TERM OF REFERENCE

DEVELOPMENT OF TRAINING OF TRAINERS (ToT) MANUAL

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Project Title: Civil Society Empowerment for Human Rights and Democracy

About CJPS:

The Center for Justice and Peace Studies (CJPS) is a Liberian Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with a focus on building a more just society with and through young people to reduce multi-dimensional poverty through the promotion of youth participation in decision-making processes, strengthening community bodies, creation of awareness on existing policies, and promotion of good governance at all levels. CJPS has significant experience consolidating peace and reconciliation through women’s empowerment and youth development, building on knowledge and expertise to address the root causes of gender-based violence, campaigns to raise awareness, and strengthening capacity to empower women and youth. CJPS focuses on community-based programming while enhancing and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders at the national and local levels. CJPS acknowledges the significance of involving youth and women in peacebuilding and development and implements initiatives that empower and amplify the voices of youth and women, promoting justice, peace, and human rights. CJPS engages in efforts to address past human rights abuses and promote accountability, including advocating for transitional justice mechanisms, supporting victims’ rights, and promoting the rule of law and access to justice for all. CJPS has extensive experience implementing initiatives to foster peacebuilding and reconciliation in Liberia, focusing on community dialogues, mediation processes, and conflict resolution mechanisms to address intergroup tensions, promote social cohesion, and facilitate healing and reconciliation.

Project Background and Introduction:

Relevance of the action: Women’s and youth’s voices are frequently left out of critical decision-making processes in public and political life, and their rights often fall through the cracks. The proposed action aims to create opportunities to facilitate the active engagement of youth (aged 18-35), especially girls, and women in these spheres and strengthen their knowledge and awareness to advocate for political and social change at local and national levels. It responds to the need to sensitize duty bearers and create spaces for meaningful youth and women’s participation in good governance and democratic processes in Liberia. The action intends to contribute to Lot 1, with the global objective of supporting actions of CSOs (Civil Society Organisations) active in the field of Human Rights and Democracy (HR&D) and responds directly to Objective 1 in the call for proposals (CfP): Support actions to advance good governance and democratic rights and consolidate democratic processes that deliver for all. In line with Specific Objective 1, it will respond to priorities: a) support advocacy actions by strengthening CSOs, CBOs (Community-Based Organisations), and grassroots organizations capacity to advocate and lobby for increased civic engagement and increasing the voice of women and youth; b) promote civic engagement and civic education by building youth and women-focused CSOs capacity to promote good governance and advance political and social rights, and strengthening collaboration between CSOs and CSO networks; and f) strengthening the capacity of the Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR) by providing institutional and administrative support to INCHR and working with CSOs and CBOs to actively engaged in HR&D monitoring, reporting, and response.

In line with the objective of the call for proposal, the proposed action aims to strengthen the knowledge competence and empower with skills, the project implementation unit (PIL & CJPS), local CSOs, and CBOs to meaningfully engage as active participants in advancing good governance and democratic rights for all in Liberia, with a particular focus on women, young people, and persons with disabilities (PwD). Through three specific objectives, the action aims to create an enabling environment that fosters inclusive civic engagements and facilitates open dialogue between rights holders and duty bearers. The action embeds a rights-based approach, a gender transformative approach, and a participatory approach while contributing to the fundamental values of the European Union (EU) and Plan International. The nature of the approach will bring together different sectors of civil society, fostering alliances and empowering them to engage civilly, speak out, and advocate for positive change. The project was jointly designed by Plan International Liberia (lead applicant) and co-applicant Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (CJPS) and is based on the individual and combined experience of both organizations in supporting youth and women as active drivers of social and political change in community-centered interventions, and stakeholder engagement at local, County and national levels. Plan International Liberia and CJPS will work closely with youth and women-focused CSOs and CBOs to strengthen their capacity to facilitate the active and inclusive engagements of youth and women in important decision-making processes in public and political life and strengthen their knowledge and awareness to advocate for political and social change at community, district, county and national levels. The approach seeks to respond to the need to sensitize duty bearers and create inclusive spaces for meaningful youth and women’s participation in good governance and democratic processes in Liberia.

The rationale of the task:

In our quest to mitigate the above-mentioned challenges, the Civil Society Empowerment for Human Rights and Democracy partners embarked on developing programs and a training manual to facilitate capacity building, institutional strengthening, and the sustainability of the actions.

In light of this, CJPS, in partnership with Plan International Liberia with support from the EU-funded “Civil Society Empowerment for Human Rights and Democracy,” is seeking to hire a local consultant to lead the development of a “user-friendly” Training of Trainers (TOT) manual as a core foundational initiative of this action that will be used by diverse levels of individuals from CSO, CBOs and Grassroots Organizations. The manual shall encompass key topics, including governance, leadership, awareness raising, campaigning, social and political rights, life skills, networking, etc. Upon completion of the manual, the consultant will assess the capacities of Plan International Liberia and CJPS Master Trainers (MTs) and provide five days of training on using the manual. Similar initiatives shall be led by the MTs in Nimba and Bomi to the identified CSOs, CBOs, and Grassroots Organizations.

Objectives of the development of the TOT manual:

• To develop a ToT package (manual) on CSO/CBO human rights and democracy engagements, which focuses on strengthening target groups’ skills and knowledge competence to understand the challenges associated with good governance, particularly for women and youth, including people with disabilities, for affirmative action.
• To develop a training package (manual) for Civil Society Organizations and community-based Organizations focusing on human rights and democracy engagement. The package aims to enhance the skills and knowledge of the target groups in understanding the challenges related to good governance, especially for women, youth, and people with disabilities, to take affirmative action.

• To strengthen specific capacity areas related to advocacy and influencing political and social rights issues or policies and Programmes, community mobilization, engaging men and boys, engaging stakeholders and meditation, and managing organization and group dynamics.

Key output/deliverables:

• Vett and hire a competent external consultant

• Consultant develops the ToT manual with specific elements of the ToT programme that will incorporate Plan International Liberia’s existing resources/experience, including influencing gender and social norms, conflict sensitivity, child protection, youth empowerment, and gender transformative programming.

• CJPS provides specific inputs on democracy and governance, and

• INCHR provides input on human rights in the national context.

• The consultant will assess the capacity of the selected staff and conduct a 5-day Training of Trainers (ToT) for 9 Master Trainers (MTs). Plan Liberia will identify five MTs, and CJPS will identify four.
• The consultant ensures that the ToT manual is tailored to the varying capacity levels of project participants, including CSOs, CBOs, and Grassroots Organizations.

• The consultant facilitates a validation session of the TOT manual with key stakeholders, including INCHR, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Elections Commission, and the Ministry of Justice.

The consultant will administer pre and post-tests to training participants before and after conducting the five-day Training of Trainers (ToT) sessions. Following this, he/she must prepare and submit a training report to CJPS. This report should outline the achievements, challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations from the training sessions.

Expected Outcomes:

• The developed TOT manual details Plan International’s approaches and learnings on influencing gender and social norms, conflict sensitivity, child protection, youth empowerment, and gender transformative programming.

• CJPS capacity is strengthened, and specific and quality inputs on democracy and governance are provided.

• The training manual includes INCHR inputs on human rights in the national context, which are available and applicable (user-friendly).
• Nine (9) master trainers (Plan International Liberia-5 and CJPS-4) trained in the context of the developed manual and can independently and confidently rollout to target groups.

• Manual is user-friendly for CSOs/CBOs and Grassroots Organizations.

• The manual is validated by key stakeholders, including INCHR, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Elections Commission, and the Ministry of Justice.

• The consultant prepares and submits a training report to CJPS, which outlines the achievements, challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations from the training sessions.

Qualification & Technical Requirement:

• Master’s degree in Social Science, development, political science, communications, or related field.
• At least 5 years of relevant work experience in Social Science, development, political science, communications, or related field.

• Demonstrates excellent working knowledge of Liberia’s human rights policies and advocacy for political and social change activities.

• Demonstrate excellent experience and ability to develop training manuals (training materials) on capacity-building of civil society organizations on human rights, advocacy, and political and social change activities.

• Excellent Experience working with stakeholders, including private sector and local government authorities/institutions.

• Excellent experience relevant to conducting training sessions, handling, and reporting on human rights issues.

• Digital skills, including MS Office and Internet.

Duration of the tasks (Development of the ToT Manual):

• July 29th, 2024 to September 28th, 2024

Calendar of Activity Events

• Interested Applicants may apply to: (cjpstudies2002@gmail.com)
• Please contact 880007295 for inquiry
• Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

Cost: Negotiable