Background

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.  UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards.  It stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on four thematic priority areas: 1) Governance and participation in public life, 2) women’s economic empowerment, 3) Ending violence against women and girls, and 4) women, peace and security, humanitarian action, and disaster risk reduction.  UN Women coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality.

The Ending Violence against Women (EVAW) section is part of the Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division at UN Women Headquarters in New York.  The section is responsible for a number of functions including policy and technical advice to regional and country offices on EVAW, supporting normative work on EVAW and developing and overseeing global policy support related to global level programmes.

Building on over 40 years of sstained efforts undertaken by women’s organizations, grassroots, international networks, local governments in cities around the world, UN Women launched the Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Initiative. It builds on its “Safe Cities Free of Violence against Women and Girls” Global Programme which began with 5 cities, and now spans over 50 cities to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls (SVAWG) in public spaces in different settings (urban, rural, online).

The Global Initiative contributes to the emerging international knowledge base on effective strategies to prevent and respond to harassment and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls in urban and online public spaces and aims to build more inclusive, sustainable, and safe cities. It was designed with local, regional and global partners in response to the growing concerns about everyday experiences of women and girls all over the world as they experience sexual violence in public spaces as they go about their daily routines, whether on city streets, parks, in markets, on buses and trains or in their own neighborhoods, or online.

The terms of reference (ToR) is for a national consultant  who will conduct a supplemntary who will coping Study on Technology-facilitated Violence against Women and Girls (TF VAWG) in Addis Ababa city within existing safe city and safe public space programmes, guided by the UN Women Guidance Note on Scoping Studies and supplementary guidance note on TF VAWG specifically addressing TF VAWG, which can be adapted at the local level. The results of the scoping study will serve to inform the identification of signature interventions to address this form of violence in public spaces.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance and supervision of the UN Women Ethiopia Ending Violence Against Women and Girls(EVAWG) team  and with technical input from the Policy Specialist, Ending Violence against Women (EVAW) in the EVAW Section in Headquarters, the national consultant will work to collect data involving a literature review and qualitative data collection with different local stakeholders, including women facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, during the period of 15 June 2023 to 14 September 2023.

The scoping study will be carried out in Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Primary Tasks/Deliverables 

The consultant will:

• Develop a qualitative methodology for a scoping study, in line with UN Women’s Guidance on Scoping Studies, and supplementary guidance note on TF VAWG specifically. The methodology should be guided by key lines of enquiry included in the Guidance and include clear operational definitions for sexual harassment and other forms of TF VAWG, including those outlies in the guidance note.  The methodology should also reflect the local context and consider the continuum of VAWG where women experience sexual harassment and other forms of violence, online and offline.
• Produce an annotated outline and approved methodology with a key informant interview guide and focus group discussion (s) FGD interview guide, (short guide that outlines questions), and details on the list proposed for key informants, and composition of FGD groups, and submit to UN Women for technical input and incorporate feedback into the revised tools ahead of the field research.

Conduct a scoping study on TF VAW using qualitative methodologies to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of sexual harassment and other forms TF VAWG in selected areas of Addis Ababa . Ensure WHO ethical guidelines on researching VAW are enforced throughout the research process. As a component of this scoping study, conduct a desk review of materials.

• related to legislative framework and policies available and prepare a summary to identify gaps. Identify existing quantitative studies on online sexual harassment or other forms of TF VAWG that may have been conducted, and incorporate in the literature review;
• Conduct qualitative data collection with select local stakeholders, including local governments, media, education institutions, women’s rights organizations and other civil society organisations, and diverse local grassroots women, ensuring that the principle of intersectionality and leaving no one behind (LNOB) in to better understand safety concerns of differently positioned women;
• Submit a draft report on the scoping study to UN Women for inputs and comments;
• Conduct a validation of findings of scoping study workshop among key stakeholders in the safe cities and safe public spaces programme, and produce a power point presentation on the findings of the scoping study which will be used in future supplementary programme design workshop;
• Submit a final report on the scoping study in English, which incorporates all inputs and comments from UN Women. The Scoping Study should follow a similar format as other UN Women Scoping Studies prepared, following the suggested structure provided by the Guidance on Scoping Studies.

Competencies

Competencies

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Advanced degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in social sciences, criminology, development, gender studies, or other relevant field is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree

Experience

• 7 years of professional experience in leading comprehensive projects in areas such as crime prevention, community safety, ending violence against women and girls, especially within international development projects
• Writing reports and publications which have made a significant contribution to public policy, programmes or learning in the field of development practice and studies on issues related to human rights, women’s rights, sexual violence, and ending violence against women and girls in different settings (e.g. urban, rural, work, online).
• Providing technical advice and delivering quality reports and publications on a tight schedule and in coordination with and input from multiple project partners, and a wide variety of different stakeholders (i.e. NGOs, women’s organizations, UN Agencies, etc.)
• Production of tools for practitioners on gender-based violence, involving multi-sectoral partnership building

Language:

• Superior written and verbal command of English and Amharic;
• Knowledge of another UN Language is an asset.

Application:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) a completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment.