Consultant to Conduct Virtual Trainings on “Cyber Violence against Women and Girls and Cyber Safety” for Select States

Application Deadline: 30-Jun-21 (Midnight New York, USA)
Additional Category: Gender Equality
Type of Contract: Individual Contract
Post Level: National Consultant
Languages Required: English
Starting Date: 05-Jul-2021
(date when the selected candidate is expected to start)
Duration of Initial Contract: 80 days spread over 6 Months (July 2021 – December 2021)
Expected Duration of Assignment: 80 days spread over 6 Months (July 2021 – December 2021)

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

UN Women is the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. UN Women is dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.

All human development and human rights issues have gender dimensions. UN Women focuses on priority areas that are fundamental to women’s equality, and that can unlock progress across the board. Five focus areas of interventions include ending violence against women; economic empowerment; leadership and participation; peace and security; and national planning and budgeting.

UN Women works on several fronts towards ending violence against women and girls. This includes tackling its main root cause: gender inequality. Interventions focus both on prevention as well as response mechanisms. Efforts are multiplied through advocacy campaigns and partnerships with governments, civil society, the private sector, and sister UN agencies. Initiatives range from working to establish legal frameworks and specific national actions, to supporting prevention at the grassroots level, including in conflict and post-conflict situations, and building capacities of relevant stakeholders.

As part of its mandate to make private, public, worksites, and cyberspaces safe and equal for women, girls, and other genders, the India Country office has been strategically working over the last year to better understand and draft its strategies to ensure that women’s rights, their needs, and priorities are highlighted in the cyberspace in India.

Since the COVID-19 lock-downs were imposed, internet users with limited digital skills have become more at risk of cyber violence, including SGBV. Women, girls, and sometimes boys are at a higher risk for different forms of online violence, such as physical threats, sexual harassment, stalking, zoom bombing, and sex trolling. This has prompted the Government to address cyberviolence through various policy and programmatic interventions. For instance, the central government is planning to tackle cyberbullying through targeted and customized responses across various districts in India.  In addition, the COVID-19 outbreak has uncovered the existing inequalities in families and society and exacerbated the structural factors that contribute to SGBV in its different forms such as domestic violence, intimate partner violence, violence against children (VAC),  sexual exploitation and abuse, online and ICT facilitated violence,  at different sites – private, public, work and online.

UN Women in partnership with other UN Agencies is implementing a programme titled ‘Protection of Women and Girls from Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in times of COVID 19’ to prevent and respond to SGBV by scaling up and strengthening the ongoing interventions, given the impact of COVID-19. The programme interventions are anchored in the UN’s Human Rights approach and will fully consider the specific situations, perspectives, priorities, and needs of women and girls in India. The objective of the project is to develop and implement an evidence-based and human rights-based violence prevention programme aimed at protecting women and girls in India from sexual and gender-based violence and empowering them to use gender-responsive and age-sensitive essential services and recover from violence amidst the COVID19 pandemic.

In this context, UN Women seeks to hire a consultant to carry out awareness training on “Cyber Violence against women and girls and Cyber Safety” in select states. Under the guidance and supervision of the EVAW Programme Specialist and MPTF Coordinator, UN WOMEN, the Consultant will undertake the following key tasks and other responsibilities as may be assigned.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant will be responsible for the following:

Develop state specific session plans for the workshop and corresponding tools to carry out the trainings (e.g., for functionaries of One Stop Centre, Women’s Helpline and Shelter Homes’ functionaries across select States on Cyber Violence and Safety.
Carry out training sessions on Cyber Violence and Safety in the context of COVID19 Pandemic.
Develop a redressal and referral pathway/mechanism for the government partner (National and State level), for cyber safety and other forms of gender-based violence in online spaces that can be accessed by all staff and workers. Develop a set of indicators to assess the implementation of the mechanism, identify opportunities to improvise/ areas for improvement and document technical/operational challenges.
Building knowledge and skill of participants own cyber safety and support to the survivors of cyber violence.
Documenting the training workshop and prepare a detailed report of each training including the list of participants and change in learning outcomes.

Expected Deliverables:

Deliverable 1:  A sessions plan for the workshop on Cyber Violence and Safety, including a power-point presentation on the training content that can be shared with the participants.

Deliverable 2: Delivery of virtual training programmes on Cyber Violence and Safety. Conduct training workshop- 2 virtual sessions per week in select states in India, as identified by UN Women.

• The total number of sessions will approximately be around 50.
• Each of the training sessions will have approximately 100-500 participants.

Deliverable 3: Reports of each workshop including agenda, list of participants.

Deliverable 4: A pathway for a referral and redressal mechanism for the government partner (National and State level) for Cyber Safety to be drafted. The content of this prototype should include but not be limited to the following specific sections:

• Introduction
• Basic principles
• Definitions
• Prevention
• Complaint procedure
• Investigation
• Linkages to appropriate (legal) authority
• Follow-up and monitoring: managerial responsibility
• Other recourses
• Special provisions
• Roles and responsibilities
• Reporting and Evaluation

Deliverable 5: Report of the training sessions on Cyber Violence and Safety in the context of COVID19Pandemic.

Competencies

Core Values / Guiding Principles:

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Work in teams:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Functional Competencies:

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills.
• Focuses on impact and result for the partners and responds positively to feedback.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Bachelor’s in law (LL.B.) is required. A Master’s in-law/ Development Studies/ Gender Studies/Social Sciences is desirable.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of professional experience on issues law and cyber safety, especially from a gender perspective. Of these 3 years should preferably be in capacity building programs and activities with various Central/State government.
• Previous demonstrable experience in training on women-related laws is required.
• Knowledge of conducting online sessions/meetings and other platforms would be required.
• Experience in working on gender-related issues and social media desirable.
• Experience of working in the development sector desirable.
• Demonstrate ability to meet assignment deadlines with minimal supervision.

Language Requirements:

Proficiency in English and Hindi. Working knowledge of other regional languages is desirable.

Application:

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through the UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org.

Application: Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs.
• Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
• Applications received after the close date will not be accepted.
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria:

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

• Required Degree and Qualification (5 points).
• Expertise and Experience relevant to the assignment (10 points).
• Demonstrable experience of working on gender issues (5 points).

The evaluation process for the selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

• Interviews (100 points)

Please Note:

• For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
• Due to a large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for the remaining steps of the service procurement process.

Note: In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality, and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW, and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.