Background

With the generous support by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the UN Joint Programme to Enhance Gender Equality in Georgia (hereinafter referred to as the “UNJP”) has been launched in March 2012 implemented by UNDP, UN Women, and UNFPA. The overall goal of the programme is to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment through strengthening capacities in the government, civil society organizations and grassroots level. The overall goal will be achieved by realization of the following three outcomes:

  • Enhanced women’s political and economic empowerment;
  • Creation of an enabling environment to eliminate violence against women, especially domestic violence (DV);
  • Creation of enabling environment to realize Sexual and Reproductive Rights of population.
UN Women leads work under the second outcome of the UNJP being responsible for the creation of an enabling environment to eliminate violence against women, especially domestic violence in Georgia. UN Women seeks to achieve, that national laws and policies on domestic violence are improved in line with international commitments (DEVAW CEDAW, Beijing Platform for Action). Its interventions focus inter alia on the improvement of the capacities of the institutional mechanism coordinating efforts to combat domestic violence and provide services and protection mechanisms for the DV victims/survivors.

In order to achieve this outcome, UN Women supports and partners with the Inter-Agency Council Implementing Measures to Eliminate DV in Georgia (hereinafter referred to as the “DV Council”). In order to further enhance the existing mechanisms in Georgia for the prevention and response to domestic violence and therefore to facilitative the capacity building of the DV Council and support it in the exchange of information and experience acting legislation and best practices in the prevention and response to domestic violence, UN Women seeks to organize a study tour for the representatives of government agencies working in the area of the prevention, elimination and response to domestic violence to Spain. Spain has been identified in consultation with the DV Council Chair as one of the countries with successful and effective model of responding to domestic violence.

Spain is known for its successful police response to the instances of violence against women e.g. by setting up a Diana Group in the local police force in Seville (Spain) in 2002. This experience has been described as the best practice by UNODC as well as by Amnesty International; Namely, As a result of a protocol signed between the Department for Equality and the Local Government Office of Seville City Council, a specialist unit was created within the local police force to deal with gender-based violence. The specialist unit, the Diana Group, came into being after it was realized that, although women who had been subjected to abuse frequently used police services, they often experienced the police as being remote from them. Consequently, and to avoid secondary victimization, the Diana Group is geared towards providing survivors with ongoing specialist care so that, rather than having to deal with many different officials who are unaware of their overall situation, they are seen by a specially trained group who know about the specific issues facing them.

Recognition of the specific dynamics that exist with crimes of this type and the impact they can have on the lives of victims has determined the criteria on which intervention is based: immediacy, proximity and continuity. To help the local police unit get closer to survivors, it adopted a name that did not consist of an acronym or “official” sounding title and, to ensure that the service provided is as effective as possible, its officers wear plain clothes (For more information please see: Amnesty International, Spain: More than words—Making Protection and Justice a Reality for Women who Suffer Gender Based Violence in the Home (London, 2005), 27 and UNODC, Handbook on Effective Police Responses to Violence against Women Issues, Criminal Justice Handbook Series (New York, 2010), 48).
 
Spain has also quite an advanced DV legislation in terms of protection of the rights of complainant/survivors, promoting their, agency, and assistance, and prevent their re-victimization. The law is considered also as a good practice as it attempts to remove barriers that may prevent complaints/survivors from seeking safety, such as concerns about child custody, access to shelters, and legal aid.

For example, Spain’s law contains a guarantee of victim’s rights. Article 17: The statement of rights should inform the complainant/survivor of legal remedies (such as the order for protection and ex parte order for protection) and the support services offered by the state

In addition, the law of Spain unlike many other DV laws, mandates that disabled persons receive information about legal and support remedies “in a format that is accessible and understandable.” Article 18 (For more information on this particular topic please visit The Advocates for Human rights site at: http://www.stopvaw.org/rights_of_complainants_survivors ).

Spain is further interesting due to the existence of specialized courts of Violence Against Women (Juzgados de Violencia sobre la Mujer) that are specialized criminal courtrooms associated to the Inquiry Courts and also have powers in the civil jurisdiction acting as Courts of First Instance and Inquiry. This combination of criminal and civil powers in one court is especially interesting for Georgia due to recent criminalization of DV and existence of administrative legal protection mechanisms for the DV victims/survivors applied by the courts.

Due to the fact that Georgia is now seeking to involve self-governments more in the DV National Referral Mechanism and include DV victims/survivors in municipal social programmes, it will be highly beneficial to share experience of Spain in the field of support provided from local/municipality level budgets to the functioning of victim/survivor services (crises centers and shelters).

Of particular interest for the Study Tour will be also exploration of preventive measures employed by the Spanish government e.g. Ministry of Education towards violence against women in general and domestic violence in particular. The emphasis on this aspect of the DV Council’s work is to be further strengthened and be highly informed by the Agreed Conclusions of the 57th session (March 2013) of the Commission on the Status of Women on “The elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls” (section B.).

Experience of Spain has been considered quite advanced also in the field of monitoring the implementation of the DV legislation and policies, offering services to the victims/survivors and increasing media attention and public’s awareness to the problem of violence against women in general and domestic violence in particular. Georgia aspires to EU membership, and in many ways sharing of a successful experience of an EU member state with Southern cultural background will be in many ways exemplary and inspirational for the government decision-makers involved in the DV Council. It should be noted further, that Spain, just like Georgia, is a civil law country with a similar legal system. With this rationale in mind UN Women led component of UNJP would like to organize the study tour of DV Council to Spain.

It is therefore, that UNJP is seeking collaboration with an International Consultant for the Organization of the Study Tour on Prevention and Response to Domestic Violence in Spain (hereinafter referred to as the “International Consultant”) with expertise in gender equality, women’s rights and VAWG and DV issues and knowledge of the relevant local context to support in structuring the study tour, scheduling meetings with the relevant government agencies and civil society institutions and provide substantive and organizational support to the study tour.

Duties and Responsibilities

In more specific terms the International Consultant under the overall guidance of UNJP / UN Women Component Manager will:

  • Develop a schedule of meetings with the relevant local governmental agencies and civil society organizations;
  • Organize and schedule meetings with local service providers to DV victims/survivors in Spain more specifically with the National Women's Helpline (016), Courts of Violence against Women, regional government, the governmental Woman’s Institute (“El Instituto de la Mujer”), Ministry of Education, NGO ASPACIA, WAVE;
  • Organize and schedule visits to state and NGO-run shelters and crisis centers (one intervention center, shelter house and mentored flat) as well as police stations, investigation and prosecution units to observe their functioning;
  • Provide support in the exchange of experience and observe current practices inter alia with a focus on the treatment of juvenile DV victims/survivors and perpetrators;
  • Provide support in the exchange of information on data collection systems with regard to domestic violence (law enforcement, service provision and healthcare) in a meeting with the National Statistics Institute of Spain (Instituto Nacional de Estadística) and “Observatorio Nacional de Violencia sobre la Mujer”;
  • Provide support in the exchange of information on the relevant legislation, national strategies and policies at the meeting with the Ministry of Equality;
  • Provide support in the exchange of information on the training programmes and instruction materials for the professionals involved in the DV prevention and response;
  • Provide support in the exchange of information on the best practices in terms of media and awareness raising campaigns to increase the visibility and enhance prevention of the instances of violence against women and domestic violence;
  • Provide support in the exchange of information on the rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators of domestic violence within correctional facilities or probation services if applicable;
  • Provide support in the exchange of information on the state legal aid provider if applicable for domestic violence related crimes;
  • Organize and schedule a meeting with the Ministry of Education with regard to awareness raising among juveniles and educating school children on domestic violence issues and the role of schools and teachers in the identification of DV instances in school children;
  • Provide support in the exchange of experiences with the Ministry of Health on the role of medical personnel in the identification of DV instances and referral to other relevant services;
  • Provide support in the exchange of experiences with the Social Services on the role of social workers in DV prevention and response and community services;
 Key Deliverables and Time Frame:
  • The Terms of Reference of the Study Tour on Prevention and Response to Domestic Violence in Spain finalized by 20 July, 2013 (5 working days);
  • A schedule of meetings with the relevant local governmental agencies and civil society organizations developed by August 1, 2014 (3 working day);
  • Meetings and visits to the local government agencies and civil society organizations as outlined in the Terms of Reference and schedule of the study tour organized and scheduled by September 1, 2014 (10 working days);
  • Support provided in the exchange of information and experiences as outlined in the Terms of Reference and schedule of the study tour by November 1, 2014 (2 working days);

Competencies

  • Demonstrated capacity to support organization of study tours and programmes;
  • Familiarity with the political, economic and social situation in Spain with particular focus on gender, VAWG and DV issues;
  • Familiarity with international standards on DV and VAWG;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Graduate Degree or higher in Social Sciences or related field.
Experience:
  • At least three years of experience in providing technical assistance/ working in field of gender statistics;
  • Previous experience in conducting training for people with different background, cultures and languages is an asset.
Languages:
  • Proficiency in Spanish and strong command of English.
Evaluation procedure:

The candidates will be evaluated against the following technical and financial criteria:

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):
  • Graduate Degree or higher in Social Sciences or related field (max 50 points);
  • Three or five years of experience in the area of women's rights and gender equality (max 70 points);
  • Experience in working with multi-stakeholders essential: governments, civil society, community based organizations, and the UN/multilateral/bilateral institutions (max 70 points);
  • Demonstrated capacity to support organization of study tours and programmes (max 60 points);
  • Familiarity with the political, economic and social situation in Spain with particular focus on gender, VAWG and DV issues (max 70 points);
  • Proficiency in Spanish and strong command of English (max 30 points).

Maximum total technical score amounts to 350 points. Only candidates who have passed over the mandatory criteria and have accumulated at least 245 points under the technical evaluation will qualify to the next round of the financial evaluation.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 150.

  • S - score received on financial evaluation;
  • Fmin - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;
  • F - financial offer under the consideration.
Winning candidate:

The Winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).

Management Arrangements:

The contractor will work under the guidance of the UNJP/UN Women Component Manager and overall supervision of UN Women National Programme Officer.

Financial Arrangements:

Payment will be disbursed upon successful mission, submission and approval of required deliverables and certification by the Programme Specialst that the services have been satisfactory performed in high quality.

Application procedure:
  • CV and P11 form that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/
  • A letter of interest (in English);
  • Financial proposal - lump sum budget in USD (including breakdown of this lump sum amount indicating all related costs to complete the mission: total remuneration, travel expenses (per diems, tickets, lodging and terminal expenses, if applicable);

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.