International Consultant - Technical Review Group Member for the Women Protection Center Trust Fund for Afghanistan (EVAW)

Contract

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

Background

UN Women 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.

Assignment Background:

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is endemic in Afghanistan. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in intimate partner violence. To mitigate the impact of violence on women and society, survivors of violence need access to a range of critical services including health care, safe accommodation, legal aid, psycho-social support and income-generating skills.

Women Protection Centers are shelters for survivors of violence and their children that provide life-saving services including legal aid and healthcare, counselling and vocational training. However, while the demand has increased on account of COVID-19, funding gaps that existed before the pandemic are even wider now, with resources diverted to respond to the health crisis.

To ensure shelters can provide critical services, a multi-stakeholder Women Protection Center Trust Fund will be established to promote sustainable and coordinated funding as well as to ensure quality service provision, in line with international standards. The Trust Fund is a unique mechanism that will enable pooling of resources, including smaller and one-off contributions, from diverse donors to ensure comprehensive and quality provision of services to survivors of violence, in a coordinated and sustainable manner. UN Women will be the Fund Administrator and is responsible for the financial management of the Fund. The Advisory Committee, as the multi-stakeholder decision-making body, will be composed of donors, government and civil society representatives.

Technical Review Group

Applications received by the Women Protection Center Trust Fund are assessed by external experts to ensure the Trust Fund’s transparent, and competitive review of all submissions. The Technical Review Group is composed of independent Ending Violence against Women (EVAW) experts, both national and international. UN Women will contract them on behalf of the Women Protection Center Fund Secretariat to support the assessment of applications and provide recommendations to the Advisory Committee, which provides final approval on the grants.

Specifically, the Technical Review Group will:

• Receive applications from Fund Secretariat;
• Review applications according to established criteria; and
• Provide recommendations to the Advisory Committee.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work:

• The consultant will review assigned applications received from civil society organizations that have been submitted through a call for proposal, based on criteria established by the Women Protection Center Trust Fund Secretariat. Each consultant will score a number of applications and complete an assessment form for each application. The consultant will be paid based on a daily rate. Each consultant must familiarize themselves with the Women Protection Center Trust Fund application and funding criteria.
• Each Technical Reviewer must provide (1) a narrative assessment and (2) quantitative scoring (on a score of 0-100) for each application reviewed.
• The assessments must be based on an objective set of assessment criteria provided by the Women Protection Center Trust Fund Secretariat.

Deliverables and timeframe:

Key Tasks

Deliverable

Target Date (tentative)

Estimated number of days

Review and scoring of applications for the Women Protection Centers Trust Fund

Complete scoring form for each application reviewed (narrative assessment and quantitative scoring)

30 January 2021

15 days

Competencies

• Must be self-starter

• Demonstrated sensitivity, discretion, tact and courtesy in relation to gender equality and women’s rights, development principles and projects.

• Commitment to upholding the organizational values and principles of UN Women Afghanistan.
• Essential computer skills – familiarity with Microsoft Word programs, internet, e-mail.
• Ability to work under pressure, to follow deadlines and handle numerous tasks simultaneously.
• Commitment to upholding the organizational values and principles of UN Women.

Required Skills and Experience

Eligibility criteria

• Master’s degree in the field of international development, gender studies, social work or other related area.
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in GBV/EVAW project/programme development and implementation with strong technical expertise in addressing violence against women.
• Strong experience working on service provision for survivors of violence.
• Experience working with shelters is a distinctive advantage.
• Experience working in Afghanistan is an asset.
• Fluency in English.

Conflict of interest

Failure to disclose conflicts of interest will be considered grounds for immediate termination of Technical Review Group Membership.

• If you are currently employed by UN Women, you are not eligible to become a Technical Review Group Member.
• If you are in the process of recruitment by UN Women or any other UN agencies, please declare immediately to UN Women.
• If you are currently an employee of a government, bilateral, or multilateral agency or institution (including the United Nations system) you are eligible to apply as a pro-bono Review Group Member but will not qualify for remuneration.
• If you have been involved in the development of an application for a grant under the Women Protection Center Trust Call for Proposals, you should declare immediately to UN Women to exclude you from reviewing that application.

Submission of application

The Submission package includes:

• Updated CV
• Cover letter outlining experience relevant to this ToR
• Personal History Form (P11 which can be downloaded from http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs)
• Financial proposal: the financial proposal shall specify a daily rate and lump sum amount breaking down the professional fee for each deliverable.