Background

UN Women is the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. 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.

As the UN agency with the mandate to work on gender equality, UN Women is responsible for leading and coordinating United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world and at the country level. UN Women is also expected to provide strong and coherent leadership in support of countries’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society, the nodal government agency, private sector, and other relevant actors.

Preliminary findings from a study on socio economic impacts of COVID 19 on women and girls in India reveal that the pandemic has resulted in exacerbating the already existing gendered nature of unpaid work at home. While both urban and rural respondents suffered an income drop resulting in livelihood uncertainty especially among the marginalised sections, women and girls given the informality of their labour are disproportionately impacted.

Additionally, the pandemic has strained even the most advanced health systems in the world. In Asia and the Pacific, 60 per cent of women report facing more barriers to seeing a doctor as a result of the pandemic. Given the prevalent socio-cultural norms, unequal power relations in intimate partner relationships, early evidence indicates an adverse gender impact including unwanted pregnancies.

While rates of all other crimes have gone down during the COVID-19 lockdown period, crimes against women have continued to be reported, including domestic violence. As per the latest National Crime Records Bureau data, Assam continues to report the highest rate of crime against women. In Assam, 32 percent (National Family Health Survey 5, 2019-20) of ever-married women in the age 18-49 years have ever experienced spousal violence, which is close to the global data of 1 in 3 women experiencing intimate partner violence. Women and girls who experience gender-based violence struggle to access healthcare and essential support services owing to restrictions on movement, closed clinics, and fear of contracting coronavirus.

The most marginalized women and girls may be excluded from critical, life-saving measures. Of particular concern to the COVID-19 pandemic are at-risk populations in vulnerable settings such as migrant women, women with disabilities, and rural women which are already underserved by services, and where information and strategies such as testing, handwashing, self-isolation and quarantine will be particularly difficult –if not impossible -due to lack of space, resources and services.

There is a critical need for targeted approaches to reach all social groups with COVID-19 prevention information and health services, as well as other critical essential services information (considering gender, age, disability, culturally aware approaches education, indigenous languages, LBTIQI identity, and migration status).

UN Women is currently implementing a programme to forge and strengthen multi-sectoral partnerships in Assam, India (in the Tea estates) to effectively respond to the COVID-19 and pandemic through targeted interventions to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic and enhance women workers’ health, wellness, and safety in the tea sector, by focusing on the following Outcome and Outputs 1, 2 and 3 to generate best practices and lessons learned to inform a gender-responsive COVID-19 recovery:

Outcome: Locally owned women’s health, wellness and safety solutions identified and implemented

Output 1: Capacity of partners enhanced on women’s health and wellbeing and on measures to respond to escalating risks related to VAWG during COVID 19.

Output 2: Multi-stakeholder partnership platforms strengthened to identify and implement women’s health, wellness and safety solutions

Output 3: Local data available on the impact of COVID 19 on women and girls in the tea sector in selected intervention areas in Assam

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance and direct supervision of UN Women Programme Specialist the consultant will have the following specific terms of reference (ToR). The Consultant will be responsible for the following:

  • Develop a methodology and corresponding tools and session plans to carry out the trainings for the executives of select tea estates of Assam.
  • Compiling case laws, identifying areas of intersection among various laws applicable to the context of the programme being implemented by UN Women and share the compendium with UN Women.
  • Assessment of the participants indicating their understanding pre- and post-training using questionnaires developed in consultation with UN Women.
  • Documenting the training workshop and prepare a detailed report of each training including the list of participants.

Deliverable 1: A Detailed workplan and methodology for the workshop to inform a gender-responsive COVID-19 recovery and laws such as Sexual Harassment of Women at workplace Act, 2013 and other relevant laws in the sector. Tools, presentations, and case laws contextualized to the areas of UN Women’s programme focus to be compiled and shared with UN Women.  

Deliverable 2: Execution of the trainings in select locations in Assam.

  • Conduct number of training workshops for executives from select tea-estates for specified duration in Assam.
  • Conduct number of training workshops for sub-staff each stationed at the tea estates (2 days duration).
  • Conduct trainings (1 in each cluster of two tea estates) for factory workers and assistants (2 days duration).
  • Conduct 2 trainings (1 in each cluster of three tea estates) for hospital and school staff (2 days duration).

Deliverable 3: Reports of each workshop including agenda, list of participants and assessment of the pre-test and post-test questionnaires reflecting changes in awareness of the participants.

Competencies

 Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates commitment to UN Women’s mission, vision and values;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning:

  • Shares knowledge and experience;
  • Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

  • Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to design, planning and implementation of programme, managing data, reporting;
  • Ability to provide input to and use new IT based systems.

Leadership and Self-Management:

  • Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Remains calm, in control even under pressure;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  • Good understanding of gender and development in South Asia;
  • Demonstrable ability to work in a team;
  • Ability to work under pressure;
  • Good writing and communication skills;
  • Excellent computer literacy and skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Bachelors’s Degree in Law/ Social Work /Gender Studies.

 Experience:

  • Previous knowledge and experience of laws / Minimum 5 years of professional experience as a practising lawyer.
  • Previous demonstrable experience in training on women related laws. 
  • Experience of working on gender related issues desirable.
  • Experience of working in the development sector desirable.

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in English and Hindi is required
  • Knowledge of Assamese is an asset

Application:

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

  • Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment
  • Applications received after the close date will not be accepted
  • Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

  • Required Degree and Qualification (5 points)
  • Minimum Experience relevant to the assignment (10 points)
  • Working knowledge and experience of working on women related legislations and EVAW projects/programmes (5 points).

The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

  • Interviews – 80 Points
  • Writing Samples Evaluation - 20 Points

Please Note:

  • For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
  • Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.

Note:

 In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.