Background

The Spotlight Initiative (SI) is a global initiative of the United Nations which has received generous support from the European Union. Its aim is to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. The Initiative represents an unprecedented global effort to invest in gender equality and women’s empowerment as a precondition and driver for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme for Central Asia and Afghanistan (Regional Programme) is fostering legal reforms, strengthening capacities of the respective institutions and women’s movements, promoting gender-equitable attitudes, and enhancing systems for collecting data on violence against women and girls. The Regional Programme partners with a broad range of actors, including civil society, donors, practitioners, academia, and media, to facilitate the elimination of harmful practices and advocate further gender transformation in the region. Find out more on www.spotlightinitiative.org  

The Spotlight Initiative Pillar 5 aims at closing the data gap on SGBV-related issues. Data gaps on many of the gender-related SDG Indicators is an overarching challenge in Central Asia. Limited knowledge remains on men’s perceptions regarding gender equality and SGBV – assumptions are regularly made, but activists seldom distinguish assumptions between age groups and seldom understand the reasoning behind how/if perceptions result in violence, and what are the root causes of these perceptions.

Although data on the scope and scale of violence against women and girls is context specific, men are the primary perpetrators. To prevent violence, it is vital to understand men’s perpetration — how many men use violence against women, what types of violence they use, what factors are associated with their use of violence against women and why some men use such violence while others do not.  Violence against women reinforces gender hierarchies and power imbalances between women and men within families and communities. To deepen understanding of the meaning and causes of men’s violence against women it is important to generate knowledge on how masculinities (identities and patterns of practices that shape gender norms for men) relate to men’s perceptions and perpetration of violence against women to prevent it. The study is premised on the well-documented hypothesis that violence against women is a manifestation of unequal gender relations and harmful manifestations of hegemonic masculinities governed by patriarchal beliefs, institutions, and systems. However, it is important to highlight that not all men are abusive and prone to exercise violence. In that sense, it will be also crucial to explore in what way men support gender equality and stand against SGBV.

The Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme for Central Asia and Afghanistan will invest in conducting analysis of men’s life experiences, perceptions and perpetration of violence against women in Kazakhstan, as well as developing an analytical report with research findings.  

To complete this assignment, the Regional Programme will hire the Legal expert (National Consultant) to analyse an existing questionnaire to the subject of the mandatory reporting requirements and develop a clear protocol for mandatory reporting for the research team. The National Consultant will be responsible for conducting a thorough review of the questionnaire's legal aspects, identifying any potential risks related to the mandatory reporting requirements, gaps or areas of improvement, and developing a robust protocol that ensures compliance with relevant laws and regulations of Republic of Kazakhstan on mandatory reporting.

Under the supervision of the Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme Project Officer (SI Project Officer) and the UN Women research team, the Legal expert is expected to provide the legal analysis of the questionnaire and develop the protocol on mandatory reporting requirements, which will be part of the overall research protocol for the study. The study is using the Toolkit for Replicating the UN Multi-country Study on Men and Violence: Understanding Why Some Men Use Violence against Women and How We Can Prevent which is being customized where necessary to the national context.

Violence against women shall be understood to encompass, but not be limited to, the following:

• Physical, sexual, and psychological violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, harmful practices limited to early marriage, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation.
• Physical, sexual, and psychological violence occurring within the general community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, practices harmful to women limited to bride kidnapping, trafficking in women and forced prostitution.
• Physical, sexual, and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs.

The study of men’s perceptions and perpetration of violence against women in Central Asia, and implementing the study in Kazakhstan, will be conducted for the purpose of:

• describing and assessing the different forms of violence men perpetrate against women in Kazakhstan;
• identifying factors associated with men’s perpetration of different forms of violence against women, including their own experience of violence, alcohol-use, mental health, attitudes toward gender norms, masculinities and perceptions of the acceptability of violence;
• describing and exploring different patterns in men’s perpetration of violence against women and girls and factors driving perpetration of violence disaggregated by individual demographics (e.g., age group, level of education, employment status, marital status), area (i.e., urban vs. rural) and other social and behavioural differences (e.g., alcohol consumption, childhood exposure to violence, mental health and well-being);
• generating data that will be utilized at the national level for GBV prevention policy and programming by a variety of national stakeholders.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Legal expert will be responsible for the following tasks:

1. Review the current questionnaire and the consent form in detail and conduct a legal analysis to identify any potential legal risks or non-compliance issues with relevant laws and regulations of Republic of Kazakhstan on mandatory reporting.
2. Prepare a detailed report highlighting the legal implications and recommended changes to the questionnaire and the consent form.
3. Develop a clear protocol for mandatory reporting for the research team, which will include clear guidelines and procedure for mandatory reporting describing when it would be triggered and to whom a report should be made, and by whom. It should also include model text for how the limits to confidentiality and mandatory reporting will be explained to a research participant, including what will happen after a report is made and what they can expect.
4. Ensure that the protocol aligns with the UN Women's policies and adheres to legal requirements of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
5. Provide guidance on data protection, confidentiality, and disclosure requirements, keeping in mind the sensitivity of the information collected.

All results must be submitted within the specified timeline (see IV) and approved by the SI Project Officer.

This study should be completed in October-November 2023. The Legal expert is responsible for delivering the following outputs:

Support of the Legal expert by UN Women

The Legal expert will work under the direct supervision of the SI Project Officer and the UN Women research team, and in close cooperation with partners. Together with the SI Project Officer and the UN Women research team, the Legal expert will agree on the scope of work, deadlines, and a detailed work plan for the assignment.

Financial arrangements

Payment will be made upon submission and approval of the deliverables, and certification by the SI Project Officer that the services have been satisfactorily performed. The Legal expert’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the work performed.

Payment for services will be made in three tranches upon the acceptance of work by the SI Project Officer outlined in the table above:

• 100% will be paid for the provision of all deliverables.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Data analysis
• Research skills (conducting qualitative and quantitative research)
• Effective Communication

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree in law (only graduates of Kazakhstan’s universities).

Experience (supporting materials or link to the site where the document is available to learn about the candidate’s experience):

• At least 5 years of experience in practicing law including criminal and administrative codes of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
• At least 3 years of demonstrated ability to conduct legal analysis, develop protocols, standard operating procedures to follow the current legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
• Demonstrated understanding of the primary research;
• Experience working with UN agencies or other international organizations on similar assignment.

Languages:

• Fluency in Russian is required;
• Working level of English is required.

Evaluation process

Applicants must meet the above minimum qualification requirements, which will be included in the technical evaluation process in the future. The next stage of the evaluation process will be maintained by cumulative analysis methodology of the technical proposal (70%) and the financial proposal (30%) of the applicant.

Technical evaluation criteria:

Only candidates, who will score at least 490 (70%) out of the maximum 700 points during the technical evaluation process, will be qualified for financial proposal *.

* Each candidate will be invited to submit consolidated financial proposal in USD (a ‘consolidated financial proposal’, which includes applicant’s all the expenses required to perform the assignment).

The financial proposals of technically qualified candidates will be requested and will be weighted in terms of selection points as per the following formula:

B = T + Clow / C x 300, where

T is a universal technical score awarded to the evaluation of the proposal (only those proposals that pass 70% of the technical evaluation);

C is the financial proposal of the candidate; and

Clow is the lowest financial proposal among all evaluated candidates.

300 is the maximum financial point that can be obtained.

The successful candidate will have accumulated the highest aggregated point (technical and financial scoring).

Payment will be made only if the expected results will be achieved, agreed package of documents and reports provided without delay and approval by UN Women.

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 available to learn about candidate's experience in practicing law including criminal and administrative codes of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
• supporting materials or link(s) to documents to learn about candidate’s experience in ability to conduct legal analysis, develop protocols, standard operating procedures to follow the current legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
• reference to the candidate's understanding of the primary research ;
• reference to the candidate's experience with UN agencies or other international organizations on similar assignments.

3. Financial proposal in USD, which includes all the costs and expenses that the Legal expert will have to fulfil all the tasks under this Terms of Reference. The Legal expert should also include the daily rate as 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.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, hires, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by applicable law. All employment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational needs.  

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

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is inconsistent with the goals and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of power and discrimination. All selected candidates will be required to adhere to UN-Women's policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN-Women staff and will therefore be subject to a thorough background and background check. (A background check will include verification of academic credentials and employment history. Selected applicants may be required to provide additional information in order to conduct a background check.)