Introduction:

The Defenders Coalition, which is the national coalition of human rights defenders in Kenya, is a national organization incorporated in the Republic of Kenya as a Trust. Its mission is to champion the safety, security and wellbeing of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs). Established in 2007, Defenders Coalition is the only national organisation that works primarily for the protection of HRDs. 

In its Strategic Plan 2020 – 2025 which outlines the vision, ambition and strategies of realizing the same. The Plan, which is also aligned to global human rights instruments seeks to effectively reposition the Coalition in the rapidly changing environment especially in technology. The Coalition takes a holistic approach in its work geared towards a safe and secure environment for HRDs through an established rapid response mechanism, capacity building and knowledge management structures. To address concerns of HRDs is the core business of the coalition and thus works towards increasing their capacity in safety and security as well as their knowledge in the policy and legal environment within the human rights context as well as inclusion of technology.

Background:

The Defenders Coalition is currently running a project that focuses on empowering women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in five out of the forty-seven counties in Kenya. The two-year project seeks to result in strong community networks that will work towards addressing the challenges that exist within operating environment as well as document and give visibility to the work that WHRDs do in advancing human rights. The first year of the project has focused on organising the women into groups of thirty in each of the counties and sensitization sessions on safety and security held with each of the groups. In the second year, Defenders Coalition seeks to enhance the capacity of women with skills in risk assessment and reporting as well as monitoring, documentation and reporting.  The skills development training is intended to result in a pool of trainers of trainers from among the WHRDs who will continue strengthening the capacity of other WHRDs at the community level.

The trained WHRDs are expected to utilise skills gained in monitoring and report from a gender perspective on incidents of human rights violations. Defenders Coalition hopes that the networks of WHRDs will reclaim their civic space for to promote human rights, protest injustices and demand good governance in a safe and secure environment.

It is on the basis of this background that Defenders Coalition seeks the services of a consultant who will be able to train the WHRDs on monitoring and Documentation from a gender perspective.

Scope of work:

Due to the challenges cause by COVID 19 pandemic and subsequent measures put in place by the government to manage its spread, Defenders Coalition seeks a consultant who will be in a position to;

1. Develop training content and materials for possible online and physical training
2. Develop one week training schedules (for online training and physical training schedules)
3. Develop clear methodologies for each. 
4. Undertake a one-week training for selected WHRDs to be trained as trainers on monitoring, documentation and reporting.

All the three should put into consideration gendered-approach to monitoring and documentation. The training modules and materials will be discussed and approved by the Defenders Coalition team before the commencement of the training.

Deliverables:

1. Training modules and schedules of the trainings (online and physical trainings)
2. Conduct training for WHRDs on monitoring, documentation and reporting from a gendered perspective.
3. A comprehensive trainers manual that can be used by Defenders Coalition and the WHRDs in conducting trainings on monitoring, documentation and reporting.
4. Develop a trainers report at the end of the training 

Duration and Reporting

This assignment, which is a two-part assignment will be completed within two months.

1. May  – Development of comprehensive training manual. 
2. June – (i) Development of training modules for both physical and online learning (ii) Training of WHRDs on MDR

A breakdown of how these days shall be utilised shall be reflected in the schedule of work discussed with Defenders Coalition at the stage of engagement

Profile of the Consultant(s) 

The consultant(s) should have the following qualifications/expertise: 

• Master’s degree in Gender Studies, Development Studies or any other relevant field.
• Minimum five years of experience in active training and capacity building in monitoring, documentation and reporting
• Working experience within multicultural teams and human rights organization or communities and human rights issues
• Excellent communication, oral, written and presentation skills
• Experience in development of training modules and other training materials

Interested applicants shall present to the Defenders Coalition both financial and technical proposal for the project. The technical proposal must cover all-important aspects of the project and the financial proposal should cover professional and support cost. 

Application Procedure 

Interested applicants who meet the job requirements and qualifications and with the right personal attributes are invited to complete and submit the following:

1. A technical proposal detailing the methodology and work plan 
2. Financial proposal 
3. A brief description of the resource person outlining recent experience in similar assignments 
4. At least three references of similar assignment
5. Sample work that is similar to this assignment     

All applications should be sent to Defenders Coalition via: info@defenderscoalition.org and copy   salome@defendercoalition.org and letion@defenderscoalition.org by Monday, May 3rd 2021. Quote “WHRD MDR Training” in the subject line of your email.