The Spotlight Initiative regional programme for Central Asia and Afghanistan is part of a global initiative funded by the European Union aimed at combating various forms of violence against women and girls (SGBV), as well as harmful practices. In Central Asia and Afghanistan, the programme focuses on using innovative approaches to understanding, preventing, and responding to sexual and gender-based
violence and harmful practices. The initiative is coordinated by the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Kazakhstan and is implemented through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The Spotlight Initiative provides an opportunity for a multisectoral, coordinated, and holistic approach to addressing violence against women and girls, including governments, institutions, civil society, and other key stakeholders. Further information can be found at https://www.spotlightinitiative.org.

As part of the Pillar 5 of the Initiative (‘Closing the data gap’), a set of measures is planned to address the gaps in national data in the field of human and sustainable development. Working with the emerging Alliance against SGBV for Central Asia (outcome 2) and folding in representatives from the countries’ National Statistical Offices (NSOs), regional Standards for the collection of prevalence, administrative,
and perception data will be developed.

Given the underreporting and the sensitivity surrounding SGBV and harmful practices, technical and financial support is required to review the methodologies and types of data collection available in other countries and bring that expertise through regional exchanges. Further, investment is needed in setting up standards for the collection of all types of data on SGBV, including administrative data. A key issue remains accessibility of data in a user-friendly manner, and one which links multiple efforts under the SDGs at the national and regional level to improve monitoring of these commitments. Further, there is an urgent need to bring together analyses on intersecting forms of discrimination and how/if this impacts one’s vulnerability to SGBV and one’s access to services, support and justice.

In this regard, the Regional Spotlight Initiative Programme plans to hire a National Consultant to support the research to fill the common data gaps for measuring the intersectional nature of inequalities and SGBV in Central Asia through collection of data and evidence and supporting the International Consultant on conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses on SGBV as it is experienced by those often vulnerable
and facing intersecting forms of discrimination, including women living with disabilities; women living with HIV; LGBTI community; mothers with many children, single mothers, migrant women, women with criminal records, and elderly women.

The National Consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:
1) Development of a detailed work plan for the assignment in close collaboration with International Consultant and overall research methodology flow agreed timeline. The work plan should be coordinated with the SI Project Officer.

2) To provide support on reviewing available and relevant resources and data for country context analysis, including but not limited to legal and policy frameworks relevant to SGBV, overview of similar study and research conducted at the national and/or global level, mapping of national and global data sources with relevant data and information, etc.

3) To provide support on conceptualising and drafting the methodology and tools for qualitative survey, in particular development of in-depth interview and focus group protocols, semi structured questionnaires to be used for different categories of respondents. Oversee required
adaptation and testing of developed tools for data collection, including translation into Russian.

4) To organize and conduct data collection with the support and in close cooperation with the International Consultant, including online consultations, focus groups and in-depth interviews with key partners from institutions, civil society, crisis centres, and respondents themselves. If necessary, the National Consultant will liaise with UN country teams and UN Women Consultants working on conducting a desk review of national legislation in five Central Asian countries on SGBV and developing recommendations on alignment of SGBV legislation in Central Asian
countries with international EVAWG standards.

5) To support and co-lead data compilation and analysis, including drafting of thematic topics as part of research report.

6) Organize and facilitate regional workshop to discuss and validate the research results with key partners in the CA countries and the Spotlight Initiative partners.

7) To support the revision of final report based on discussions from the validation workshop and integrating UN Women and SI partners feedback with appendices in the form of recommendations, tables, interview schedules, interview questions, case studies, etc.

It is expected that the National Consultant will work from home and will conduct online consultations with representatives of the Spotlight Initiative, civil society partners working with various vulnerable categories and respondents. The National Consultant will work closely and provide required support to the International Consultant at all research stages. The communication will take place through emails, meetings
in MS Teams, Zoom and other platforms.

Core Values:
- Respect for Diversity
- Integrity
- Professionalism

Core Competencies:
- Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
- Accountability
- Effective Communication
- Inclusive Collaboration

The selection process of National Consultant will be based on the following criteria:
Education:
- Master degree or equivalent in gender studies, sociology, political science, or related fields
Experience:
- At least 6 years of professional experience in research, especially in the field of gender equality, SGBV, human rights, and other related fields;
- At least 5 years of proven experience in developing a methodology for collecting qualitative and quantitative gender data and evidence, including conducting in-depth interviews and focus groups;
- At least 3 years of professional experience in Central Asia on gender equality, SGBV, human rights is required;
- At least 3 years of professional experience in organization and / or facilitation of national / regional multistakeholder knowledge sharing and / or research results dissemination events, workshops, conferences;
- Experience working with UN agencies or other international organizations on similar issues in the field of gender equality and human rights is an asset.
Languages:
- Full professional working proficiency in Russian and English is required.
 

Evaluation process:

Application process:
All documents should be sent including:
1. CV and UN Women Personal History form (P-11), which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
2. A technical proposal describing how the expected assignment will be performed. The technical proposal should also include:
- supporting materials or link(s) to documents, publications are available to learn about candidate's experience in research, especially in the field of gender equality, SGBV, human rights, and other related fields;
- supporting materials or link(s) to documents, publications to learn about candidate’s experience in Central Asia in gender equality, SGBV, human rights area;
- reference to the candidate's experience in developing a methodology for collecting qualitative and quantitative gender data and evidence, including conducting in-depth interviews and focus groups;
- reference to the candidate's experience in organization and / or facilitation of national / regional multistakeholder knowledge sharing and / or research results dissemination events, workshops, conferences
- reference to the candidate's experience with UN agencies or other international organizations on similar issues in the field of gender equality and human rights.
- financial proposal in KZT, which shall include all the costs and expenses that National Consultant will have to fulfil all the tasks under this Terms of Reference. The Consultant should also include the daily rate ad lump sum in the submitted financial proposal.
Only candidates who have passed the preliminary selection will be informed. There might be an online interview conducted by UN Women.

Please note that the system will only allow one attachment, hence all supporting documents, e.g., P11 form, CV, technical and financial proposals must be scanned as one attachment. Applications without a completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further evaluation

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If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)