UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME has floated a tender for Consultant to Assist Albanian Institute of Statistics to Conduct the Third National Violence against Women Survey. The project location is Albania and the tender is closing on 26 Jul 2018. The tender notice number is , while the TOT Ref Number is 25010674. Bidders can have further information about the Tender and can request the complete Tender document by Registering on the site.

Expired Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : Albania

Summary : Consultant to Assist Albanian Institute of Statistics to Conduct the Third National Violence against Women Survey

Deadline : 26 Jul 2018

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 25010674

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : United Nations Secretariat

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
"Skenderbej" Street, Gurten Building, 2nd Floor, Tirana Tel.: +355 (4) 2250 205, 2250 224, 2250 234 Fax: +355 (4) 2250 286, 2250 289
Albania
Email :registry.al@undp.org

Tender Details

Tenders are invited for Consultant to Assist Albanian Institute of Statistics to Conduct the Third National Violence against Women Survey.

Background

Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) is one of the most pervasive forms of violence. It is a global pandemic that affects all countries, all societies, all religions, faiths and ethnic backgrounds, on a daily basis. Eliminating all forms of violence against women, including sexual violence as one of the most serious forms of human rights violations, is a key priority for UN in Albania. Preventing and combating VAWG is a precondition for equitable and inclusive sustainable development and human rights, as well as an important value and objective in itself.

The Programme of Cooperation (PoC) 2017-2021 between the Government of Albania (GoA) and United Nations (UN) aims at promoting sustainable and equitable development, social inclusion, gender equality and the adherence to international norms and fulfilment of international obligations, in support of the integration of Albania into the EU. In the frame of the PoC, there are four Outcomes, namely, (1) Governance & Rule of Law, (2) Social Inclusion, (3) Economic Growth, Labour and Agriculture, and (4) Environment and Climate Change. Each of these Outcomes has between two to five Outputs which form the basis of UN programming in Albania. Additionally, The Gender Equality and Gender Based Violence related Outputs- objective is to strengthen GoA capacities, improve mechanisms, advance policies and improve the conditions for the implementation of the legislation that foresees a society that values gender equality as an indispensable prerequisite to sustainable development and aims towards zero tolerance of any form of VAWG.

Violence against Women and Girls Context in Albania

Albania remains one of the poorest countries in Europe and disparities affect the enjoyment of basic health, education, and social care and protection . The country-s Gini coefficient of 34.5 (2013) is the third highest in the region and the pattern indicates growing inequalities . The Government aims to reverse this trend and put the country on a path of sustainable and equitable growth through ensuring macroeconomic stability and competitiveness and by investing in people and social cohesion. These objectives of the National Strategy for Development and Integration 2015-2020 (NSDI II) are underpinned by the strategic objective of ensuring good governance and rule of law, which will pave the way for the ultimate aim of EU accession[1]. Gender is mainstreamed in the NSDI II, yet despite the progress that has been made to establish a legal and policy framework for the advancement of women-s rights and gender equality, and fight violence against women, inequalities are pervasive.

Albania is a signatory to a number of important and binding international instruments[2], which guarantee the equality of men and women and prohibit gender-based discrimination. Albania has made significant efforts in improving its human rights records and strengthening the national human rights institutions. Yet, human rights bodies have raised concerns about several gender related issues such as gender inequality and VAWG, human trafficking to mention a few. Traditional patriarchal attitudes are still prominent, gender inequalities are present in all spheres of social and economic life, and violence against women is still widespread. In 2015, Albania ranked 51st out of 195 countries in the Gender Inequality Index. Women are still discouraged from participating in the work force - about 58, 3% of women compared to around 74, 1% of men in 2015. The wage gap in rural areas is double that of urban areas . Women remain outside of the labor force due to retirement and early retirement (40%), and the engagement in domestic chores (21.5%).

VAWG is not a new phenomenon in Albania - such violence is rooted deeply in the patriarchal traditions and customs, which have long shaped the Albanian society, such as strict gender roles and identities, patriarchal authority, respect for the code of honor and shame, and control of several generations in the family, poverty, inequality in the area of employment or education, migration as a phenomenon, etc. Following the United Nations- adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015, including the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 associated targets, Albania has committed to achieve the Goals in synergy with its pursuit of EU integration.

During the last ten years, two national surveys on domestic violence were conducted. The first population-based national survey on domestic violence in Albania was carried out by INSTAT in 2007, followed by a second one in 2013.

The trend of this phenomenon during the period 2007 - 2013 can be summarized as follows :

· The percentage of women who had experienced domestic violence (all forms of violence) “during their lives” increased from 56.0 to 59.4 percent.

· The percentage of women who had experienced physical violence “during their lives” decreased from 31.2 to 23.7 percent.

· The percentage of women who had experienced sexual violence “during their lives” decreased from 12.7 to 7.9 percent.[3]

A comparison of the findings in 2007 and 2013, draws attention to several important aspects: a) the increase of reported cases reflects an increase of public trust in the respective state bodies, as people now report cases of violence and ask for help, and are more and more aware that domestic violence is a crime, and as such, should be reported; b) latest improvements in legislation have resulted in a significant improvement of how institutions deal with VAWG&DV cases, further increasing trust; c) the reduction in the percentage of cases of physical violence does not necessarily mean an overall reduction in violence acts; d) when analyzing figures and providing conclusions for other forms of violence, including sexual violence, caution is needed - this form of violence continues to be a taboo and remains underreported especially in the case of sexual violence between spouses.

[1] See National Strategy for Development and Integration 2016-2020 which is aligned to SDGs and offers a vision for Albania-s national social, democratic and economic development over the period 2016-2020, and its aspirations for European integration.

[2] Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention).

[3] Domestic Violence in Albania: National population-based survey 2013, INSTAT and UNDP http://www.in.undp.org/content/dam/albania/docs/Second%20Domestic%20Violence%20Survey%202013%20english.pdf




Duties and Responsibilities

Under previous projects against domestic violence, the UN has supported Albania in conducting the first baseline in 2007 and second survey in 2013 on violence against women in family.

The description in the above section summarises the array of efforts and interventions invested in response and prevention of VAW including domestic violence. To critically evaluate the progress achieved so far, to comparatively analyse the trends and to further feed data to the future policy making, UNDP with funding from and in partnership with UN Women, under its regional flagship programme “Making every Woman ang Girl Count” will support the National Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) in conducting the third national survey on VAW.

The survey process will make use of existing international standards and methodologies[1] to collect data on violence against women by intimate partners and also by non-partners which would enable comparison with other countries. The methodology will ensure that the data collected allows comparison with the results of the previous (2007 and 2013) domestic violence surveys in Albania. The international consultant, based on international best practices, instruments and tools will advise INSTAT national experts and advisors on the revision of the questionnaire and other survey statistical instruments, to include various forms of violence against women, the determination of the sampling size, the optimal geographic coverage and other confidentiality and security measures that should be put in place to make sure the interviewees- safety is not jeopardized by the survey process. Two mission travels are envisaged at this stage of consultancy.

The international consultant may provide some assistance or advice as needed during the process of data collection, data entry and processing, based home.

Once the process of tabulation is finalized, the international consultant, in collaboration with INSTAT national experts and advisors shall prepare a comprehensive and detailed report on the findings of the violence against women survey, containing in-depth analysis of several aspects of data collected, professional interpretation of these and possible recommendations in main directions of future policies against VAW. According to INSTAT needs, the consultant may travel again (the second mission) to Tirana, Albania to finalise the report and present it to experts, Academia, CSOs, women organisations, activists in the area of VAW, government representatives, media etc. The need for this second travel will be determined in consultation with UNDP, INSTAT and the consultant prior to the report writing.

Specifically, the international consultant will be tasked with the following:

· Critically review the questionnaire and other instruments including those developed by UN agencies, utilised for data collection and data entry and develop concrete recommendations for the new survey instruments, samples and methodologies that while preserving some base for comparison with the baseline survey shall also reflect recent good inte

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