National Consultant - Research and document the impacts of SGBV in Kalobeyei camp and surrounding host communities

Background

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of women (UN WOMEN) is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality. Established in 2011, UN Women focuses on accelerating the attainment of the rights of women globally through the promotion of women’s equal participation in all aspects of life by working with UN Member States to develop and apply global standards and frameworks for achieving gender equality, and support national governments and the civil society to design and develop laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards.

In 2012, UN Women established a Humanitarian Unit anchored within the Women, Peace and Security pillar that works to consolidate and support humanitarian work, including DRR- disaster risk reduction, preparedness, risk prevention and mitigation, at the global, regional and national levels. UN Women’s engagement in humanitarian action and DRR is to ensure consistency and sustainability in addressing gender equality concerns across the humanitarian-development continuum. The importance of gender integration in DRR/DRM is embeded in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, the ground-breaking resolution that acknowledges the impact of conflict and disasters on women, recognizing the importance of utilizing women’s contribution and active participation in conflict prevention, peace-building and relief and recovery and DRR/DRM. UN Women works with government, humanitarian and disaster risk reduction stakeholders to achieve Resolution 1325 and to ensure that women, men, boys and girls have equal responsibilities to manage disaster risks, to respond and recover from emergencies. In addition, gender has been recognized as a key factor in achieving resilience of disaster affected communities in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction as was a key commitment in the World Humanitarian Summit. 

Kenya is affected by regional instability and spill-over effects from politically unstable and volatile neighbors, Somalia, South Sudan and the Great Lakes Region. This has resulted in a refugee influx to the country with Kenya currently hosting some of the largest refugee camps globally, with over 485,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers, which women and children constitute 80% according to the latest data from UNHCR Kenya[1]. As of February 2018, a total of 113,008 South Sudanese refugees are in Kenya, constituting 23.4% of total refugees.  With the unresolved conflict in South Sudan, the number is expected to continue raising beyond this figure. Women and children are the majority of new arrivals, referencing insecurity and food scarcity as the reason for leaving their homes. Sexual and gender-based violence happens at every phase of the refugee cycle: during escaping, while in the country of refuge and during return. Unaccompanied children and women experience a countless risk even when in the camps, with separated women being more disadvantaged and helpless. Sexual and gender based violence remains to be persistent in during displacement and when cultural values no longer sanction behavior. Not only are women vulnerable to SGBV, but also to domestic violence. Refugee women highlighted that domestic violence seriously puts the safety and security of women and children at risk and limits their ability to move freely, access support and contribute in community activities.

Kenya has been at the fore front in efforts to eliminate all forms of SGBV especially since the promulgation of the Constitution 2010. The country has put in place a national policy and legislative framework that supports the campaign against all forms of SGBV in practice. Globally, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of 1995 adopted a set of priority areas which Kenya acceded to. The prohibitions on sex discrimination in the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women encompass SGBV. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires States Parties to protect children from all forms of violence, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse. The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women affirms that violence against women constitutes a violation of the rights and fundamental freedoms of women. Further, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa devotes Article 4 entirely to the topic of violence against women, calling for a range of state measures to address violence which takes place “in private or public”, including the punishment of perpetrators, the identification of causes of violence against women and the provision of services for survivors. Despite government interventions in terms of legislative and/or policy framework, SGBV still remains a serious challenge to society.

[1] UNHCR Kenya Statistics February 2018

Duties and Responsibilities

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES.

The UN Women’s Humanitarian and DRR work in Kenya seeks to support government and key stakeholders in the development and implementation of gender responsive humanitarian policies, strategies and programmes to promote women leadership and participation in key decision making, build the capacity of key stakeholders including women and men to ensure their equal participation in the humanitarian and DRR work and to strengthen and coordinate gender mainstreaming amongst different stakeholders including the UN System.

UN Women, through the Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection in Crisis Response (LEAP) programme seeks to provide and strengthen technical, coordination and capacity support to humanitarian stakeholders working in the Kakuma Refugee Camp as well as the surrounding drought and conflict affected host communities. UN Women will leverage ongoing work, including the development of a localized Gender and Gender-based Violence Humanitarian Training Manual and strengthening the use of IASC gender Marker.

War and displacement heighten women and girl’s vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), in particular sexual violence, as physical and social systems for protection break down and norms regulating social behavior are weakened. Women and girls are at risk of SGBV during forced migration and within camp settings, with newly arrived females and female headed households particularly vulnerable. Further, the widespread practices such as blaming the survivor, shame, stigma, fear of reprisals and threats of rejection by families and the community are powerful deterrents to reporting. This leads to a situation where the majority of survivors do not receive appropriate health care with potentially life-threatening consequences. A lack of knowledge about the health consequences of SGBV also limits reporting and access to appropriate and timely health care. Violence against women and girls is pervasive and the exact nature and scope of SGBV cases in Kalobeyei Settlement and host community is difficult to capture accurately as the majority of cases remain unreported. In view of the refugee influx from South Sudan there is need to scale up life-saving services to respond to SGBV related incidents and cases. The integration of host communities in the settlement also requires heavy investment in awareness creation on SGBV, men and boy’s engagement, peaceful coexistence and reporting of SGBV cases.

It is in this context that UN Women’s Peace & Security and Humanitarian Action unit seeks to hire an expert to undertake a research study and document the impact of SGBV in Kalobeyei camp and the surrounding host communities. The study findings will shade more light on the magnitude of SGBV cases in the camp, the existing referral mechanisms and services provided and challenges encountered in accessing services. The study will inform programming and the adoption of targeted strategies to strengthen the available services and referrals assistance required by the SGBV survivors.

SPECIFIC TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITY:

Under the overall supervision of the Women Peace and Security Specialist and in close consultation with UNHCR in Kakuma Refugee Camp, the Consultant will be expected to undertake the following tasks:

1. Review available background data on gender and SGBV related issues within the camp and host community including SGBV Policy, circulars, relevant research reports and other relevant materials;
2. Map out the  existing SGBV referal mechanisms, type of services offered and the contact details;
3. Conduct quantitative and qualitative study on the types and impact of SGBV in Kalobeyei camp and the surrounding host communities;

• Consult with individual humanitarian partners within the UN System, INGOs, NGOs, CBOs and FBOs among others that are addressing SGBV cases in the county and camp;
• Hold follow-up meeting with the SGBV working group;

    4. Hold a validation meeting with humanitarian partners to review and incorporate additional feedback;

    5. Produce a comprehensive report on the impacts of SGBV and the existing innovative resilience strategies used by displaced and host community to tackle the impacts.

DELIVERABLES

1. Provide detailed workplan for assignment (approaches, logistics, tools, timing, etc.) of field work for approval;
2. Draft report according to the outline provided by UN Women for review and input. The report should comprehensively highlight the following:

• existing SGBV policy, circulars and other relevant materials;
• existing and operational referral mechanisms, type of services offered and the contact details;
• the capacity of the services providers to address/attend to SGBV cases, challenges encountered and opportunities for strengthening existing mechanisms;
• impacts of SGBV to (1) the refugees in the camp and (2) the host community;
• existing innovative resilience strategies used by displaced and host community to tackle the impacts; and actionable suggestion on how to alleviate the identified impacts.

      3. Final report that incorporates UN Women feedback. The final reports should include an executive summary that summarizes the key  findings; recommendations including best practices identified by the research used to tackle the impacts of SGBV

METHODOLOGY

The research methodology will include as a minimum:

1. Compilation of a list of reference documents as extensive and detailed as possible;
2. Desk review of a number of selected documents from the list above, that may provide the information necessary for the core sections of the research. In this desk review, relevant recommendations and strategies that have not yet been addressed may be compiled in a preliminary “Recommendation list”;
3. List of key informants covering a wide range of stakeholders (government, UN, INGO, NGO etc) and institution.

Competencies

Core Values / Guiding Principles

1. Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
2. Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity. 

Corporate Competencies:

1. Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN values and ethical standards;
2. Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women;
3. Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
4. Treats all people fairly without favoritism. Excellent analytical and organizational skills.

Required Skills and Experience

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

1. Master's degree (or equivalent) in development related disciplines, gender issues, statistics, humanitarian studies or other social science fields;
2. At least 10 years’ experience with authoritative knowledge of issues relating to refugee women, gender, humanitarian and development issues, and SGBV prevention and response;
3. Experience producing high quality documents and reports;
4. Proven leadership experience, team’s facilitation, communication, planning, presentation, report writing and organization skills;
5. Familiar with humanitarian situations and practical experience working with international organizations, such as the UN, or other regional or international intergovernmental / non-governmental organizations is an asset;
6. Fluency in English & Kiswahili with excellent verbal and written skills.

Other:

1. Excellent research and analytical skills, including experience and knowledge about leading academic, data, research and gender-related resources;
2. Strong interpersonal skills demonstrated by the ability to gain the assistance and cooperation of others in a team endeavor; ability to build trust through operating with transparency and creating and open, positive and enabling environment;
3. Sound judgment and decision-making skills;
4. Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor tasks to achieve results.

REMUNERATION:

Remuneration will be based on experience and qualifications using UN Women Rules and Regulations.