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; empowerment of women; and achievement of equality between women and men. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

One of the priority areas of UN Women in Albania is to support the government and other stakeholders to address all forms of violence against women. The country has made important steps in this area and is party to key human rights treaties, including the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). Albania has also adopted a national legal framework to address domestic and other forms of violence against women, starting in 2006 with the first Law on Domestic Violence, which was later amended in 2010, 2018 and 2020 to bring it in conformity with the Istanbul Convention. In 2008, the Law on Gender Equality came into effect and included the establishment of the national gender machinery. In addition, women survivors of domestic and sexual violence and human trafficking are one of the main groups to benefit from both a free legal aid system and expanded protection measures for victims of crime — the result of a revised Law on Free Legal Aid[1] and amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedures.[2] In April 2020, the Criminal Code also was amended to recognise dating violence as a form of domestic violence offence, following similar amendments that took place in 2018 amendments in the Law on Domestic Violence.

This legislation has created the basis for the country’s coordinated community response to domestic violence, structured around the establishment of the referral mechanisms at the level of each municipality. Local referral mechanisms (LRM), which function based on the Council of Ministers Decision MD No. 334/17.2.2011 consist of representatives of different sectors (municipalities, the police, the courts, including prosecutors and bailiffs, health offices, employment offices, educational offices) and NGOs specialized in violence against women. With the support of international donors, UN agencies and NGOs, CRM have been already established in all the 61 municipalities in the country. Despite many challenges they face and varying degrees of effectiveness, the CRM remain “the centerpiece of the country’s coordinated multi-agency response to violence against women”.[3]

Supporting the Government of Albania to expand and strengthen the existing local referral mechanisms is one of the main priorities of the UN Joint Programme “Ending Violence against Women” (UNJP on EVAW) funded by Government of Sweden and implemented by UNDP, UN Women and UNFPA in partnership with Albanian Government. The Joint Programme is in line with Output 2.5 of the UN’s Programme of Cooperation for Sustainable Development (PoCSD) with the Government of Albania (GoA) and aims at: (i) strengthening the normative and accountability framework related to gender-based violence; (ii) improving institutional practices, services and coordination for survivors of violence; and (iii) challenging norms pertaining to violence against women at the state, community and individual levels.

UN Women is providing support to the local referral mechanisms in several municipalities through technical assistance and capacity support for the staff of municipalities, members of the technical multi-agency groups of local referral mechanisms and services providers from different sectors. In this context, UN Women requires the engagement of a national consultant to support the local referral mechanism and the Local Coordinator of Domestic Violence (LCDV) of the municipality of Tirana on the management of cases of domestic violence. The main tasks of the Local Coordinator include provision of information to survivors of violence about the rights and services they are entitled to and supporting them during the issuing process of protection orders. The LCDV in collaboration with other members of the Technical Multidisciplinary Team of the CRM prepares the individual plan for protection and specialized services as well as other reports related to the psycho-social situation of the survivor of violence. The LCDV is also required to provide information to the court and collaborate with the police to monitor the enforcement of protection orders.

This intervention contributes to Outcome 2 and Output 2.1 – Capacities of state and non-state service providers across sectors at national and local levels are improved – of the UNJP on EVAW.

[1] Law 117/2017 “On State guaranteed legal aid”

[2] Law No.35/2017 “On amendments the law No.7905/21/03.1995 on the Code on Criminal Procedures”.

[3] GREVIO first basline evaluation report on Albania, 2017

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the UN Women’s Project Manager on JP EVAW and in cooperation with the Head of Section on Social Inclusion and Gender Equality of the Municipality of Tirana, the consultant will work closely with the Local Coordinator of Domestic Violence (LCDV) of the Municipality and support him/her to perform the following tasks:

• Coordination of meetings of the Technical Multidisciplinary Team of the Coordinated Referral Mechanism and immediate referral of survivors of violence to specialized services, including legal and psychological counseling, legal aid, housing and others, based on the requirements of specific urgent cases.
• Liaise with public service providers and civil society organisations, which offer specialised services to ensure survivors of violence are provided with immediate or long-term support, based on approved standards and procedures.
• Manage cases of domestic violence by: informing the survivors of violence about their rights and the necessary procedure for obtaining protection order/immediate protection order; preparing the individual security plan for each case; accompanying survivors of violence in the Police stations, Court and other specialised services.
• Assist the Albanian State Police during the risk assessment process, based on the regulations related to risk assessment needed for issuing of the preliminary protection orders.
• Monitor the implementation of Protection Orders by the parties and drafting of relevant periodic reports addressed to the State Police.
• Preparation of files with information about each individual case, entry of data about cases managed in the REVALB system, and other reports related to case management and functioning of CRM in the municipality of Tirana.

Final products / Deliverables 

• Monthly reports (in English) highlighting the consultant’s work, achievements, lessons learned, list of stakeholders met, pictures of activities organized, countersigned by the Local Coordinator of Domestic Violence (LCDV) and Head of Section on Social Inclusion and Gender Equality of the Municipality of Tirana.

Duration of the Work

The consultant will be contracted for a maximum of 200 days over a period of 10 months, up to 20 working days per month, for the period March-December 2021.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• 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: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Proven research, analytical and drafting skills,
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with various public and non-public stakeholders including in the areas of gender equality and violence against women;
• Excellent writing skills in English and Albanian;
• Strong interpersonal skills;
• Strong initiative-taker;
• Focuses on impact and results for the partner;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications/Education

Master’s degree in development-related disciplines (gender, social studies, law, public administration or any other social science related to development). A first-level university degree in social work, psychology, sociology, law is required. Additional qualification such as trainings  in the area of violence against women would be an advantage.

Work Experience

• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in the areas of gender equality and violence against women;

• Specific knowledge and experience with the legal and policy frameworks related to the functioning of coordinated community response to domestic violence;
• Experience in case management and provision of coordinated services to survivors of violence by public or non-public service providers;
• Previous experience in cooperating with international organization and local authoritieswould be an advantage.

Language requirement

• Proficiency in written and spoken English and Albanian

Schedule of Payments:

Payment will be made as per the payment schedule in the contract upon (i) satisfactory completion of tasks; (ii) provision of deliverables specified in the ToRs; (iv) submission of the certificate of payment.

Recommended Presentation of Offer:

Qualified and interested candidates are asked to submit their application no later than 7 March 2021

The application should contain:

• Cover letter explaining the applicant’s interest in applying for the position.
• Filled UN Women Personal History Form (P11 form) including past experience in similar assignments and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from: http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment/); please upload the P11 instead of your CV
• Financial Proposal - Financial proposal specifying the monthly fee in Albanian Lek. Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall consider various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, travel costs and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services).

Evaluation of applicants:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and

Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Applications will be assessed according to the following Technical Criteria:                      

• Master’s degree in development-related disciplines (gender, social studies, law, public administration, or any other social science related to development). A first-level university degree in social work, psychology, sociology, law is required. Additional qualification such as trainings in the area of violence against women would be an advantage (10 points);
• 5 years of relevant professional experience in the areas of gender equality and violence against women (25 points);
• Specific knowledge and experience related legal and policy frameworks related to the functioning of coordinated community response to domestic violence (15 points);
• Experience in case management and provision of coordinated services to survivors of violence by public or non-public service providers; (15 points);
• Previous experience in cooperating with international organization and local authorities would be an advantage (5 points)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. The calculation formula applied is as follow:

p = 30 (µ/z); where: p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated; µ = price of the lowest priced proposal; z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

How to Submit the Application: To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)- http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), the Financial Proposal, and Cover Letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
• Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click 'Submit Application;'
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system

Notes:

• UN Women retains the right to contact references directly. Due to the large numbers of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

• The consultancy post is open to local (Albanian) individuals or foreign individuals with valid temporary or permanent residence in Albania.
• Applications without the financial offer will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
• The individual consultants should take the mandatory learning security course prior to commencement of assignment– details will follow before the issuance of contract.