UN Women Short Term Consultant for Implementation of the Supreme Court Ruling on the Two – Thirds Gender Principle -Job vacancy 2014
Terms of Reference for a Short Term Consultant for Implementation of the Supreme Court Ruling on the Two-Thirds Gender Principle1.0 Background
The Constitution of Kenya 2010 upholds the rights of women as being equal in law to men, and entitled to enjoy equal opportunities in the political, social and economic spheres. Article 81 (b) which refers to the general principles of Kenya’s electoral system and states ‘the electoral system shall comply with the following principle: (b) Not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender.
Article 27 of the Constitution requires the government to develop and pass policies and laws, including affirmative action programs and policies to address the past discrimination that women have faced.
Additionally, the government is required to develop policies and laws to ensure that, not more than two-thirds of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same sex.
These two provisions which constitute a critical milestone in the efforts towards increasing women’s representation in Parliament were the result of considerable contestation in the political and public arenas. However, the realization of Articles 27 and 81 were to be challenged in the run up to the March, 2013 elections.
In order to avert a crisis, on the 8th of October 2012 the Attorney General of Kenya filed a request for an Advisory Opinion as to whether the two-thirds gender principle is to be realized by March 2013, or over a longer period of time.
The Attorney General also sought on whether the non-realization of the two-thirds gender principle by March 2013 general elections, would result in a constitutional crisis in Parliament. The National Gender and Equality Commission-NGEC was an interested party to this matter.
On 11th December 2012, the Supreme Court by the majority delivered a decision on Article 81(b), that the two-thirds gender principle under Article 81 (b) is progressive. The ruling provided that the next National Assembly and Senate will not be illegal if it has less than one-third of women. Instead, the Supreme Court stated that Parliament will be required to enact a law by 27th August 2015, to give effect to the two-thirds gender principle under Article 81(b). To this end, the NGEC has been on the forefront in ensuring that the Supreme Court ruling shall be implemented in the run up to 2015.
On the 3rd of February 2014, the NGEC sought a meeting with the Attorney General on the subject matter which subsequently led to the constitution of a working group that comprises of; the Attorney General’s Office, Ministry of Devolution and Planning (Directorate on Gender), National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) (Convener), Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Office of the Registrar of Political Parties; Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution; Parliament (Committees on the Implementation of the Constitution and Legal Affairs, respectively); Kenya Women’s Parliamentary Association and FIDA –Kenya. The latter represents civil society organization in this process.
This working group is charged with the mandate of developing a draft mechanism of implementing the Supreme Court ruling on the two thirds gender principle.
1.1 Partnership with the National Gender and Equality Commission -NGEC.
The National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) is a Constitutional Commission established pursuant to Article 59(4) and (5) of the Constitution and the National Gender and Equality Act, 2011 with the overall mandate of promoting gender equality and freedom from discrimination as per Article 27 of the Constitution.
The Commission is mandated to among other things monitor, facilitate and advise on the integration of the principles of equality and freedom from discrimination in all national and county policies, laws, and administrative regulations in all public and private institutions.
NGEC as the convener of the working group is mandated to coordinate and facilitate the process of identifying plausible legal frameworks for realizing the two thirds gender principle through consultations and engagement with wide range of audiences including the citizens, county and national government, parastatals, private sector, faith leadership, media, special interest groups, the women movement, civil society organizations, external and international experts in constitutional matters among other groups to ensure utmost participation.
The working group has 90 working days to deliver plausible options of frameworks for the Office of the Attorney General to Consider.
The commission and the working group has in the past 30 days coordinated and facilitated the process of developing the framework and conducted a self-assessment of the process to determine effective ways of delivery of services. A high level of technical skills is required throughout the development process.
UN Women has been supporting women’s leadership in line with UN Women’s strategic priorities.
The Supreme Court ruling on the two thirds gender principle provides an opportunity for UN Women and strategic partners to develop a framework that can secure women leadership and representation in all spheres of life.
In this regard that UN Women in partnership with NGEC (the secretariat for the working group) is seeking for a full time high skilled coordinator to work with the team on a six months contract to manage and fast track the process of developing the draft frameworks for affirmative action.
2.0 Aim and Objectives:
The objective is to provide strategic expertise, technical support and drafting of feasible frameworks towards realization of two thirds gender principle within a strict timeframe.
3.0 Scope of Work
The scope of the work include providing overall technical expertise and strategic coordination on the activities identified and required by working group and secretariat on the implementation of the Supreme Court ruling and development of plausible framework on two thirds gender principle.The Task
The consultant is expected to;
i. Develop a work plan to execute the planned task in the ToR.
ii. Review all background documents this far related to applications of affirmative action in political representation in Kenya and other parts of the world.
iii. Review specific and selected materials on and related to the two third gender principle including various proposals prepared post 2010 constitution of Kenya and all frameworks designed, proposed or thought of post the 2010 constitution of Kenya
iv. Review and document analysis all laws and policies in Kenya governing or have potential to governance of the two third gender principle including the Constitution of Kenya 2010, The Elections Act, IEBC Act, the Political Parties act among others. Included too are draft bills at different stages will also be considered
v. Prepare an analytical and chronological paper highlighting the road map and lessons learnt in the quest for the achievement of the two thirds gender principle in Kenya.
vi. Plan, co-ordinate, facilitate and organize all meetings and engagements. These include meetings and consultation forums with working groups and its constituents. Expert strategic engagement that involves among other duties helping identify relevant stakeholders and experts, guiding in the development of objectives and questions for the various stakeholders meetings, attending and guiding the sessions, recording of the proceeding, and recommendations, work plans, action plans, feedback mechanism and execution of decisions and outcomes of such engagements
vii. Ensure proper summaries of the deliberations in any form of engagement and participation in the development of the framework, accurate storage and retrieval of the proceedings and deliberations.
viii. Coordinate the activities of the working group with other agencies and offices including office of the Attorney General, Ministry of Devolution, civil society organization among others as determined by the working group
ix. Work in close collaboration with the working group to compile and complete the final draft mechanism for presentation to the AG as guided by the technical working group.
x. Apply inherent principles of good governance, administration, public participation, leadership, integrity and ethics, equity among others provided for in the 2010 Constitution of Kenya and other legal instruments to manage the process of development of plausible frameworks to realization of the two thirds gender principle
4.0 Output – Deliverables
The Consultant shall provide:-
A draft mechanism on the implementation of the Supreme Court ruling on the two thirds gender principle that has followed to the greatest extent possible the constitution of Kenya and the will of Kenyans.
5.0 Time Schedule
The consultants will work for a total of forty five (45) days as defined and needed by NGEC spread within a period of six months.
He/ she will be based in Nairobi NGEC offices, Solution Tech Place, Upper Hill and will report to the NGEC Commission Secretary within the NGEC’S Legal & Investigations department.
NGEC will provide the consultant with administrative and infrastructural support required to deliver the service.6.0 Key Performance Indicators
- A Final mechanism on affirmative action
- Documentation of development process for the affirmative acti0on mechanism, challenges and lessons learnt.
7.0 Evaluation Criteria:
7.1 The expert/ Coordinator
Qualifications
- A degree in Law from a reputable university; A master’s degree in any social science discipline will be an added advantage.
- 10 years working experience in programming, mainstreaming issues of special interest groups and excellent skills in stakeholder engagements;
Expertise
- Proficiency in presentations and excellent public communication skills.
- Excellent organizational skills, ability to negotiate, influence decisions and moderate high level meetings and discussions
- Good understanding of the laws of Kenya and constitutions.
- High knowledge of design and applications of affirmative actions in Kenya and other parts of the world
- Ability to read, undertake desk review and synthesis information to comprehensible articles and disseminate to both technical and non-technical audience
- Ability to organize and direct meetings
Duration: The consultants will work for a total of forty five (45) days starting from May 2014.
Application process
Applications should be sent to: consultancies.eharo@unwomen.org with the subject line clearly marked “TECHNICAL CONSULTANT, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION 2014 ”
The deadline for submission of applications is COB 13th May 2014.