National Consultant to support qualitative research to fill common data gaps on the multiple forms of discrimination and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Central Asia (CA)

Consultant

Contract

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

Background

The Spotlight Initiative regional programme for Central Asia and Afghanistan (Spotlight Initiative regional programme) is part of a global initiative funded by the European Union aimed at combating various forms of violence against women and girls (SGBV), as well as harmful practices. In Central Asia and Afghanistan, the programme focuses on using innovative approaches to understanding, preventing, and responding to sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices. The initiative is coordinated by the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Kazakhstan and is implemented through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The Spotlight Initiative provides an opportunity for a multisectoral, coordinated, and holistic approach to addressing violence against women and girls, including governments, institutions, civil society, and other key stakeholders.

As part of the Pillar 5 of the Initiative (‘Closing the data gap’), a set of measures is planned to address the gaps in national data in the field of human and sustainable development. Particularly, regional standards for the collection of prevalence, administrative, and perception data will be developed.

Given the underreporting and the sensitivity surrounding SGBV and harmful practices, technical and financial support is required to review the methodologies and types of data collection available in other countries and bring that expertise through regional exchanges. Further, investment is needed in setting up standards for the collection of all types of data on SGBV, including administrative data. A key issue remains accessibility of data in a user-friendly manner, and one which links multiple efforts under the SDGs at the national and regional level to improve monitoring of these commitments. Further, there is an urgent need to bring together analyses on multiple forms of discrimination and how/if this impacts one’s vulnerability to SGBV and one’s access to services, support and justice.

In this regard, the Spotlight Initiative regional programme plans to hire a National Consultant to support the qualitative research to fill the common data gaps for measuring the multiple forms of discrimination and sexual and gender-based violence in Central Asia through collection of qualitative data and evidence, coordinating selected Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in each country on conducting in-depth interviews with respondents, and supporting the International Consultant on conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses on SGBV as it is experienced by those often vulnerable and facing multiple forms of discrimination, including women living with disabilities; women living with HIV; LGBTQI+ people; mothers with many children, single mothers, migrant women, women with criminal records, and elderly women.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Spotlight Initiative regional programme Project Officer (SI Project Officer) and in close coordination with the International Consultant and Regional Specialist on Gender Statistics, the National Consultant is expected to support the International Consultant to conduct qualitative research on multiple forms of discrimination (intersectionality1) and SGBV in the Central Asian region (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan). This analysis will help to: 1 ) identify the existing data and information gaps on intersectionality and SGBV in the selected countries; 2) assess how intersecting forms of discrimination impact vulnerability to SGBV and access to services, support and justice; and 3) offer recommendations for improving data availability to better tailor measures and services to the distinct SGBV-related needs, priorities and concerns of different groups of women, including but not limited to women living with disabilities; women living with HIV; LGBTQI+ people; mothers with many children, single mothers, women migrant, women with criminal records, and elderly women.

The research will be based on quantitative and qualitative approaches to identify the existing data gaps on multiple forms of discrimination and SGBV in Central Asia, and how multiple forms of discrimination impact vulnerability to SGBV and access to services, support, and justice.

The quantitative approach aims to:

• Map available (survey and administrative) data on SGBV in the five selected countries in Central Asia, demonstrate available indicators and primary data sources, including existing level of disaggregation, and assess potential for additional data disaggregation because disaggregated data that in addition to sex, also includes, race, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, etc., is crucial for understanding the role of sexism, racism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination as determinants of vulnerability to SGBV;
• Identify needs for new data on various forms of SGBV (e.g., intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, harmful practices, trafficking and femicide) to fill in data gaps, along with additional level of disaggregation (e.g., sex, age, ethnicity, disability, income and geographic location), in line with international and regional commitments and standards and in line with national context;
• Highlight key challenges for SGBV data availability and disaggregation and offer recommendations for increasing the availability of data and filling data gaps on SGBV and intersectionality in the Central Asian region.

The qualitative approach aims to:

• Explore the impact of multiple forms of discrimination on women's vulnerability to SGBV, and how the experiences of SGBV are shaped by the intersection of gender with personal characteristics/discrimination grounds, such as age, race, class, bodily ability, sexual orientation and gender identity, geographical location, ethnicity and migrant background.

• Assess the access to services, support and justice of different groups of women (listed above) who may find themselves in increased vulnerability to SGBV. Some guiding questions to be considered: Whether and how do existing services address their needs, priorities and concerns? What kind of challenges and obstacles they face to access the needed support? What type of services and support are needed? What are the possible implications for future interventions to address their needs? How can service provision be improved?

The National Consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

1. Development of a detailed work plan for the assignment in close collaboration with International Consultant. The work plan should be coordinated with the SI Project Officer.
2. Organize consultations with CSOs in each country to generate recommended list of partners from institutions, civil society, crisis centres for focus groups as well as select priority groups of women and other recommendations on qualitative data collection (develop agenda, coordinate logistics, provide brief notes after each national consultation with CSOs). Provide support on reviewing available and relevant resources and data for country context analysis, including but not limited to legal and policy frameworks relevant to SGBV, mapping of national data sources on SGBV. If necessary, the National Consultant will liaise with UN country teams and UN Women Consultants working on conducting a desk review of national legislation in five Central Asian countries on SGBV and developing recommendations on alignment of SGBV legislation in Central Asian countries with international EVAWG standards.
3. To provide support on methodology and tools for qualitative data collection, in particular oversee required adaption and testing of interview guides for individual interviews and focus group discussions developed by the International Consultant to be used for different categories of respondents. Oversee translation into Russian.

4. To organize, oversee and conduct qualitative data collection with the support and in close cooperation with the International Consultant in each country:

   1. Organize and conduct online consultations with key partners from institutions, civil society, crisis centres, coordinate required language adjustments, translation. Generate the data from these interviews by taking notes during the interview. These notes will be used to write detailed summaries of the interview in Word for each one; each interview will have a Word file.

   2. Oversee the process of focus group discussions (FGDs) with community women who face multiple forms of discrimination (selected groups of women in each country). Develop terms of reference for a CSO on organizing and conducting the FGDs and documenting qualitative data that is generated by them. Select CSO for each country. Support International Consultant in training selected CSOs on tools and process. Oversee, coordinate and report on CSOs work. Provide generated data from these interviews (notes in Word for each interview).

   3. To support and co-lead data compilation and analysis, including drafting of thematic topics as part of research report.

6. Organize and facilitate regional workshop to discuss and validate the research results with key partners in the CA countries including CSOs and the Spotlight Initiative partners.

7. To support the revision of final report based on discussions from the validation workshop and integrating UN Women and SI partners feedback with appendices in the form of recommendations, tables, interview schedules, interview questions, case studies, etc.

****8. Prepare key messages of the research findings, conclusions, and recommendations for visual products (social media cards, infographics, etc.).****

It is expected that the National Consultant will work from home and will conduct online consultations with representatives of the Spotlight Initiative, civil society partners working with various vulnerable categories and respondents. The National Consultant will work closely and provide required support to the International Consultant . The communication will take place through emails, meetings in MS Teams, Zoom and other platforms.

All results must be submitted within the specified timeline (see IV), reviewed by the International Consultant, and approved by the Project Officer. There will be 3 rounds of reviews of developed documents:

1. initial draft prepared by the Consultant;
2. draft with the International Consultant and Project Officer suggestions (comments and edits);
3. final version reflecting suggestions and edits.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration

Required Skills and Experience

Qualification requirements

The selection process of National Consultant will be based on the following criteria:

Education:

• Master degree or equivalent in gender studies, public health, anthropology, or related fields

Experience:

• At least 6 years in field research experience , especially in the field of gender equality, SGBV, human rights, and other related fields;
• At least 5 years of proven experience in qualitative data collection and analysis, especially conducting in-depth interviews and focus groups on sensitive topics;
• At least 3 years of professional experience in Central Asia on gender equality, SGBV, human rights is required;
• At least 3 years of professional experience in organization and / or facilitation of national / regional multistakeholder knowledge sharing and / or research results dissemination events, workshops, conferences;
• Experience working with UN agencies or other international organizations on similar issues in the field of gender equality and human rights is an asset.

Languages:

• Full professional working proficiency in Russian and English is required.

Evaluation process

Applicants must meet the above minimum qualification requirements, which will be included in the technical evaluation process in the future. The next stage of the evaluation process will be maintained by cumulative analysis methodology of the technical proposal (70%) and the financial proposal (30%) of the applicant.

Technical evaluation criteria:

Criteria

Maximum points

Education

- Master degree or equivalent gender studies, public health, anthropology, or related fields

50

Work experience

- At least 6 years in field research experience , especially in the field of gender equality, SGBV, human rights, and other related fields (supporting materials or link(s) to documents, publications are available to learn about candidate's experience in research);

150

- At least 5 years of proven experience in qualitative data collection and analysis, especially conducting in-depth interviews and focus groups on sensitive topics;;

150

• At least 3 years of professional experience in Central Asia on gender equality, SGBV, human rights is required
• At least 3 years of professional experience in organization and / or facilitation of national / regional multistakeholder knowledge sharing and / or research results dissemination events, workshops, conferences;

150

70

- Experience working with UN agencies or other international organizations on similar issues in the field of gender equality and human rights is an asset.

80

Languages

Full professional working proficiency in Russian and English is required.

50

Maximum total technical evaluation scoring (70%):

700

Only candidates, who will score at least 490 (70%) out of the maximum 700 points during the technical evaluation process, will be qualified for financial proposal *.

* Each candidate will be invited to submit consolidated financial proposal in KZT (a ‘consolidated financial proposal’, which includes applicant’s all the expenses required to perform the assignment).

Application process:

All documents should be sent including:

1. CV and UN Women Personal History form (P-11), which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment

   2. Technical proposal describing how the expected assignment will be performed. The technical proposal should also include:

• supporting materials or link(s) to documents, publications are available to learn about candidate's experience in field research, especially in the field of gender equality, SGBV, human rights, and other related fields;
• supporting materials or link(s) to documents and /orpublications to learn about candidate’s experience in qualitative data collection and analysis, especially conducting in-depth interviews and focus groups on sensitive topics;
• reference to the candidate’s experience in Central Asia in gender equality, SGBV, human rights area;
• reference to the candidate's experience in organization and / or facilitation of national / regional multistakeholder knowledge sharing and / or research results dissemination events, workshops, conferences
• reference to the candidate's experience with UN agencies or other international organizations on similar issues in the field of gender equality and human rights.

3. Financial proposal in KZT, which shall include all the costs and expenses that National Consultant will have to fulfil all the tasks under this Terms of Reference. The Consultant should also include the daily rate ad lump sum in the submitted financial proposal.

Only candidates who have passed the preliminary selection will be informed. There might be an online interview conducted by UN Women.

Please note that the system will only allow one attachment, hence all supporting documents, e.g., P11 form, CV, technical and financial proposals must be scanned as one attachment. Applications without a completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further evaluation.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided?on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Apply now

Added 2 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: jobs.undp.org