Ukraine: National Consultant on Prevention and Response to the Conflict-Related Sexual Violence to the Office of Deputy Prime Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration

Aug 11, 2022 | United Nations Development Programme
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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.

UN Women work in Ukraine focuses on supporting the government and civil society in advancing gender equality and implementation of the national and international commitments on gender equality and women’s human rights. UN Women Ukraine implements interventions towards the realization of following strategic goals: elimination of violence against women and girls; implementation of women, peace and security agenda and gender responsive governance. UN Women works closely with the UN Country Team in integration of women’s rights and gender equality in all spheres of UN work.

Since the beginning of the Russian full scale military invasion, Ukraine is rapidly emerging as one of the world’s most complex emergencies. Women are disproportionally affected by the multi-sectoral and compounded impact of the crisis. Women constitute the majority of those displaced within and outside of the country, and they face significantly increased safety and protection risks. Incidents of gender-based violence (GBV), particularly domestic violence and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). There have been reports of war crimes perpetrated against civilians, including the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Increasing and concerning media reports of conflict-related sexual violence are emerging in Ukraine. (The Rapid Gender Analysis of Ukraine (4 May 2022), UN Women and CARE International). The Executive Director of UN Women, Sima Bahous, noted in her speech to the UN Security Council that this increasing information on sexual violence committed by the Russian Armed Forces is raising “all the red flags.” (Human Rights Watch (3 April 2022). Ukraine: Apparent War Crimes in Russia-Controlled Areas).

CEDAW General Recommendation # 30 on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations states that armed conflicts exacerbate existing gender inequalities, placing women at a heightened risk of various forms of gender-based violence.   Since 2008, several UN Security Council Resolution on Women, Peace and Security focus on preventing and responding to CRSV, calling to take immediate measures to prevent and respond to CRSV, including measures to end impunity for CRSV and to provide timely assistance to survivors. The last Resolution in 2019 calls for justice, accountability, and a survivor-centric approach to conflict-related sexual violence.

On 3 May, 2022, Ms. Pramila Patten, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, and Ms. Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, signed a Framework of Cooperation between the Government of Ukraine and the United Nations on the prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence, that supports the design and delivery of priority interventions in the areas of justice and accountability as a central pillar of deterrence and prevention. The agreement also addresses comprehensive service provision for survivors, including sexual and reproductive health services, medical and specialized mental health services, legal assistance, and livelihood support. To implement the Framework of Cooperation in coordinated way, the Government has created a thematic Working Group on preventing and response to CRSV under the Commission on Coordination of Activities of Central Executive Bodies on Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men.

UN Women Office in Ukraine will contribute to the Framework of Cooperation implementation, in particular within its project “Transformative Approaches to Achieving Gender Equality in Ukraine”, funded by Sweden, aimed at employing transformative approaches to the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment through removing the root causes, structural barriers, and restrictive social norms, that underpin the persistence of gender inequalities in various areas of life. The project will partner with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and engage the following key institutions at the same time: the government, the parliament, women’s organizations, media and the private sector.

As part of its work on prevention and response to the CRSV within the above project, UN Women is looking for a National Consultant to provide expert support to the Office of the Deputy Prime-Minister for European and  Euro-Atlantic Integration and the Government Commissioner on Gender Equality Policy.

Duties and Responsibilities 

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Representative and direct supervision by the Programme Specialist/Project Manager, the National Consultant will provide technical support to the Office of the Deputy Prime-Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration (DPMO) and the Government Commissioner for Gender Equality Policy (GCGEP) through expert advice in improving the legislation and policy framework on prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in Ukraine contributing to the implementation of the Framework of Cooperation between the Government of Ukraine and the United Nations on the prevention and response to CRSV.

The assignment will include but not be limited to the following tasks developed and agreed in coordination with the DPMO and UN Women:

1. Support the DPMO and the GCGEP through legal and policy advice on the development of relevant legislation and policy framework on prevention and response to the CRSV, to be developed by the Government and the Parliament.
2. Provide the DPMO and the GCGEP with the recommendations on further improvement of legal acts for harmonization of national legislation with international criminal and humanitarian normative frameworks. This includes gender analysis of laws and draft laws as requested by the DPMO and the GCGEP and elaboration of recommendations on the legislation amendments to bring it in line with international standards on prevention and response to the CRSV.
3. Support the DPMO and the GCGEP with facilitation of multi-stakeholders’ consultations with relevant central, regional and local authorities, development partners, international experts, women’s and human rights protection CSOs, as well as CRSV survivals’ networks to develop and validate in participatory way propositions to the legal and policy framework on prevention and response to the CRSV.
4. Assist the DPMO with supporting coordination of the development and strengthening of national legal and policy framework to prevent and respond to the CRSV. This includes providing support to the thematic Working Group on preventing and response to CRSV under the Commission on Coordination of Activities of Central Executive Bodies on Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men.

Assignment Deliverables:

*All reports should be submitted in English language and include the full set of supporting documents, such as analytical briefs, developed documents, elaborated recommendations, organized events’ agendas, lists of participants and reports etc. The supporting documents can be submitted in Ukrainian.

Inputs

• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials related to the assignment.
• The consultant is expected to work using her/his own computer.

Performance evaluation:

• Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, efficiency, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. The evaluation will be carried out and cleared by the hiring manager which will also be the basis for payment on a delivery by delivery basis to the consultant. (The schedule of payments is provided further.)

Financial arrangements:  

• Payment will be disbursed in three installments upon receipt of the deliverables and their certification by UN Women Programme Specialist that the services have been satisfactorily performed. The payment will be made in the following timeline:
• First installment after acceptance of the deliverables ##1 and 2;
• Second installment after submission and acceptance of deliverable #3;
• Third installment after submission and acceptance of deliverables ## 4 and 5.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications Education:

• Advanced (Masters) university degree in law, international law, human rights, gender studies, or similar.

Experience:

• Minimum 3 years of relevant work experience (with Masters’ degree) in the field of humanitarian law, including such issues as transitional justice and CRSV;
• Proven experience with conducting legal analysis of normative documents (laws/by-laws) and developing legal and policy gender-responsive recommendations on transitional justice, prevention and response to CRSV;
• Previous experience of providing advisory/technical support to the legislative and/or executive institutions, dealing with issues of transitional justice and CRSV;
• Experience with support and facilitation of multiple stakeholders’ activities and liaise with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders, including development partners, and civil society organizations; experience with UN Women, OHCHR and other UN agencies will be considered as an asset;
• Proven knowledge of international humanitarian law, human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment frameworks.

Languages and other skills: 

• Fluency in verbal and written English and Ukrainian is required.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of their qualifications and financial proposal. A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. The award of the contract should be made to the individuals whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

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

Technical criteria - 70% of total evaluation. Total max 70 points:

• The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 70. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on desk review and following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation will be further considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the financial/price component is 30.
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.
• Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30
• (S - score received on financial evaluation; F min - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round; F - financial offer under the consideration).

Application and submission package:

All applications must include as one attachment:

1. Completed and signed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unwomen.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FHeadquarters%2FAttachments%2FSections%2FAbout%2520Us%2FEmployment%2FUN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK
2. Financial proposal (sample is provided below) completed and signed: The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount with a breakdown of a daily professional rate per number of anticipated working days to include all costs (e.g. tele-communication, etc.).

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment.

Interested candidates are requested to apply no later than 23:59 EEST 23 August 2022 by submitting applications to the following e-mail address: hr.ukraine@unwomen.org with a subject “National Consultant on Prevention and Response to the Conflict-Related Sexual Violence to the Office of Deputy Prime Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration”.

Applications without P11 and financial proposal may be treated as incomplete and may not be considered for further assessment.

For full details of proposals and applications, please visit the original posting.