Consultant to Conduct Analysis and Consolidate Programming Lessons for Strengthening Movements and Solidarity for Ending Violence against Women and Girls in East and Southern Africa

Background

UN Women is 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. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action in East and Southern Africa (ESA).Ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG) remains a priority area for UN Women in East and Southern Africa, as the most widespread violation of human rights. Regional prevalence estimates of women and girls’ experiences of different forms of violence are often higher than global averages.  For example, the WHO 2018 prevalence estimates show that 20% of ever-married/partnered women aged 15–49 in Sub-Saharan Africa have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) in the past 12 months, the highest compared to other regions, while 33% have experienced violence in their lifetime, which is higher than the global estimates of 27%.  Given the scale of the problem and the diversity of women and girls’ experiences with violence, there is growing evidence that effective, accountable, and sustainable approaches to prevent and respond to the various forms of violence requires collaboration and solidarity across organizations and institutions working through different entry points. For example, the European Union and United Nations Spotlight Initiative launched in September 2017 was designed with a dedicated pillar to strengthening civil society organizations and women’s movements. Similarly, the RESPECT Framework (2019) and Implementation Guide (2020) for preventing violence against women developed by WHO, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Women, in collaboration with ten other UN, bilateral, and multilateral agencies, highlights the importance of supporting women’s rights organizations and movements as a key aspect of an enabling environment, building on evidence generated by numerous organizations over the past decade.  Beyond the critical support to women’s movements and civil society strengthening, there is also increasing attention on the importance of nurturing multi-stakeholder partnerships for EVAWG, as articulated in the UN Development System Reforms and the broader Sustainable Development Goal 17 on Partnerships. Within the UN Development System Reforms, a 2020 recommendation encouraged ‘UN entities to assist governments in taking action to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls, and to support governments to adopt specific measures to protect the poor, women, youth and children from all forms of violence and discrimination’, including through coordination and coherence of the UN system.  UN Women’s 2021 Corporate Evaluation of UN Women’s UN System Coordination and Broader Convening Role in Ending Violence Against Women further found that 51% of Gender Theme Groups responding to the evaluation survey reported the existence of joint UN workplans on EVAWG.  At country, regional and global levels, a variety of joint UN EVAWG efforts are underway, including but not limited to the Spotlight Initiative, the Essential Services Programme, the roll-out of the RESPECT Framework, among others.Multi-stakeholder partnerships for driving collective change are also at the center of the six Action Coalitions launched at the 2021 Generation Equality Forum, including a dedicated Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence (GBV). To ensure the Coalition and similar joint efforts for EVAWG can be most effective, there is a need to take stock and reflect on the lessons emerging from joint EVAWG programmes. Noting that 42% of the 453 the GBV Action Coalition commitment-makers are from the continent of Africa and given the leadership of the Government of Kenya and the YES! Trust Zimbabwe in the GBV Action Coalition and UN Women’s presence in the region, there is an opportunity to generate evidence from East and Southern Africa on how an explicit approach to multi-stakeholder collaboration and solidarity, including attention to strengthening movements and intersectionality, can contribute to improved accountability for women and girls.As part of UN Women East and Southern Africa’s Strategic Note 2022-2025, the entity seeks to support regional women’s movements, networks, and organizations to use their voice, leadership and agency to hold duty-bearers accountable for their commitments to gender equality and empowerment of women and girls and to also support UN Country Teams in the East and Southern Africa Region to have capacity to implement UN Corporate Gender Commitments (including related to EVAWG). In support of these results, UN Women, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Women Count Programme, seeks to hire a consultant to consolidate experiences and analyze approaches to supporting effective multi-stakeholder collaboration, solidarity and strengthened movements as part of joint EVAWG efforts in ESA and identify promising practices to inform future investments.

Objective of the Assignement:

The study aims to contribute evidence on the elements required by joint EVAWG initiatives to improve multi-stakeholder collaboration and solidarity for accelerated achievement of national and regional commitments, in line with the existing EVAWG commitments in East and Southern Africa, including as part of the GBV Action Coalition. This will fill a gap in knowledge on how partnerships can be leveraged to have a greater impact in both preventing and responding to violence against women and girls, by generating evidence of what works and how programmes can connect movements and strengthen solidarity between actors, building on existing lessons, such as from the Spotlight Initiative in Africa. It will raise visibility of existing efforts supporting strengthened movements, multi-stakeholder collaboration and solidarity for EVAWG, improve intervention design, accountability and inform future investments on the issue by governments, development partners and regional bodies, including in support of the GBV Action Coalition.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work:The consultant, under overall guidance of the UN Women Regional Policy Specialist on EVAWG, will lead the research and analysis on how intentional approaches to multi-stakeholder partnership, movements strengthening and solidarity in EVAWG initiatives in East and Southern Africa can facilitate more effective progress on the issue. The consultant will be responsible for consolidating and reviewing available project documentation, developing and conducting surveys, virtual focus group discussions, key informant interviews, analysing results and presenting in a synthesized format. This will include presenting the approach to a Reference Group established for the research, incorporating feedback UN Women and submitting a final report with recommendations on the analysis in line with UN Women publication guidelines. The findings will serve as a reference for Governments, regional actors, UN and other development partners and philanthropy actors in how their investments should frame and fund issues of strengthening solidarity and movements on EVAWG to have more effective and sustainable results. The consultant will be responsible for providing regular updates on the process and submission of the deliverables in a timely manner.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The analysis will be based on qualitative and quantitative data from document reviews and consultations with individuals and organizations engaged in joint EVAWG programmes  in East and Southern Africa, specifically in the 13 countries where UN Women has presence.  The tasks to be undertaken include: 

Workplan development and co-design of the research methodology

• Review background documentation and materials provided by UN Women and prepare a workplan and proposed methodology (with attention to participatory approaches) for the assignment, including inputs on composition of the Research Reference Group. The research should identify elements in the design of joint EVAWG initiatives that can identify lessons learned from programmes in East and Southern Africa, including promising practices, barriers and challenges to growing solidarity, strengthening movements and effective multi-stakeholder partnerships. It will offer recommendations for how partners investing in EVAWG initiatives can facilitate collaboration and solidarity, including across movements (such as climate justice or disability rights and EVAWG) and contribute evidence on how such approaches result in greater progress for women and girls to live free of violence. This can contribute to multi-stakeholder action under the Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence, among other commitments for ending VAWG in ESA.
• Present the proposed approach to a Research Reference Group for validation
• Finalize list of stakeholders to be engaged and sample for the research
• Coordinate with UN Women Country Offices to pilot data collection tools, make relevant adjustments and finalize instruments (e.g. surveys, focus group discussion and key informant interview guide, etc.)

Desk Review and analysis of research findings

• Review existing programme documentation provided by UN Women and available via public sources on joint EVAWG Programmes, multi-stakeholder partnerships, movement strengthening and solidarity for EVAWG, with a focus on East and Southern Africa, covering their design/approach and results.
• Prepare summary report (20-25 pages) on findings from the desk review

Data collection and analysis

• In coordination and collaboration with UN Women EVAW personnel in the ESA Region, plan and coordinate data collection via virtual surveys, and virtual or in-person interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders as relevant and feasible. This should include alignment with COVID-19 safety measures and translation/ accessibility measures as required.
• Analyze data and share findings with UN Women as they are available, including any concerns or challenges with the planned approach

Report and Presentation of Findings and Recommendations

• Present initial findings and recommendations to the Reference Group for inputs and feedback
• Prepare a draft report of the findings and recommendations (this should not be longer than 35 pages, excluding annexes) for comments from the Reference Group, including UN Women
• Finalize the report and related annexes based on inputs from the Reference Group, including UN Women
• Coordinate with UN Women to prepare a presentation and virtually present the final findings and recommendations with key stakeholders. A possible in-person presentation of findings will be explored as well.

Deliverables: 

1. Workplan and methodology, including proposed sample, approach to desk review and data collection, draft data collection tools and inputs on Reference Group composition.
2. Report of Desk Review (20-25 pages) existing programme documentation provided by UN Women and available via public sources on joint EVAWG Programmes, identifying lessons learned, promising practices and trends related to their design/approach and results related to multi-stakeholder partnerships, movement strengthening and solidarity for EVAWG.
3. Initial analysis from data collection, including stakeholders engaged, initial findings and any gaps or challenges encountered. This could be in Microsoft Excel or other agreed format.
4. Report on Findings and Recommendations (35 pages plus annexes), incorporating feedback from UN Women and Reference Group on Draft Report and accompanying Presentation for key stakeholders, conducted virtually or in-person.

Work Schedule:

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: 

• Strong programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills.
• Ability to synthesize programme performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Strong Facilitation skills.
• Demonstrates excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems.
• Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate.
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• A Master’s Degree in International Relations, Sociology, Community Development, Human Rights, Gender and Development, Law, or similar field.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring or evaluation of projects related to Ending Violence against Women and Girls.
• Demonstrated technical experience related to civil society strengthening, women’s rights movements and coalition-building
• Proven experience developing and conducting research related to gender equality using participatory approaches,   
• Proven expertise in coordinating virtual data collection methods.
• Work experience within the East and Southern Africa region is an asset.
• Familiarity with the UN system and the UN system development reform is an asset. 

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in spoken and written English is required.
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset.

Please attach a completed P11 to your application. Kindly note that applications without a completed and signed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

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

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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.)