Background of EWLA

Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association has been established at the federal level in 1995 by Women lawyers and re-registered as Local Organization in accordance with the Civil Society Organization. It has been working for more than 25 years to promote women's social, economic, political and legal rights to help women exercise their constitutional and other rights.

The aim of the association is to promote equal participation of women in all sectors and to prevent sexual violence against women and create a safe environment for women through its three programs: Legal Research and Advocacy, Public Education and Capacity Building, and Free Legal Aid service.

The association is head quartered in Addis Ababa and has opened its regional offices in seven regions  and one city administration namely Adama, Hawassa, Bahir Dar, Gambella, Asosa, Jigjiiga, Semera regions and city administration of Dire Dawa. In order to make the service accessible to all, the association is working to continue its service in the zones and woredas under its regional and city administration branches and has so far established 55 volunteer committee centers across the country.

Introduction

Women are still far below equal representation at every level of political and governance decision-making across the world. Women continue to face prejudice, discrimination and acts of psychological and even physical violence when they join a field from which they have been traditionally excluded and actively dissuaded. Despite the fact that women's political participation and representation have improved significantly over the previous century in Ethiopia, women continue to be underrepresented at every level of political and governance decision-making. When women enter an area from which they have traditionally been excluded and actively discouraged, they continue to encounter prejudice, discrimination abuses. Men in politics confront violence as well, but the motivations for violence and the consequences of violence in politics are different for women. Violence Against Women in Politics (VAW-P) contributes to women's lack of political engagement and representation around the world, endangering their rights, gender equality, and democracy. VAW-P, like all kinds of violence against women, is the result of structural inequity and deep-seated prejudice brought on by patriarchal oppression and repression. EWLA with the support from NDI and USAID is working towards promoting equality in politics: enhancing women’s participation in politics and the decision-making process and ensuring effective participation of women.

In order to respond to the realities of political inequality, gender considerations and VAW-P monitoring must be integrated into the political system. It will necessitate a shift in political culture in terms of how women are treated. The Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA) successfully implemented Violence Against Women in Elections (VAW-E) monitoring activities (pre-election period and election day) during the 2021 national election through its trained observers throughout the country in. The toll-free hotline 7711 was also used by EWLA to collect citizen reports of VAW-E incidents. EWLA wants to continue its advocacy work for expanded women's political involvement in Ethiopia, building on the work and experiences obtained via the VAW-E project. Thus, EWLA would like to hire a professional consultant to review and update the existing response protocol.

The assignment

The assignment of this is to review and update the existing  response protocol that was developed during the 2021 elections for monitoring EWLA’s Violence Against Women in Elections (VAW-E) hotline service. The review and update of the response protocol should aim at a complete EWLA Hotline Service that provides access to women across Ethiopia to report on violence against them during their participation in political processes.

Scope of the Work

• Review and identify gaps in implementing the VAW-E response protocol.
• Identify and recommend a flexible referral pathway that safely links women violence survivors to services such as justice and legal aid, health, psychosocial support, case management, safety/security, and to political and electoral governance bodies,  such as NEBE.
• The response process should outline different steps for EWLA staff to take at the regional and Addis levels and will take into consideration the seriousness of incidents.
• Make recommendations on how EWLA will utilize multiple technologies, such as social media, phone applications and public spaces to quickly report violations.
• The response protocols will provide needed information for the referral system in order to facilitate the referral pathway of reported cases with specific contacts/ focal points for those services outside of EWLA to easily follow up on reported cases.
• If the incident can be solved at the regional level, when and how the regional focal persons will contact the Head office staff, and what regional response stakeholders that were identified at the mapping exercise should be identified in order to provide support to the victims of VAW-E/P and other cases.

Approach and Methodology

To prepare the response protocol, the consultant will use the output of the mapping exercise, Literature review and consultative meetings, key informant interviews, and in-depth interviews from the relevant organs.

Outputs/Expected Deliverables

The consultant is expected to revise and deliver the response protocol for incidents of different kinds specifically case management, including psychosocial support, legal counselling, reporting sexual exploitation and abuse or safeguarding issues, among others. In undertaking this assignment, the following deliverables are expected from the consultant:

• Submission of an inception report for review by EWLA
• Submission of final inception report upon incorporating comments/feedback from EWLA
• Submission of a draft revised/updated response protocols for comments/feedback by EWLA
• Submission of final revised/updated response protocols to EWLA

Delivery Date:

The response protocol should be delivered within Ten (10) days. The response protocol should be revised and updated within the specified time frame.

Payment Modalities

The payment will be 30% upon delivery of inception report; 30% upon delivery of draft report; and 40% upon delivery of final report.

Type of Contract: Contract

Expected Starting Date: Immediately

Education:

• Postgraduate or other advanced university degree (at least LL.M or equivalent) in the area of law, Political science, and social institutional and social sciences or any other relevant domain.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of professional experience in developing documents, especially response protocols;
• Extensive conceptual and practical knowledge of case management, legal counselling, reporting sexual exploitation and abuse or safeguarding issues, among others.
• Experience of working and collaborating with stakeholders including governments, civil society and communities in Ethiopia;
• Demonstrated ability in analytical and report drafting work;
• Demonstrated experience in capacity development initiatives;