UN Women: National Consultant - Capacity Development for Beitunia Emergency Shelter, Home-Based, West Bank, State of Palestine

Background/Context

UN Women (UNW), 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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. 

UN Women’s triple mandate, along with its global network and deep policy and programming expertise, continues to endow the Entity with a unique capacity to: (i) support Member States to strengthen global norms and standards for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and mainstream gender perspectives in other thematic areas; (ii) promote coordination and coherence across the UN system to enhance accountability and results for gender equality and women’s empowerment; and (iii) undertake operational activities to support Member States, upon their request, in translating global norms and standards into legislation, policies and strategies at country level. 

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997 (as UNIFEM). In line with the national priorities, the work of UN Women for the period 2023-2025 is aligned with three of the Palestine United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework’s (UNSDCF) outcomes:

• Palestinians have greater access to economic opportunities that are inclusive, resilient, and sustainable, including decent employment and livelihoods opportunities in an empowered private sector.
• Palestinians, including the most vulnerable, have equal access to sustainable, inclusive, gender responsive and quality social services, social protection, and affordable utilities.
• Palestinian governance institutions, processes, and mechanisms at all levels are more democratic, rights-based, inclusive, and accountable.

Its three-year Strategic Note supports the efforts to achieve measurable results in country in terms of four UN Women global Strategic Plan impacts (2022-2025): (SP Impact 1). Governance and participation in public life; (SP Impact 2). Women’s Economic Empowerment; (SP Impact 3). Ending Violence Against Women and Girls and; SP Impact 4. Women peace and security, Humanitarian & Disaster Risk Reduction. 

In line with the Palestinian Government’s commitment to achieve gender equality and combat violence against women (VAW), and in full partnership with the Ministry of Women’s  Affairs,  the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), the Ministry of Health (MoH), and civil society organizations, (CSOs) in Gaza and the West Bank, UN Women within its programme “Strengthening the Protection and Leadership of the Furthest Left Behind Women and Girls Survivors of Violence (Shaml): A Pathway to Peace and Security” is working with partner institutions to empower the most marginalized groups of Palestinian women, including women with disabilities, women sex workers and women users of drugs amongst other groups.

Under this framework, UN Women delivers targeted, high- impact technical support to these institutions to strengthen protection and reintegration systems and services for the most marginalized groups of women. This includes strengthening the availability and quality of safe shelters, comprehensive legal aid, integrated psychosocial and medical services, gender-responsive referral pathways, and robust case management frameworks—alongside tailored rehabilitation and reintegration programmes that enable sustainable recovery and social inclusion.

Leveraging UN Women’s ongoing efforts in supporting the operationalization of Beitunia Emergency Shelter and capitalizing on the achievements of the previous phase, which included the establishment and the launch of the shelter and the development of the functional plan and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), efforts will continue to improve the quality, consistency and responsiveness of services provided to women victims and survivors of violence beneficiaries of services

 Against this background, UN Women and in close cooperation with (MoSD) and Beitunia Emergency Shelter’s management plans to recruit a qualified national consultant to provide specialized capacity-building training to the shelter’s staff and women social counsellors on the efficient and responsive implementation of the shelter’s SoPs, and the efficient and responsive management of cases of women associated with attempts of committing suicide. 

Objectives of the Assignment:

To strengthen the capacities of Beitunia Emergency Shelter’s staff and women social counsellors to enable them to provide gender-responsive, inclusive and survivor-centered services to women. 

The assignment includes the following sub- objectives:

1. To strengthen the staff’s capacities with the effective implementation of the SoPs, case management procedures and service provision standards.
2. To enhance the staff’s knowledge and skills in managing cases of women users of drugs and women sex workers associated with attempts of committing suicide.
3. To enhance the staff’s knowledge of relevant medical terminologies, medical examinations and medical referral pathways related to cases of women of these two groups.

The consultant will be reporting to UN Women Rule of law and Protection Specialist and will be supported by the Prosecution and Inclusion Analyst, in addition to the CSO support and Finance Associate who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

Inception phase:

• To develop an inception report that includes a detailed work plan, methodology, training approach and timeline, and share it with UN Women for review and approval. The methodology should include the design of a practical capacity-building training programme tailored to the needs of the shelter’s staff and social counsellors working with women users of drugs and women sex workers.

  The training should address key areas, including, amongst others: human rights principles and survivor- centered approach, VAW and intersecting forms of discrimination, gender responsive and inclusive case management- in line with the SoPs, risks markers, including suicidal risks and suicide attempts, admission and health screening procedures, medical terminologies and examinations, referral mechanisms, and substance abuse treatment approaches relevant to service provision within the shelter.

• To meet with UN Women’s technical team, the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), and Beitunia Emergency Shelter representatives to discuss the assignment’s objectives, methodology, priority training needs and key deliverables.

Implementation phase:

• Capacity Building
  • To develop training materials, pre- and post- training evaluation 
  • To deliver six days capacity-building training for the shelter’s staff and women social counsellors on the SoPs’ application, case management, gender responsive and inclusive service provision for women users of drugs and women sex workers, suicidal risks and suicide attempts, admission and health screening procedures, referral mechanisms, medical terminologies and examinations, and substance abuse treatment approaches relevant to service provision within the shelter.
  • To submit a training report including key findings of pre-and post-training evaluation, and recommendations.
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Final report: 

• To submit a final narrative report that includes a description of the assignment, the achievements, methodology used, lessons learned and recommendations along with relevant annexes including the list of meetings dates and participants.

Deliverables

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy with frequent field visits to partner institution main offices in the West-Bank, Palestine. 

Competencies:

Core Values: 

• Respect for Diversity 
• Integrity 
• Professionalism 

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 Core Values and Competencies:   https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values  FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: 

• Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, gender justice and women rights.
• Proven Experience in the field of protection and access to justice and security.
• Strong capacity to establish, build and sustain effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client’s perspective; anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly.
• Strong ability to effectively interact with technical and non- technical end users in a   cooperative and helpful manner.

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• A master’s degree in social science, public health, gender, development, human rights, criminology, sociology or related discipline is required. 
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least 3 years of working experience in the field of violence against women, protection, and women’s rights is required. 
• Experience in the management of cases of women survivors of violence is required.
• Experience in delivering capacity building training, preferably in the field of case management for women survivors of violence is required. 
• Experience with at least one group of the two targeted groups is desirable. 
• Experience with the UN system or/and International Organizations is desirable. 
• Experience with the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) or the justice system is desirable. 

• A sample of capacity-building training material and a report, preferably related to the protection of women survivors of violence, shall be attached as part of the application.

  Languages:

• Fluency in Arabic is required 
• Working knowledge of English is required.