Background
I. 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.
The UN Women Cambodia Country Office (CCO) Strategic Note (SN) 2019-2023 focuses on three key priorities to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE). The first priority is to strengthen government capacity and accountability to integrate international norms and commitments (CEDAW, SDGs, Beijing PfA, Sendai) into national legislative and regulatory frameworks, including supporting dialogue and CSO engagement in accountability for GEWE commitments. The second area of focus is Ending Violence Against Women where CCO’s focus includes creating an enabling environment to prevent, respond to and prosecute all forms of GBV as well as ensuring that marginalised women who experience violence, including women migrant workers, access services and protections. Thirdly, CCO works to enhance gender responsiveness in climate change action and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). A focus on empowerment, women’s leadership, challenging negative gender norms and leaving no one behind runs through the programme.
In Cambodia, an estimated 1 in 5 women[1] report having experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime, and 4 percent of women report having experienced sexual violence by a non-partner after the age of 15.[2] The COVID 19 pandemic is increasing the risk for these already high rates of violence against women (VAW). Initially the direct impact of COVID-19 and the number of cases was low to date in numbers to date with indirect impacts increasing stressors on families due to impact to a downturn in key economic sectors, returning migrant workers (both nationally and internationally). However, in February 2021, community spread of COVID 19 began with an increase from about 500 identified cases to an estimated 128,000 in February 2022. This increased burden on the health and response systems, coupled with financial constraints, increased care burdens, and school closures, are increasing stress and women are at risk of higher levels of violence and putting strains on the already inadequate response systems.
UN Women’s EVAW Programme in Cambodia is aligned with UN Joint Global Programme (JP)—the Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence (ESP). In 2019, as part of Phase II of the Joint Programme, under the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) leadership and with the support of UN Women, the third National Action Plan to Prevent Violence against Women 2019-2023 (3rd NAPVAW) was drafted. The 3rd NAPVAW was adopted by the councils of ministers in 2020 and launched in January 2021 with the overarching goal to reduce violence against all women and girls, including those at increased risk or with challenges in accessing services through increased prevention interventions, improved response, such as increased access to quality multi-sectoral services, and multi-sectoral coordination and cooperation. Four key areas have been identified as primary areas of focus:1) Prevention; 2) Legal Protection and Multi-Sectoral Services; 3) Formulation and Implementation of Laws and Policies; and 4) Review, Monitoring and Evaluation.
UN Women Cambodia is currently implementing the ACCESS project title “Supporting Implementation of the 3rd NAPVAW in Cambodia” funded by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The project builds on the partnership with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) which aims to improve MOWA capacity for implementing minimum service standards and informing laws that better prevent, respond to, and prosecute all forms of gender-based violence and to hold Technical Working Group on Gender – Gender-Based Violence (TWGG-GBV) members accountable for the coordinated implementation of the NAPVAW III at national, and subnational levels through improved planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation processes.
While the 2005 Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Protection of Victims (DV Law) marked an important advance in addressing violence against women in Cambodia, the reality is that many of its provisions have been found to fall short of international standards, compromising its effectiveness in providing protection to victims and in holding perpetrators accountable. Research has shown that in practice victims seeking redress have limited access to justice impacted by such factors as economic barriers and social norms that promote a tolerance of violence.[3] In the 3rd NAPVAW, the TWGG-GBV has prioritized a review of the DV Law to guide a strategy for its revision. This is included ensuring that the law and its implementation address the needs of marginalized groups or groups with challenges accessing services, such as women migrant workers, LGBTIQ women, ethnic minorities, women with disabilities, older women, and others marginalised by occupation. Initial steps have been taken to conduct internal analysis of the existing challenges; however, no clear path or strategy has been developed to guide the reform priorities. The planned action is in line with the CEDAW Concluding Observation (CEDAW COB) 9a, 9b related to improvement of the legislative framework and 25 b to “undertake a comprehensive review of the DV law and amends its provisions to define, prohibit and criminalise all forms of gender-based violence, including domestic violence and marital rape, to facilitate the process of obtaining protection orders and to ensure that victims/survivors of domestic violence have access to effective remedies and that perpetrators are held accountable.”[4]
UN Women Cambodia is seeking the services of local consultant with EVAW and legal expertise to provide technical expertise and policy advice to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and TWGG-GBV to develop the roadmap to reform the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of Victims. Under the direct supervision of the Country Programme Coordinator and working in close collaboration with MOWA and EVAW Programme team, the consultant will serve as a lead technical consultant ensuring the insights on identified priorities with key actions are capture and providing an outline with clear process required for reforming/amend the DV law.
[1] aged 15-64 who have ever been in a relationship
[2] National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, UN Women, World Health Organization (2015). National Survey on Women’s Health and Life Experiences Report. Phnom Penh.
[3] K. Bricknell (2014). The Gap Between Legislation and Practice. London: Royal Holloway University of London.
[4] Cambodian National Council for Women, UN Women (2019). 57 Concluding Observations on the sixth periodic report on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in Cambodia.
Duties and Responsibilities
II. Duties and responsibilities
The Consultant will work under the supervision of the Country Programme Coordinator and will work in close collaboration with UN Women Cambodia programme team, primarily the EVAW team, and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to undertake the tasks outlined below:
A. Provision of the technical assistance and legal expertise to develop a roadmap for reforming/amend the DV law
- Conduct desk review and analysis of good practice guidance on legislation to end violence against women, existing analysis and research on the current DV Law’s compliance with international legal framework, especially CEDAW and Concluding Observation, any research on the effectiveness of the DV Law’s implementation, and the DV Law and other relevant resources identified in the desk review process.
- Coordinate and facilitate the consultations to document and identify further insights on challenges and priorities for reform from those who are the subject of the DV law and law implementers such as women survivors including those in at-risk or marginalised groups, legal actors, including judicial police and prosecutors, CSO service providers, members of TWGG-GBV, and GBV Working Groups.
- Based on analysis of the desk review and stakeholder consultations, develop the roadmap for reforming/amending the DV law with substantive recommendations and clear guidance/process on how to reform/amending the DV law. The roadmap shall also identify priorities of the DV law to be amended. Write a summary report that captures achievements of the assignment, observations and lessons learnt from the process.
III. Expected deliverables and timelines
No. | Tasks and Deliverables | Target Dates |
1 | 1st Deliverable
| 21 November 2022 |
2 | 2nd Deliverable
Part 1: A report documents the existing learnings and identified/suggested priorities for reforming/amend DV law Part 2: The 1st, 2nd and 3rd draft of the full report of a roadmap for reforming/reviewing the DV law that can be shared with MOWA and TWGG-GBV for feedbacks and comments Part 3:
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18 December 2022
26 January 2023
20 February 2023
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IV. Supervision Under the direct supervision of the Country Programme Coordinator, the consultant will work in close collaboration with UN Women Cambodia programme team, primarily the EVAW team, and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.
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Competencies
V.. 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
Functional Competencies: (below are examples to be adjusted to each assignment)
- Excellent analytical skills
- Strong knowledge of UN Women processes and systems
- Strong networking skills
- Strong inter-personal skills, communicate effectively with staff at all levels of the organization and government counterpart;
- Ability to work in a highly pressured environment
Required Skills and Experience
VI. Required qualifications
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VII. Contract period and work location
The assignment period is from 15 October 2022 to 20 February 2023. The assignment is based in Cambodia. The consultant may be required to travel outside of Phnom Penh as needed for the purpose of the assignment where required by UN Women-Cambodia. The standard UN Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) will apply to any travel outside duty station that may be required in the fulfillment of this assignment. VIII. Evaluation Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis:
A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated. Technical qualification evaluation criteria:
Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.
Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:
XI. Submission of application Interested candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to cco.procurement@unwomen.org with cc to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org, not later than 10 November 2022 by mid-night New York Time U.S.A. Late application submissions will not be considered. Applicants have already submitted their applications need not resubmit. | ||||||||||
Submission package includes:
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Payments:
Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payment will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes on satisfactory completion of task. | ||||||||||
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