UN WOMEN Jobs - 60219- Minimum Service Standards Research Consultant

Minimum Service Standards Research Consultant

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

19-Oct-2015

Application Deadline :

30-Sep-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

35 Working Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

35 Working Days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), 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. The fundamental objective of UN Women is to enhance national capacity and ownership to enable nation partners to formulate gender responsive laws and policies and to upscale successful strategies to deliver on national commitments to gender equality.

The goal of UN Women’s presence in Cambodia is to support the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment and the promotion and protection of women’s human rights. Ending violence against women and girls (EVAW/G) has been identified by UN Women as a primary focus area in Cambodia. As one of the largest programmes of the UN Women Cambodia Country Office (CCO), the EVAW programme is currently managing a growing number of campaigns, research, thematic dialogues and project implementation. UN Women seeks an improvement in quality of services, and the adoption and implementation of laws, policies and strategies that respond to and prevent VAW/G.

In 1993, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the United Nations called upon States to ensure to “the maximum extent feasible in the light of their available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international cooperation, that women subjected to violence and, where appropriate, their children have specialized assistance”. Such specialized assistance refers to organisations and State actors that provide a range of options that enable women’s physical protection and safety, and their access to justice and rehabilitation.

The term “minimum standards” refers to the lowest common denominator or basic standards that all services should aim to achieve. If women are truly to have the right to live free of violence, then there needs to be basic agreement about the extent and range of services that should be provided. This is the rationale for developing minimum standards. Services should be available to victims of violence free at the time of need and based on the principles of confidentiality and empowerment.

In Cambodia, the availability and quality of services varies considerably between geographic regions. The establishment of standards would establish necessary benchmarks – for both state actors and CSOs – with respect to both the extent and mix of services that should be available, who should provide them, and the principles and practice base from which they should operate. Minimum standards may be aspirational as some regions may not yet have the requisite amount of services, and some services may not yet meet all the standards within their current policies, practices and resources. While at the same time, they represent the levels and quality of service provision to which all women should have access.

In this regard, CEDAW’s General Recommendation 19 and international human rights jurisprudence require that States act with due diligence in preventing and responding to human rights violations, including violence against women, whether committed by State or private actors. Under the due diligence obligation, States have a duty to take positive action to prevent and protect women from violence, punish perpetuators of violent acts and compensate victims of violence.

To this end, the assessment will address the following questions, inter alia: What services should be available, and their distribution in terms of populations and geography? Who should provide services, and how should they be regulated? How are the multi-sectoral services and referrals coordinated? What minimum standards should be adopted in Cambodia across each sector? Are existing services accessible to socially excluded women, especially migrants, women from ethnic minorities and women with disabilities?

The assessment will cover the full range of sectors involved in protection, services and remedies:

Free 24 hour help and hotlines;
Safe shelters and community-based care;
Legal representation/advocacy;
Protection;
Health;
Counseling;
Costing;
Multi-agency co-ordination and referrals;
Data collection;
Social welfare services: (financial/livelihood support, housing, residency, education, training, etc.);
Rape crisis centers;
Mediation;
Remedies;
Working with perpetrators;
Awareness raising.

Based on the existing legal and policy framework in Cambodia, the assessment will capture the extent to which existing services meet current national and international standards; the geographic scope of the coverage; the underlying principles and philosophy guiding de facto service provision; propose a series of sector-specific standards for Cambodia, and recommendations for necessary changes to national and sub-national actors to ensure victims receive minimum levels of care.

To further this aim, the EVAW programme is supporting projects to improve the access to justice of victims of VAW and quality of services in Cambodia. UN Women Cambodia seeks a consultant to conduct research into the existing VAW services, including psycho-social, mediation and legal services in Cambodia and Minimum Service Standards (MSS) currently being used to address VAW, and to provide recommendations to establishment of MSS in Cambodia.

Duties and Responsibilities

UN Women Cambodia Country Office is in need of a consultant to: i) conduct research on VAW services and international best practices on the implementation of Minimum Service Standards (MSS), including mapping of existing social services in Cambodia and conducting consultations with a variety of stakeholders to document current service capacities, quality and resources, and ii) assess and share the research findings and develop recommendations for future planning on the establishment of MSS in Cambodia.

The consultant will work under the supervision of the EVAW Programme Manager, and in close consultation with the CCO’s EVAW Programme team. The specific tasks of the consultant will include:

Research on Minimum Service Standards

Undertake mapping in selected provinces, including Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap and Kampong Cham, of existing VAW service providers, including an assessment of service provider capacities, the range and quality of existing services, and a costing analysis of necessary versus existing resources;
Conduct focus groups and consultations with stakeholders, including the line ministries, non-governmental organisations, service providers, and women victims and survivors of violence, and conduct field missions to visit service providers for this purpose, where appropriate;
Provide technical assistance to document current service capacities, quality and resources in Cambodia, and their compliance with international best practices in VAW service standards, including but not limited to, World Health Organization and European Union standards.

Recommendations for Future Planning:

Document lessons learned and share findings from the research on Cambodian VAW service standards with stakeholders to support knowledge sharing;
Develop recommendations for next steps on the establishment of MSS in Cambodia, including costing for such services;
Present findings to the Technical Working Group on Gender- Gender-based Violence (TWGG-GBV);
Support the EVAW Programme on developing future strategies on VAW response mechanisms that are informed by an assessment of service standards in Cambodia.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

Consultant’s Workplan (1 day): Submission of draft Workplan for Consultancy, including counterparts and timeline;
Research on Minimum Service Standards (26 days): 1). Conduct research and document international best practices in VAW service standards. 2). Mapping of existing VAW service providers, including an assessment of service provider capacities, quality of services, resources and costing. 3). Conduct focus groups and consultations with stakeholders, and conduct field missions to visit service providers. Submission of a report detailing the findings;
Recommendations for Future Planning (5 days): 1). Documentation of existing Cambodian VAW services and standards. 2). Presentation of findings from the research on Cambodian VAW service standards to stakeholders at TWGG-GBV meeting. 3). Present findings in a series of consultations, to service providers, development partners and the UN Women CCO. 4). Submission of a report summarizing the findings presented to stakeholders. 5). Recommendations for next steps on the establishment of MSS in Cambodia. 6). Advice to the EVAW team on developing future strategies on VAW response mechanisms that are informed by the assessment of service standards. Documentation and presentation of written report to the Country Representative detailing recommendations and technical advice on future strategies from Items above;
Produce final report making recommendations to establishment of MSS in Cambodia (3 days): Submission of a final report.

Competencies

Technical Competencies:

In-depth knowledge and understanding of the social, cultural, and political context of Cambodia and/or the region and its relation to gender and VAW;
Solid experience in undertaking research in coordination with government and NGOs in Cambodia would be an asset.

Functional Competencies:

Excellent skills in planning, goal-setting and prioritization;
Proven technical knowledge in violence against women, GBV, gender analysis and the design of participatory assessments and consultations;
Demonstrated sensitivity, discretion, tact, and courtesy in relation to gender equality and women’s rights, development principles, implementing partners, and national and international personnel of varied nationalities and backgrounds;
Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
Excellence communication and interpersonal skills

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism;
Demonstrates gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in gender, law, development studies, international relations, or other related disciplines.

Experience:

At least seven years of relevant professional work experience in women’s human rights, in particular on ending violence against women;
Experience in conducting field and desk research focused on gender-based violence, service provision, referrals and response, gender equality and justice in plural legal systems and costing.

Language:

Fluency in English (Both oral and written);
Knowledge of Khmer will be considered an asset.

Evaluation

Application will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis:

Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%];
Financial/Price Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%].

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the candidate/individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Education 15%;
Experience 35%;
Technical Competencies 25%;
Functional competencies 25%.

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technical qualified candidate.

Financial/Price Proposal Comparison:

Only the financial/price proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.
The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

UN Women-Cambodia requires that all international personnel, regardless of contract modality or position status, should comply with UN Cambodia security standards (MORSS) for accommodations and housing in Cambodia. A residential inspection is required and will be conducted by UN DSS, whereupon corrections may be identified to achieve compliance with UN Cambodia MORSS standards. As such, newly arriving personnel are advised not to enter into long-term housing arrangements until inspection and compliance are verified. For personnel who are already in-country, steps must be taken to achieve UN Cambodia MORSS compliance.

All applications must include (as an attachment) the CV, P11 and the financial proposal. Applications without financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further processing.