Syria and Iraq: International Consultancy, Developing Knowledge Papers Related to the Repatriation, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration of Women Returnees from Conflict Zones

Jul 17, 2022 | UN Women
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The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls and LGBTIQ+ rights, and focuses on a wide array of issues, including violence against women and violence against LGBTIQ+ people.

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; the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development; human rights; as well as humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations (UN) system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action 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.

More than 30,000 individuals, including family members, from more than 80 countries are believed to have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join Da’esh and other UN designated terrorist groups. While some family members joined voluntarily, many others were forced, manipulated, or coerced to travel with family members or to follow them. Moreover, thousands of children were born into the conflicts in Syria and Iraq to foreign parents. In Central Asia, Kazakhstan is one of the few countries that has repatriated the majority of its nationals from both Syria and Iraq. This includes 420 children some of whom had never been to Kazakhstan, needed to acquire an additional language, and were meeting the relatives who will care for them for the first time. Since 2019, in Kazakhstan, the rehabilitation centres for women and children returning from conflict areas were organized to support their resocialization and adaptation. Authorities helped the women to obtain a job, receive documents and adapt to a peaceful life. Since 2018, Tajikistan has received 19 returning children from Syria and has repatriated 84 children from Iraq. While the 19 returnees from Syria were reintegrated to communities of origin, the 84 returnees from Iraq remain in residential institutions and have yet to be reunified with families and communities of origin. Tajikistan requires stronger and more consistent support from the UN as it lacks experience in reintegrating children and women affected by armed conflict back into society. Efforts have already begun by engaging Tajikistan in regional dialogues on reintegration approaches taken by other Central Asian countries. Since May 2019, Uzbekistan has implemented three campaigns to repatriate its citizens from Iraq and Syria. Of its 220 repatriated Uzbek nationals from Syria and Iraq, 172 were children, and 48 were women who were given legal amnesty which allowed them to be reintegrated into communities with their children or family members. In December 2020, an additional 25 Uzbek women and 73 children who had been living in armed conflicts zones in Syria were repatriated. In addition to repatriations from Syria and Iraq, Uzbekistan has repatriated a number of women and children from Afghanistan.

Under its regional Women, Peace and Security, and Humanitarian Action portfolio, UN Women  is supporting states in Central Asia in the rehabilitation and reintegration of their citizens returned from conflict zones. The project is being implemented through two joint UN Programmes in Central Asia: (i) with the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and European Union (EU) in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; and (ii) with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Uzbekistan. In cooperation with the UN system in Central Asia the project is providing gender-and child-sensitive technical assistance to multi-stakeholders in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to support families of the returnees from primarily Syria and Iraq. The projects will increase advocacy and contribute to national efforts to effectively mainstream gender and human rights perspectives in policy frameworks, processes, and measures to address rehabilitation and reintegration at the national level. The project will also leverage experience gained from work in the three participating countries to facilitate information exchange and dialogue on gender-sensitive recovery and rehabilitation measures with other Member States in the Central Asia region.

Reflective of the above, the UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office is seeking to recruit an international consultant to develop a series of knowledge papers on the repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of returnees from conflict zones, primarily Syria and Iraq. Topics include but are not limited to: Gender-specific challenges of returnees from conflict zones; Interlinkages between protection of returnees, their social reintegration through economic recovery, and social cohesion; Building gender-sensitive monitoring capacity of returning children and families from conflict zones, and Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan’s best practices and experiences in repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of its citizens from conflict zones.

This series of knowledge products will be disseminated at roundtables, regional consultations, and capacity-building events in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The primary audience of these papers will be national stakeholders, humanitarian and development practitioners, and service providers (including state, non-government organizations, security sector, law enforcement agencies, journalists, teachers/school psychologists and specialists) working in the fields of repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of returnees from conflict zones.

Duties and Responsibilities

Goal and Objectives

The main objective of the consultancy is to produce four knowledge papers on the repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of returnees from conflict zones, primarily from Syria and Iraq.

Scope of Work and Specific Tasks

Under guidance and supervision of the Project Manager (UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia), the Consultant is expected to perform the following tasks:

Develop a series of knowledge papers

• Prepare a contents plan for a series of knowledge papers and discuss/agree with UN Women.
• Undertake a desk review of the agreed topics, including a review of UN Women’s draft gender assessments in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on strengthening gender responsiveness of repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration measures of citizens returned from conflict zones, primarily Syria and Iraq
• Develop the knowledge papers on agreed topics including:

1. An advocacy paper on gender-specific challenges of returnees from conflict zones (up to 10 pages)
2. A handbook on the interlinkages between protection of returnees, their social reintegration through economic recovery, and social cohesion (up to 15 pages)
3. A working paper on building gender-sensitive monitoring capacity of returning children and families from conflict zones (up to 15 pages)
4. An advocacy paper on Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan’s best practices and experiences in repatriation,rehabilitation, and reintegration of its citizens from conflict zones (up to 10 pages per country)

Deliverables and Timeline

The International Consultant will be required to support and produce the following indicative key deliverables within a period of 2 months:

Duration of Assignment and Duty Station

The time required for the consultancy is up to  The assignment will be home-based, with no expected travel.

Schedule of Payments

The Consultant will submit monthly reports on all agreed work carried out and completed to the Programme Coordinator and Supervisor; this report should include the deliverables completed and number of days worked (timesheet).

Each piece of work will be reviewed by the Supervisor to ensure that it is of an acceptable standard.

Once agreed, monthly payment will be certified by the Hiring Manager for processing to ensure that deliverables/work carried out is in line with the TOR and meet quality requirements.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in gender studies, social sciences, economics, or any other area relevant to the requirements of the Terms of Reference.
• 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 in gender, women´s rights, women´s economic empowerment, violence against women and girls, and women, peace and security/humanitarian action (socio-economic response, recovery) or related work areas.
• Proven experience in developing high-quality advocacy and knowledge products on gender equality, women´s economic empowerment, violence against women and girls, or related work areas.
• Experience in social research, including issues affecting women and girls in development and humanitarian settings
• Experience in conducting qualitative and quantitative research, secondary data collection, analysis and reporting on gender equality, women’s empowerment or other related work areas.
• Experience working with the UN is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in spoken and written English is required.
• Knowledge of Russian is an advantage.

Application procedure: 

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• Cover letter to include a brief overview in English (unedited text) about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position.
• P11 with past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment, a signed copy should be submitted.
• Financial Proposal (Specifying a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference). The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum on a daily basis.
• Samples and/or published links to knowlege products or similar works produced.

Evaluation of applicants:

Consultants will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of qualifications and financial proposal. Contract will be awarded to the individual Consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

1. Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
2. Having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation (30%) – max. 30 points: 

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows:

• p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values:

• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated