Expert on security for women’s rights organisation in the MENA region (female)

About medica mondiale

medica mondiale e.V. is a non-governmental organisation based in Cologne, Germany. As a feminist women’s rights organisation medica mondiale supports women and girls in war and crisis zones throughout the world. Through own programmes and in cooperation with local women’s organisations we offer holistic support to women and girl survivors of sexualised and gender-based violence. On the political level, we pro-actively promote women’s rights, call for a rigorous punishment of crimes as well as effective protection, justice and political participation for survivors of violence. Currently medica mondiale is working in Northern Iraq/Kurdistan, in Afghanistan, in West Africa, in South-eastern Europe as well as the African Great Lakes Region.

Call for Expressions of Interest

Expert on security for women’s rights organisation in the MENA region (female)

Preliminary terms of reference (Date: 24/02/2021)

Context

Since 2015 medica mondiale works in the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan – Iraq. The pojects are usually implemented by partner organisations based in the region. medica mondiale and her partners do not only work to provide direct services to women survivors of (S)GBV, but also to achieve political and institutional change. This can bare risks in rather restrictive and patriarchal environments.

Feminist women’s organisations in the MENA region face numerous security risks due to their engagement to provide services and support to women survivors of (S)GBV. Especially, advocacy activities that aim at societal, political and institutional change may expose women’s activists to risks and in the worst-case physical harm. The risk is especially high for local activists as they do not benefit from specific security frameworks and mechanisms installed for INGOs and expats. Further, women survivors and their children who access services and take part in programs delivered by such organisations may be exposed to security risks as well.

As such, women’s rights organisations need a comprehensive security concept and policy to ensure the safety of their staff and the women benefitting from their services, without compromising their agency.

Purpose and Objectives of Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to establish a comprehensive security concept and policy for a feminist women’s rights organisation. The consultant should understand security from a feminist perspective and take into account the risks for grass-root civil society organisations.

Result and Deliverables

Result: comprehensive, feminist security concept and policy for a partner organisation

Deliverables:

· Risk assessment for the partner organisation

· Participatorily develop a holistic security concept and policy incl. safe place regulation, crisis management plan, evacuation plan, crisis communication, back-to-business plan, staff security, social media and digital security

· workshop for validation of the security concept and policy

Qualification

• Demonstrated knowledge of designing comprehensive security plans for women’s rights organisations in a fragile / hostile security context
• Demonstrated knowledge of security risks to women safe houses and expertise to mitigate those risks using a feminist understanding of security
• Demonstrated conceptual knowledge of feminist theory and praxis in the context of sexual and gender-based violence
• Knowledge on security threats to women survivors of (S)GBV and their children after conflict situations (e.g., ISIS crimes against Yazdani and / inter-sectarian conflicts)
• Knowledge and / or experience of the challenges for women’s rights movements in the MENA region
• Knowledge of Information Technology that is related to digital security incidents, i.e. technical problems of the security system
• Experience in writing daily security reports
• Collaborative and participative approach to work with the partner organisation
• Strong conceptual, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong coordination, organisation and communication skills
• High language level of English
• Kurdish and / or Arabic are an asset

Preliminary Timetable

Tentative Timetable for the consultancy. Deadlines to be revised during inception phase. The highlighted deadlines should be met, as other processes in the implementation of the programme depend on them.

Date

Activity

Participants

Inception phase

May 2021 **

Briefing meetings

Local partner organisation

Relevant staff from medica mondiale

Inception report is approved.

Field visits and interviews **

June 2021

Sight assessment and field visits

Local partner organisation

Interviews and data collection

Relevant members of the partner organisation

Relevant security actors on the ground

Drafting **

July 2021

Drafting and feedback loops

Local partner organisation

Relevant staff from medica mondiale

Validation and Finalisation **

July 31^st, 2021

Security concept and policy are approved.

Local partner organisation

Relevant staff from medica mondiale

How to apply

To indicate your interest, please send your CV, a suggested concept containing recommendations for the applied security concepts and the methodological approach, and a cover letter, including your daily rate (please send all documents as one PDF file with a maximum of 5 MB). Only successful candidates will be contacted. The interviews will take place online in the end of April 2021.

Please send your application with the subject “Security Expert MENA” to [email protected] until April 11, 2021.

Further information on medica mondiale and our projects can be found on our website: medicamondiale.org