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 Ending Violence against Women (EVAW) programme focuses on prevention and response to violence against women; strengthening the legal framework, ensuring coordination among key stakeholders working on EVAW and building a body of knowledge on what works to prevent violence against women.

As part of the EVAW programme portfolio, the Combating Gender Based Violence in Bangladesh (CGBV) project started in 2018 to boost efforts on preventing violence. The Project recognizes that prevention of violence requires sustained and comprehensive action at individual, family, organizational and societal levels. The project focuses on primary prevention, stopping violence before it occurs. CGBV intends to enhance the capacity of civil society to design, implement and sustain primary prevention of gendered violence, while also strengthening government mechanisms and strategies identified under Bangladesh’s 7th Five Year Plan and the National Women Development Policy.

The Project intends to conduct a multi-sectorial, gender transformative and participatory prevention intervention through behavior change at community and institutional level, with the objective of addressing the root causes of violence, such as inequality in the distribution of power between men and women and transforming harmful social norms.

As part of the Project, UN Women is working with six selected educational institutions from Cumilla, Bogura and Patuakhali district to implement Safe Campus interventions and adopt a ‘whole of school approach’ to prevent sexual harassment and other forms of violence against women on campus. This approach involves embedding systemic change across the entire school through policy, practice, procedures, staffing, environment, leadership and culture, as well as within the classroom.

To implement this, it is critical to gain an understanding of the extent and nature of VAW in the campus to determine appropriate responses, including prevention strategies.  UN Women has already conducted the research in the Comilla University and in continuation of this work,  the remaining educational institutions from Cumilla, Bogura and Patuakhali will be engaged to conduct a research to assess the extent and awareness of sexual harassment in campus and the current institutional framework addressing gender and sexual harassment.

The research will require proper planning, a system to analyze and use the data to inform strategies addressing the problem, and compliance with national and international ethical and safety recommendations for researching VAW.

Furthermore, UN Women is on process of partnering with the Office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) in Bogura and Patuakhali with the intent of strengthen capacities of local government offices and enhance co-operation with civil society actors to improve district and sub-district VAW prevention and response. The specific objectives are:

1.  To build capacities of the Office of the Deputy Commissioner and Local Government organizations to prevent and respond to Violence against Women (VAW), including within the Office of the Deputy Commissioner;
2. To integrate VAW prevention in local government administration structures and processes (i.e., in gender-responsive budgeting, development planning, multi-sectoral approach to VAW, strengthening VAW committees, etc.); and
3. To strengthen coordination between government and NGOs, community organizations and other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), in enhancing and linking prevention and response services.

Under the output on Strengthened Office of the Deputy Commissioner’s Gender Responsiveness to prevent workplace violence, UN Women intends to conduct a rapid situation analysis and need assessment in the Office of the Deputy Commissioner in Bogura and Patuakhali to get an in-depth understanding of the staff awareness around sexual harassment definition, prevention and redress mechanisms.

Duties and Responsibilities

Reporting to the EVAW Programme Specialist, the consultant is expected to conduct the following:

1.  Research in the five selected educational institutions from Cumilla, Bogura and Patuakhali that will serve as scoping for programmatic interventions.  The research will require a system to analyze and use the data to inform strategies to address the problem, and compliance with national and international ethical safety recommendation for researching EVAW.

Based on the already developed research design and tools, the focus of the research should be as following:

• Present the local definition/ types / indicative prevalence and incidence/ scope and experience of the problem of sexual harassment (SH) and other forms of violence against women VAW in and around the educational institutions;
• Provide information on causes and risk factors for the types of VAW experienced by students and teachers on campus, including the impact on the women, and identifying groups most at risk;
• Assess current views and behaviors related to SH and VAW on campus (of administrators, teachers and students, aggregated by sex) such as beliefs regarding causes of VAW, gender norms and gender equality, social dynamics, possible victim-blaming attitudes, bystander behavior, etc.;
• Survivors, students and staff’s experience on implementation of the High Court Directive on Sexual Harassment;
• The current institutional framework within the educational institutions addressing gender equality and sexual harassment;
• Awareness levels regarding VAW in general, available services and redress mechanisms (for students/teachers and survivors) and attitudes towards VAW;
• Identify potential prevention partners or champions in the educational institutions and district, as well as protective factors that can support the project’s behavior-change communication interventions; and
• Gather suggested solutions to the problem, as well as existing opportunities and challenges to effectively prevent SH and other forms of VAW in and around the educational institutions.

1. Situation Analysis in the DC Office of Bogura and Patuakhali

• Understand DC offices staff awareness on definition, types, scope and experience of the problem of sexual harassment (SH) and other forms of violence against women (VAW) at work;
• Assess current views and behaviors related to SH in the DC office, Bogura and Patuakhali such as beliefs regarding causes, gender norms and gender equality, social dynamics, possible victim-blaming attitudes, bystander behavior.
• Assess DC’s awareness around sexual harassment definition, prevention and redress mechanisms.

Scope of Work:

1. The research consultant is assigned to: Conduct a mixed-method study on Sexual Harassment (SH) and other forms of Violence Against Women (VAW) experienced in the educational institutions setting and DC offices.  The study shall be a quantitative and qualitative research, triangulating data from (a) surveys, (b) key informant interviews and focus group discussions, and (c) from related literature, focusing on other studies on SH and VAW on campuses in Bangladesh. The already developed research method and tools need to be customized based on consultation with UN Women and the afore educational institutions and DC offices involving students, teachers and staffs from DC offices.

 Specific tasks:

1. Get necessary approvals from respective educational institution administration, and DC offices including institutional ethical clearances.
2. Develop and customize already existing research design and the data collection and analysis tools.  Ensure survey and assessment is conducted following established ethical protocols, especially those done by WHO and PATH
3. Conduct primary and secondary data gathering through (1) administration of a survey; (2) conduct interviews and focus group discussions with teachers and students, as well as key informant interviews with administrators.
4. Summarize and analyze data.  
5. Present findings and conduct validation meetings and/or workshop with educational institution authorities, teachers and students, and DC office staffs from Bogura and Patuakhali.

III. Duration of Assignment:

From February 02, 2020 to May 31, 2020.

Suggested working duration: 45 working days spread between 4 months.

IV. Supervision and performance evaluation:

The Consultant will be directly supervised by UN Women Programme Specialist, Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW) and will work in coordination with the UN Women Knowledge Management and Monitoring Analyst, EVAW.

Expected Deliverables:

Payment schedule Linked with Deliverables  

Competencies

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Excellent communication skills;
• Excellent organization and planning skills and high attention to detail;
• Ability to meet deadlines and respond positively to feedback;
• Ability to complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities;
• Ability to manage and maintain relationships with different levels of stakeholders effectively and strategically;
• Ability to diplomatically handle sensitive situations with target audiences and cultivate productive relationships.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree in gender studies, development studies, statistics, population and demography, social science, research or other related fields.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of experience in the field of research and data analysis (experience doing research on gender equality and women’s rights is strongly preferred);

Additional Capacity:

• Demonstrated experience in both quantitative and qualitative research methods and analysis;
• Experience in facilitating focus group discussion/ key informant interviews and administering surveys on the topic of Violence Against Women and Girls, and knowledge of the related ethical guidelines;
• Excellent English writing skills;
• Strong presentation skills and experience in liaising and coordinating with various stakeholders including government and educational representatives;
• Experience working with the UN is an asset;
• Should be well versed with the use of computers and its programmes/ applications. Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advance knowledge of spread sheet and database packages.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken Bangla and English required.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments
Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all
costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if
any work is to be done outside the SSA's duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the SSA in completing the assignment.
The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon
completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages

Evaluation Method and Criteria:
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Cumulative analysis-

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant up on Cumulative Analysis/evaluation and determined as:
1. Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
2. Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the
solicitation;
Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% mark in technical evaluation will be considered eligible for financial evaluation.
Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points out of 100)

Criteria-01; Educational Qualification and diversification - Max Point 10
Criteria-02; Number of years of experience in the field of research and data analysis (experience doing research on gender equality and women’s rights is strongly preferred)-Max Point 25
Criteria-03; Demonstrated experience in both quantitative and qualitative research methods and analysis- Max Point 25

Criteria-04; Strong presentation skills and experience in liaising and coordinating with various stakeholders including government and educational representatives- Max Point 15

Criteria-05; Experience in facilitating focus group discussion/ key informant interviews and administering surveys on the topic of Violence Against Women and Girls, and knowledge of the related ethical guidelines- Max Point 15

Criteria-06; Experience working with UN-Max Point 10

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

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points (70) will be considered as technically-qualified candidate.

Interested candidates will submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.
To be included as part of the proposal:
•    A brief expression of interest: a brief narrative presenting your suitability for this assignment and proposed action plan for carry out of this assignment;
•    UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment
•    Sample work;
•    Personal CV (of no more than 4 pages);
•    Financial proposal for the full assignment as lumpsum amount, which may include fees for total assignment; expenses for materials and any other practical expenses.

Only applications including all items mentioned above will be considered.

NOTE: Documents required before contract signing:

• UN Personal History Form;
• Full medical examination and Statement of Fitness to work and travel for consultants with travel involved. (This is not a requirement for RLA contracts);
• Security Certificate BSAFE: EN: https://agora.unicef.org/course/info.php?id=17891;
• Individual subscribers over 65 years of age are required to undergo a full medical examination including x-rays at their own cost and obtaining medical clearance from the UN Medical Director prior to taking up their assignment;
• Release letter in case the selected consultant is government official.

Only applications will all items mentioned above will be considered

All applications must include (as an attachment) the CV and the financial proposal. Applications without financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. “Personal History Form - P 11” can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employme

Note: The individual consultant who does not meet the above eligibility criteria shall not be considered for further evaluation. Necessary documentation must be submitted to substantiate the above eligibility criteria.