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 center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. 

Through its programmes and projects, UN Women is providing technical assistance to national partners (governmental and non-governmental), including private sector, in the implementation of existing international and national commitments to women’s rights and gender equality, it facilitates networking and exchange of good practices and advocates for women’s rights and gender equality in all areas of life.

UN Women’s presence in the Republic of Moldova has evolved from being a project-based office in 2007 to a Country Office with fully delegated authority as of 2015. The work of UN Women in Moldova is guided by its Country Strategic Note for 2018-2022, aligned with the Republic of Moldova–United Nations Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development 2018–2022, the Global Strategic Plan of UN Women for 2018-2021, the National Strategy on Gender Equality for 2017-2021 (NSGE), and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

UN Women Strategy for Moldova 2018-2022 focuses on three main areas: 1) strengthening women’s participation in politics and decision making, 2) economic empowerment of women and 3) ending violence against women and girls. To achieve progress under these areas, UN Women works with a variety of national and international partners and as part of different national and regional initiatives.

With the support of UN Women, for the first time, 7 Survivors of violence from Moldova, women who have overcome violence and are now helping other women to do the same, shared publicly their life experiences, and the solutions they found in overcoming violence. Through mentoring programmes and continuous support, survivors of violence are increasingly becoming positive agents of change and the real experts having a voice in public life and advocating for women’s rights at high level meetings. By speaking up, they continue empowering and encouraging other women affected by violence, to break the silence.

Moreover, UN Women Moldova mobilizes other actors of the society including youth, religious leaders, judicial staff, police, service providers, members of the artistic community and former perpetrators, so that under the leadership of survivors of violence, the ‘whole society’ can produce long-overdue results for women and gender equality. In this regard, it is increasingly recognized that engaging boys and men in the promotion of gender equality produces positive health and development outcomes for all. Indeed, widespread and rigid gender norms and stereotypes, predominantly affecting women and leading to the violation of their human rights, can also affect boys and men and lead to negative social and health consequences (e.g. occupational or mental health issues, etc.). Thus, the researchers confirmed that gender equality can contribute to reducing pressure on men and boys to conform to damaging traditional forms of masculinity, and consequently, to improving the relationships among themselves, as well as with women and girls.

On the other hand, the obsolete gender roles and responsibilities and the associated toxic and patriarchal forms of masculinity sustain unequal power relationships between men and women, and thus, often justify male violence and gender-based violence. This is corroborated by the available national statistics which show that 6 out of 10 women from urban areas and 7 out of 10 women from rural areas have experienced at least one form of violence (psychological, economic, physical and/or sexual) at the hands of their current or former partner during their lifetime, and 1 out of 10 has been exposed to all forms of violence (“Violence against Women in the Family”).

Therefore, engaging boys and men in the promotion gender equality and ending violence against women and girls not only paves the way for an inclusive and respectful society for every human being irrespective of his/her sex but can also contribute to reducing violence against women which is predominantly perpetrated by men against women. Men and boys shall be partners and beneficiaries in changing rigid social perceptions about women and girls. Involving boys and men in EVAW can represent an efficient and sustainable way to combat gender-based discrimination. To this end, sustainable action and joint efforts made by women and girls, men and boys are needed to shift traditional gender roles which represent significant barriers to a gender equal and healthy society.

In this context, UN Women Moldova is committed to explore, conceptualize, and expand the work in the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) focusing on the Engagement of Men and Boys (EMB), especially with regards to how concepts of patriarchal and transformative masculinities intersect with the social determinants of health, thus impacting the effectiveness of community-based interventions.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the UN Women Moldova Programme Analyst on EVAW, the international consultant will be responsible for the implementation of the following main tasks:

• Elaborate a work plan containing specific activity, and applied methodology;
• Carry out desk review of the available literature/resources/good practices at national and international level on engaging men and boys in EVAW and GE and propose selection of most successful initiatives;
• Organize up to 10 focus groups discussions; and up to 5 in-depth interviews to identify perceptions of men and boys from Republic of Moldova regarding their involvement/role in EVAW and GE;
• Design and implement a capacity building programme (up to 10 training sessions) on transformative masculinity/EMB intended nexus for the key Moldovan stakeholders and UNWM team;
• Provide support to UN Women CO team on design an M&E framework/tool for monitoring the impact of implemented EMB measures on EVAW and GE;
• Provide concept and technical support in initiating a network for men & boys in Moldova involved in EVAW and in promoting GE; and connecting with international networks for exchange of experience (example: MenEngage);

• Collecting feedback, drawing lessons learnt from the EMB activities in Moldova and suggest recommendations for future initiatives and programs.

*Note: In the context of COVID-19 outbreak, the method of meetings/trainings/focus groups discussions and other activities (be it face-to-face or online) will be decided before their de facto organization, based on the recommendations of the national authorities and World Health Organization Country Office. The financial proposal should reflect the costs for both options.

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;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s degree in law, human rights, sociology, gender studies, public relations, development studies and/or other social science related areas relevant for the assignment;
• Minimum three (3) years of proven international work experience in the field of gender equality/combating gender stereotypes, in human rights, development, social science;
• At least two (2) years of proven experience in raising awareness/delivering trainings on gender equality, non-discrimination and human rights;
• At least two (2) years of international experience in working on initiatives with Engagement of Men and Boys (EMB);
• Minimum (2) years of proven experience in conducting qualitative sociological research with a particular focus on behaviors and attitudes would be considered an asset;
• At least (1) year of experience in working with development organizations, including donors and stakeholders is considered an asset;
• Fluency in English.

Submission Instructions:

Proposals (P11 - UN Women History Form, Motivation Letter and Financial Offer)  should be submitted on-line, following this link https://sc.undp.md/jobdetails/2144/   no later than 11 January 2021, 23:59 EST. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail viorica.culeac@unwomen.org. Please notice that this address is for information requests only, please do not send or copy your application package to this address. UN Women staff will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants.