UNDP Jobs - 84505- Review and Develop a Paralegal Manual for Sex Work

Review and Develop a Paralegal Manual for Sex Workers in their Diversity

Location :

Harare, ZIMBABWE

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

31-May-2019

Application Deadline :

19-Apr-19 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

20 Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

20 Days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Briefly describe the project rationale / background

The National AIDS Council (NAC) in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) together with international and local Partners through the multi sectoral approach has prioritised Key Populations (KPs) in the response to the HIV epidemic as guided by the third Zimbabwe HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan (ZNASP III) and UNAIDS Fast Tracking Combination Prevention strategy. Key Populations in Zimbabwe include: sex workers (SWs), gay, bisexual men and other men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender persons, prisoners, adolescents and young people among others.

National Sex Work Programme was established in 2009 by CeSHHAR with the National AIDS Council (NAC), the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) and community stakeholders. There are two models for delivering a comprehensive programme firmly rooted within a public health and empowerment framework: one using fixed sites based in Ministry of Health clinics and the other providing outreach services, also through MoHCC clinics. The ‘Sisters with a Voice’ programme has grown from one fixed and four outreach clinics in 2009 to a country wide programme serving 30 sites nationally.

The Programme aims to foster an empowered and resilient sex work community fully engaged in HIV prevention and care cascades, by bringing to scale evidence-based, sex worker-led interventions to maximize demand for, supply of and retention within HIV prevention and care services for male, female and trans sex workers in Zimbabwe. We aim to use programmatic and research data both to optimise and expand service delivery for sex workers nationally; to work with government services to reduce the barriers to care among sex workers within the public sector; and to develop and pilot innovations that will increase sex worker engagement with care using a rights based approach.

UNAIDS defines sex workers as:

“Female, male and transgender adults and young people who receive money or goods in exchange for sexual services, either regularly or occasionally. Sex work varies between and within countries and communities. Sex work may vary in the degree to which it is more or less “formal” or organised, and in the degree to which it is distinct from other social and sexual relationships and types of sexual economic exchange.”

Context of the required services

54% of Zimbabwean female sex workers are living with HIV, compared to a prevalence of 13.4% within the general adult population. The reasons for this disparity in HIV prevalence include the limited reach of prevention and treatment programmes for key populations and high levels of stigma and discrimination and the criminalisation of sex workers. Zimbabwean legislation criminalizes sex work by prohibiting “profiteering from proceeds of sex work and running a brothel”.

Unjust criminalization violates human rights and deters people living with HIV from accessing HIV prevention, treatment and care services. While sex workers are human beings entitled to human rights protections in terms of international treaties and national laws, they are often disadvantaged by the presence of legal limitations to their work. Criminalisation of sex work in Zimbabwe has resulted in poor awareness of rights among sex workers. They are instead left vulnerable to abuse by clients, police, and those who exploit sex workers for economic gain. This abuse is a direct result of their criminalisation and further increases their vulnerability to violence.

Objectives of the project

Produce of an updated paralegal manual for sex workers in Zimbabwe that educates sex workers about their rights and the protections they enjoy when these rights have been infringed
Produce of an updated paralegal manual that enables paralegals, programme teams and peer educators to empower sex workers to use the law to protect themselves against abuses
Produce an updated paralegal manual that ensures paralegals are able to give legal advice to sex workers, document any human rights abuses and support sex workers seeking legal remedies.
Produce an updated paralegal manual which also serves as a tool to increase awareness among law enforcement agents of the rights that sex workers have.

Stakeholders for the project

The stakeholders of the project are as follows:
Sex workers in their diversity
Sex worker led CBOs
The Ministry of Health and Child Care
The National AIDS Council
The Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research Zimbabwe
NGOs and CBOs working with sex workers.

Duties and Responsibilities

Job summary

The Consultant should produce a paralegal manual for sex workers in their diversity which can be used by paralegals within the programme and can also serve as a training tool for sex workers, health workers, outreach workers and other stakeholders.

Description of Work

The Consultancy will be Harare based. However the consultant must have the capacity to consult and gather views and input from sex workers nationally.

The consultant in this assignment is expected to carry out the following tasks:

Develop a detailed plan of work for assessing the prevailing legal environment and the laws and policies that directly and indirectly impact sex workers in their diversity.
Produce an up to date draft paralegal manual
Have the manual validated by female, male and transgender sex workers and stakeholders
Incorporate feedback from the validation process and submit a revised paralegal manual
Submit a final, paralegal manual

Objectives of Consultancy:

To assess the laws and policies that have an impact on sex workers in Zimbabwe;
To assess the redress available for sex worker whose rights have been violated;
To produce a National Paralegal Manual for Sex Workers in Zimbabwe that:
- Educates sex workers about laws and policies that, directly or indirectly, have an impact on the practice of sex work
- Helps sex workers understand how they can use the law to protect themselves and have access to justice
- Equips sex workers with knowledge of the legal framework that enables them to use of the law as a tool for protection of their rights

Duration of the Work

The expected duration of the work is a total of 20 non consecutive days.
The work is expected to commence by 1 April 2019 and be completed by 31 May 2019.
Project Implementing Partners to will require 72 hours to review outputs, give comments, certify approval/acceptance of outputs at each stage of the work.
There is subsequent implementation of grant activities is dependent of completion of this work. Delays in full completion of the work will have serious consequences on the organisations ability to implement grant activities. Therefore the Consultant must have the capacity to complete the work within the stipulated timeframe.

Reporting:

The Consultant shall be directly supervised by CeSHHAR Zimbabwe and shall report to the Programme Director – Key Populations. This person will be responsible for communicating approval and acceptance of outputs by the organisation.
The Consultant will be required to engage stakeholders in the process including at a Consultation meeting to be hosted by the supervising organisation.
Performance of the Consultant shall also be evaluated by the National AIDS Council with guidance from CeSHHAR.
All payments to the consultant shall be made upon communication of acceptance of outputs to UNDP following completion of each deliverable.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Inception meeting - 1 Day
An inception report including detailed methods to be used and the work plan with timelines - 3 Days
Consultation meeting - 1 Day
A draft updated paralegal manual for validation - 5 Days
Validation meeting - 1 Day
A report on the validation process and proposed incorporation of feedback - 1 Day
Submission of revised Paralegal Manual for Sex Workers in Zimbabwe in their diversity incorporating feedback from validation process - 3 Days
Submission of the final Paralegal Manual for Sex Workers in Zimbabwe in their diversity incorporating feedback from implementing partner - 5 Days

Duration: 20 DAYS (20 Days' paid work to be completed within a maximum period of 8 weeks)

K. Evaluations

Candidates will be evaluated using a combined scoring method with the qualifications and methodology weighted at 70% and the price offer weighted at 30%. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49% (out of 70%) points on the technical qualifications part will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Criteria for evaluation of qualifications and methodology (70 points maximum)

Relevance of education to the consultancy (10 points).
3 years experience in designing and developing similar manual .(20points).
Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work(20 Points)
Personal resume which details past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references(10 Points).
Sound Knowledge of the HIV and AIDS context in Zimbabwe and Sub Saharan Africa.

Criteria for financial evaluation (30 points maximum):

p = y (µ/z), where
p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Payment Method:

Payment: All-inclusive Daily Fee
The consultant will be paid as a daily rate (based on the number of days worked).
Payments will be based on the Certificate of Payments that will be submitted on a monthly basis;
Time Sheet will be attached and verified by the direct supervisor; and

• Final tranche upon performance evaluation from the direct supervisor. Security: Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://trip.dss.un.org

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. In general, UNDP does not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel.

Application Submission Process:

Step 1: Interested individual consultants must include the following documents when submitting the applications in UNDP job shop (Please note that only 1 (one) file can be uploaded therefore please include all docs in one file):

Personal History Form (P11), indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references (the template can be downloaded from this link: http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc

Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposal

Applicants are instructed to upload their financial proposals using the Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability indicating an all-inclusive daily rate in USD using the financial proposal template available here: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=84505.

The Candidate must provide a link to a website that they have been actively involved in the development and management of together with a description of their role.

The term ‘all-inclusive” implies that all costs (monthly professional fees, travel related expenses if applicable, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the financial proposal

ANNEX 1 - INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS is provided here: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf

Competencies

Corporate:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP.
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional:

Strong analytical, negotiation and communication skills, including ability to produce high quality practical advisory reports and knowledge products,
Professional and/or academic experience in one or more of the areas of international development, public health or related field.

Project and Resource Management:

Ability to produce high quality outputs in a timely manner while understanding and anticipating the evolving client needs.
Strong organisational skills.
Ability to work independently, produce high quality outputs.

Communications and Advocacy:

Strong ability to write clearly and convincingly, adapting style and content to different audiences and speak clearly and convincingly.
Strong analytical, research and writing skills with demonstrated ability to think strategically.
Strong inter-personal, negotiation and liaison skills.

Partnership building and team work:

Excellent negotiating and networking skills.
Demonstrated flexibility to excel in a multi-cultural environment.

Required Skills and Experience

Educational Qualifications

Bachelor degree in Law and an advanced Degree in Public Health or Social Sciences or equivalent.

Experience:

At least 3year Proven track record for undertaking similar work amongst Key Population communities and sex workers in particular;
Proven knowledge of local and international human rights laws and treaties
Excellent analytical and strong communication skills both written and spoken;
Demonstrated integrity and sensitivity to Key Populations;
Proven ability to write high quality technical tools in English and at a language level that may be easily utilised by the target population;
Ability to work in a complex environment;
Sound Knowledge of the HIV and AIDS context in Zimbabwe and Sub Saharan Africa.

Language:

Fluency in written and spoken English is required for this consultancy;
Knowledge of at least one local languages will be an asset.