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 European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) have embarked on a new, global, multi-year initiative focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) - The Spotlight Initiative.

The Initiative is so named as it brings focused attention to this issue, moving it into the spotlight and placing it at the centre of efforts to achieve gender equality and women's empowerment, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Jamaica is one of five CARICOM Member States (the others being Belize, Grenada, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago) to receive support from the Spotlight Initiative. The vision of the Jamaica Spotlight Initiative (SI) is that the rights of women and girls to live free from violence are protected, promoted, and upheld. The impact that the SI will work towards achieving is that all women and girls, particularly those who are most vulnerable, live a life free of violence and harmful practices.

The main objectives are:

1. To contribute to the reduction of family violence against women and girls and
2. To improve access for women and girls to essential, safe, adequate, integrated gender-responsive services

Family violence (FV) is a manifestation of gender inequality, created through unequal gender power relations, which overlap with harmful masculine stereotypes. In addressing family violence, Jamaica will come face to face with powerful cultural family constructs and internal and external conflicts about the meaning of violence within the bounds of households, primary relationships, and intimate partners. To that end, the priority areas in Family Violence that will be addressed for the Jamaica SI are:

1. Child Sexual Abuse
2. Intimate Partner Violence
3. Discrimination against vulnerable groups 

The approach will be guided by the ecological theory that underpins the connections between family and society. The ecological model is seen as the best framework within which to address the causes, consequences, and response to family violence in Jamaica.

The key pillars of the Spotlight Initiative Include:

• Pillar 1: Laws and Policies
• Pillar 2: Institutional Capacities
• Pillar 3: Social Norms and Behaviours
• Pillar 4: Services
• Pillar 5: Data Availability and Utilisation
• Pillar 6: Women’s Rights Groups, Autonomous Social Movements and CSOs

UN Women is the Technical Lead for the Spotlight Initiative in Jamaica and also leads pillars 5 and 6. UNDP leads Pillars 1 and 2; UNICEF Pillar 3; and UNFPA, Pillar 4.

UN Women, in its role as the lead agency for pillar 5 on Data Availability and Utilization in the Spotlight Initiative, will be coordinating interagency initiatives to strengthened national capacities to collect, analyse and dissemination data on violence against women and girls and will be directly producing a number of critical knowledge products including a report on a National Study on the Economic Costs of VAWG in Jamaica. This National Study, which will be the first of its kind in Jamaica, will seek to estimate the costs of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Jamaica. These estimates will, in essence, represent the costs of inaction and the resulting economic effects at the household level. These household level costs, in turn, will demonstrate home IPV drains the household economy. Based on these estimated household estimated, macroeconomic estimates can be developed to determine the impact in terms of aggregate Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the Assignment:

UN Women, as the agency leading Pillar 5 on Data in the Spotlight Initiative (SI), is seeking to contract a Team Leader with Sub-Contracted Team Members to:

• Estimate the annual economic cost of IPV against women in Jamaica at the household level including:
  1. Estimate of annual direct costs for households related to incidents of intimate partner violence. These costs include those associated with seeing services for medical care (physical, sexual and mental), shelter, mediation and judicial resolution; as well as the consumption costs related to the replacement of property,
  2. Estimate of indirect costs – income loss due to missed work, loss of reproductive labour, children’s health and children’s school performance including missed days, failing and poor grades.
• Estimate annual service provision costs across sectors including health, police, judicial and social.
• Develop the following macro-estimates:
  1. Estimate aggregate costs for the national economy
  2. Estimate cost of service provision
  3. Estimate costs due to productivity loss

The National Study on the Economic Costs of VAWG in Jamaica will fill a key knowledge gap in Jamaica. This study builds on the Women’s Health Survey in 2016 and focuses on providing an estimate of opportunity costs of IPV against women and girls for households. Using prevalence from the surveyed sample, the study can then present aggregate costs for a preliminary national estimate of the costs incurred within the Jamaican economy due to IPV.

Scope of Work:

The Team Leader and Sub-Contracted Team Members, with overall guidance provided by UN Women MCO-Caribbean, will directly undertake the research activities necessary to fulfil the objectives outlined above.

The contracted Team Lead with Sub-Contracted Team Members will be responsible for all arrangements related to conducting research activities. UN Women will take responsibility for convening the Dissemination Meeting where the report and study report will be publicly shared.

Deliverables:

• Estimation of Costs to the Household of IPV: (1) Direct/Out of Pocket Costs; (2) Indirect Cost (Timeframe: June 2020- October 2020)
• Estimation of costs of services at the community level: total costs incurred including salaries, training costs, and operational costs such as rent, electricity, stationery and brochures in provision of services in different sectors (health, police, courts and other formal and informal social services). (Timeframe: June 2020- October 2020)
• Draft Report (Timeframe: September 2020- December 2020)
• Final Report (Timeframe: December 2020)
• Presentation of Findings: Preparation of PowerPoint and other presentation aides to be presented at a Dissemination Meeting. (Timeframe: January 2021)

NB: The costs of convening the Dissemination Meeting will be covered separately by UN Women

Reporting Requirements :

The consultant Team Leader will work under the overall supervision of the UN Women MCO-Caribbean Representative, with direct reporting to UN Women Programme Specialist for Economic Empowerment and Statistics.

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

Functional Competencies:

• Strong statistical analysis and social research and analytical skills.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills including the conveying complex concepts and recommendations, in a clear and persuasive style tailored to match different audiences.
• Ability to interact independently as part of a team.
• Ability to multi-task and operate effectively in stressful situations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

The Team Lead should himself/herself meet the following criteria:

• A Ph.D. or equivalent Degree in any of the following areas: Economics, Statistics, Public Health, Gender and Development (provide CV)

The Team Leader will be assessed on the qualifications of members of his/her team who should either individually or combined, possess the following:

• At least two Project team members: A Minimum of a Master’s Degree in any of the following areas: Economics, Statistics, Public Health, Gender and Development (provide CVs)

Experience:

The Team Leader should himself/herself meet the following criteria:

• At least ten years’ experience working on gender and development issues, and specifically, costing and budgeting for gender equality.
• Proven experience with undertaking at least 1 large research initiative on costing violence against women and girls.
• At least three years’ experience with engaging with users and producers of gender statistics or gender equality research

The Team Leader will be assessed on the strength of the members of his/her team whose skillsets either individually or combined, should meet the following criteria:

• At least three years’ experience working on social statistics or related areas.
• At least three years’ experience working on social and /or gender and development issues

Languages:

• Fluency in written and oral English is required.

References:

• Minimum of three client references that include the name of the contact person, title and contact information.

Remuneration:

• The consultancy fee will be negotiated before contracting. Each payment will be based on a predefined and formal agreement between UN Women and the consultant and will be disbursed based on satisfactory completion of agreed deliverables.

Hardware, Software and Communication: 

• The Consultant must be equipped with a laptop, which must be portable and must run at least Windows 7. The consultant must be reasonably accessible by email and telephone (preferably mobile). The use of reliable, internet-based (Skype or equivalent) is required.

Location and Duration:

• The consultancy will be home-based (no travel is required/expected particularly given the COVID-19 pandemic).
• The consultant will be engaged for a maximum of 100 working days during the period June 2020 – January 2021.

Other:

• Interviews will be conducted with the shortlisted applicants only.
• The consultant contracted will be required to sign a statement of confidentiality and freedom from any conflict of interest with potential future contractors with respect to the TORs and work that they will be delivering.
• The consultant should submit, along with his/her application, the curriculum vitae of team members.

Note:

Submissions to UNDP Jobs are limited to a maximum of 10 MB, virus-free or corrupted contents to avoid rejection, and no more than 1 email transmission.  

All applications must be submitted through UNDP jobs.  Please do not send applications to UN Women staff as they will not be accepted.