Legal Consultant to assess discriminatory Laws Affecting Women and Girls in Somalia, Home based, Remote

## Legal Consultant to assess discriminatory Laws Affecting Women and Girls in Somalia, Home based, Remote - Organization:UN Women - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women - Office:UN Women in Home-based 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. UN Women Somalia, through the Women and Legal Reform Fund (WLRF), seeks to support a comprehensive assessment of discriminatory laws and legal practices affecting women and girls in Somalia. The assessment will generate evidence to inform legal reform, gender-responsive governance, access to justice, and advocacy for equality before the law. Somalia operates within a plural legal environment in which statutory law, customary law (Xeer), and Sharia-based principles and practices may overlap. Women and girls encounter impediments to these systems in relation to family matters, inheritance claims, property disputes, access to justice and finances, land, violence against women and girls, compensation, custody, marriage, divorce and community-level dispute resolution. This consultancy will go beyond a conventional review of written law. It will examine legal texts, gaps in protection, implementation challenges, the interface between formal and informal justice systems, and practical reform opportunities affecting women and girls, while remaining sensitive to Somalia's constitutional, religious, cultural and federal governance context. The consultant will report to the UN Women Somalia Country Programme Manager, with day-to-day coordination with the WPS and Rule of Law team. UN Women will provide strategic guidance, facilitate access to key documents where available, support stakeholder coordination as feasible, and review deliverables before acceptance. The overall objective of the consultancy is to conduct a comprehensive gender analysis of Somalia's statutory, customary (Xeer), and Sharia-based legal frameworks to identify discriminatory laws, legal gaps and challenges, implementation barriers and reform opportunities affecting women and girls, and to provide evidence-based and practical recommendations for legal and policy reform. - Map and analyse federal statutory laws, policies, regulations and relevant Federal Member State legal instruments that affect women's and girls' rights; - Identify discriminatory provisions, gender-neutral provisions with discriminatory impacts, legal gaps, and implementation weaknesses; - Examine how customary law (Xeer) practices affect women and girls, particularly in relation to meaningful participation in public life, marriage, divorce, inheritance, compensation, land, and property rights, violence against women and girls, and participation in dispute resolution; - Examine Sharia-based legal principles and their application in areas affecting women and girls, including family relations, inheritance, guardianship, custody, maintenance and access to justice; - Analyse interactions, contradictions and gaps among statutory, customary and Sharia-based frameworks and their implications for women's legal equality and access to justice; - Develop a prioritized legal reform roadmap and practical recommendations for government, parliament, justice institutions, religious and customary leaders, civil society and development partners including short-, medium-, and long-term actions. . Description of Responsibilities / Scope of Work Under the guidance of UN Women Somalia, the consultant will undertake the following responsibilities: - Prepare an inception report detailing the methodology, workplan, legal framework, stakeholder mapping, consultation tools, risk mitigation measures, and data protection approach; - Conduct a desk review of constitutions, laws, regulations, policies, bills, prior assessments, relevant regional and international standards and available evidence on discriminatory laws and legal practices; - Analyse statutory law, customary law (Xeer), and Sharia-based legal frameworks affecting women and girls, including areas of overlap, conflict, uncertainty and practical barriers to equality and access to justice; - Conduct targeted consultations with relevant government institutions, parliament, justice actors, civil society, women's organizations, religious and traditional leaders, legal professionals, academia, UN actors and development partners, subject to access, availability and security considerations; - Prepare a legal mapping matrix and discriminatory laws matrix identifying provisions, gaps, impacts, applicable standards, responsible actors and priority reform action; - Present draft findings for validation, document feedback, and revise the assessment report, matrix, and reform roadmap accordingly; - Prepare an advocacy or policy brief summarizing priority reforms for government, parliament, civil society and development partners. The consultant shall apply a participatory, evidence-based, and rights-based methodology. The methodology should be sensitive to Somalia's federal, cultural, religious and security context and should ensure meaningful participation of women, women-led organizations and relevant justice and legal reform stakeholders. - Desk review and legal mapping of statutory, customary and Sharia-related frameworks; - Comparative standards of analysis against constitutional, regional, and international gender equality and human rights standards; - Key informant interviews and targeted consultations with relevant institutions and stakeholders including women-led and women's rights organizations; - Validation and consensus-building to review draft findings and refine reform recommendations; - Prioritization of reforms by urgency, feasibility, responsible institution, advocacy pathway, and expected contribution to gender equality and access to justice. Description / SMART output Expected completion time (due day) Payment Schedule (optional) Inception report and approved methodology Methodology, workplan, legal framework, stakeholder map, research questions, consultation tools, ethical safeguards, risk mitigation and data protection plan Draft assessment package Preliminary legal mapping matrix, summary of consultations, draft gender analysis of statutory, customary and Sharia-based frameworks, emerging findings and preliminary reform recommendations. Final assessment package Final assessment report incorporating feedback, final discriminatory laws matrix, legal reform roadmap, validation/briefing materials and short advocacy or policy brief. Ethical and Do-No-Harm Considerations - Apply a survivor-centered and do-no-harm approach, particularly when discussing violence against women and girls, harmful practices, forced marriage or family disputes. - Protect confidentiality, anonymize personal information and avoid exposing participants to retaliation, stigma or community pressure. - Ensure consultations are conducted in safe, accessible, and gender-responsive spaces, with appropriate safeguards and informed consent procedures. - Avoid stigmatizing communities and focusing on legal reform, rights protection, accountability, and practical solutions. Consultant's Workplace and Official Travel The consultancy is expected to be home based with travel to Mogadishu, and consultations at Federal Government and Federal Member State levels where feasible. Any official travel will be agreed in advance with UN Women and undertaken in line with UN Women rules, security requirements and procurement guidance. - Respect for Diversity. - Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues; - Creative Problem Solving; - Effective Communication; - Inclusive Collaboration; - Stakeholder Engagement; Please visit this link for more information on U