International Consultant on developing SOPs for Police, Healthcare and Social sectors and training materials for perpetrator program

TERMS OF REFERENCE (to be completed by Hiring Office)

Hiring Office:

Turkmenistan Country Office

Title:

Purpose of consultancy:

Violence against women and girls is a global issue that has significant consequences on the well-being, health, rights and safety of women and girls, as well as on educational outcomes, productivity and public policies. It also affects children, families and whole communities. If unaddressed, these human rights violations will have serious implications on poverty reduction and development and efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Existing evidence shows that gender-based violence in Turkmenistan has been still considered a sensitive public issue and gives grounds for a concern. For instance, 58.4 per cent of women aged 15-49 years justify violence against women due to the established traditional gender roles of women in a family and society. This has almost been doubled from 35% in 2016. Only 42.2 per cent of women aged 15-49 years (married or in union) make informed decisions about sex, contraceptive use and reproductive health (SDG indicator 5.6. 1). This indicator is even less for women living in rural areas (37,7 %). The Sustainable Development Index measuring progress toward gender equality (59.4) also shows inequalities for women and girls, including issues ranging from health and gender-based violence to other socio-economic dimensions of life. 12 per cent of women aged 18-59 have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by a spouse or partner.

The CEDAW Committee, in its concluding observations on the sixth report in 2024, recommended strengthening support services for women and girls who are victims of gender-based violence. 

To address this recommendation, the Government of Turkmenistan in close partnership with UNFPA in 2021 Standard Operating Procedures were developed to coordinate and initiate a multi-sectoral response mechanism on gender-based violence between the agencies for social, police and medical sectors to initiate a system of multi-sectoral response to GBV (MSR to GBV) in line with the Global Standards and Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence and Regional SOPs for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In August 2021 essential GBV services were launched in Ashgabat city and Lebap region within the UN – Turkmenistan Joint Programme on Social Services on the basis of two CSOs. The same year the Law on Social Services was adopted in 2021 which supported the establishment of social service throughout the country overall, and allowed piloting of specialized GBV services. In January – February 2022 with the support of UNFPA CO a Guidance was developed on sensitizing police on GBV issues for working with vulnerable groups of population.

In 2022, UNFPA Turkmenistan started the implementation of the second phase of its Regional Project on “Strengthening prevention and response to GBV in Central Asia” which is a part of a Central Asia programme funded by the Central Asia - UK Conflict Stability and Security Fund funding (CSSF). The project aims at (i) promoting social norms changes as well as behavioural changes at community level and among religious leaders; (ii) building capacity of key services providers and will strengthen GBV coordination mechanisms at national level. The project has been designed to work so that women and girls in Central Asian Republics (CARs), including the most vulnerable, are provided through a multi-sectoral, survivor-centred inclusive Gender Based Violence (GBV) services in both humanitarian and development settings. 

In 2023 within this regional project country readiness assessment was conducted to introduce a programme for working with perpetrators following the existing legislation.

Within this context, in close consultations with the Institute of State, Law and Democracy there is a need to hire an international consultant to improve the existing Standard Operating Procedures by adapting the regional guidelines and SOPs for working with perpetrators to the country context, adapt the training materials and conduct training on perpetrator programme for police, social and healthcare sectors.

Scope of work:

(Description of services, activities, or outputs)

The deliverables of this consultancy include:

Planning phase:

1. Desk review, methodology development and inception report – 4 days.
2. Preparation of materials – 7 days:
   1. Review and draft an overview of international practices for working with perpetrators of domestic violence;
   2. Review the results of the country readiness assessment to introduce a programme for working with perpetrators, regional practice, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), other related documents.
   3. Adapt the SOPs for the country context. 
   4. Adapt training materials 
   5. Conduct a meeting with UNFPA staff and national trainers on the adapted SOPs and training materials for working perpetrators.
3. Finalizing the documentation on monitoring and assessment tools as well as the country readiness description as per the feedback received. – 3 days
4. De-brief UNFPA and provide a detailed final consultancy report, including step-by-step action plan and recommendations on further interventions – 2 days.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables:

The total number of days: 15 working days:

Deliverable 1: Inception report by July 10, 2024;

Deliverable 2: Preparation materials – July 20, 2024;

Deliverable 3: Finalization of SOPs and training materials – July 26, 2024;

Deliverable 4: Debriefing and final report – July 30, 2024.

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:

Supervisory arrangements:  

Expected travel:

No travel is expected.

Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:

• At least Master Degree in Human Rights, Women’ Rights, Social Sciences, Gender Studies, Law, State Service or equivalent;
• At least ten years of experience in the work related to gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health;
• Experience in working on perpetrator programmes, developing programmes and training materials;
• Prior experience in Turkmenistan and Central Asia;
• Excellent English speaking and writing skills required. Knowledge of Russian will be considered an asset; 
• Strong analytical and effective communication skills.

Inputs / services to be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner (e.g support services, office space, equipment), if applicable:

UNFPA will provide the Consultant with the available materials, information and reports. However, additional information will be identified by the Consultant through reviews, working with specialists, other.