TERMS OF REFERENCE
Position: 01 disaster relief/crisis management expert involved in upgrading the guideline on gender mainstreaming in policy formulation in response to pandemics: Lessons learned from COVID-19
1. Background
Since the end of 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has had serious impacts on every aspect of economic, cultural, social life, and public health. The constant movement and fluctuations of the world are affecting people’s daily life from how to organize it, and changes in their transportation habits of moving, communicating, and working to how to resolve conflicts in family and gender relations.
This is the very first period of time when social resources, especially the public health system, public services, and private services have been maximally mobilized for the prevention and response to the long-term effects of the current pandemic. In Viet Nam, we usually have to face risks and severe consequences caused by natural disasters, difficulties in emergency response, and reconstruction of people's lives in areas damaged by natural disasters. Therefore, there are situations where multiple types of risks and crises will occur at the same time.
That particular context may include:
- Increase in tensions, conflicts, and risks of domestic violence
- Increase in risks of sexual harassment and abuse that are being neglected or kept silence at work, school, or in public spaces
- Increase in barriers to access prevention and support services for people experiencing gender-based violence due to social distancing, travel restrictions, and focus on epidemic prevention
- Disruption in access to essential services or generation of additional emergency services to support victims of violence
Although Viet Nam has controlled the pandemic more effectively than many countries, the epidemic still has heavy impacts on every aspect of the life of all social groups, especially women and children (UN, 2020). According to the results of the report “Rapid Assessment of the Government’s Relief Reconstruction Programs in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic from the perspective of gender and rights of vulnerable groups” (CSAGA and OXFAM, 2021), the Government's relief programs that have been promulgated recently are quite timely, diversified and able to cover many groups, including those with little support before. However, these programs have revealed some gaps in terms of gender and rights of vulnerable groups such as: (i) There are no specific regulations or guidelines on gender-appropriate support measures based on the different impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on men, women, and other genders. Therefore, there are no specific policies/programs to address the increase of gender-based violence, especially domestic violence during the COVID-19 period; (ii) The policies have not included guidelines to meet some specific needs of women in reproductive health care; (iii) E-learning policies and guidelines help limit the disruption of children's learning but on the other hand, it has contributed to the increase in women’s care burden; (iv) Some vulnerable groups find it difficult to access the government’s relief policies on an equal basis, including labor groups whose labor contracts have been postponed or terminated, and workers in the informal sector and especially marginalized groups such as sex workers.
In this context, the Center for Studies and Applied Science in Gender - Family - Women and Adolescents (CSAGA), Oxfam in Viet Nam, and GBVNet have developed a guideline on gender mainstreaming in policy formulation in response to the pandemic: Lessons learned from COVID-19 to introduce to organizations and individuals at appropriate levels of the state and private sectors for reference and the application of gender mainstreaming techniques in the policy development process to respond to COVID-19. The policies outlined in this document are not necessarily those of government policy-making agencies since they can be the policy of any agency, enterprise, or organization at any level. In the future, the document will be directly introduced by CSAGA and Oxfam and guide gender mainstreaming practices in developing policies to respond to similar crises/emergencies in a number of specific sectors and localities. Therefore, CSAGA now needs to upgrade the content of the document. To carry out this activity, CSAGA is looking for an expert in the field of emergency response and relief to work with CSAGA and other expert groups as described in the following information.
2. Objects
Upgrade and develop in detail the guideline for gender mainstreaming in policy formulation to respond to similar crises/emergencies (epidemics/pandemics) to ensure that the guideline will be inclusive in the policy-making process, corresponding to the three phases of the crisis response process: preparedness/prevention, response, and recovery.
3. Expected Deliverables
01 set of guidelines for gender mainstreaming in policy formulation to respond to pandemics: Lessons learned from COVID-19 is developed in detail with the following requirements:
- Including specific guidelines on the content, tools of gender analysis and gender mainstreaming in each step of the policy development process in response to the pandemic.
- Developing specific tools to instruct the information collection process and gender analysis, and gender mainstreaming in each step of policy formulation such as information checklist, information collection form, quick report form, etc.
- The document was developed and completed by July 31, 2023.
4. Budget
According to the relevant education and work experience of the applicant related to the above description and the agreement between the two parties on the basis of the cost norm for consulting fees approved by Oxfam in Viet Nam.
5. Tasks and Professional Requirements
- Review the guideline on gender mainstreaming in policy formulation in response to pandemics
- Develop detailed crisis response procedures: preparedness/prevention, response, and recovery
- Work closely with gender experts, Oxfam and CSAGA to develop a toolkit to guide gender mainstreaming in the crisis response process.
6. Qualification Requirements
Eligible candidates must meet the following criteria:
- Master's or higher degree in Development, Humanitarian Relief... or relevant areas;
- At least 7 years of experience working in development fields, especially in the field of emergency response and relief, gender, gender-based violence, and women's rights...
- Knowledge of rights and policies related to vulnerable groups
- Knowledge of social organization, NGOs, and their contribution in providing services to vulnerable groups, providing recommendations for policies formulation and practice process;
- Experience in the practice of rapid assessment and reporting in an emergency setting
- Having experience and skills in researching relief policies and dealing with crises/emergencies caused by epidemics and natural disasters.
- Qualified skills in cooperation and teamwork, coordinating with CSAGA and other groups of experts to upgrade documents.
- Excellent writing skills
Please send your CV to the following address before June 15, 2023
Le Huong Nguyen - CSAGA Project Assistant
Address: 35 Lane 66 Dich Vong Hau, Dich Vong Hau Ward, Cau Giay District, Hanoi City
Email: [email protected]