Consultancy to Strengthen the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia’s Institutional Capacity for the Prevention and Response to Violence Against Women in Elections (VAWiE)

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.

Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs), as the principal actors in electoral administration, play a critical role in preventing, mitigating, and responding to Violence Against Women in Elections (VAWiE) throughout the electoral cycle. Their influence is pivotal in shaping credibility, security, and inclusivity of elections, particularly in fostering a safe environment for women’s participation. Internationally, EMBs are recognized for their potential to lead efforts against VAWiE, and strengthening their capacity, accountability, and gender-sensitive approaches is essential to ensure women’s full and safe participation in democratic processes. In Ethiopia, despite constitutional and legal efforts to promote gender equality, women continue to face systemic barriers and psychological violence before and during elections, including intimidation and coercion, undermining their equal participation. 

The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) is committed to preventing and responding to VAWiE. It is in line with this commitment that the board, with the support of UN Women and UNDP commissioned a study that revealed infrastructural and procedural gaps during the 6th national election, such as unfriendly polling stations and inadequate female security presence, that exposed women, especially those with disabilities or caregiving responsibilities, to heightened risks. Although the country’s legal frameworks recognize certain forms of VAWiE, enforcement and public awareness remain limited. The Grievance Hearing Mechanism (GHM) established by NEBE was underutilized, largely due to insufficient training, limited survivor awareness, and low public trust in justice systems. Political parties and the media also fell short in proactively addressing VAWiE. In response, the study developed a comprehensive action plan aligned with the electoral cycle, covering the pre-election, election day, and post-election phases, to guide NEBE in addressing the identified gaps

The action plan outlines specific actions categorized by thematic areas of intervention (capacity building and awareness promotion, data and stastics, policy and legislative reform, systems for response and accountability etc), detailing the issues identified within each theme, the responsible bodies, timeframes, indicators, and recommended measures to be undertaken. One of the action points of the action plan has been for NEBE to put in place a prevention and response mechanism. 

To respond to this action point, NEBE with the support of UN Women and UNDP, is planning to set up a multi-stakeholder referral linkage mechanism connecting the Board with security, justice, civil society, CSOs, government offices, security actors, service providers and other key actors to enhance coordination, accountability and timely response to incidents of VAWiE. This TOR is developed to engage a consultant or a team of consultants to undertake a range of tasks that support NEBE’s efforts to establish a functional mechanism ahead of Ethiopia’s 7th national election. The consultancy will build on the extensive foundation of governmental and non-governmental responses to gender-based violence in Ethiopia, including existing gender based violence or violence against women (GBV/VAW) referral pathways, standard operating procedures (SOPs), shelters, and case-management guidelines. The overall effort is expected to ensure that these mechanisms are effectively utilized and adapted to prevent and respond to election-related gender-based violence during the pre-election period, enabling timely, survivor-centered, and coordinated interventions. 

The main objective of the consultancy is to contribute to strengthening the institutional capacity of the NEBE to prevent and respond to VAWiE. Specifically, it aims to contribute to setting up a coordination mechanism among electoral, security, justice, and women’s rights institutions to ensure effective referral and case management of VAWiE incidents, and to establish functional reporting, referral, and grievance redress mechanisms within NEBE’s systems.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES/ Scope of the Work 

Under the overall guidance of the Women in Leadership and Governance (WILG) Team Lead and NEBE Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) department, the consultant (s) is expected to:

DELIVERABLE Deliverable Description  Expected completion time 

Comprehensive Mapping Report

Adapted and Harmonized VAWiE SOPs and Tools

Monitoring and accountability framework

Integrated institutional mechanisms

Capacity building package and training Report

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In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

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