National Consultant on Ending Violence against Women (EVAW)

Term of reference

I. Background

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (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 leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into concrete actions throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

In Viet Nam, UN Women contributes to the development objectives of Viet Nam’s Socio-Economic Development Plan and the National Strategy for Gender Equality. Its Country Strategy Note for the period 2022-2026 is aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2022-2026 and is focused on supporting Viet Nam’s fulfilment of gender equality commitments under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The key priorities of UN Women in the 2022-2026 period are:

• By 2026, people in Viet Nam, especially those at risk of being left behind, will benefit from and contribute to safer and cleaner environment resulting from Viet Nam’s effective and gender responsive mitigation and adaptation to climate change, disaster risk reduction and resilience building, promotion of circular economy, the provision of clean and renewable energy, and the sustainable management of natural resources;
• By 2026, people in Viet Nam, especially those at risk of being left behind, will contribute to and benefit equitably from more sustainable, inclusive and gender-responsive economic transformation based on innovation, entrepreneurship, enhanced productivity, competitiveness, and decent work;
• By 2026, people in Viet Nam, especially those at risk of being left behind, will have benefited from and have contributed to a more just, safe and inclusive society based on improved governance, more responsive institutions, strengthened rule of law and the protection of and respect for human rights, gender equality, and freedom from all forms of violence and discrimination in line with international standards.

Brief introduction about the Safe and Fair programme

According to official statistics, there are currently over 540,000 Vietnamese workers living abroad, with DOLAB recording that over 134,750 migrant workers migrated in 2017 alone. The percentage of female migrant workers has been increasingly over the last 16 years from 10% in 2000 to 39% in 2017. When participating in the foreign labor market, Vietnamese female employees have the opportunity to improve their power and economic independence. However, they tend to work in low skilled jobs and face greater risks to violence and gender-based discrimination, such as long working hours without additional pay, stagnant pay, no pay at all, sexual harassment and abuse. Female workers also have less opportunities to get access to effective grievance mechanisms as well as support services in case of need.

Viet Nam is among 8 countries participating in a regional project entitled SAFE and FAIR: Realizing women migrant workers’ rights and opportunities in the ASEAN region (2018-2022) which is part of the multi-year EU-UN Spotlight Initiative to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls. SAFE and FAIR is implemented by the ILO, UN Women and UNODC, led by the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. The programme delivers technical assistance and support with the overall objective of making labour migration safe and fair for all women in the ASEAN region. It engages with ASEAN Member States’ government authorities; ASEAN institutions; workers’ organizations; employers and recruitment agencies; civil society organizations; community-based organizations; families and communities; research institutions and academia, media networks, youth, and the general public and supports programming in ten countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam).

Within the framework of Safe and Fair programme, UN Women is collaborating with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (the Department of Gender Equality) and line provincial departments of the 3 provinces namely Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An with high volume of international migration to accelerate efforts to combat gender-based violence and human trafficking among women in general and women migrant workers in particular. A primary focus of the partnership between UN Women and GED is to develop and facilitate the application of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in providing coordinated essential services for women and girls subject to violence and human trafficking. Given that the SAF programme is in intensive implementation phase, UN Women is looking for a national consultant with strong EVAW experience and migration/human trafficking expertise to provide the technical support to the implementation of the above-mentioned initiative.

II. Objectives

Overall objective: The consultancy is contributing to enhancing the institutional capacity for delivery of coordinated essential services for women and girls subject to violence and human trafficking in 3 provinces namely Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An and at national level.

Specific objective:

1. Develop SOP in providing coordinated essential services for women and girls subject to violence and human trafficking for Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces through an inclusive process
2. Facilitate wider application of SOP in providing coordinated essential services for women and girls subject to violence and human trafficking.

III. Scope of work and expected tasks

1. Develop SOP in providing coordinated essential services for women and girls subject to violence and human trafficking for Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces through an inclusive process (22 working days)

• Review available reports and materials about the situation of violence and human trafficking in Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces.
• Undertake in-depth consultation with line department officials and other stakeholders to map out current practices and gaps in providing coordinated essential services for women and girls subject to violence and human trafficking.
• Prepare SOP in providing coordinated essential services for women and girls subject to violence and human trafficking for Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces.
• Facilitate a stakeholder consultation workshop for obtaining inputs for finalization of the SOP.
• Finalize the SOP based on comments from stakeholders.

2. Facilitate wider application of SOP in providing coordinated essential services for women and girls subject to violence and human trafficking (3 working days).

• Prepare a concept note of a national dissemination workshop.
• Facilitate cross exchange and discussion at the national dissemination workshop.

IV. Institutional arrangement

Under the guidance of the respective UN Women Programme Analyst on SAF, the national consultant will work closely with the Programme Team at the Viet Nam Office to deliver the expected programme results.

The national consultant will be directly supervised by the respective UN Women Programme Analyst on SAF. The consultant will be ultimately responsible to the UN Women Country Representative in Viet Nam. If the consultant is expected to travel to the project sites to provide technical support to the responsible partners, UN Women will cover the travelling cost following the EU-UN cost norm.

V. Duration of Assignment

Duration of assignment: The tentative contractual period is from 25 May 2023 to 15 August 2023 with the maximum of 25 working days.

VI. Deliverables and Schedule for Payment

VI. Duration of Assignment and Duty Station

The consultancy will hopefully start from 25 May 2023 to 15 August 2023. While working from home most of the time, the consultant might be required to join regular updates and meetings with the programme team or travel to Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa, and Nghe An provinces. UN Women will cover the travelling costs following the EU-UN cost norms. As soon as the consultant is selected, a tentative travel plan will be prepared, and tentative travel costs will be added to the consultant’s contract.

VII. Application Evaluation Criteria:

The applicant will be evaluated based on technical capacities (70%) and financial proposal (30%). Technical evaluation will be based on the following criteria stated below.

Core Values and Competencies

In addition to aforementioned requirements and qualifications, it is important that the intern shares the core values and core competencies of the organization.

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf [1]

The weight of technical points is 70% and financial points is 30%.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on Cumulative analysis, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

VIII. Application Procedure and Deadline

Candidates are requested to send the following documents in one application email to [email protected] [2]

1. Application letter explaining your interest in the consultancy and why you are the most suited candidate for the consultancy position.
2. Updated CV
3. Personal History Form (P11). The P11 Form can be downloaded from the following website: http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs [3]
4. Financial proposal specifying a daily consultancy rate and a breakdown per deliverable. UN Women will bear the costs of requested travel expenses following the UN-EU cost norm.

Deadline for Application: 24 May 2023

IX. Evaluation

The evaluation will be based on the combination of the weighted technical and financial scores (70 per cent technical and 30 per cent financial).

NOTE: Documents required before contract signing:

• UN Personal History Form
• The medical statement from the physician certifying good health to work and travel. (This is not a requirement for RLA contracts).
• Completed UNDSS BSAFE online training course.

           EN: https://training.dss.un.org/ [4]

Release letter in case the selected consultant is government official.