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.
Spotlight Initiative 2.0 Programme implemented by UN Women and UNDP is in the process of identifying potential Responsible Parties for the implementation of various activities .
Liberia faces significant gender inequality characterized by limited access to education, healthcare, property, and justice for women as compared to men. Women hold traditional roles such as caregivers and homemakers, with their contribution often undervalued in society. Liberia has a Human Development Report ranking of 174 out of 187 and a Gender Inequality Index rank of 154 out of 159. As of 2025, Liberia ranks 39th out of 145 countries on the Global Gender Gap index (GGGI) with a score of 0.760 as published by the World Economic Forum. The inadequate inclusion of women and girls' perspectives in policy making decisions, resource allocation and implementation in economic and social sectors continues to challenge the advancement of gender equality.
Negative social norms that encourage harmful, discriminatory, or regressive behaviors, perpetuate inequality, hinder development, and negatively impact individuals and communities. It condones or support violence against women and girls and harmful practices remain pervasive.
Gender Based Violence remains a top women’s right issue in Liberia. It is deeply entrenched in the society and affects women and girls across all regions and social spectrum. In 2024, Liberia recorded 2,759 rape cases between January and October. The 2020 Liberia Demographic and Health Survey states that 60% of women aged 15 – 49 had experienced physical violence, including 33% who had experienced such violence in the past 12 months. Despite the reporting of incidents, there are still more cases that are not reported and possibly resolved as family matters. 42% of women aged 15 – 49 who had experienced physical or sexual violence had sought some form of help.
The Government of Liberia has taken several steps to address sexual and gender-based violence aimed at addressing the deep scars and normalized violence against women and girls. These include the passage of the Rape Law in 2005, the passage of the Domestic Violence Law of 2019, the establishment of a specialized court for prosecuting sexual violence cases, implementation of joint programmes with the UN and capacity building and institutional strengthening for various service providers.
Civil Society also play a pivotal and multifaceted role in ending violence against women and girls, particularly through advocacy, service delivery, community mobilization and policy engagement, These efforts have been supported through international partners with the aim of ensuring a coherent, inclusive and empowered CSOs and Women’s movement including those representing the youths and vulnerable groups, which can more effectively influence and advance progress on gender equality and the elimination of violence against women and girls. They are expected to hold the government accountable to deliver on rights protection. However, despite the existence of feminist movements, the potential of civil society and women groups to advance women’s rights including SRHR, has been insufficiently tapped to date due to limited coordination and capacity gaps.
Project Objective
The overall objective of this EOI is to contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) in Liberia by significantly reducing the prevalence of SGBV and harmful practices—one of the most common forms of violations of women’s rights in Liberia—while increasing women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. It will also ensure the rehabilitation of SGBV survivors/victims, as well as the full protection of women and girls in all their diversity, particularly those facing increased risk of violence, such as women with disabilities. To attain this objective, the EOI uses an integrated and multi-sectoral approach to reduce SGBV and its severe consequences on women and girls and other marginalized groups through interventions encompassing prevention, protection, and response bolstered with Government’s institutional support. The EOI will build on the EU’s recent investment in the Spotlight Initiative by addressing the gaps in implementation and consolidating the results. This will be implemented through four outcome areas:
Outcome A: Legislative and policy frameworks on all forms of violence against women and girls are in place, known, implemented and monitored by national and sub-national systems and institutions. Outcome B: Gender equitable social norms, attitudes and behaviours change at community and individual levels to prevent violence against women and girls and harmful practices, including as a result of women's economic empowerment interventions. Outcome C: Women and girls who experience violence and harmful practices use available, accessible and quality essential services and have access to justice. Outcome D: Women's rights groups and civil society organizations more effectively influence and advance progress on GEWE and VAWG.
The program will be implemented in eight counties; the initial five counties in Spotlight 1.0 will be sustained with additional investments to close persistent gaps in the counties and deepen the footprint of intervention realized in Spotlight 1.0 while up to three new county interventions will be launched with strategies derived from lessons learned under Spotlight 1.0.[1] The majority of interventions pertaining to legislations, institutional capacity, coordination of services, accountability, data management and campaigns will be implemented or amplified to cover the whole Liberian territory.
Scope of Work
The Programme Management Unit of the Spotlight Initiative Liberia, on behalf of the Recipients United Nations organizations: UN Women, UNFPA and UNDP wishes to engage CSO partners to implement activities across four pillars/outcomes of the Spotlight Initiative 2.0. The four pillars/outcome areas are:
Outcome A: Legislative and policy frameworks on all forms of violence against women and girls are in place, known, implemented and monitored by national and sub-national systems and institutions.
Outcome B: Gender equitable social norms, attitudes and behaviors change at community and individual levels to prevent violence against women and girls and harmful practices, including as a result of women's economic empowerment interventions.
Outcome C: Women and girls who experience violence and harmful practices use available, accessible and quality essential services and have access to justice.
Outcome D: Women's rights groups and civil society organizations more effectively influence and advance progress on GEWE and EVAWG.
Specific activities to be implemented under each outcome under the programme include:
Outcome A: Legislation
Outcome B: Prevention:
(Activity B.3.2). To be implemented in all eight Spotlight 2.0 counties.
Outcome C: Responsive Services
Outcome D: Women's Movement and CSOs
Requirements and Competencies
The Expression of Interest (EOI) provides the opportunity for potential partner organizations to apply for various or all components of the Spotlight Initiative 2.0 wherein UN Women and UNDP will identify and select one or more partners to implement specific outputs of the Spotlight Initiative 2.0. Proponents must meet all mandatory requirements/pre-qualification criteria as set out in the document. Proponent will receive a pass/fail rating based on the submission. UN Women and UNDP reserves the right to verify any information contained in proponent’s response or to request additional information after the EOI is received. Incomplete or inadequate responses, lack of response or misrepresentation in responding to any questions will result in disqualification.
Partners applying must fulfil the following requirements:
HOW TO APPLY
Organizations wishing to express their interest for the Spotlight Initiative shall submit the following:
1)A. Information About the Organization/ Portfolio of the organization demonstrating the requirements and competencies
2)B Capacity statement demonstrating:
Other Competencies:
a. Technical/functional competencies required.
2.General Organizational Capability:
3.Organizational expertise in the area of specified programme:
4. Accountability and Financial Control:
5. Grassroots presence/Outreach:
Competencies:
Core Values
Core Competencies:
Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:
Functional Competencies:
Those interested in participating in the process should forward their expression of interest to UN Women (liberia.procurement@unwomen.org) by October 1, 2025.
Submission of application should not exceed 5 pages. Applicants should use the following: Font: Time New Roman – 12.
Upon receipt of the requested information from prospective Responsible Parties, UN Women and UNDP will review applicants for placement on a short-list of potential Responsible Parties.
During the implementation of the programme cycle, those short-listed candidates may be invited to submit formal proposals (using the standard UN Women or UNDP Call for Proposals template) to become a Responsible Party.
Note: Due to the high volume of communications, UN Women and UNDP is not able to confirm receipt of completed expressions of interest.
Statements :
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.
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.)
Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.
