International Consultant to facilitate and document the national consultation for the ASEAN Regional Guidelines on the Development of National Standard Operating Procedures for a Coordinated Response Mechanism to Violence against 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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women also leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action.

ASEAN Guidelines for Developing National SOPs for a Coordinated Response to Violence against Women and Girls

The ASEAN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and Elimination of Violence against Children was adopted by Member States’ Heads of State/Government at the 23rd ASEAN Summit. To guide regional and national implementation of this Declaration by Member States, the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence against Women (ASEAN RPA on EVAW) 2016-2025 was finalised in 2016.

The ASEAN RPA on EVAW addresses the identified issues and challenges faced by ASEAN Member States (AMS) in tackling VAWG through outlining concrete actions to guide regional and national implementation of strengthened VAWG prevention and response that can effectively reduce VAWG prevalence. The ASEAN RPA on EVAW is an expression of the Member States’ joint commitments and was developed based on the following guiding principles: (a) Human rights-based approach; (b) multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approach; (c) Evidence-based approach; (d) Due diligence; and (e) Partnerships and collaboration. 

The ASEAN RPA on EVAW has underlined the importance of development of SOPs in its priorities. The ASEAN Regional Guidelines for Developing National Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for a Coordinated Response to Violence against Women responds to Regional Priority Area 3: “Develop guidelines for SOPs [standard operating procedures] on performance standards for service providers on gender-sensitive handling of VAWG cases, including guidelines for support services for victims/ survivors and the administration of justice”. The mid-term review of the ASEAN RPA on EVAW highlights the importance of developing guidelines and national SOPs to raise performance standards for gender-responsive handling of VAWG cases according to international best practices, such as the UN Essential Services Package[1] and other guidance.

At the country level, the ASEAN Regional Guidelines for Developing National SOPs for a Coordinated Response to Violence against Women and Girls also supports the implementation of Priority 8 of the ASEAN RPA on EVAW which is: “Develop national guidelines for SOPs on performance standards for service providers on gender-sensitive handling of VAWG cases, including guidelines for support services for victims/survivors and the administration of justice”.

The purpose of the ASEAN Guideline for Developing National SOPs for a Coordinated Response to Violence against Women and Girls is to provide a guidance for national coordination SOPs to be developed at the country level that include performance standards for service providers on how to apply gender-sensitive and survivor centered approaches in the handling of VAWG cases, including cases from marginalised groups. 

The scope of the ASEAN Guideline for Developing National SOPs for a Coordinated Response to Violence against Women and Girls is at the national level focusing on a coordinated response between key sectors.  This guidance is intended to bring together key stakeholders at the national level to develop practical guidance for an agreed upon SOP for a coordinated approach to VAWG. These SOPs complement sector level national SOPs in health, police and justice, social services and any other sectors deemed relevant to the context. 

The ASEAN Guideline for Developing National SOPs for a Coordinated Response to Violence against Women and Girls addresses violence against women and adolescent girls.  The guidelines do not address the specific needs of children. However, it is recommended that guidelines are developed in consultation with advocates for child protection to ensure coordinated approaches for families and children affected by violence.

The development of this guidance for developing national coordination SOPS was guided by the frameworks of the ASEAN RPA on EVAW, the ASEAN RPA on EVAW Mid-Term Review, ASEAN Gender Mainstreaming Strategic Framework, ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework, UN Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence as its main guidance and other evidence and global guidance documents and frameworks.

In this context, UN Women is looking for a national consultant to facilitate the national consultation to consolidate input from key stakeholders in Lao PDR to contribute to the ASEAN Guidelines for Developing National SOPs for a Coordinated Response to Violence against Women and Girls.

Safe and Fair

The Safe and Fair: Realizing women migrant workers’ rights and opportunities in the ASEAN Region Programme, is part of the Spotlight Initiative to eliminate violence against women and girls by 2030, a global, multi-year initiative between the European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN). Safe and Fair focuses on ASEAN countries and is implemented through a partnership between the ILO and UN Women, in collaboration with UNODC, and is delivered at both local and national levels through governments, trade unions, employer organizations, civil society organizations and women’s organizations, and at the regional level through ASEAN institutions.

The Spotlight Initiative is a global, multi-year partnership between the European Union and the United Nations to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls by 2030. It is the world's largest targeted effort to end all forms of violence against women and girls. Launched with a seed funding commitment of €500 million from the European Union, the Spotlight Initiative represents an unprecedented global effort to invest in gender equality as a precondition and driver for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. As a demonstration fund for action on the Sustainable Development Goals, the Spotlight Initiative is demonstrating that a significant, concerted and comprehensive investment in gender equality and ending violence can make a transformative difference in the lives of women and girls.

 

[1] The United Nations Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence (the “Programme”), a partnership by UN Women, UNFPA, WHO, UNDP and UNODC, aims to provide greater access to a coordinated set of essential and quality multi-sectoral services for all women and girls who have experienced gender based violence. The Programme identifies the essential services to be provided by the health, social services, police and justice sectors (the “Essential Services”) as well as guidelines for the coordination of Essential Services and the governance of coordination processes and mechanisms (the “Coordination Guidelines”). The Essential Services Package is a practical tool for countries setting out a clear roadmap on how to ensure the provision and coordination of quality services of all sectors

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective of the Consultantcy Under the supervision of the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and in collaboration with the Lao Women’s Union and ASEAN Commission on the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) Lao PDR, the consultant will provide support to the organization and facilitation of a roundtable discussion with key national stakeholders in the country and, based on the discussions, will elaborate the review report of the draft ASEAN Guidelines for Developing National SOPs for a Coordinated Response to Violence against Women and Girls (ASEAN SOPs Guidelines). Scope of work The consultant will facilitate and document the national consultation for the ASEAN Regional Guidelines on the Development of National Standard Operating Procedures for a Coordinated Response Mechanism to Violence against Women Deliverables Key task Deliverable Target date To facilitation of a roundtable discussion with key national stakeholders and document the national consultation for the ASEAN Regional Guidelines on the Development of National Standard Operating Procedures for a Coordinated Response Mechanism to Violence against Women Agreed and finalized report in English (and Laos, if applicable), which reflects comments and feedback from Key stakeholders in Lao PDR, including SAF national coordinator, Lao Women's Union and others 15 January 2023 Supervision The national consultant will work under the supervision of the EVAW Programme Specialist of the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

Competencies

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

Functional Competencies

• Good analytical skills
• Good knowledge of violence against women

Required Skills and Experience

  Eligibility Criteria 

• Master’s degree in   the field of international development, law, gender studies, social sciences or other related areas with 2 years of experience; or Bachelor’s degree with 4 years of experience.
• A minimum of 1 years of relevant experience in research and/or policies elaboration on gender or violence against women.
• Experience facilitating national workshops is an asset.
• Experience in working with CSO organizations or government entities in Lao PDR is an asset.
• Knowledge of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
• Understanding of the social, cultural, and political context of Lao PDR.
• Fluent in English and Laotian. 

  Evaluation

  Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

• A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.                                                                                                                                              

• Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

  The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individuals is evaluated based on the following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

  Technical Evaluation Criteria	Obtainable Score
  Education Master’s degree in the field of international development, law, gender studies, social sciences or other related areas with 2 years of experience; or Bachelor’s degree with 4 years of experience.	20%
  Substantive experience and skills A minimum of 1 years of relevant experience in research and/or policies elaboration on gender or violence against women. Experience facilitating national workshops is an asset. Experience in working with CSO organizations or government entities in Lao PDR is an asset. Knowledge of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Understanding of the social, cultural, and political context of Lao PDR	70%
  Reporting writing, editing and language skills Fluent in English and Laotian.	10%
  Total Obtainable Score	100%

  Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the financial component is 100.
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technically qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.
• Financial proposal: the financial proposal shall specify a lump sum amount breaking down the professional fee for each deliverable.                                                                                                                                                                                           

  Submission of application

  Submission package includes:

• P11 - https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form-en.doc 
• Financial proposal: the financial proposal shall specify deliverable fees breaking down into the professional fee per day in USD
• Sample of written work

• **Please note, you can only submit 1 file in the UNDP application system. If you submit your application through the UNDP application system, please create one file with all the required documents. Applicants with the incomplete submission will not be considered.**