Background
UN Women Background
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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
Assignment Background
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most serious, life threatening and widespread violations of human rights worldwide. In Asia and the Pacific, the levels of intimate partner violence remain unacceptably high. Over 37 per cent of women in South Asia, 34 per cent of women in South East Asia and up to 48 per cent of women in the Pacific have experienced violence at the hands of their partners. Violence against women and girls occurs at home, in workplaces, in public spaces and online, and can culminate in femicide, the murder of women and girls.
Violence against women devastates lives, fractures families and communities. Diverse groups of women suffer from multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and inequalities, making them especially vulnerable to violence. Those vulnerability factors include age, ethnicity, poverty, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, religion, indigeneity, nationality, immigration status and other factors. VAWG impedes human development and has serious negative consequences, ranging from multiple immediate to long-term physical, sexual and psychological impacts, which often prevent women and girls from fully participating in society. VAWG significantly undermines women’s educational and employment opportunities, income earning capability and advancement in the workplace, which greatly limits their economic development. It is a major impediment to women’s empowerment, gender equality and the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Violence against women is firmly rooted in gender inequality, discrimination and harmful cultural and social norms. It is firmly grounded in unequal power relations between women and men and is reinforced by discriminatory and gender-biased attitudes, norms and practices. Deeply ingrained patriarchal, cultural and religious norms in society and institutions place a lower value on women and girls and contribute to high levels of acceptance of violence by both men and women. The widespread cultural acceptance of violence allows it to continue, often unchallenged.
VAWG is exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic, other emergencies, and periods of conflict. At a time when service providers are less available, violence is worsening for many women and girls in the region.
To mitigate the devastating impact of violence, women who face violence and abuse need access to services that respond to their multiple needs: health care systems and justice, police protection and social support services. Critical gaps remain in service provision for survivors of violence in terms of availability, quality and coordination. Most women who experienced violence do not receive the full range of services and many do not receive any services at all. When services are available, they are often underfunded, understaffed, and mostly available in capitals or larger cities. When quality, coordinated and safe services are available to survivors, it is more likely that survivors will disclose violence and seek help to stop it. Coordinated quality services are affordable and essential to mitigate the devastating impacts of violence and to prevent it from reoccurring.
In order to effectively respond to VAWG, it is critical to ensure quality, integrated and survivor-centered multi-sectoral essential services are provided in a coordinated manner by the health, social services, police and justice sectors. The Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence was developed by UN Women, in partnership with UNFPA, WHO, UNDP and UNODC to provide greater access to multi-sectoral services for all women and girls who have experienced VAWG, and forms the leading framework guiding efforts to improve quality, coordinated services.
Much of the VAWG policies and programmes have focused on responding to violence and mitigating its impact after the violence has occurred. More attention, efforts and funding are needed to focus on preventing violence from occurring in the first place through primary prevention – preventing violence before it happens in the first instance. A growing body of prevention practice and evidence demonstrate that it is possible to prevent VAWG, within programme timeframes- if implemented properly. Prevention is a particularly cost-effective strategy with potential medium to longer-term and inter-generational payoffs. Early prevention and intervention can help prevent repeated cycles of violence, and all its avoidable social, economic and human rights costs. Violence against women can be prevented, especially if efforts begin early in the life-cycle.
The EVAW Regional Programme Consultant will support regional and country-focused support on preventing and responding to VAWG, including on the rolling out of the Essential Services Package, as well as the RESPECT Framework for the prevention of violence against women in the Asia and Pacific region.
In addition, this role will assist with conceptualizing, designing and implementing programming approaches in cooperation with country offices and partners, resource mobilisation to implement such approaches with partners, communication and partnership development.
This role will contribute to a DFAT-funded project on ending violence against women and girls, to preventing violence and expand the reach and quality of services for women and girls survivors in Asia and the Pacific.
Duties and Responsibilities
The purpose of this assignment is to support the implementation of UN Women’s Regional EVAW programming and technical support to country offices in the region through coordinating with partners; support and coordinate among partners and experts for evidence building and research; drafting concept notes for programming and regional actions/events; developing technical content and presentations; and monitoring and reporting on progress.
3.A. Planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting of EVAW programming
- Support VAWG prevention and response efforts in the region, through sharing resources and guidance, coordination, planning and support to countries, with regular coordination with HQ, UN agencies, and other thematic units within UN Women
- Closely coordinate across country offices for the implementation of the programme activities, as well as with the implementing partners and UN Women programme teams
- Support coordination among countries in the region on EVAW thematic areas and organize dialogues and events, such as regional meetings, learning webinars or cross-country exchanges on EVAW thematic areas, based on country level needs
- Support the implementation of EVAW programming, including establishing partnerships and monitoring the implementation of partners, organisation of meetings and events, and coordination with UN Women strategic partners, such as ASEAN
- Support monitoring, reporting and evaluation of EVAW programming (regional and direct country programming in select countries), including spending, results monitoring and reporting
- Use of corporate and team monitoring tools to track progress on projects as well as UN Women’s regular reporting on annual work plans and results, and inform unit reporting as needed throughout the year
3.B Technical assistance, evidence building, knowledge management
- Provide technical assistance to UN Women country offices and partners as needed based on requests- including for planning, monitoring and evaluating VAW prevention and response initiatives
- Assist in preparation of knowledge resources, communications, and background material for internal and external use, including monitoring UN Women Country Offices’ focus areas and technical assistance requests in the Asia and the Pacific region
- Support planning, coordination and monitoring of evidence, research and learning materials, and monitoring guidance (coordination, planning and technical inputs and review), often in coordination with specialists on contract
- Support, review, contribute to, and edit evidence, research and knowledge products such as publications, narrative reports, research reports, evaluation reports, and developing concept notes and fact sheets on specific issues
- Facilitate dissemination of knowledge resources (for instance through the organisation of webinars, online dialogues and events) and monitoring of engagement and reach
- Provide support to resource mobilization efforts by developing concept notes, proposals for project design, implementation plans, briefings and other documents as needed
Final products and deliverables
This role is expected to deliver efficient, timely, responsive, professional, client-friendly, and high-quality support to the UN Women’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Ending Violence against Women team and its partners, including:
No. | Key Tasks |
Deliverables
| Target dates |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting Support the implementation of EVAW programming, including organisation of meetings, webinars and events, support to country offices and coordination with UN Women partners, such as ASEAN
| 1.1 Report with documentation of monthly work plan and completed materials developed such as planning and tracking documents, concept notes, terms of reference, presentations, briefs, summaries, reports, analysis, etc., as outlined in section 3.A above
| 1.1 – monthly
|
2 | Technical Assistance, Evidence building and Knowledge Management Support prevention and response efforts in the region, through technical assistance, coordination and support to countries | 2.1 Documentation of coordination, planning and technical support to countries and partners and countries, as outlined in section 3.B above
| 2.1 – monthly
|
3 | Provide support to resource mobilization efforts
| 3.1 Documentation of concept notes, briefing notes, presentations, and other support provided for resource mobilization efforts. | 3.1 – monthly
|
4 | Support planning, monitoring, reporting and evaluation of EVAW team and programming (regional component)
| 4.1 Drafted EVAW programming donor annual narrative report(s) 4.2 Drafting and inputs to UN Women quarterly, annual, or period reports | 4.1 and 4.2 – Quarterly |
5 | Travel Expense (in case of travel to Bangkok) | 5.1 Lumpsum travel claims (Home country – Bangkok, Thailand) - Boarding pass - Airfare receipts - Visa receipt | Beginning of year 2024 |
Duration of Assignment and Duty Station
The time required for the consultancy is from 22 Jan 2024 – 21 Jan 2025. The consultancy will be supervised by the EVAW Regional Programme Manager and expected to be full-time, based in the UN Women’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand.
Schedule of Payments
Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes.
Competencies
Core Values
- Teamwork and respect for diversity
- Integrity
- Professionalism
Core Competencies
- Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
- Accountability
- Creative Problem Solving
- Effective Communication
- Inclusive Collaboration
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Leading by Example
Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Master’s Degree in the field of social work, social science, public health, international development, international law, gender studies, or other related area.
- A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Experience:
- At least 5 years of professional experience in the area of programme development and implementation on ending violence against women and girls or gender based violence.
- Experience working in the field of violence against women/gender-based violence in the development and/or humanitarian setting is an advantage.
- Experience working in international settings is an advantage.
- Experience with proposal writing, donor reporting and resource mobilisation is an asset.
- Experience working in the Asia-Pacific region is an asset.
Language requirement:
- Fluency in English, and strong English writing communication skills are required.
Evaluation
Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.
- Technical Qualification (100 points)
Technical qualification evaluation criteria:
The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individuals is evaluated based on the following technical qualification evaluation criteria:
Technical Evaluation Criteria | Obtainable Score |
---|---|
A) Education
| 20% |
B) Substantive experience and skills
| 70% |
C) Reporting writing, editing and language skills
| 10% |
Total Obtainable Score | 100% |
Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.
Submission of application
Interested candidates are encouraged to submit an electronic application no later than 13th December 2023, COB.
Submission package includes:
- Completed UN Women Personal History form (P11) which can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form-en.doc
- Cover letter outlining relevant work experience
- Writing sample or portfolio, if any
At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.
If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.
UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)