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National Consultant to provide capacity building activities on GE and VAW for educational staff and students from VET institutions and to facilitate the development of a reporting mechanism for VAW cases and sexual harassment.

Vacancy Number: Pr20/02088

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	13 Sep 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	21 Sep 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	28 Sep 2020
Reference to the project:	UN Women
Expected Duration of Assignment:	55 working days, from September 2020 until the end of July 2021
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted on-line no later than 13 September 2020, 23:59 EST. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail viorica.culeac@unwomen.org. Please notice that this address is for information requests only, please do not send or copy your application package to this address. UN Women staff will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants.
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Annex I, II Personal History Form (P11) UN Women UN Women Conditions of Service Consultants

Ms. Viorica Culeac.

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations (UN), 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 leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality (GE) and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. 

United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) presence in the Republic of Moldova has evolved from being a project-based office in 2007 to a Country Office with fully delegated authority as of 2015. The work of UN Women in Moldova is guided by its Country Strategic Note for 2018-2022, aligned with the Republic of Moldova–United Nations Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development 2018–2022, the Global Strategic Plan of UN Women for 2018-2021, the National Strategy on Gender Equality for 2017-2021 (NSGE), and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

UN Women Strategy for Moldova 2018-2022 focuses on three main areas: 1) strengthening women’s participation in politics and decision making, 2) economic empowerment of women and 3) ending violence against women and girls. To achieve progress under these areas, UN Women works with a variety of national and international partners and as part of different national and regional initiatives.

UN Women Moldova works closely with UN agencies in Moldova, under the leadership of the UN Resident Coordinator to support the efforts of the Government, Parliament, civil society, media, and communities to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women has continuously provided technical support to government authorities and civil society partners to strengthen the legislative and policy framework by further aligning it to the international norms and standards. In this regard, in 2016, UN Women supported the Government in the development of the first National Strategy for Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence for the Period 2018-2023.

Harmful gender stereotypes, patriarchal gender roles, negative and rigid constructions of masculinity and femininity are all factors contributing to the widespread phenomenon of gender-based violence and hampering the achievement of gender equality. There is evidence that due to widespread gender roles and stereotypes, violence against women (VAW) in Moldova is not only widespread but, in some cases, also accepted and justified in the name of socio-cultural norms. Consequently, women subject to violence and sexual harassment are not fully protected and many of them would report violence only in most serious cases. Moreover, the Gender Barometer of 2017 showed that 1 out of 5 women in the Republic of Moldova are sexually harassed at the workplace and 4 out of 100 are subject to serious forms of sexual harassment, while 60,5% of the population consider those harassed to be responsible for such experiences.

The education system represents one of the pillars upon which countries build prosperous and non-violent societies. A transformation in gender relations, the promotion and support of women’s empowerment, together with the elimination of negative gender stereotypes from the education system are key to achieving gender equality, which would bring benefits for the society. By shaping and reinforcing social norms, attitudes and behaviors, education is one of the most sustainable and valuable instruments to combat gender stereotypes and bring about cultural and social positive changes. Gender-sensitive education is a necessary condition for the achievement of substantial equality between women and men, girls, and boys, in all spheres of life, both private and public.

In this context, aware of both the existing challenges and importance of a quality education promoting respectful and positive social norms, UN Women Moldova is partnering with UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) in a project aiming at delivering and ensuring life skills education in Vocational Education & Training (VET) institutions. In the framework of the project, UN Women will contribute through capacity building activities on gender equality and preventing and combating violence against women (VAW) for educational staff and students from VET institutions and jointly with UNFPA facilitating the development of a reporting mechanism for VAW cases and sexual harassment. Thus, UN Women is committed to engage a national consultant to elaborate a gender-sensitive training methodology and conduct gender-sensitive training sessions for VET institutions as part of a comprehensive training programme supported by UNFPA. Moreover, the national consultant will be further expected to facilitate and contribute to the development of a mechanism for VET students to report violence against women (VAW), including sexual harassment and abuse. He/she will work for that purpose with experts supported by UNFPA.

Scope of work

The main objective of this consultancy is to provide technical and expertise support to UN Women in training up to 24 VET institutions teachers on gender equality and combating gender-based violence, conducting information sessions on gender equality for up to 250 VET institutions staff and targeted business companies and facilitate the development of the reporting mechanism for VET institutions students. The activity of the consultant will consist of providing technical assistance, guidance, facilitation, coordination and regular exchange of knowledge and expertise. He/she will work in a team of experts supported by UNFPA.

For detailed information regrding the tasks and activities, please refer to Terms of Reference attached.

Requirements for experience

Education:

1. Master’s degree in psychology, human rights, sociology, gender studies, public relations, development studies and/or other social science related areas relevant for the assignment;
2. Other formal education relevant for the assignment is an asset.

Experience:

• At least five (5) years of proven work experience in the field of gender equality/eliminating violence against women and girls, human rights and development;
• At least two (2) years of proven experience in delivering gender equality trainings;
• At least one (1) year of proven experience in delivering gender equality trainings in the education system would be considered as an asset;
• At least one (1) year of experience of collaboration with public authorities in coordinating initiatives and implementing strategies in the field of gender equality, human rights, eliminating violence against women would be considered as a strong asset;
• At least one (1) year of previous successful collaboration with international organizations, especially UN agencies, would be an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and oral Romanian, Russian. Working language of English is required.

Other Skills

• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email;

Documents to be included

Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications with the following documents.

• Duly filled Personal History Form PHF11/CV (downloadable from http://www.unwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/P_11_form_UNwomen.doc);
• Letter of Intent to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• Financial proposal – specifying a total lump sum amount for the task specified in Terms of References. The Financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (daily rate). Please see ANNEX I and ANNEX II.

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of the lump sum amount (daily rate and number of anticipated working days). Please see Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template and Price Proposal Submission Form.