National Consultant - Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) Materials Development and Events Management

Background

UN Women is the United Nations entity 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. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide. It works globally to make the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) a reality for women and girls, and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on four strategic priorities: (1) Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems; (2) Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy; (3) All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence; and (4) Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience, and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action.

The Project “Enhancing Access to Justice for Women in Asia and the Pacific: Bridging the gap between formal and informal systems through women’s empowerment” is a five-year programme that began implementation in 2018, with the generous support of the Government of Sweden. The overall goal of the project is to enhance access to justice for women in formal and informal systems in Asia and the Pacific, bridging the gap between these systems through women’s empowerment and reduction of gender biases. In realizing this goal, the project partners – UN Women, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and OHCHR – focus on achieving the following outputs: (1) Domestic laws are adopted and court decisions are consistent with international human rights law and standards, including CEDAW; (2) Gender discriminatory attitudes and stereotyped behaviours towards women by formal and informal justice providers are addressed; and (3) Grassroots women’s organizations and community-based women’s organizations are empowered and well-positioned to facilitate, document, and monitor interactions with formal and informal justice providers, and their resilience is enhanced to build a just and sustainable future.

Women’s Situation in Jails and Access to Justice

Access to justice services are crucial to enforce human rights granted to women and girls. Although there is a global trend to adopt legislative measures for implementing the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) obligations, women and girls still face numerous obstacles in pursuing their legal rights and holding justice systems accountable.

Women are at risk of discrimination in places of detention, which are still predominantly designed for men and managed by men. Gender-neutral prison policies also largely contribute to disregard of women’s different needs. As the population of incarcerated women continues to rise in the Philippines due to lack of non-custodial alternatives and increased penalties for drug-related crimes, progressive implementation of international norms like the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non- custodial Measures for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules) is all the more crucial.

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose

UN Women seeks to support a partner agency which undertakes programs focusing on marginalized groups of women, including women deprived of liberty (WDL). In 2019, the said agency conducted focus group discussions in select female detention facilities all over the country. Through the FGDs, a situationer report was produced, revealing issues faced by women in detention, including issues of congestion, availability of basic and gendered needs, security, access to justice, and the burden of women’s traditional roles.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the same agency developed a questionnaire that was answered by women deprived of liberty in partnership with an NGO and in coordination with the detention authorities. Through this questionnaire, personal accounts of women and their experiences and ways of coping during the pandemic were documented.

Through the support of UN Women, a booklet on the narratives of women deprived of liberty will be published to further render visible their experiences, the impact of incarceration on women and their families, and the human rights issues in relation to incarceration. The narratives will utilize stories from UN Women’s unpublished policy research on women in conflict with the law (WICL) and reiterate key recommendations from the situationer, particularly the need to enhance access to justice of women and ensure that gender- and sector-specific needs are met. Further, to highlight the more specific experiences of women political prisoners, an activity will be held on Human Rights week. CSOs working with women in detention – especially women political prisoners – will be invited to discuss their situation and surface urgent human rights issues and their recommendations for government.

Roles and responsibility

In view of the foregoing, the UN Women Philippines Programme Presence Office (PPO) is looking to hire a consultant to provide services for writing and designing Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials on Women Deprived of Liberty and events management for launching IECs. The consultant will coordinate with the Access to Justice focal point in the Philippines and UN Women’s partner agency on the project content and outputs. The consultant shall undertake the following:

1. Review the narratives of women deprived of liberty based on the questionnaires and the stories of WICL in UN Women’s policy research, and develop the same into a booklet highlighting quotes andexperiences of women deprived of liberty.
2. Develop at least 10 social media cards highlighting the issues and gender-specific challenges of women deprived of liberty. The cards shall include UN Women and partner logos, and shall be ready for posting during the Human Rights week.
3. Plan, coordinate, and conduct an activity for Women Human Rights Defenders during the Human Rights week. The activity shall run for at least 2 hours and shall be a platform to convene organizations and/or individuals working with women human rights defenders who are also currently detained or deprived of liberty.

Specific tasks require the consultant to:

• Submit the detailed workplan with timelines
• Submit the activity design and conduct said activity focused on women human rights defenders
• Submit the booklet outline, indicating main components/sections
• Develop an e-booklet presenting excerpts of narratives from women deprived of liberty and women in conflict with the law. The electronic booklet will:
  • consist of the following: messages from UN Women and partner agency, and the narratives;
  • present a simple and graphic presentation of the introduction and minimum 3 mainsections: one of which is the gendered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on WDL, including women human rights defenders;
  • consist of not more than 30 pages including the front and back covers; and
  • includeacoverillustrationandprovideillustrationonselectkeypointsineachkeysection.
• Develop and launch social media cards highlighting the narratives of women deprived of liberty
• Submit drafts of the booklet for the review and approval of UN Women
• Provide technical support to launch the final and lay-outed booklet, including preparing the presentation of salient issues covered and materials for the launching event, and planning and facilitating the event

Deliverables and Payment

Under the supervision of the Programme Analyst – Access to Justice Programme of UN Women Philippines, the Consultant shall produce the following deliverables within the specified target dates. Each payment will be issued upon acceptance and approval of deliverables by the Programme Analyst, with payments in four installments as below:

Competencies

The consultant should share the following core values and competencies of the organization: 

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity,
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies : 

• Awareness and sensitivity regarding gender issues
• Accountability
• Creative problem solving
• Cffective communication
• Inclusive collaboration
• Stakeholder engagement
• Leading by example

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge of Women’s Access to Justice, Human Rights and Gender Equality
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
• Strong analytical, communications, presentation, and facilitation skills
• Demonstrated experience in research related to gender and development
• Leadership and skills to work with autonomy and initiative
• Ability to plan and organize work and events
• Computer literacy - ability to use MS Office programmes and IT applications in producing media content

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Journalism, Mass Communications, Media Studies, Fine Arts, Gender/Women Studies, Human Rights, Development Studies, or related field
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree
• At least two (2) years’ experience in writing and/or publishing, particularly of women’s stories
• Demonstrated experience in development of IECs, stakeholder engagement, and/or events
• management in the areas of gender equality and women’s rights
• Strong understanding of issues related to gender equality in the context of access to justice and
• women’s rights, preferably in the Philippines
• Proficiency in English and Filipino and ability to write report are required

Evaluation Criteria

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

Submission of application

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org with cc to jona.ang@unwomen.org, not later than 30 November 2022, 17:00 Manila time. Submission package includes:

• Cover letter explaining your suitability for the work
• P11 Form, downloaded from https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
• Writing samples or links to access the work portfolio
• Financial proposal which shall specify a total lump sum amount in PhP based on deliverables

The system only allows one attachment per application; please consolidate all documents into one file. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Diversity and Inclusion

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)