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.

UN Women through financial support from the Government of Sweden and the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls is launching this call for applicants to provide skills-based training for police offers and prosecutors in gender-responsive, child-friendly, survivor-centered, and trauma-informed investigations, prosecutions, and case management of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Violence Against Children (VAC) cases. This includes the knowledge and skill necessary for effective prevention, investigation, prosecution, referral, data collection, analysis and reporting.

Context:

Harmful social norms, attitudes, behaviors and practices – particularly discriminatory gender norms and inequitable power relations between women and men – are a root cause of Violence Against Women and Harmful practices and limit Sexual Reproductive Health Rights in Uganda. The patriarchal system in Uganda upholds values, beliefs and practices that reinforce the privilege of men and their role in society. In this context, VAWG is accepted as an integral part of gender relations. The concept of male power within a household, with the husband considered the main decision-maker and the wife valued primarily for her reproductive role and tasks, remains a major driver of Intimate Partner Violence. According to the UDHS 2016, 49% of women and 41% of men believe a man is justified in beating his wife in certain circumstances. Of further concern, this view is held by 57% of females and 48% of males aged between 18-24 – demonstrating the prevalence and cyclical nature of negative gender norms in Uganda.  Social norms around marriage and girls’ education remain strong drivers of VAWG/HP. Women tend to marry considerably earlier than men in Uganda (UDHS 2016), fueled in part by parental pressure for daughters to marry early in order to bring in bride wealth. The connection between Violence Against Women and the achievement of sustainable development goals has been recognized globally hinders the realization of a wide range of sustainable development goals especially goal 5 on gender equality and empowerment of Women and girls. Uganda has ratified international and regional instruments and conventions that provide for protection of women from violence however, implementation remains weak and abuse rampant.

Justification:

UN Women in Uganda is at the forefront of scaling up the evidence-based SASA! Methodology designed by Raising Voices in Uganda has been RCT tested and shows 52% reduction in IPV against women in SASA! Communities.  that follows the ecological model based on the understanding that violent attitudes, behaviors, norms and practices are shaped at individual, relationship, community and at organizational and societal levels in a mutually reinforcing way. SASA utilizes coordinated community-wide gender transformative, participatory community mobilization approaches to address the root causes of GBV by tackling the power imbalances between women, men, girls and boys and also demonstrates how understanding power and its effects can help us prevent violence against women and HIV infection. The SASA methodology recommends that a rapid assessment survey is conducted at the start of each phase to demonstrate change in knowledge attitudes and behaviors.

Therefore, UN Women is seeking the services of a consultant to carry out the SASA! Rapid Assessment Survey (RAS) in the 6 districts. The baseline rapid assessment survey will consist of quantitative and qualitative methods to assess knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviors related to violence against women and girls harmful practices and SRHR.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of UN Women Monitoring and Reporting Specialist in consultation with the EVAW Programme Specialist, the consultant will be responsible for

• Training 10 Implementing Partner staff   to carry out the qualitative and quantitative data collection in the target districts including sampling criteria, understanding of the survey ethical protocols and administer the tools
• Supervising the team collecting quantitative SASA baseline data on knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviors of the community before the beginning of SASA! programming in the target 14 districts under the JPGBV (Abim, Amuria, Kaabong, Kaberamaido, Kiryandongo, Kotido, Napak, Nakapiripirit, Pader, Yumbe, Moroto, Gulu, Bundibugyo, Kampala) and 4 EU-UN Spotlight Initiative districts (Tororo, Kasese, Amudat and Kitgum).
• Conducting at least 10 qualitative key informant interviews and 10 FGDs with different groups targeting men, women, adolescent girls and adolescent boys ages 15-24 years per district to assess the situation of violence, gender relations, and power in the target communities.
• Entering and analyzing all data using the EpiData or STATA with a minimum of 30% double entry to assure data quality, and reconcile any errors noted. It is recommended that data entry commence simultaneously with field work to ensure timely completion of the work.
• Producing a comprehensive report on the situation of violence, gender relations and power in their communities 
• Carefully documenting all data collection activities including   progress, challenges and lessons learned through the process with recommendations to improve the next SASA rapid survey.

Deliverables of the consultancy are as follows:

Deliverables/ Tasks and Payment

• An inception report on the content and methodology for conducting the SASA baseline rapid assessment on the situation of violence, gender relations and power in the target communities (25 % of total contract);
• One   training conducted for implementing partner staff on the rapid assessment methodology and ethical considerations in researching violence against women and girls (25 % of total contract);
• On-site technical support provided to all Implementing partner staff during the quantitative and qualitative data collection process (25 % of total contract);
• An analysis report on the situation of violence, gender relations and power in their communities including perceptions on SRHR   and; A report on the data collection process including   challenges and lessons learned through the process with recommendations to improve the next SASA rapid survey. (25 % of total contract)

Performance evaluation:

• The contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, quality of the products delivered and alignment to agreed principles and standards. The evaluation will be carried out and cleared by the responsible officers at UN Women.

Evaluation of Applicants

Candidates will be selected based on cumulative analysis of:

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight [70%]

• Financial/Price Proposal (100 points) weight [30%]

A two-stage procedure will be utilised in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

A. Technical Qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the offer or/individual is evaluated based on following:

Technical Criteria and Obtainable Score

1. Qualification and background – 20;
2. Previous experience in the development of institutional training manuals and conducting institutional trainings - 30
3. Understanding of gender and VAW/VAC issues, especially in the justice law and order sector (30)
4. Experience and familiarity with the UN system and UN Women’s work (10);
5. Language proficiency (10)

B. Financial Proposal review criteria:

The financial proposal will be reviewed according to the following criteria:

• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles:

Integrity

• Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and a high degree of professionalism when dealing with survivors and sensitive information.
• Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity
• Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff, and of those of Government of Uganda entities;
• Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN, particularly relating to gender equality and the empowerment of women;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, sexual orientation, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly and without favouritism.

Functional Competencies

• Extensive knowledge and understanding of community-based GBV prevention;
• Proven experience in developing and implementing GBV prevention programmes using the   SASA methodology
• Ability to produce well-written trainings manuals / curriculums / toolkits in a plain and approachable text, demonstrating excellent analytical and communication skills;
• Strong skills in capacity-building and experience in developing training content

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

• At least Master’s degree in gender studies, sociology, human rights, social work, development studies, statistics or other field related social sciences or other.

Experience:

• Five years of relevant professional work experience in designing and conducting participatory research, rapid baseline surveys in the areas of gender, GBV, human rights work including data analysis report writing.
• Knowledge of statistical analysis packages; Stata, Epi Info
• Experience working with the UN system would be an asset.

Language:

• Fluent level of written and spoken English

Application Procedure

The consultants should submit their application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• Online application form with brief description of why the Offeror considers themselves the most suitable for the assignment; and
• Personal UN P11 Forms for key personnel, indicating all experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references;

• The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around the specific and measurable deliverables of the TOR. Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR, and deliverables accepted and certified by UN Women.
• The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; cost of travel from the home base to the duty station and vice versa, where required; living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.
• If the Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UN Women under a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UN Women.

• The Financial Proposal is to be submitted along with the P11 form and writing sample/link.
• Please provide a short (1000 words) writing sample, or link to a similar project that you have completed. Applications without sample/link will not be considered.

Note: The above documents need to be submitted and uploaded to the online application system as one document.