Women and Girls Empowered Short-Term GBV Consultant for Timor-Leste

The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) seeks a short-term Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Expert Consultant to support the Business and Social support for Female Entrepreneurs in Timor-Leste (BEST) Initiative under the ABA ROLI-led Women and Girls Empowered (WAGE) consortium. Managed by Grameen Foundation (one of WAGE’s core partners), BEST addresses the intertwined social, economic, and regulatory challenges faced by female microentrepreneurs in starting, maintaining, and expanding businesses, including GBV. Launched in 2020, the program works to build the capacity of, and create formal linkages among, local microfinance institutions (MFIs) and women empowerment-focused CSOs (WE CSOs) in order to provide female entrepreneurs with increased access to improved financial, entrepreneurial and social support.

Scope of work: The GBV expert will help with Phase 1 of the project focusing on conducting a landscape and needs/barriers assessment and finalizing a gender and inclusion analysis, and with Phase 2 focusing on linkages and capacity building of MFI and CSO staff.

During Phase 1, the GBV expert will:

• Review and provide input to the assessment developed to a) identify barriers faced by female entrepreneurs to accessing finance, business development services, and GBV and other social support, and to b) map existing services in each district. The expert will analyze and provide technical feedback on how the assessment addresses GBV risks (if and how GBV is a barrier to female entrepreneurship and if and how MFI services may put women at greater risk of GBV). The expert will also assist in mapping GBV services in program locations.

• Assist the implementation team with developing a workshop for the WE CSOs on the results of the assessment and on prioritizing potential linkages with MFIs that will allow the WE CSOs to reach additional vulnerable female entrepreneurs with their services, as well as enable their existing beneficiaries (including GBV survivors) to access start-up or business loans from the MFIs.

During Phase 2 of the project, the GBV expert will:

• Evaluate the quality, safety and fit of the proposed GBV linkage services, and recommend improvements. The latter will include advising partners on developing second-tier linkages with additional service providers including Nabilan, government services (e.g., community policing project), and networks of legal aid providers. The GBV expert will also provide input on developing technical assistance workshops for CSO staff to support them in making quality enhancements to their GBV services and/or second- tier linkages.

Qualifications: The applicant must have at least 6 - 8 years of experience working on GBV response, preferably at the community level; experience with analyzing data and identifying issues and recommendations addressing GBV; proven experience in designing and implementing GBV-oriented trainings and/or linkages for a variety of stakeholders; and demonstrated knowledge of GBV prevention, protection, and accountability mechanisms in Timor Leste (or, more broadly, in Southeast Asia). The applicant must be fluent in English and Tetum, have a thorough understanding of trauma-informed and survivor-centered approaches to GBV, and familiarity with key concepts of adult learning. Experience working on women’s empowerment programs in highly desirable.

Length of contract and deliverables: The contract will run through March 31, 2021 and might be extended as needed. It is anticipated that the expert consultant will spend approximately 30 days working on the project.

Application: Please submit an updated resume and daily consultancy rate to Amelda Zotter, WAGE Program Manager, at Amelda.Zotter@Americanbar.org by August 7, 2020. WAGE will review applications on a rolling basis.