Background

The purpose of this consultancy is to support the coordination and planning of the UNiTE campaign, and activities related to the campaign; 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, linking with the Generation Equality Gender-based Violence (GBV) Action Coalition, the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative and global UN strategies on gender -based violence and COVID-19, and other relevant work related to the campaign.

UN Women Background:

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations (UN), UN Women 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 the efforts of the UN system to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. UN Women 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:

Even in “normal” times, women in the Asia-Pacific region experience high levels of violence. About 37 per cent of women in South Asia, 40 per cent in South-East Asia, and 68 per cent in the Pacific say they have suffered abuse by their intimate partners, according to World Health Organization research.[1]

In 2020, with the COVID-19 outbreak and declaration of it as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), the world has witnessed the escalation of violence against women and girls (VAWG), and particularly domestic violence. There are also reports of increased sexual abuse and harassment, both online and offline, and in some settings, an increase in femicides.[2]

Among all women, in normal circumstances, women migrant workers are at risk of multiple intersections of discrimination and violence based on race, ethnicity, nationality, age, migration status or other sex- or gender-associated characteristics. The emergency situation resulted in increased risk of violence and harassment against women migrant workers perpetrated by employers, partners, law enforcement officials or front-line service providers Violence against women is getting high level focus of governments and the United Nations. On 6 April 2020, the UN Secretary-General urged all governments to make the prevention and redress of violence against women and girls a key part of their national response plans for COVID-19. The appeal was answered in a statement by 146 Member States and Observers that expressed strong support.

Given the growing urgency of addressing violence against women and girls in the context of COVID-19, and considering the context of escalating reports globally, the UN Secretary General developed a  strategy to engage leaders and influencers at all levels, to mobilize the social and cultural shift necessary to tackle VAWG.

The year 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. In commemoration of this milestone, UN Women launched the campaign, “Generation Equality: Realizing women’s rights for an equal future.” The campaign demands equal pay, equal sharing of unpaid care and domestic work, an end violence against women and girls.

In support of the Generation Equality global campaign[3], UN Women is pursuing the endeavour of building Action Coalitions to mobilize stakeholders from different sectors focusing on six themes which include gender-based violence in achieving gender equality. The leaders of the GBV action coalition noted the alarming increase of GBV during COVID-19 pandemic and have urged global action to responding to GBV during the pandemic. The leaders have committed to working with other co-leads from the Generation Equality campaign to address gender-based violence, as it is inextricably interlinked with progress in others and that we must galvanize action across the board to meet all of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, in particular Goal 5, to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls, and to fulfil the commitments made to women and girls at the fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing 25 years ago. 

The Asia Pacific Regional Component of the UNiTE Campaign

As a result of concerted efforts over the past decade to establish violence against women and girls (VAWG) as a top global priority, including those by women activists, governments, UN Agencies and civil society, a number of key achievements have been made in recent years to end the culture of silence that long surrounded this issue. In 2008, the UN Secretary-General launched of the UNiTE to End Violence against Women Campaign, which calls on governments, civil society, women’s organizations, the private sector, the media and the entire UN System to join forces to end violence against women and girls. The UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign aims to raise public awareness and increase political will and resources for preventing and ending all forms of violence against women and girls in all parts of the world. This global effort presents a unique opportunity to build upon and accelerate the achievements made to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls in all parts of the world.

Through its advocacy initiatives at the global, regional and national levels, the UNiTE campaign is working to mobilize individuals and communities. In addition to supporting the longstanding efforts of women’s and civil society organizations, the campaign is actively engaging with men, young people, celebrities, artists, sports personalities, private sector and many more.

The UNiTE Working Group, co-chaired by the UNFPA and UN Women, is coordinating the SG’s Campaign in Asia and the Pacific in partnership with other UN agencies and coordination mechanisms, governmental and inter-governmental organizations and civil society. The UNiTE Working Group serves as a coordination platform on Ending Violence against Women.

The UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign to End Violence against Women will be leveraged as a unifying advocacy platform across the UN system during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence. A social media campaign will build public momentum, calling on solidarity with survivors and engaging actively in supporting local women’s organizations. The aim will be to translate social media activism into concrete solidarity actions with a specific focus on engaging men and boys, globally recognized influencers, sports / athletic leaders, and UN System Goodwill Ambassadors. This year’s theme:  Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!  

Fund

• Prioritize funding for a minimum package of essential services that include GBV prevention in COVID-19 fiscal stimulus packages, and within the UN Global Humanitarian Response Plan.
• Make flexible available for women’s rights organizations working at the nexus of COVID-19 and GBV.

Prevent

• Declare national zero tolerance policy for GBV with a concrete action plan in place.
• Launch a COVID-19 behavior change social mobilization campaign.

Response

• Undertake explicit measures so that services for survivors of GBV are maintained as essential during COVID-19 lockdown, including ensuring a continuum of adequate criminal justice response.
  • Ensure minimum essential services are maintained and adopted where they are non-existent.

Collect

• Collect data for improvement of GBV services and programs (always ensuring survivor cantered and ethical safety standards).

From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world. The international campaign originated from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute coordinated by the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991.

This year, the joint UN actions are taking on new significance in light of COVID-19 and the unprecedented high-level commitments within the UN to accelerate action to end violence against women. Under the UNiTE working group in the Asia Pacific region and the 16 Days of Activism

campaign, the coordinator will play a critical role in supporting the 16 Days of Activism and the roll-out the high-level political strategies related to GBV and COVID, aligning with the Gender Action coalition.    

Spotlight Initiative: Safe and Fair Program

The European Union is funding the project, “Safe and Fair: Realizing women migrant workers’ rights and opportunities in the ASEAN region” (2018-2022) as part of the multi-year EU-UN Spotlight Initiative to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls. Safe and Fair is implemented by ILO and UN Women in cooperation with UNODC.

Safe and Fair delivers technical assistance and support with the overall objective of making labour migration safe and fair for all women in the ASEAN region. Safe and Fair engages with ASEAN Member States’ government authorities; ASEAN institutions; workers’ organizations; employers and recruitment agencies; civil society organizations; community-based organizations; families and communities; research institutions and academia, media networks, youth, and the general public and supports comprehensive country programme active in eight countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam).

[1] Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on violence against women and girls, Department for International Development (DFID, U.K.),

Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Help Research Desk, 16 March 2020

[2] Weil, Shalva. Gendering – Coronavirus (Covid-19) and Femicide, Issue 45: Pandemic (Im)Possibilities

Vol.1, 2 June 2020

[3] https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2019/05/generation-equality

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work:

The consultant will support the coordination of the UNiTE campaign, 16 Days Activism (including within the Safe and Fair Programme/Spotlight), the roll-out of political strategies, and the GBV Action Coalition. The aim of the work is to ensure alignment in messaging, coordination, and building synergies between agencies, units, country offices and CSOs.   

The Asia Pacific Regional Component of the SG’s Campaign covers all countries in Asia and the Pacific and operates at global level, regional and national level.  A range of governmental, UN and civil society organizations partners will be involved and contribute to the activities of the SG AP Campaign. Coordination mechanisms will have to be devised and set up to support interactions and synergies among different actors.

The consultant will focus on:

• Programme and project management, communication, and knowledge management
• Advocacy, coordination with country offices and
• Technical assistance, quality assurance and coordination of the UNiTE portfolio

Key tasks include: 

• Supporting the UNiTE campaign and 16 Days of Activism:
  • Support the regional coordination, planning and event/activity coordination with UN agencies and supporting internal UN Women coordination (i.e. country offices, headquarters, different units/programmatic themes).  
  • Support the organizing, producing and coordination of the 16 Days campaign in close cooperation with the external campaign production company. Among the different events, support the organizing of a public event to raise awareness on violence against women migrant workers and the key role of front-line service providers (Safe and Fair Programme/Spotlight Initiative)
  • Draft concept notes, agendas, “run of show” plans, PowerPoint presentations, messaging, press releases, talking points and relevant planning materials for the UNiTE working group and country offices.
  • Assist with updating internal plans, contact lists, and event participants/registrants
  • Provide technical assistance and quality assurance to products and materials developed
  • Provide advocacy support to country offices, making campaign messaging and updates available.
  • Develop the 16 Days Newsletter-style report, capturing key events and actions- such as though photo essays and a web timeline

• Knowledge Products and Exchanges:
  • Draft a short report (10-15 pages) of the main 16 Days campaign actions, takeaways, challenges, lessons learned, promising practices, opportunities, outcomes, recommendations, and learning- to complement the newsletter report. The report includes the consolidation of 16 Days and UNITE campaign actions into summaries to share with UN agencies and partners.
  • Organize regional webinars for UN Women personnel in the region to exchange knowledge and experiences related to the Essential Services Package (two sessions), and prevention of VAW (two sessions), and document the learning and outcomes of the sessions.  

Competencies

Supervision

The consultant will be supervised by the EVAW Regional Programme Manager. The consultant will also work with the EVAW UN Women personnel.

Eligibility criteria

• Master’s degree in the field of international development, gender studies, social sciences or other related area.
• A minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in advocacy, coordination of programs/projects and campaigns, with strong technical expertise in violence against women.
• Proficiency in English.
• Experience working and specific focus on VAWG campaigning.
• Experience in engaging with multi-stakeholders; CSOs, international organizations, and governments.
• Experience working with UN Women is an advantage.

Competencies:

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement

Functional Competencies

• Good analytical skills
• Good knowledge of violence against women

Required Skills and Experience

Submission of application

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit an electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org, with -cc to carly.teng@unwomen.org, not later than 28 October 2020.

The Submission package includes:

• Updated CV
• Cover letter
• Personal History Form (P11 which can be downloaded from http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs)
• Financial proposal: the financial proposal shall specify a lump sum amount breaking down the professional fee for each deliverable. All the travels costs will be covered by UN Women according to UN Women’s rules and regulation and should not be included in the financial proposal.

Daily fee: USD/day