EDA delivered various program activities in the run-up to the October 2023 General Elections. In the immediate wake of the elections, EDA is planning a Lessons Learned and Ready to Ascend Conference in November 2023 focused on examining and responding to lessons learned in women’s political participation in the October 2023 General Elections, particularly the rate of women’s nomination and elections. At the conference, women who contested, or had hoped to contest, the national elections will be invited to a one-day facilitated workshop on lessons learned. The discussion recommendations will be used to adjust coming local-level women’s participation activities and the ongoing work with the Women’s Legislative Caucus and other partners in 2024. Participants will be required to complete a brief survey in advance to provide data to inform discussion groups, themes, and draft recommendations for consideration.
Those women who want to be considered for local elected or appointed office will be invited to remain for a second day of the conference, called “Ready to Ascend”. This day will provide expert information on key issues in Liberia (health, education, economic development) to support aspirant policy knowledge and inform their crafting of personal messages. The balance of the conference will offer “action stations” where aspirants will receive technical support to craft and take-home assets for use in their campaigns, including an aspirant profile that EDA will construct into a book of those “Ready to Ascend” when decision-makers are considering appointments or candidates for nomination.
- Develop a draft agenda for the conference and seek approval;
- Once approved, finalize the agenda for the conference.
- Draft and oversee the conduct and analysis of a survey of a subset of conference participants/women aspirants from EDA programs
- Coordinate consultants, and speakers; provide input on selection and presentation content
- Collaborate and coordinate with DI’s Rapid Election Assessment Consultants to cross- reference/incorporate findings, as appropriate.
- Draft and finalize conference report and findings, for feedback
Description of tasks:
In close cooperation with the Chief of Party, the consultant will:
- Provide a preliminary plan, for review and adjustment if necessary
- Provide a final draft report and all assets, for adjustment if necessary, and approval within five days of the close of the Conference
- Produce a final Ready to Ascend book and Conference report, incorporating feedback.
All content is envisioned to be completed by the end of December 2023 or the end of January 2024 if the conference takes place in January.
Results/expected outputs:
- Support EDA to conduct a Women’s Political Participation Lessons Learned Conference to consolidate input from women candidates or those who wish to be candidates from a rapid lesson learned assessment of efforts to advance women’s nomination and election in the 2023 General Elections in Liberia
- Support EDA to conduct a Ready to Ascend Conference immediately following the WPP Lessons Learned Conference with women who wish to contest or be appointed to other levels of office to provide policy knowledge, networking and mentoring support, and concrete tools to support those aspirants
- Support a Lead Writer to collate a book of profiles of women who are Ready to Ascend to local elected or any appointed offices following the October 2023 elections, following the Conference
Qualifications/requirements:
All applicants must demonstrate experience delivering support for women’s political participation.
In response to this request for proposal, please provide
- Master’s degree or demonstrated equivalent research, analysis, and writing capacity
- Description of your qualifications and direct experience with conducting lessons learned on women’s political participation and similar conferences; indicate clearly if willing to take on another role if unsuccessful with your first choice
- Brief description of the proposed approach
- One-page writing sample (can be an excerpt of a larger document)
- Two references for similar work, describing relevance, and
- Proposed daily rate, number of days, total consulting fee, and overall expected cost to deliver the tasks listed under “Description of Tasks”.
