Consultant in Support of Localization and Implementation of Women, Peace and Security... Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : Ukraine

Summary : Consultant in Support of Localization and Implementation of Women, Peace and Security Agenda

Deadline : 20 Feb 2019

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 30561519

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : United Nations Secretariat

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : UNITED NATIONS WOMEN
20, Esplanadna str, Office 712 Kiev, 01023 Tel: +38 044 253 59 80
Ukraine
Email :unwomen.ukraine@unwomen.org
URL :http://www.unwomen.org/

Tender Details

Tenders are invited for Consultant in support of localization and implementation of Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Eastern Ukraine.

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; 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 in Ukraine supports the government and civil society in advancing gender equality and the implementation of national and international gender equality and women-s rights commitments. The Country Strategy of UN Women Ukraine (2018-2022) covers the following thematic areas:

· Making gender equality priorities central to national reforms, governance, planning and budgeting

· Ending violence against women and girls; and

· Strengthening implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

The Ukrainian Constitution, policy and legal frameworks guarantee equality for men and women in Ukraine in all sectors. The country joined the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action of the 4th World Conference for Women (1995), it ratified the main international instruments on gender equality and women-s rights, including the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1981) and localized the Sustainable Development Goals (2017). To further strengthen its national commitments to women-s rights and gender equality, the country adopted a new National Strategy on Human Rights and the Action Plan (2016-2020) and a State Social Programme on Equal Opportunities (2018-2022), as well as National Action Plan for Implementation of CEDAW Recommendations (2018-2021).

The conflict and the profound security, social, economic and political crisis of the last four years has deepened the already existing gender inequalities and created new challenges for protection and realization of women-s rights in Ukraine. The gender-specific aspects of particular concern at present include, but are not limited to: patriarchal culture, entrenched gender stereotypes further deepened as a result of the armed conflict placing disproportionately high austerity burden on women and physical risk on men; mounting instances of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among combatants and ex-combatants, limited participation of women in decision making at all levels, including with regards to community security, recovery, reconciliation and peacebuilding, as well as rising level of discrimination against internally displaced women, girls, men and boys. Based on the last official data, in Eastern Ukraine there are more than 1, 604, 059 internally displaced persons (539, 547 in Donetsk, 213, 758 in Luhansk and 99, 300 in Zaporizhzhia), out of which 63% are women and children. (1)

The high concentration of military and armed groups - coupled with a proliferation of weapons, weak law enforcement and impunity - has increased the risk of gender-based violence (GBV) for people living along the ‘contact line-, particularly women, adolescent girls and young men. The conflict has also led to heightened levels of domestic violence (2) due to increased tolerance of violence in society, easier access to weapons and PTSD among former combatants. Since the very inception of the conflict, allegations of conflict related sexual violence have regularly surfaced in media reports often presenting unverified facts, contributing to deepening the mistrust, divide and animosity among local communities. The majority of CRSV cases documented (3) by OHCHR in Ukraine occurred in the context of the deprivation of liberty on both sides of the contact line. In these cases, both men and women detained on conflict-related charges (4) were subjected to sexual violence to extract confession or information.

As a crisis response measure, the Government adopted the National Action Plan for Implementation of UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security for 2016-2020 (NAP 1325) (5) and the Strategy on Prevention and Combating Sexual Violence related to the Conflict in Ukraine (adopted in December 2018). The NAP on UNSCR 1325, which passed mid-term review in in September 2018, (6) covers five major areas of action: 1) Research, coordination and staff training; 2) Women-s participation in peacebuilding; 3) Security, Prevention of conflict and violence; 4) Protection of women and girls affected by conflicts (including provision of assistance and rehabilitation of people affected by conflicts) 5) Monitoring of the National Action Plan for implementation of the UNCSR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security until 2020.

However, despite the progress, the process of implementation of the NAP on UNSCR 1325 has been slow and challenged by specific weaknesses, such as lack of monitoring mechanisms in place, limited resources allocated for the NAP on UNSCR 1325, adequate inclusion of women groups in the development of the Plan and the reflection of needs and rights of specific target groups, such as widows, mothers and families of those killed or missing in action, women IDPs, women that survived captivity and torture and women combatants and veterans. (7)

The pace of localization of the NAP on UNSCR 1325 has been uneven among different Oblasts, cities and rayons. While in some Oblasts, such as Luhansk and Chernihivska, specific action plans have been developed, in other Oblasts, such as Donetsk, specific provisions and goals of NAP UNSCR 1325 have been integrated in other strategies and programmes dealing with equal opportunities or family support. (8) In overall, the understanding of the relevance of the Resolution on Women, Peace and Security and the capacities of regional/local officials to localize them in a manner pertinent to the local context have been very low. (9)

To support the process of localization of the National Action Plan on UN Security Council Resolutions on Women Peace and Security in three oblasts of Eastern Ukraine (Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia), UN Women has established partnership with a Responsible party (RP), a national civil society organization. The CSO organization is expected to cooperate and support the regional administrations to conduct a participatory process of UNSCR NAP localization and integrate WPS priorities in the existing regional development strategies or develop separate action plans in line with global indicators and develop methodology for costing.

With the aim to provide expert support and technical guidance on the participatory process of NAP localization, UN Women is seeking to hire an international consultant with extended knowledge and practical experience in supporting WPS localization.

(1) Source: Ministry of labor and social policy

(2) During 2014 prevalence survey, 19 percent of women between 15-49 have reported to have been subjected to some form of physical violence.[2] According to existing data, 1, 85 million Ukrainian women suffer from GBV every year[2] and 120, 000 cases of domestic violence have been reported in 2016. The prevalence of violence against women and girls, https://ukraine.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/GBV%20prevalence%20survey%20%20EN.pdf.

(3) For other cases documented in HRMMU, which were not reflected in the thematic report see quarterly reports by OHCHR on the human rights situation in Ukraine, which are available here: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/UA/ReportCRSV_EN.pdf

(4) The parties to the conflict most often detained the members of armed forces of the other side or those who were perceived to be otherwise affiliated to the other party of the conflict.

(5) Approved by Decree No. 113-p of the Cabinet of Ministers, dated 24 February 2016.

(6) The NAP in UNSCR 1325 (2016-2020) of Ukraine passed mid-term evaluation and the Amendments were approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on September 5, 2018, Order No. 637-p.

(7) Mapping of Peacebuilding Initiatives in Ukraine, 2016, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders and Democracy Development Center, Ella Lamakh, Maria Dmytriyeva, 2017, CEDAW Concluding Observations to the eight periodic report of Ukraine, accessible at http://www.un.org.ua/en/information-centre/news/4078-cedaw-concluding-observations-of-the-un-committee-on-the-elimination-of-discrimination-against-women-launched-in-kyiv.

(8) The Comprehensive Social Programme “Youth and Family of Donetsk Region 2016-2020” of Donetsk Region included actions to implement the WPS agenda and prevent GBV in Leaving No One Behind - Analysis of Vulnerabilities of women and men in the context of Decentralization in the conflict affected areas of Ukraine, Summary, September 2017, UNDP/UN Women Joint Programme “Restoration of Governance and Reconciliation in Crisis-Affected Communities of Ukraine” funded by the European Union http://eca.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2017/12/analysis-of-vulnerabilities-of-women-and-men-decentralization-in-the-conflict-affected-areas-ukraine; and Mapping of Peacebuilding Initiatives in Ukraine, 2016, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders and Democracy Development Center, Ella Lamakh, Maria Dmytriyeva, 2017.

(9) Mapping of Peacebuilding Initiatives in Ukraine, 2016, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders and Democracy Development Center, Ella Lamakh, Maria Dmytriyeva, 2017;




Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Representative, and direct supervision by UN Women Programme Specialist, the International Consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

· Carry out desk review of the existing national strategic documents relating to Women, Peace and Security Agenda (National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325, Mid-term review report, Sectoral Action Plans on UNSCR 1325 of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs

Documents

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