Consultant – India Interagency PSEA Coordinator (Open to Indian Nationals Only)

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

Sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) of those the UN serves is a serious breach of accountability and erodes the confidence and trust in those UN and affiliated personnel providing assistance. Formed in October 2020, the Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Network of the United Nations Country Team focus on fostering a culture of greater accountability and protection from SEA at all levels within the UN and affiliated organizations in India by maximizing interagency cooperation and synergies to proactively and systematically address long-term solutions to SEA and with a view to increasing transparency and cost effectiveness in doing so.

The Resident Coordinators Office seeks to contract a dedicated interagency PSEA Coordinator in 2022 to oversee the collective PSEA response of the 22 UN Agencies and implementing partners in the joint Network.

Under the overall supervision of RC and UN Women, the PSEA Coordinator is responsible for overseeing and supporting the collective PSEA activities of the United Nations PSEA Interagency Network in India. The PSEA Coordinator will be contracted by the UN Women India Country Office on behalf of the Resident Coordinators Office and will report directly to the (RCO Team Leader/RC) and UN Women India Office. Working closely with the PSEA Network coordination group, the PSEA Coordinator will undertake the following duties and responsibilities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Establish the India PSEA in-country program:

• Support the UNCT and RC to lead an inter-agency PSEA Network for technical coordination on PSEA, consisting of membership from 20 UN agencies, plus implementing partner organization in India;
• Support the UNCT and PSEA Network in developing and implementing the annual India PSEA Network Action Plan;
• Support the Network to carry out a joint PSEA risk assessment in India to inform senior leadership on strategic decision-making;
• Oversee and support the inter-agency PSEA Network to fulfil its responsibilities under its PSEA Network TORs and Work Plan;
• Support organizations to follow good practices in PSEA implementation toward collective achievements.

Support Network members and partner organizations’ operating in India to strengthen their internal PSEA programs by:

• Implementing SEA prevention, risk mitigation, and response measures during planning, policy and project development, and programming in each department and in each technical sector;
• Providing training to staff on PSEA and the Code of Conduct, including appropriate conduct for aid workers and how to submit and receive complaints under internal and inter-agency reporting systems;
• Ensure that internal HR practices are in place in human resource departments that guard against hiring persons who have a (pending) allegation of misconduct against them, and include PSEA content in staff induction, contracts and subcontracting, and job evaluation criteria;
• Establish and/or strengthen internal investigation protocols, including clear case handling responsibilities in-country, capacitated investigations staff, and ability to enact disciplinary measures where SEA is substantiated;
• Establish and/or strengthen safe SEA-specific procedures for internal complaint and feedback mechanisms (CFMs) and referrals to survivor assistance, informed by good practice and community consultations.

Community Engagement:

• As part of broader community engagement activities, support the Network to learn of community perspectives on behavior of aid workers, and preferences in dispute resolution, discussing sexual matters, and receiving and sharing sensitive information to inform the Network’s outreach and activities;
• Support the Network to develop a collective communication strategy to raise awareness on key PSEA messages, including the rights of affected populations, the fact that assistance and services are never conditioned on sexual favors, and how to submit sensitive complaints;
• Ensure that the implementation of the PSEA Network Work Plan is informed by community participation, contextually and culturally appropriate, and based on the community’s needs;
• Support senior leadership to develop an engagement strategy with the host government, including identified entry points in relevant ministries and stakeholders for outreach.

Interagency Complaints Mechanism:

• The PSEA Coordinator supports the PSEA Network members to establish and maintain an inter-agency community-based complaints mechanism (CBCM) by linking the CFMs of Network members through agreed referral pathways, establishing new complaint channels where reporting gaps are identified, and capacity-building all persons that operate complaint channels on the inter-agency referral protocols;
• Support the Network to operationalize the 2022 interagency SEA Complaints Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on inter-agency complaint referral;
• Mobilize the PSEA Network to assist in a mapping exercise of available services and gaps for victim assistance, ensuring that the referral pathways provide immediate aid for complainants and survivors;
• Work with the PSEA Network, the AAP/CwC Networks, and other relevant actors to understand community preferences in reporting sensitive allegations;
• Support the PSEA and AAP Networks to map existing complaint and feedback mechanisms (CFMs) to identify where there are gaps in community access for reporting sensitive complaints and support Network members to strengthen existing and/or establish new entry points to fill the gaps in reporting access so that there are safe, accessible, and contextually appropriate channels for any member of the community to report complaints of SEA;
• In coordination with the PSEA/AAP Networks and on the endorsement of senior leadership, establish a collective channel for complaints (e.g. SMS based or email) with clear protocols on complaint intake and referral in line with the SOPs;
• Support the PSEA Network to hold inter-agency trainings on good practices in SEA complaint intake and referral for PSEA Focal Points, GBV and Child Protection actors, and all actors staffing CFM channels, so that all actors who may receive SEA complaints know how to recognize SEA and where to send allegations in the joint CBCM;
• Keep anonymized records of allegations received directly by Network members and other actors in-country in order to capture SEA trends and support stakeholders to adjust programs.

Expected Deliverables:

• Successful implementation of the annual UNCT PSEA action plan.
• Advisory and support on risk assessment, drafting of SOPs and quality training resources.
• Strengthened internal and external communication related to UNCT PSEA action plan, knowledge resources, protocols and appropriate case management.
• Increased internal capacity to SEA prevention and response, and promising practices.
• Evidence based knowledge products to further advocacy and increase capacity within the UN Country Team on PSEA.
• Overall coordination of the PSEA Network established within the UNCT in India.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

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

Functional Competencies:

• Good knowledge of programme management;
• Ability to administer and execute administrative processes and transactions;
• Ability to create, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats;
• Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow;
• Strong financial and budgeting skills;
• Strong IT skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in international development, Gender, Human Rights, Public Administration or Social Sciences.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 year’s experience, including field experience in humanitarian or development settings. - Understanding of the international development and humanitarian architecture - Familiarity with the UN system and global coordination structures (e.g. IASC) - Proven ability to implement an Action Plan - Experience in developing and facilitating training and capacity-building activities is an advantage - Familiarity with data protection and confidentiality measures is an advantage

• Background Technical expertise in at least one of the following areas:

• Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA)
  • Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) – Protection - Human rights - Child Protection
  • Gender-based violence/Victim assistance
  • Staff misconduct and discipline - Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL)

Language Requirements:

• Good spoken and written English and a national language.

Application:

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
• Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;
• Applications received after the close date will not be accepted;
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

• Required Degree and Qualification (5 points);
• Expertise and Experience relevant to the assignment (10 points);
• Demonstrable experience on humanitarian development (5 points).

The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

• Written Test (20 points)
• Interview (80 points)

Please Note:

• For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
• Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.