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 Georgia Country Office (CO) provides technical support to the state and non-state partners towards the achievement of substantive gender equality in Georgia. In line with national and international commitments, UN Women works on the levels of policies and legislation, institutions and grassroots, in order to achieve transformative results for increased gender equality and greater protection of the rights of women and girls. UN Women puts special emphasis on the work towards gender mainstreaming in good governance reforms and enhancing women’s political participation, ending violence against women, promoting and supporting women’s economic empowerment, and Women, Peace and Security agenda. 

In Georgia, the latest research points to widespread experiences of violence against women across the country. According to the second round of the National Study on Violence against Women in Georgia, conducted by GeoStat and UN Women in 2022 with generous funding from the EU, 37.2% of men and 21.4 % of women believe that violence between husband and wife is a private matter and others should not intervene[1]. Intimate partner violence, as well as early and forced marriage, are among the most prevalent forms of violence against women in Georgia. These types of violence cut across all divisions of income, culture, and class. Despite its scale and socioeconomic impact, violence against women remains largely underreported and under-researched in key areas. The same study showed that 26.5 per cent of women (aged 15–69) reported having experienced some form of physical, sexual and/or psychological intimate partner violence in their lifetime; some 23.7 per cent of women experienced psychological abuse; 8.4 per cent experienced economic abuse; and 7.7 per cent experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a partner during lifetime with 0.9 per cent within the preceding 12 months. 

UN Women has been supporting national partners to end violence against women and girls and domestic violence (VAWG/DV) since 2010. Throughout the past decade, technical assistance has been provided to the Government of Georgia to align national legislation and policies with the relevant international legal frameworks and standards. To enhance implementation of the laws and policies, UN Women Georgia has supported the establishment of specialized services for survivors of domestic violence, such as the first state-run shelters, crisis centers and hotlines and rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators. Furthermore, UN Women has worked with the Government in developing the institutional and individual capacities of key service providers in the area of VAWG/DV.

In light of the foregoing, UN Women plans to recruit a National Consultant  on Criminal and administrative law related to VAWG, who will engage with relevant state and non-state stakeholders to strengthen compliance of Georgian legislation with the Istanbul Convention and other applicable international and regional standards. The consultant will also support the improvement of violence against women and domestic violence (VAWG/DV) services, enhance the capacities of service providers to meet international standards, deliver capacity development interventions, and develop and operationalize sexual harassment response mechanisms across governmental agencies, legislative bodies, and political parties, in line with national legislation and international best practices.

Accordingly, the National Consultant – Legal Expert will be responsible for engaging with relevant stakeholders to support the development of legislative and policy initiatives on VAWG/DV, strengthening the capacities of relevant professionals, and establishing effective response mechanisms from administrative, criminal justice, and policing perspectives.

The consultant should provide reports to UN Women, describing the completed work in a reporting format provided by UN Women. Reports shall be submitted by the 20th of every two-month reporting period.

Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work

The national consultant will be tasked to:

• Develop draft amendments to VAWG/DV-related legislation, legislative initiatives, and relevant policy papers from administrative, criminal justice and policing perspective; 
• Develop explanatory notes to the draft amendment and legislative initiatives;
• Facilitate consultations to collect comments and integrate in the relevant draft policy documents and bills as necessary;
• Participate in relevant Parliamentary Committee hearings of the bills;
• Perform other duties as necessary in relation to the policy and legislative initiatives (such as further research, data collection, inquiries, etc.);
• Work with relevant state agencies on their capacity development to ensure efficient response to VAWG/DV cases, sexual crimes, and sexual harassment;
• Elaborate/update relevant training modules on VAWG/DV and sexual crimes/offences for different professionals and conduct trainings as necessary;
• Develop a VAWG/DV case analysis methodology and analytical reports as necessary;
• Develop sexual harassment response mechanisms and supporting their operationalization in governmental agencies, legislative bodies, and political parties, aligned with national legislation, international best practices, and internal regulations of individual ministries/state agencies/parties;
• Provide capacity development trainings to governmental agencies, legislative bodies, and political parties on preventing and responding to sexual harassment in the workplace;
• Perform other duties as necessary in relation to data collection and capacity development interventions around gender-based violence prevention and response (such as further research, analysis of international standards and best practices/legislation, data collection, inquiries, etc.).

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy.

As a part of this assignment, there might be need to travel to regions of Georgia (up to 20 trips during the contract period). 

Travel costs will be covered separately as per the UN Women’s travel policy.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Commitment to continuous improvement 
• Risk management
• Partnerships building 
• Resilience  
• Negotiation 

Required Qualifications:

Academic Background:

• Higher university degree (master’s) in public policy, law, human rights, alternatively bachelor’s degree in public policy, law, human rights with at least two years of working experience could be considered in lieu of master’s degree

Relevant Work Experience:

• At least five (5) years with master’s (seven (7) years in case of bachelor’s degree) of experience in working on gender equality and VAW/DV within the criminal justice system, especially within law enforcement 
• At least five (5) years with master’s (seven (7) years in case of bachelor’s degree) of experience in working on VAWG/DV related legislation drafting 
• At least five (5) years with master’s (seven (7) years in case of bachelor’s degree) of experience in research and/or policy analysis on gender equality and VAW/DV 
• At least five (5) years with master’s (seven (7) years in case of bachelor’s degree) of experience in conducting training on gender equality and VAW/DV issues

Languages:

Fluency in Georgian and English is required. 

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.