Deadline: 01 July 2024

Advancing Learning and Innovation in Gender Norms (ALIGN) is currently looking for two to three partner organisations in the global South for a new project - Political Parties' Responses to Technology-Facilitated GBV.

In particular, they are looking for research organisations with relevant experience and expertise and access to political party representatives to co-lead the research design and co-provide data collection and analysis, and the dissemination of their findings at local and global level.

Research Methodology

• In particular, the project asks:
  • How do political parties view the FT-VBG, its significance and its impact on female members?
  • How do the political parties, in their ideological, structural and administrative diversity, respond to the FT-VBG against women in politics?
  • What factors shape their responses, including political systems, narratives and social norms?
  • What can political parties do to change the norms within their structures and create more support structures so that women suffering from FT-VBG can remain and thrive in politics?
• This project will be a research collaborative and co-created between two or three national teams. During the initial phase of the project, methods will be jointly designed and aligned to allow for context-specific learning and requirements, while facilitating cross-country learning and shared conclusions.
• The study is expected to be a multi-method enquiry, with at least some interviews and reviews of literature and documents. However, each candidate is encouraged to propose other participatory and innovative research methods that are relevant to their research questions, context, skills and preferences, while being manageable within time and budget.
• There is no definition of politics or political participation that the project adopts at this stage with reference to "women in politics". Applicants are encouraged to highlight which form of political participation or type of politics is relevant to them and should be the focus of the research. The final definition and scope will be decided collaboratively at the start of the project.
• The study focuses on the countries of the global South. As such, it fills an important gap in research on political parties and gender equality, which has been dominated by countries in the global North. It is also interested in selecting countries with diverse conditions, including:
  • women's active political participation - including the existence of political parties and governments led by women, dominance of women's wings, gender quotas and legislation at party level
  • GBV and violence against women in online politics facilitated by technology
  • patriarchal gender norms
  • history and presence of feminist movements and activism
  • political competition for women's votes
  • use of media and internet penetration.

Information on financing

• The estimated budget for each partner is between GBP £30,000 - £40,000.
• The project is scheduled to start in August 2024, once all the research partners have been selected and hired, and will last approximately 15 months, including the dissemination of the project.

Tasks

• The research partner organisation will be responsible for the following tasks. Please note that this list is indicative and not exhaustive and will be finalised in collaboration with the selected partners to ensure its suitability for each of the country contexts:
  • Develop a research work plan for their respective country in collaboration with ALIGN and other partners.
  • Co-designing and testing research instruments, in collaboration with the ALIGN team and other partners.
  • Complete all ethical reviews required internally and at the ODI.
  • Carry out data collection, analysis and write a research report based on the learning in your country (in English) and get the article reviewed by peers with knowledge of the local context. This article will be in ALIGN format (publications and editing support will be provided).
  • Give a learning presentation at an ALIGN knowledge-sharing event, webinar or virtual conference.

Election criteria

• ALIGN invites applications from organisations with a proven track record of research activities on issues such as women's political participation, gender and politics, or political party analysis. It is essential that partners demonstrate their ability to access political parties and collect data with and from political party leaders, members and administrators. Knowledge and experience with gender norms research is a distinct advantage.
• Candidates must also have in-depth knowledge of and a registered presence in one of the multi-party democracies of the global South. These democracies can have various levels of freedoms, rights and political competition, including, for example, so-called free democracies, as well as hybrid or partially free democracies.
• For administrative reasons, all applicants must have an institutional or organisational structure, which unfortunately means that individual researchers/consultants cannot apply. All organisations must also have civil liability insurance or locally relevant equivalent that provides cover for professional services.

For more information, visit ALIGN .