Background
UN Women, UNICEF, and UNFPA are working jointly towards strengthening prevention and response mechanisms to tackle GBV, specifically on strengthening GBV response mechanisms, i.e. essential services that have been disrupted during the COVID-19 crisis. GBV essential services are defined as lifesaving vital services provided by health, police, justice, and social welfare service providers. The three UN agencies are planning to conduct analyses of how the pandemic has disrupted these services, and to gain a more in-depth understanding of the availability and quality of essential services for GBV survivors as well as new needs that emerged from the COVID-19 crisis.
Essential services can diminish the losses experienced by women, children, families, and communities in terms of productivity, school achievement, public policies, and budgets, and help break the recurrent cycle of violence. Moreover, delivering GBV essential services also plays a key role in poverty reduction and development and efforts to achieve the newly agreed 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (UN Women, UNFPA, WHO, UNDP, & UNODC, 2015a).
The GBV essential services assessment can provide an in-depth understanding of available services for women, children and girls including adolescents who have experienced GBV, and in identifying specific aspects of service quality that can be improved or strengthened. It can also provide information on strengths, where better services are being provided and factors influencing the quality of essential services for GBV survivors.
A GBV essential service assessment methodology has already been developed through joint effort of the three UN Agencies, and is aligned with the Essential Service Package (ESP) for Women and Girls subject to violence, developed through the UN Joint Global Programme in 2015. The ESP is available online. This GBV Service Assessment Methodology aims to guide the scope and process of a rapid assessment of governmental and non-governmental GBV Services in Bangladesh. It consists of a detailed methodology, research questions and mapping tools for essential service assessment in the health, police, justice and social service sector.
Each UN agency will take the lead in conducting analysis of a specific service sector and eventually combine all assessments to provide a comprehensive picture. As part of that, UN WOMEN is seeking a national consultant to conduct the analysis of one of the core services -- policing services in Dhaka and selected districts.
The analysis is expected to delve into:
- Institutional capacity of police in terms of prevention, safety and protection, initial contact, pre-trial processes, assistance and support, communication and information and coordination.
- Barriers to accessing policing services especially in the Covid-19 pandemic world.
- Analyze gaps in GBV policing services in Dhaka in line with available national and international frameworks to guide policing of GBV
Service delivery should be assessed based on 9 key characteristics (UN Women et al., 2015a):
a. Availability
b. Accessibility
c. Adaptability
d. Appropriateness
e. Prioritize safety
f. Informed consent and confidentiality
g. Effective communication and participation by stakeholders in design, implementation, assessment
h. Data collection and information management
i. Linking with other sectors and agencies through coordination
In addition to the above project, and to respond to the urgent needs of women and girls who are at risk of increased GBV during lockdown response to the pandemic, UN Women, under the framework of the UN Joint Global Programme on Essential Services, and in partnership with UNODC and the International Association of Women Police (IAWP), have developed a handbook on gender-responsive police services for women and girls subject to violence. The Handbook on Gender-Responsive Police Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence. is based on and complements existing global and country-specific handbooks and training materials for law enforcement. Bangladesh is one of the countries for the piloting of handbook. The Handbook guidance primarily targets police middle manager’s (PMM) across the policing organisation including in areas of training and education.
UN Women intends to roll out the handbook and two sites need to be identified to effectively piloting the handbook. A gap analysis is therefore needed for these specific pilot/s sites to have an in depth understanding of the specific context of these sites and identify the gaps that will then inform the contextualization of the handbook.
II Objectives:
The key objective is to gain an in-depth understanding of the available police services for GBV survivors including children and women, and in identifying specific aspects of service and/or its quality that can be improved or strengthened. The COVID-19 pandemic will be a critical consideration on assessing these services and what new needs emerged as a result of the pandemic context. The analysis would serve as a comprehensive report that spotlights on areas within the policing continuum that require strengthening, in the overall prevention and response mechanisms to tackle GBV to provide multi sectorial and 360 degrees support to women, girls and children. It will indicate potential points of engagement between various stakeholders such as the UN agencies, government, civil society, media, private sector, and others with law enforcement authorities to effectively curb gender-based violence in the community and respond swiftly and efficiently when incidents do occur.
It should include specific directives for essential policing services which constitute prevention, safety and protection, initial contact, pre-trial processes, assistance and support, communication and information and coordination. The study will look at whether services are provided responsibly, following ethical guidelines to ensure no one is made more vulnerable, and further risks of GBV are eliminated. Thus, the analysis report will serve as status-quo reference of the GBV related policing in Dhaka, opening room for further engagement with police to provide GBV services first at national level, and possibly at sub-national and local levels in the future, based on initial findings and availability of funds.
The second objective of the consultancy is to conduct a Gap analysis of GBV policing services in two of the pilot sites that will be identified by the Police service itself. The pilot will include one where resources, services for Victims/survivors of VAWG are already in place or being implemented, possibly a more affluent are, and another police station/district that may lack resources/services for Victims/survivors of VAWG. This analysis will prepare much of the groundwork for the roll out of the handbook in Dhaka.
The national consultant will also work with an International Research Consultant, hired by UNICEF, and will be directly supervised by UN Women Programme Specialist, Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW) and by the task force comprised of UN Women, UNICEF and UNFPA.
Duties and Responsibilities
Objective 1 (78% of assignment time) :
Based on the already developed methodology of conducting the GBV services assessment, a quality analysis of GBV essential services relevant to policing within Dhaka District will be carried out. It will look at overall police services including prevention, initial contact with survivor, investigation, pretrial processes and safety and protection and focus on finding gaps in delivery of these. The line of inquiry aims to check if services at each of these points meet the needs of women, children and girls including adolescents who experienced GBV, and to achieve this end, it is important to assess the current conditions of available services. The research will guide to fill any gaps within police response by identifying areas of lags/ bottlenecks, and ways to overcome them. The researcher may use key informant interviews, document review, focus-group discussions, self-assessment survey, assessment, and planning workshops to arrive at the findings. The research questions are already available in the GBV services assessment methodology.
Main Assessment Questions:
(1) To what extent do the policing services meet standards of care for, and fulfilment of rights of women, children, and girls, including adolescents, who have experienced GBV—based on the UN Essential Services Package 9 key characteristics? and
(2) What are the strengths, gaps and factors influencing the quality of essential services for GBV survivors that can inform concrete actions to improve for improvement or expansion that key stakeholders can address?
(3) To what extent has covid-19 pandemic impacted essential policing services and how may these be addressed?
Assessment Checklist:
Below is a checklist of important steps and considerations for conducting an assessment specifically of the justice and policing services for GBV survivors, drawn from the ESP Module 6 Implementation Guide (UN Women et al., 2015f): available online; https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Essential-Services-Package-en.pdf
1. Consult with relevant justice and police stakeholders, including with survivors, where possible, following ethical and safety recommendations.
2. Assess current enabling factors :
3. Identify what legal frameworks are in place and identify the gaps and law reform needs to ensure a comprehensive legal framework for the effective delivery of quality essential justice and policing services .
4. Identify existing joint and sector justice policies and practices, whether there are specific policies on violence against women for the justice and policing sectors and if they are linked to national policy and action plans, and whether such policies are integrated into existing justice and policing services.
5. Identify any companion procedures and protocols .
6. Identify what resources and financing are in place and the minimum requirements for the functioning
of those services.
7. Identify the current workforce capacity and development and training approaches.
8. Identify governance, oversight and accountability mechanisms currently in place.
9. Identify the current ability of the justice and policing sectors to monitor and evaluate service delivery.
10. If there is no mapping yet available, map existing justice and policing essential services that are currently available in terms of availability, accessibility, responsiveness, adaptability, appropriateness, analyse quality and identify gaps.
Objective 2 (22% of assignment time) :
Conduct Gap analysis in two pilot sites (yet to be identified) to enable the correct identification of what is needed and what is available in the status quo with regards to existing GBV policing services under Dhaka Division. This gap analysis will inform the development a draft pilot framework of the Police Handbook for roll out in Bangladesh. The analysis will compare the conditions of GBV related services across two pilot sites, one where resources, services for Victims/survivors of VAWG are already in place or being implemented (possibly in a more affluent area) and another police station/district that may lack resources/services for Victims/survivors of VAWG. This analysis will prepare the groundwork for the roll out of a police handbook in Dhaka.
IV. Payment Milestone Linked with deliverables:
Respective deliverables and documents will be reviewed by UN Women before processing any payment.
Payment schedule is as followings:
Deliverable | Deadline | Payment Milestone |
Objective 1 | ||
Stage 1: Preparing for the Assessment | 5 WD (by 30 May 2021) | 1st Instalment- 78% of the total payment shall be paid upon submission of deliverable from 1 to 7 and all certified and cleared from UN Women Contract administrator |
| ||
Stage 2: Analysis and Co-Design | 10 WD (by 15 June 2021) | |
2. Developing the Sampling Frame and identification of people to interview | ||
3. Testing and Finalizing the Tools | ||
Stage 3: Evidence Gathering and Conclusions | 10 WD (by 30 June 2021) | |
4. Data Gathering | ||
5. Data Management, Analysis and Synthesis of Key Findings | ||
Stage 4: Drafting of GBV Service Assessment Report and Recommendations & Validation | 10 WD (by 15 July 021) | |
6. Drafting of GBV Assessment Report | ||
7. Validation and Finalization | ||
Objective 2 | ||
Stage 5: Conduct a gap assessment of essential services across the various policing districts of Dhaka | 10 WD (by 30 July 2021)
| Final Instalment- 22% of the total payment shall be paid upon submission of deliverable 08 and all certified and cleared from UN Women Contract administrator |
8. Analyze gaps in GBV policing services in Dhaka, in line with available national and international frameworks to inform the requirement for additional support/capacity building at district level. | ||
TOTAL | 45 WD |
Quality assurance: validity of research to be ensured through triangulation to maintain consistency of findings.
Duration of the assignment: 45 Days spread between May and August 2021
Duty station: Dhaka based
Supervision and performance evaluation:
The national consultant will also work under the direct supervision of the UN Women Programme Specialist, Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW) and will be working closely with the task force comprised of UN Women, UNICEF and UNFPA.
DSA and Mission:
No travel outside duty station (Dhaka) is required for this assignment.
Competencies
Functional Competencies
- Proven experience in developing research methodologies and protocols in the field of gender and GBV;
- Experience in planning and facilitating high- level consultations, training, and participatory design;
- Strong expertise in working with the Police Sector and in engaging with government stakeholders
- Experience in conducting qualitative and quantitative research related to EVAW, conducting focus group discussion, key informant interview etc.. .
- Familiarity and knowledge of the Essential Service Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence.
- Previous professional experience with the United Nations, especially UN Women is an asset
- Familiarity with the WHO Ethical standards.
Core Competencies:
- Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
- Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
- Treats all people fairly without favoritism.
- Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
Master’s degree in social sciences, public policy/administration, governance, gender studies or similar OR equivalent practical experience in a police/security setting.
Technical Competencies/ Experience:
At least 08 years’ experience in issues related to gender equality and ending violence against women, and research.
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, only 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; Academic Qualification- Max Point 15
Criteria-02; Experience in the field of gender equality and violence against women- Max Point 20
Criteria-03; Proven experience in developing research methodologies and protocols in the field of EVAW - Max Point 25
Criteria-04; Previous professional experience with the United Nations, especially with UN Women- Max Point 15
Criteria-05; Familiarity and knowledge of the Essential Service Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence- Max Point 25
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 ·
- UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/ employment
- Sample work
- Financial proposal: Propose the daily fees (per date BDT rate * 45 days).
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
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
Annex- 1
- Annex-I (Key research areas taken from the GBV Assessment Methodology)
Standards of Essential Policing and Justice Services and Key Questions for Analysis:
The standards proposed below are the Core Elements identified in the Essential services package for women and girls subject to violence-Module 3 Justice and Policing Services (UN Women et al., 2015c)
Essential Policing and Justice Services | Core Elements | Key Questions |
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?ESSENTIAL SERVICE #2. INITIAL CONTACT
| ?2.1 Availability
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| 2.3 Responsiveness
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?ESSENTIAL SERVICE #3. INVESTIGATION
| 3.1 Cases of violence against women are given high investigation priority
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3.2 Survivor medical and psycho-social needs are addressed
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3.3 Relevant information and evidence is collected from the victim/ survivor and witnesses
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| 3.4 A thorough investigation is conducted
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?3.5 Professional accountability is maintained throughout the investigation |
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?4.7 Victim / survivor centered, empowerment oriented and rights based pre-trial processes |
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4.8 Readiness for trial
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| ?4.10 Special considerations for victims / survivors who are suspected or accused of criminal behaviour |
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?ESSENTIAL SERVICE #8. SAFETY AND PROTECTION | 8.1 Access to immediate, urgent and long-term protection measures |
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8.2 Enforcement of protection measures
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8.3 Risk assessment
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8.4 Safety planning
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8.5 Prioritization safety concerns in all decisions |
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8.6 Coordinated protection measures
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| 8.7 Coordinated protection and support services
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?ESSENTIAL SERVICE: 9. SUPPORT AND ASSISTANCE
| 9.1 Practical, accurate, accessible and comprehensive information
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9.3 Victim and witness support services
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| 9.4 Referrals to health and social service providers |
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?ESSENTIAL SERVICE: 10. COMMUNICATION
| 10.1 Simple and accessible information about justice services |
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Table 3. Essential Policing and Justice Services, Core Elements and Key Questions