Background

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in the world today. It is a major obstacle to the fulfillment of women’s and girls’ human rights and development and therefore a threat to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. While there have been efforts to address and eliminate Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) and Harmful Practices (HP) in the African region, and improved access to, and exercise of, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), progress has remained slow and uneven, and the approaches have been fragmented. It is increasingly clear that the elimination of all forms of SGBV and HP is intrinsically connected to transformation of gender and socio-cultural norms including those related to women’s sexuality and reproduction; and to improving women’s access to comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health information and services.

Malawi ranks 145/188 on the Gender Inequality Index, reflecting high levels of inequalities in reproductive health, women’s empowerment and economic activity. Women in Malawi generally fare worse than men on most social and economic indicators including wage equality, political participation, secondary and tertiary education enrolment and literacy. Additionally, violence against women and girls and harmful practices, including early and forced marriages, sexual assaults, including harmful sexual initiation, and domestic violence, remain serious issues. Nearly half of Malawi’s girls marry before turning 18 (47%), and the adolescent birth rate is very high, with 30% of babies born to mothers 19 years or younger. Early sexual initiation with limited access to sexual and reproductive health services, lead to early pregnancies, which prevent girls from finishing school, expose them to HIV/AIDS and is the leading cause of mortality among girls 15-19.

In response to this, the European Union and the United Nations are embarking on a new multi-year program, entitled the Spotlight Initiative, focused on eliminating violence against women and girls and harmful practices. The initiative will deploy targeted, large-scale investments in a focused number of countries aimed at achieving significant impact in the lives of women and girls. It comes with the highest level of commitment globally and the initiative will be governed by the UN Deputy Secretary General and the Vice President of the EU Commission. Malawi has been selected as one of eight countries in Africa to receive a share of the global grant of €500 million after submission of a proposal earlier this year. The Initiative is built around six pillars after an extensive global theory of change exercise. The pillars are: 1) Laws and Policies; 2) Institutions; 3) Prevention and Social Norms; 4) Services; 5) Data; and 6) Women’s movement. The country programme will have interventions in all six pillars.

The Spotlight team in Malawi, consisting of members from the UN, the EU and the Ministry of Gender has recently, after consultations with key stakeholders, submitted the Country Programme Outline (CPO) to the Spotlight Secretariat globally, outlining the areas of focus under each pillar. In Malawi emphasis has been put on pillar 3 (prevention and social norms) and 4 (services), with the other pillars creating a supporting framework to ensure the delivery of these.

Malawi will start the development of the Country Programme on the 23 May, after receipt of the Guidance on the 22 May. As this is a large, multi-stakeholder, multi-year project on a deep-rooted issue in Malawi, a full-time expert is needed to coordinate and guide the team and assist in developing the CP, as well as engage with the EU and other key stakeholder.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective of the assignment is to develop the CP, in close collaboration with the team, while managing key stakeholders’ engagement and expectations. The expert is expected to engage with the EU, Government, the UN, Civil Society representatives, and possibly other development partners, at all levels and in a professional way. The expert will also conduct several consultation at the community level with the women, girls, men and boys targeted in the programme, to ensure the programme is responding to real needs.

The scope of the assignment, in close collaboration with the team, include:

• Coordinate all key stakeholders and ensure they are part of the process, particularly Government and Civil Society
• Plan and undertake several stakeholder consultations – at various levels (including at district and community level)
• Through a review of previous project documents, examine and outline key lessons learned from past and on-going efforts that should inform the country programme
• Support the team to draft the Country Programme, including identification of the main risks and challenged regarding SGBV, HP and SRHR in Malawi, and outline specific activities to be undertaken under the 6 pillars:

1. Legislative and policy framework
2. Strengthening institutions
3. Prevention and social norms
4. Delivery of quality, essential services
5. Data availability and capacities
6. Supporting the women’s movement

• Propose innovations for the Initiative, both programmatic and operational.
• Support the team to make an implementation plan, including a stakeholder map (4W), and an M&E plan.
• Other tasks may arise throughout the four months.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Demonstrate integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

• Technical knowledge and expertise in ending violence against women and girls including best practices and international standards on EVAWG
• Excellent level of conceptual and analytical capacity;
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment and in a team;
• Strong technical knowledge on the linkages between SRHR, HP and SGBV;
• Excellent strategic thinking, writing and research skills;
• Excellent communication and reporting skills;
• Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office package;
• Strong interpersonal skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Post-graduate qualification in relevant fields (such as law, international relations, social science, development studies, gender studies) with a strong expertise in gender and SGBV.

Experience:

• 10 years of progressive experience in designing and managing complex multi-stakeholder, multi-year programmes of which a minimum of 5 years’ experience with gender and violence prevention programming.
• Experience in gender analysis of development programmes
• Current knowledge on the latest developments and evidence on VAW and VAC prevention and response.
• Extensive experience managing large EU funded projects and/or other donor funded projects is desirable
• Experience in coordinating or facilitating joint programme development
• Experience in, and ability to, coordinate UN agencies and interact at the professional level with the EU and Government representatives
• Demonstrable experience in data collection, analysis and evidence generation
• Understanding of VAW and VAC issues in Malawi or Eastern and Southern Africa and knowledge of the local context is an advantage.

Language:

• Fluent in English.

How to Apply:

Interested individual consultant who meet the above specifications should submit financial and technical proposals to demonstrate their comparative advantage and competencies as follows:

Technical Proposal, which:

• Explains why the consultant is the most suitable candidate for the work.
• Provides a brief indication on consultant’s initial understanding of the task.
• Provides the methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work, including timeframe; and
• Provides personal curriculum vitae including past experience in similar projects, and names of at least 3 referees.

Financial proposal detailing out the consultant fees, travel and related costs and all other expenses. All costs related to the consultant’s work should be factored in the budget.