base, conduct the training of peace club mentors and provide the analysis of information. In line with NSRP’s Social Inclusion and Gender Mainstreaming strategies, this organisation is expected to be experienced in issues of social accountability and social exclusion as well as being technologically adept at managing this level and bulk of information.

Issues of response and referral will be carried out by the observatory steering committee (OBSTEC). The ‘steering committee’ will be formed in each state consisting of statutory service providers in the areas of security, justice, health and education etc.

The steering committee will have as its main function response to trends of VAWG. The composition of the committee will be important as a constituency of first responders.

Members of the committee will include but not limited to the following:

1. Coordinating CSO representative

2.Platform provider representative

3.WPS representative

4.Nigeria Bureau of Statistics -NBS

5.Telecoms representative/ Ministry of communication

6.Ministry of women affairs

7.Religious leaders

8.Traditional leaders

9.Security forces

10.Trauma healing counsellors

11.NMA/MWAN

12.NBA/FIDA

13.Media/NUJ/NAWOJ

14.Any CSO providing shelter or safe haven for survivors of sexual violence

15.SEMA

Coordination of the observatory and ‘softer’ aspects such as trauma counselling will be carried out by the coordinating CSO.

Issues for Coordinating CSO to consider

  • Confidentiality: Contributors need to know that their identities will be protected. Information gathered, therefore, must be anonymous and handled so that the informant cannot be identified from the report.
  • Accountability: The steering committee will need to be comprised of people who take the issue seriously and can be relied upon to take appropriate action. Wherever possible, the steering committee will be formed of people who are already involved in NSRP’s State-level Conflict Management Alliances (SCMA). The goal of SCMA will be to achieve a level of co-ordination and accountability that will permit the development, through dialogue and consensus between state bodies and civil society, of a state security plan that represents the interests of all sections of the community.
  • Information exchange: Some of the agencies involved are not accustomed to sharing information related to VAWG. Experience of other programmes (particularly J4A) shows that information sharing generates itself as agencies become more trusted within the network
  • Managing expectations: Girls and women may expect that telling someone about an act of gender-based violence will prompt an immediate response. The Observatory is NOT a helpline and this must be made clear from the outset
  • Dealing with information from children:Bearing in mind thatsome of the information will come from peace club attendees who are between the ages 10-18 years, information coming from children will be reported through club facilitators
  • Ensuring responses: Given the above, some informants will need particular encouragement to come forward with information. Others will be enthusiastic about just ‘telling someone’ and so it is crucial that the person or medium that receives the information responds appropriately.
  • Inter-state (and intra-state) differences: Types and prevalence of gender-based violence vary across the country, although ‘domestic’ violence remains a constant. For instance, FGM is more prevalent in the south whereas forced/ early marriage is more routine in the Northern states. Violent conflict brings its own emerging issues.
  • Sustainability: The membership of the steering committee will include those who are individual representatives as well as those who will be by virtue of their positions or agencies they represent
  • Conflict sensitivity: The manner in which feedback is made in response to reports from the platform provider will need to be conflict sensitive.
  1. Required profile for coordinating CSO(s)

NSRP seeks to partner with a civil society Organisation/ NGO which will provide support services for the running of the observatory in Rivers and Plateau as outlined under 3 (scope of work) above. The CSO must possess the the following:

5.1 General

  1. The Observatory will be contracted out to an a non-governmental organisation with experience in issues of VAWG
  2. This organisation will receive incoming information, manage the data-base, and provide the analysis of information
  3. Conduct the training of steering committee members
  4. In line with NSRP’s Social Inclusion and Gender Mainstreaming strategies, this organisation is expected to be experienced in issues of social accountability and social exclusion as well as being technologically adept at managing this level and bulk of information.
  5. Managing data-collection as well as a commitment to and experience of social exclusion issues, knowledge of VAWG issues and knowledge of conflict-sensitive or peacebuilding programming.
  6. Good experience in working with, training and supporting marginalised people with a particular focus on people with disabilities, youth and women.
  7. Experience in thetargeted states of Rivers and Plateau is desirable.

5.2 Personnel

The coordinating CSO is required to provide the following:

  1. Data entry clerks (one per state) who will be trained in use of hard and software to be provided by the Friends for Peace as the platform provider
  2. Phone line volunteers (two per state)

5.3 Training

The staff of the coordination CSO will receive training on the use of the platform

In turn the Coordinating CSO will train 20 steering committee members, 30 community facilitators and 6 CSO partners(in each state) on:

  1. Child safeguarding
  2. Confidentiality
  3. Data security
  4. Reporter safety

5.4 Monitoring and evaluation

Observatories on VAWG, where information including individual cases and trends, will be gathered and reported in order to trigger response at the institutional level. Accurate online reports, maps and presentations showing trends and information are expected

The framework will include relevant indicators such as:

•Child Abuse

•Sexual Violence

•Gender-Based Human Rights Violations

•Domestic Violence Fatality

6. Outputs/deliverables

A proposal and budget[1] responding to the requirements outlined in the attached TORs.

Kindly use the proposal template attached to this call for proposals. The proposal should clearly indicate which of the two states the applicant is proposing to work in.

6. Time frame for proposal submission and assessment.

ACTIVITY / DATE
Call for proposals / 21st October 2014
Proposal submission / 3rd November 2014
Assessment by NSRP / 10th November 2014
Feedback to applicants / 12th November 2014
Submission of vendor requirements / 17th November 2014
Contracting of partner / 24th November 2014

7. Management arrangements

The consultancy will be managed by NSRP Output Manager, Women and Girls.

  1. Duration of assignment- The assignment in Rivers and Plateau States if for a period

of two years, November 2014 to November 2016 running concurrently.

[1]The proposal assessment will include competitive budget submission