CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST: Training of Trainers on Women’s Political Leadership

BACKGROUND

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system wide efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. 

From the local to the global level, women’s leadership and political participation are restricted. Women are underrepresented as voters, as well as in leading positions, whether in elected office, the civil service, the private sector or academia. This occurs despite their proven abilities as leaders and agents of change, and their right to participate equally in democratic governance.

The number of women in key leadership and decision-making roles in Papua New Guinea has remained consistently low. With female representation in parliamentary decision-making decreasing from 2.7% to zero in the most recent 2017 elections, a women’s leadership vacuum now exists at the national level. In recognition of the challenges faced by women vying for leadership and decision-making roles, the Government of Papua New Guinea has agreed to a range of national and international commitments to support women’s equal participation in public life and within political processes.

In taking steps towards addressing the challenges, the PNG government has demonstrated its commitment through a number of national and global policy frameworks including, Vision 2050, the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy, Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the new Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP). Those frameworks and policies will guide interventions aimed at addressing the leadership and political vacuum for women in PNG. UN women is working with Government of PNG through the Women Make the Change programme, which is part of the Global Framework on Women’s Political Participation.

This programme focuses on four critical outputs: (i) Legal frameworks strengthened to promote gender balance throughout the political processes ; (ii) A cadre of interested, diverse and capable women political leaders supported at national and sub-national level; (iii) Women are perceived as equally legitimate and effective political leaders as men; and (iv) Women are promoted as leaders in gender sensitive political institutions. UN Women endeavors to improve women’s influence across a range of political processes, especially at sub-national level towards improving voices for women in the political processes.

FOCUS OF THE CALL

One of the important areas of work of UN Women globally, as well as in the Women Make the Change programme in PNG, is building capacities of women in political leadership positions. To support these efforts, the UN Women PNG Country Office has developed a comprehensive training manual that will be used to train women in political leadership positions at the subnational across the Women Make the Change target provinces. In order to deliver this training, UN Women is launching this call for expressions of interest from qualified individuals to participate in a training of trainers using the manual developed by UN Women. Up to 20 qualified individuals per region will be selected to participate in a Training of Trainers and will receive a certificate of completion following satisfactory participation in the 5-day course.

UN Women will oversee the administrative and logistical arrangements for the organization of the training programme for women’s political participation, including the cost of trainer’s participation.

WHO CAN APPLY

Trainers or experts working in gender equality, and specifically on women’s political empowerment and leadership.

We welcome applications from participants in all WMC participating provinces, including: the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, East New Britain, East Sepik, Enga, Hela, National Capital District, New Ireland, Milne Bay, Morobe and Southern Highlands. 

Participants must confirm their availability to participate for the whole duration of the training and commitment to deliver trainings on women’s political participation in the future.

DURATION

Four separate training of trainers will be implemented and will last from 3 to 5 days over the course of October and November 2020. Successful applicants will participate in one TOT.

ABOUT THE COURSE

After attending the course, the participant will:

• Understand the political context, including normative frameworks on political rights, specifics of the subnational political system and relevant institutions for promoting gender balance in decision-making bodies;
• Possess knowledge on the core skill areas women at the subnational level need to engage in to successfully demonstrate their leadership.
• Enjoy access to a suite of practical training exercises and prepared modules on capacity building of women in positions of political leadership at the subnational level;  
• Be able to apply knowledge and skills as trainers for women’s political empowerment and leadership, specifically to support increasing technical skills of women in political leadership positions at the subnational level.

The course is interactive and will span several days. The training programme strives to provide three equally important foundations for potential leaders: knowledge, skills and confidence. It provides information on valuable soft skills important for effective leaders and technical information on the roles and responsibilities of political leaders in subnational governance structures candidates. The training aims to build the confidence of women political leaders and their ability to be transformational leaders by emphasizing women’s rights and the importance of women’s voices to bring about better policies, laws and processes for the benefit of the whole society.

Lead trainer:

Dame Carol Kidu is a passionate advocate for gender equality and has considerable political experience, having served as the longest female Member of Parliament in Papua New Guinea. Dame Kidu brings with her knowledge and expertise she has gained from her vast political career, as well as previous work with the Australian National University to develop and deliver training to aspiring women political candidates across Papua New Guinea.

The lead trainer will be partner with UN Women, and relevant PNG government partners, to deliver these TOTs.

LANGUAGE

The course will be provided in Tok Pisin and English.

CERTIFICATION

Full attendance (minimum qualifying hours dependent on the number of training days) of WPP training required for Certification by UN Women.

HOW TO APPLY

Individuals that wish to respond to this Call for Expression of Interest are requested to apply either:

1. By applying online using this link: https://bit.ly/3bwykxb 
2. By sending a completed Application form and CV, marked “ToT Programme on Women’s Political Participation”, to unwpng.hr@unwomen.org Download the application form by clicking 'View PDF' under image above.  

Deadline for applications is 18th of September 2020

Number of participants is limited and subject to selection.