Consultancy – Gender Expert to Monitor and Report on ‘Backlashes to Gender Equality’

• Location: Remote
• Type of contract: Consultancy / Individual contract
• Deadline for application: 21st October 2023
• Expected starting date: November 2023 – April 2024 (12 working days in total)

About EuroMed Rights

EuroMed Rights is a non-governmental organisation aiming to promote cooperation and dialogue in and between countries on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a network founded in 1997 and representing 68 human rights organisations from 30 countries. Its work is aimed at promoting and protecting human rights and democracy in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean regions and at influencing the policies of major European actors towards these areas.

By creating network opportunities and encouraging civil society cooperation, EuroMed Rights aims to develop and strengthen the partnerships between NGOs located within the Euro-Mediterranean area, to spread and promote human rights values and to increase members’ capacities to reach these objectives.  

Since 2004, EuroMed Rights has worked proactively on promoting gender equality in the EuroMediterranean region. Since 2021, one of the priorities of the Women’s Rights and Gender Justice (WRGJ) regional programme has been monitoring and reporting on backlashes to gender equality in the EuroMediterranean region. To support and facilitate this work, in 2021, the ‘Backlash Map’ tool was created.

 

The Backlash Map

The Backlash Map is an interactive website that allows anyone who wishes to report a backlash to gender equality in one of the following countries: Algeria, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, France, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco/Western Sahara, Palestine, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Tunisia,  and Turkey.

The Map is conceived as a tool that can provide:

• Citizens with information on the phenomenon of backlashes, and possibility to “counteract” these via links to petitions and sharing options on social media,
• Civil society organisations with an overall view of developments in the region, and centralised information in their advocacy and communication efforts,
• Decision-makers with an overall view of the developments in the region, including the scale of the phenomenon, with easily accessible data to be used in reports and various documentation,
• Journalists with trustworthy, regularly updated information on ongoing backlashes and developments in the region.

 

Objectives and outputs of the work

The output of the work will be to provide a comprehensive update of the map (covering all countries) from June through to December 2023, and going forward reporting current backlashes into the first quarter of 2024. With an understanding that this is a subjective target (i.e. to report all backlashes), the consultant is tasked with reporting well-sourced, important backlashes in each country to the best of their abilities.

The consultancy will include an introduction to the processes and functioning of the Backlash Map website that will allow the consultant to work with this tool. Access to the back-end of the site will be limited to the duration of the consultancy.

Please be aware that posting any unsolicited, off-topic and/or offensive content on the website would result in immediate termination of the consultancy contract.

 

Process and timeline

The consultancy shall be conducted according to the following anticipated timeline:

• Deadline for applications: 21st of October.
• Response and consultation with EuroMed Rights: week of 23rd October
• Negotiation of contract: 30^th October to 1^st November
• Commencement of contract: 6th November
• Discussion of first backlashes monitored: 1st December (consultant and EuroMed Rights)
• Introduction to the functioning of the Backlash Map website: 2nd December (consultant and EuroMed Rights)
• Check-in on progress and any difficulties encountered: 10th January.
• Independent research and creation of Map articles: 2^nd December 29th April.
• Final sign-off, feedback and end of the contract: 30th April.

The consultancy constitutes 12 working days in total – equivalent to two working days per month.

Profile, Skills and Background

Expertise

• Proven expertise in and/or educational background in gender. Political sciences, journalism and humanities backgrounds would also be considered very highly.
• Experience of website CMS (especially Wagtail) would be a very welcome addition.

Languages

• Fluency in English with excellent writing skills (all posts on the Map are made in English).
• Fluency in Arabic – reading and comprehension.
• Any level of French reading comprehension would be a huge added-value.

Application procedure

Qualified and interested candidates are requested to apply before 21^st October 2023 and should be sent to Laura Clough – [email protected]

The application should contain:

• A CV, indicating education background/professional qualifications, relevant past experience, as well as contact details (email and telephone number).
• A budget with all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, including VAT, on the basis of 12 full days work on the consultancy.

Payment modalities

EuroMed Rights will break down payments in two parts based on the amount agreed with the consultant.