Developing A National Strategy On Violence Against Women

 Consultancy for Individuals  Background On 18 December 2016 the Prime Minister of Lebanon issued a decree, which is the first in the history of Lebanon, to appoint the Minister of State for Women’s Affairs. The State Minister serves as the “highest governmental entity to lead on all national interventions pertaining to gender equality, women inclusiveness and participation as well as the promotion and protection of women’s rights”. In fulfilling Lebanon’s international commitments, the Office of the Minister of State for Women’s Affairs (OMSWA) requested the support of UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and UNFPA in developing a national strategy to combat violence against women (VAW), which includes a national action plan and a monitoring framework. It is expected that the development of a national strategy to combat violence against women with a relevant action plan and monitoring framework would contribute to enhance, harmonize and coordinate all efforts on combating violence against women in Lebanon.   For over 10 years, many efforts were exerted in Lebanon aiming at combating violence against women through various programmes and joint interventions. Within this national framework, relevant Ministries namely the Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Interior and Municipalities, Ministry of Justice, etc as well as the National Commission for Lebanese Women, UN Agencies (such as UNFPA, UNICEF, UNHCR, UN Women, UNDP, OHCHR), and local NGOs as well as international organizations, have been working actively in promoting a comprehensive and complementary approach to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in Lebanon. These initiatives are being coordinated through inter-organizational platforms, such as the National Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) Task Force co-led by UNFPA as well as the National Committee for developing the standard operating procedures related to Gender Based Violence (GBV) led by Ministry of Social Affairs. In addition, the UN Gender Working Group co-led by UNFPA and UN Women provides overall guidance and coordination on all joint programming related to gender mainstreaming including VAW/GBV. Efforts exerted include but are not limited to: examining national legislation, supporting cross-sectoral referral systems, capacity and institutional development, awareness raising and outreach activities, undertaking of research, support to lobbying and coalition building including national campaigns.  In addition, efforts were invested in capacity development related on how to develop national strategies and action plans to advance women’s rights in different sectors including UNSCR 1325.    The past few years witnessed significant developments in Lebanon’s progress towards combating violence against women such as the issuance of the Law 293 on the Protection of Women and all Members of the Family from Domestic Violence in 2014. Related to that and since 2012, UNFPA has partnered with KAFA NGO to train more than 300 officers from the Internal Security Forces (ISF) on domestic violence and to develop a GBV training curriculum which has been institutionalized within the ISF Warwar academy. In 2015, the ISF adopted some internal measures to ensure that its members are better prepared to deal with VAW and Domestic Violence cases Service through Memorandum #164 (that guides ISF officers on how to deal with Domestic violence cases) and which was distributed to all their Offices in Lebanon. Another progress made is the amendment for repealing article 522 of penal code accepted by the justice and administration parliamentary committee in December 2016 - still to be voted on by the parliament.  This amendment if approved, means that perpetrators of rape would not be able to escape prosecution or other penalties by marrying their victims.   Furthermore, Lebanon is currently examining legal amendments of some articles in the Penal code, which are discriminatory against women. However, Lebanon is still missing a comprehensive strategy that could address violence against women in different domains and with different stakeholders. It is envisioned that the presence of such a strategy and its action oriented plan would capitalise on existing efforts and would provide various stakeholders with a framework to address violence at legislative and institutional levels both at national and periphery.   Consultancy Objectives In response to OMSWA request for technical assistance, ESCWA and UNFPA will cooperate to work closely with the Ministry to develop the required national plan. The broad objective of this consultancy is to design and develop a comprehensive national strategy on violence against women, with the relevant action plan and monitoring framework. The national strategy should follow international guidelines and legislation, institutional coordination and service provision for promoting a society with zero tolerance to violence against women, preventing violence against women and protecting victims/ survivors of violence.   Tasks and Methodology In order to develop the strategy/action plan/monitoring framework, a consultant will be tasked with the following:   Inception meeting with ESCWA, UNFPA and OMSAW to review TORs and ensure clarity on all tasks and expectations; Review literature at the global, regional and country levels including relevant strategies and policies, CEDAW reports, national reports for monitoring the national women strategy, evaluation and assessment reports, national programmes and initiatives, relevant legislations, etc; Design/adapt tools and instruments to be used for standardized collection of information; Carry out a series of consultative meetings (6-8) with key high level stakeholders such as representatives from line ministries and public administrations, relevant parliamentary committees, donor representatives, etc; Participate and facilitate in one national consultation workshop to discuss national priorities and the scope of the strategy; Design key strategic objectives of the national strategy on VAW in line with international frameworks, best practices and national priorities; Based on the national strategy, design a national action plan, identify needed tools and roles of various stakeholders; Facilitate an Expert Group Meeting with key actors to discuss key elements of the strategy, proposed action plan and indicators; Design a monitoring framework for the national strategy and action plan; Present and facilitate the strategy/action plan/monitoring framework in a national workshop for validation; and Finalize and submit the strategy/action plan/monitoring framework.   Expected Outputs A national strategy document in Arabic to combat violence against women with an action plan and monitoring framework. An executive summary in English to highlight key elements of the national strategy.     Contractual Information Selection and recruitment: UNFPA will recruit the consultant who shall be selected based on a competitive and transparent recruitment process. UNFPA will apply the “Individual Consultant” Contract modality with the selected applicant.   Supervision: The consultant will be working under the supervision of UNFPA and in close consultation with ESCWA   Contract Duration: Four months and a half months i.e. August 1 to December 15, 2017   Timeline for Implementation:   August 1 August 20 August 30- Sept 15 September 15 – 25 Commence work + inception meeting Submit literature review of key documents Carry out consultative meetings Organise 3 National Consultations meetings October 20 November 5   November 20 Submit first draft of national strategy Facilitate expert group meeting to discuss strategy + proposed action plan/ indicators Submit action plan and monitoring framework November 25 Facilitate a National Conference to validate national strategy, national action plan and monitoring framework December 15 Submission of final document Qualifications: Education: University degree (Masters or equivalent) in development studies, social sciences, human rights, gender studies, or another related field. Language: Fluency in Arabic and English Experience: Minimum 6 -7 years of experience in development work. Knowledge of key social and population issues in the Arab region in general and Lebanon in particular, with special emphasis on awareness of national gender and youth priorities among other.  In-depth knowledge of issues related to violence against women and gender based violence.  Solid background on policy making work, strategic planning, and development of strategy and action plans. Required skills: Strong facilitation skills, strong analytical skills, a team player, dedication to perform within a multi-disciplinary collaboration, and the capacity to communicate efficiently and coordinate within a wide spectrum of partners. Fluency and good writing skills in English and Arabic. Excellent computer skills in various applications especially word processing, power point. HOW TO APPLY Interested candidates may apply online by providing: (1)   Most updated CV  (2)   P11 form (click to download) detailing work experience that is relevant to the vacancy requirements as indicated in the Job Description  The above documents must be sent to the following email address: info-lebanon@unfpa.org by no later than July 25, 2017 Please indicate the following title under subject when submitting applications:Consultancy for development of VAW strategy Candidates who fail to submit the required documents above will not be considered for review. UNFPA Lebanon will only be responsible to respond to those applicants submitting the required documents above and in which there is further interest.   ONLY individual consulatnts, not companies, are eligible to apply. Lebanese nationals are encouraged to apply