International Consultant - Design & Development of a Gender Election Watch Africa (GEWA), a Pan-African Feminist Digital Electoral Platform
Organizational Context
UN Women's Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) focuses on advancing gender equality and women's leadership. The Leadership and Decision-Making portfolio addresses systemic barriers women face in politics across Africa, including underrepresentation and violence. Despite efforts, a critical gap exists in timely, gender-specific electoral data and a platform for solidarity among women candidates.
Job Purpose
This consultancy aims to design and develop the Gender Election Watch Africa (GEWA) platform, a Pan-African feminist digital tool. GEWA will address the urgent need for timely, gender-disaggregated electoral information and a solidarity network for women candidates. By providing accessible data and amplifying women's political agency, the platform will support feminist movements, electoral bodies, political parties, and other stakeholders in promoting women's political participation and accountability. The project emphasizes feminist data principles, informed consent, and safeguarding to ensure ethical data handling and protect users.
Responsibilities
The consultant will design and develop a secure, accessible, and user-centered GEWA platform prototype. This includes building core modules such as interactive country dashboards, candidate profile pages, an election calendar, a violence against women in politics (VAWP) tracker, thematic analysis hubs, and a searchable legal database. The role involves humanizing electoral data through candidate stories and developing a user-friendly content management system for non-technical staff. Additionally, the consultant will provide technical leadership and mentoring to partner institutions for platform sustainability, ensuring adherence to feminist data principles, informed consent, data protection, and do-no-harm approaches throughout the development process.
Work Experience
Requires at least two years of progressive experience in web development, digital platform design, dashboard development, data visualization, or civic technology. Demonstrated experience in designing and developing interactive websites, dashboards, or digital knowledge platforms, and creating content management systems for non-technical users is essential. Experience with data protection, safeguarding, and ethical data management is strongly desirable. Proven ability to translate complex data into accessible visual products is required.
Skills
Web Development, Digital Platform Design, Dashboard Development, Data Visualization, Content Management Systems, Data Protection, Safeguarding, User-Centered Design, Ethical Data Management.