Background

Violent extremism in Asia and the Pacific:                                                 

Violent extremism has grown to become one of the most punishing challenges of our times. Five countries in the Asia-Pacific region – Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Thailand and the Philippines are ranked by the Global Terrorism Index¹ as countries that are among the most severely impacted.  Violent extremism is not new, however it has never before impacted as many people as it does today. Although, there is no clear consensus on what has led to the escalation of violent extremism across the globe, it is clear that certain structural causes are likely to be contributing to it, including, complex political, economic and social situations such as colonial legacies, economic, political and social exclusions of certain groups of societies, weak governance systems and disregard to human rights, gender inequality, and a changing global culture mostly influenced by the media and internet.

Women and Violent Extremism:                                                                          

Currently, women are on the frontlines of violent extremism, and despite the importance and call to include women in all levels of official peacebuilding² and reconstruction processes, women remain marginalised from these. Their expertise is not always noted or understood, and takes place in a context of shrinking space for civil society debate and activism, and in particular a shrinking space for women’s rights work. In peacebuilding and reconstruction, women are often presented as ‘subjects, not agents, and their ways of knowing and being are ignored’ 3: Brown 2013, 51

Their full participation at all levels of decision-making, as well as in the design and implementation of preventing violent extremism (PVE) strategies contributes to the effectiveness and sustainability of these efforts. It remains crucial to understand the gender-related reasons why women become involved as protagonists, supporters or victims of violent extremism.

The importance of Social Media:

Recent studies4 have proven that social media plays a critical role in delivering messages by extremist groups, constructing a narrative that undermines gender equality and call on a restrictive role for women. Similarly,  we also see pushback from individuals and CSOs and attempts to construct a counter narrative, one that is rights based and calls on gender equality and enhancing the role of women.

This is recognized in the Secretary General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism5 launched on Dec 2015. Paragraph 55, notes that ‘manipulative messages of violent extremisms on social media have achieved considerable success in luring people, especially young men and women, into their ranks,’ and goes on to also say, ‘thousands of young activists and artists are fighting back against violent extremism’, including  online. Understanding this social media conversation is important so that efforts made to strengthen the narrative that is rights based and promotes the rights of women are informed and responsive.

In order to understand the social media narrative on gender and extremism, UNDP has rolled out an initiative to understand the gendered dimensions on twitter in 5 countries in the region. UNDP now seeks the services of an expert to develop a methodology and analyse the data, purchase the 6 months bulk data (for the last six months) for 5 countries, and based on the agreed methodology analyze the quantitative data and provide reports.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective and Scope of Work

The objective of this initiative is to develop a methodology to analyze and understand the gendered dimensions of extremism in Twitter conversations in Asia and the Pacific.

 Countries:  Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Maldives and Malaysia

Scope of work:

Step 1: Purchase data from Twitter (all tweets for the past 6 months) for the 5 countries

Step 2: Develop a methodology based on desk research and consultation with key stakeholders to “understand how women are portrayed” in these tweets

Step 3: Based on the agreed methodology analyze the data and provide UNDP country reports

Based on the findings of the reports country level sentimental reports will be developed.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Specific tasks and responsibilities of the consultant include:

• Initial plan on proposed steps to develop a methodology
• Written report on the proposed methodology
• Country analytical reports on the findings

 The timeline for deliverables is expected as follows:

Institutional Arrangement

A Subject Expert/Institution is expected to conduct the work, who, will work under the direct supervision of the Gender and Inclusion in Peacebuilding Specialist from the Governance and Peacebuilding Team, UNDP BRH.

Duration of the Work

The duration of the contract is between 15 June 2017 to 31 Dec 2017; applicants are expected to indicate in the proposal the number of days it will take to complete the assignment

Duty Station

Home-based without travel.

Competencies

• Cultural and gender sensitivity and ability to work with people from different backgrounds.
• Ability to work both independently and in a team and ability to deliver high quality work on time.
• Ability to liaise with stakeholders and partners, research institutions, civil society.

Required Skills and Experience

Educational Qualifications:

• Advanced university degree Postgraduate degree or equivalent in Behavioral Sciences, Psychology or related areas of work.

Language requirements

• Excellent written and spoken skills in English.

Experience 

• Demonstrated experience developing methodology to analyse BigData
• Expertise and knowledge of the Asia and the Pacific region
• Expert and knowledge on the gender dimension of violent extremism
• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. Given that the contractor is expected to purchase the Data from Twitter, the proposal should include the amount as well, this is estimated to be USD 6,500.

The applicant is expected to indicate the number of working days required to complete each deliverable of the assignment.

The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

• Deliverable 1- Initial Plan on proposed steps to develop the mythology 15%
• Deliverable 2 – Purchase of Data from Twitter 30%
• Deliverable 3-  Final draft of the analytical reports 55%

In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Applicants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

….Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall be made to the applicant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

• Criteria 1 Relevance of education - Max 10 points

• Criteria 2 Demonstrated experience developing methodology to analyse data - Max 30 Points
• Criteria 3 Expertise and knowledge of the Asia and the Pacific region - Max 10 points
• Criteria 4 Expert and knowledge on the gender dimension of violent extremism – Max 10 Points
• Criteria 5 Demonstrated experience analyzing BigData – Max 10 points

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Documentation required

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex III.
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
• Technical proposal (maximum 3 pages), including a) a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; and b) a methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment.
• Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex III. Note: National consultants must quote prices in US Dollar.

 Incomplete proposals may not be considered.

Annexes:

Annex I - TOR_ methodology

Annex II- General Condition of Contract

Annex III - Financial proposal and Offeror's Letter To UNDP Confirming Interest and Avail for IC

All documents can be downloaded at : http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=37502