Background/Context

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 centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. 

Women’s leadership and decision making is central to UN Women’s mandate; UN Women will prioritize enhancing women’s influence in public life across sectors and impact areas. To promote the leadership and participation of women in all levels of decision-making processes, UN Women works with a range of stakeholders including women leaders and aspiring candidates, national parliaments and parliamentarians, political parties, media, civil society organizations, and electoral management bodies, in coordination with UN partner Entities, through a wide range of interventions which include: i) support gender responsive legal reforms, and institutional processes to advance women’s participation and representation (including initiatives to address violence against women in politics); ii) build capacities of women leaders, office holders and aspiring candidates; iii) promote change of gender norms through advocacy and outreach initiatives targeting communities, political leaders and the media; iv) and support women leaders in gender responsive political institutions.

In Liberia, UN Women works to advance gender-sensitive laws and policies, raise awareness about women’s equal participation in politics and public life, strengthen the capacity of women aspirants, and support efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women in elections and politics (VAWE/P). Ahead of the 2023  elections, UN Women, in partnership with UNDP and local partners including the National Elections Commission (NEC), supported efforts to advance a mandatory gender quota bill through the electoral reform process, facilitated the signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) committing political parties to at least 30% women’s representation, and engaged political parties to promote women’s representation as candidates and in leadership positions within political parties. Although initiatives strengthened political commitments; they did not lead to an increase in women’s representation in the Legislature after the 2023 elections. The gap between public commitments and actual practice highlights the need for deeper analysis as well as stronger data to support advocacy efforts. 

With this background, UN Women, under the Liberia Electoral Support Project (2020–2026), led by UNDP and implemented by NEC, and the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD), will conduct a Gender Audit of Political Parties in Liberia. The audit will examine how party structures, rules, leadership pathways, and decision-making processes affect women’s participation. It will assess representation in leadership and nominations, review the gender sensitivity of party statutes and policies, and identify barriers to inclusion. The process will generate baseline data and practical recommendations for reform. For parties that express readiness, the audit will support the development of tailored Gender Action Plans to strengthen gender equality in leadership and candidate selection, contributing to more inclusive political processes in Liberia.

Objective

The gender audit of political parties will serve as both a diagnostic and a learning tool to support more inclusive political practices. It focuses on how internal party systems, rules, culture, leadership, and resource allocation, affect the participation of women and the broader goal of gender equality. The audit will:

• Generate baseline data on the representation of women and men across leadership structures, decision-making bodies, and nomination processes.
• Review party statutes, manifestos, internal policies, and resource allocation to assess how gender equality is addressed in party frameworks.
• Identify both structural and informal barriers to women’s full and equal participation in political parties.
• Encourage dialogue and reflection through participatory methods, including interviews, focus group discussions, and workshops.
• Where parties express interest, support the development of Gender Action Plans to guide internal reforms.

Description of Responsibilities / Scope of Work

The National Consultant will work under the direct supervision of the UN Women Programme Specialist, Women’s Political Participation, UN Women Liberia Country Office and in close collaboration and consultation of the International Consultant to carry out the gender audit of political parties in Liberia. The consultant will play a supporting role across all phases of the audit, with a focus on contextual insight, data gathering, transcription, facilitation, and preliminary analysis

Task 1: Support coordination and delivery of the audit

• Provide inputs to the detailed workplan and timeline;
• Liaise with political party focal points and local stakeholders to facilitate their participation and timely submission of relevant documents.
• Coordinate logistics for interviews, focus groups, and workshops, including meeting location arrangements.
• Document coordination meetings and follow-up actions for the Technical Team (UN Women, UNDP, NIMD, NEC).

Task 2: Support preparation and desk review

• Collect and compile party constitutions, statutes, manifestos, policies, budgets, and other relevant documents.
• Support contextual review of alignment of party rules and practices with gender equality principles.
• Provide national perspective to identify initial gaps and barriers.

Task 3: Support audit roll-out and data cross-referencing

• Co-facilitate participatory workshops with political parties to validate preliminary findings and collect further evidence.
• Conduct semi-structured interviews with party leaders, women’s wings, and members across selected counties, ensuring gender-sensitive and inclusive approaches.
• Organise focus group discussions, including safe spaces for women-only sessions where necessary.
• Transcribe interviews and FGDs, prepare summaries of discussions, and ensure data is accurately recorded for analysis.
• Cross-check data collected from different sources to highlight inconsistencies or areas requiring clarification.

Task 4: Reporting

• Contribute to the preparation of draft party-specific audit reports by synthesizing field data and workshop outputs.
• Provide contextual interpretation of findings to ensure reports reflect local realities and political culture.
• Draft assigned sections/annexes for the consolidated synthesis report (summaries of recurring themes and trends), under the guidance of the International Consultant.

Task 5: Presentation of findings and recommendations

• Support the organization of presentations of findings to political parties’ leadership and members.
• Assist the facilitation of the multi-party workshop, documenting key points, questions, and recommendations.
• Prepare short summaries of workshop feedback to inform final revisions of the reports.

Task 6: Support for Gender Action Plan development

• Provide logistical and technical assistance for parties ready to draft Gender Action Plans.
• Support drafting of objectives, activities, and monitoring indicators under the guidance of the International Consultant.
• Document lessons learned and contributed to the advisory brief.

The consultant will ensure that all activities are conducted in line with UN Women’s ethical guidelines, including obtaining informed consent from all participants, ensuring confidentiality of sensitive information, and safeguarding the anonymity of respondents where appropriate. All data collection, storage, and sharing will comply with UN Women’s data protection protocols, UN system standards, and applicable Liberian laws.

Deliverables & Payment Schedule

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant will report to and work under the direct supervision of the UN Women Programme Specialist, Women Political Participation, in close collaboration and consultation of the International Consultant, with the UN Women Liberia Country Office, UNDP (under the Liberia Electoral Support Project), and relevant national stakeholders including the National Elections Commission of Liberia.

Duration of the Work 

The duration of this assignment will be for up to 70 days within a 5-month work assignment, tentatively from 1 November 2025 to 31 March 2026.  The estimated number of days is a guideline only and does not determine the assignment completion. Completion and payment depend solely on the submission and approval of deliverables by the UN Women designated official.

Duty Station and Official Travel:

This is a home-based consultancy in Monrovia, Liberia. Local travel within Liberia may be required. Specific locations and dates will be confirmed during the inception phase. UN Women will arrange and cover the costs of approved travel in line with its policies and procedures.

Performance Evaluation

The Consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Financial  Arrangements

Payments will be disbursed to the consultant on a deliverable-based arrangement aligned to the “Expected Deliverables” of section of the ToR and certification by the UN Women Programme Specialist, Women Political Participation that services have been satisfactorily performed.