The Capacity Development of Local Governments (CDLG) Project of UNDP Sri Lanka is part of larger efforts by the Government of Sri Lanka to strengthen the local governance system in the country. These efforts are supported by the European Union, and the World Bank. The Government of Sri Lanka implements the Local Development Support Project (LDSP) in four provinces – North, North Central, Eastern, and Uva – to strengthen local service delivery and local economic infrastructure and enhance bottom-up approaches to support public engagement in local decision-making processes, including through participatory planning and feedback mechanisms for service delivery.
The overall objective of the CDLG project, implemented by UNDP, is to strengthen the capacities of local authorities (LAs) to be inclusive, responsive, and accountable and be able to plan, enhance resilience, and deliver better services. The capacity development support, coupled with the fiscal support (through Basic Transfers and Performance Transfers provided through LDSP project) for inclusive service delivery and economic investment, is aimed at strengthening the role of elected representatives at the local level. It is about improving local governance systems and making local governments “fit for future”, as well as increase downward accountability of elected officials and local governments. The project also aims to strengthening mechanisms for public engagement in local decision-making processes.
CDLG has carried out a Survey of Gender Responsiveness of Local Authorities (herein after the Survey) in the local authorities in the four CDLG provinces – North, East, North Central and Uva with the support of the Asia Foundation to support LAs in fulfilling their gender equality commitments by developing their capacities to mainstream gender in local program planning and budgeting processes. Further, CDLG is in the process of developing provincial capacity development plans for local government authorities in target provinces. Gender mainstreaming and building of capacity of women elected officials, non-elected officials and community are included into these plans.
To increase the quality of women’s active engagement in decision making processes, CDLG project is providing targeted capacity development support to women elected officials and administrative officials to fulfil their roles and encourage women’s community leadership. “Learning trajectory” initiatives are also specifically designed for women elected officials and administrative officials as well as potential women leaders (with focus on young women) to learn from each other and provide mentorship and advisory support as required. CDLG is building on the findings from the mapping and capacity building programmes implemented for elected women officials. Sensitizing male officials (elected and administrative) to provide space for and encourage the ‘active voice of women’ including taking forward recommendations by women and recognizing them as ‘equal players’ in the development process is an important aspect of this project.
To this end, CDLG Project under UNDP is looking to hire a Researcher to conduct a study on improving active participation of women in local government in the Uva Province. According to the Survey of Gender Responsiveness of Local Authorities in CDLG Provinces, Uva Province scored the lowest amongst CDLG provinces on gender responsiveness. Across the seven main assessment domains, namely, female staff participation (ratio of female to male employees), women in decision making positions, gender equality focus (special mechanisms to identify gender needs and practices of conducting gender and vulnerability assessments), capacity for gender and social diversity mainstreaming (staff with training in gender/social sensitivity, history, and practice of conducting orientation programs on gender and social sensitivity and diversity etc.), and inclusive grievance mechanisms recorded low scores.
The Researcher is to work closely with and in consultation with the Local Governance Specialist, the Gender Consultant, and the Research, Reporting and Communication Specialist of CDLG Project in this exercise.
Scope and Objectives
The scope of services associated with this assignment can be broadly categorized as follows.
- Literature review;
- Data gathering and validation;
- Report with recommendations;
- Brief summary of the key findings and recommendations .
The main objectives of this assignment are to identify the barriers to effective participation of women at local level decision making, to understand their level of participation and to identify possible action points to improve status quo. The study will cover women in elected and non-elected positions at local authority and provincial council level, and women in community. The study will be conducted in the Uva Province as a pilot. The findings of the study will inform the capacity development efforts targeting local authorities, Provincial Council, and the community under the CDLG Project. The findings of the research will also enlighten the policy level discussions on this subject matter and will be utilized for advocacy around strengthening participation of women at local level.
The consultant is expected to closely engage with the State Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government affairs (SMPCLGA), Uva Provincial Council, Department of Local Government, local authorities in the Uva Province and the CDLG field unit set up in Uva Province. The consultant is expected to undertake tasks under three major components as described below.
Component 1: Literature review
As noted above, the objectives of this study are to identify the barriers to effective participation of women at local level decision making, to understand their level of participation and to identify possible action points to improve status quo. And this study is expected to cover women in elected and non-elected positions at local authority and provincial council level, and women in community. Therefore, the Consultant is expected to map out existing literature in this area. It could include, among others, recently published research reports, surveys, assessments, legislations, policies, and other national and international documents. The literature review is expected to set the context for this study.
The Consultant needs to conduct this assessment in order to understand the status quo of women participation at local level, i.e., women in elected and non-elected roles at local authorities and the Provincial Council, and women in the community. He or she also needs to map out the key stakeholders who could and/are contributing to the status quo and who are able to impact positively for improvement of the situation. The consultant is required to conduct this analysis in line with the mandate, and powers, granted through laws, regulations, and by-laws to local authorities and Provincial Councils.
The baseline studies (including the survey) and information gathered on local authorities by CDLG in identifying the capacity gaps in the Uva province will be shared with the consultant as information to support this review.
The draft literature review needs to be submitted for comments to CDLG before finalizing.
Component 2: Data gathering and validation
The Consultant is required to identify the following through key informant interviews, ward level consultations, focused group discussions, and validation workshops to;
- Barriers to effective participation of women at local level;
- Women members’ level of participation and;
- Possible action points to improve the status quo.
In selection of the geographical areas, the Survey could provide some degree of guidance.
The following are proposed to the Consultant in determining the nature of the data gathering tools and their quantity:
- At least 24 key informant interviews (8 interviews with elected officials, 8 interviews with non- elected officials, 8 interviews with community groups/individuals);
- Conduct at least 15 ward level consultations (to obtain community views);
- Conduct at least 15 focused group discussions with elected, non- elected officials, and community per province – 5 meetings with elected officials, 5 meetings with non -elected officials and 5 meetings with community groups including CBOs, community centres etc;
- Conduct a provincial level validation workshop involving elected, non-elected officials and community representatives to validate the findings of the ward level consultations and the focus group discussions.
The Consultant is also free to utilise questionnaires in addition to the above. In the event that the restrictions related to COVID continue, the Consultant should continue with the research employing alternative methods (as opposed to face to face meetings ) of gathering these data. These alternative means are required to be detailed in the methodology submitted with the application. These alternative methods also need to be factored in the financial proposal.
The Consultant must gather data from males and females to avoid any sample bias.
Component 3: The report with recommendations
The final report needs to contain:
- Introduction/Background to the study;
- The Study Design/Methodology;
- The literature review;
- The findings of the data gathering exercise;
- Mapping of the stakeholders with impact and the level of their contribution;
- Conclusion;
- The recommendations (short, medium, and long term) that can be implemented at local level and national level to improve participation of women in local governance (elected, non-elected and community level). This needs to include legal and/or policy level changes required for improving women participation.
The draft report needs to be submitted for comments to CDLG and these need to be addressed at the final report. The Consultant is expected to do a presentation to the CDLG team and local government authorities showcasing the findings of the study.
Component 4: Summarized report on the findings and recommendations
The Consultant is expected to prepare a brief (5-10 page long) summary of the report for easy reference. A draft need to be shared for comments with CDLG.