National Consultant/ IT Data Specialist to support development and installation of data management system on violence against women cases for NGOs in the project target districts

Background

UN Women, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women has been created to accelerate up the process of meeting the needs of women and girls across the world. 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  a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life.

The project “Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Response and Prevention Project in Tajikistan” implemented by UN Women with funding support of United States Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) is aimed to contribute to the protection of women’s rights, prevention and response to domestic/gender-based violence by development of targeted information, implementation of practical empowerment actions, education activities and awareness raising (“From Awareness to Zero Victims Blaming”) to increase reporting of violence cases through improved understanding of different forms of VAW, by stopping blaming the victims; and ultimately promoting gender equality.

Improvement of services for GBV survivors and data collection are one of key components of the project. It is envisaged to install data registration system to target NGOs laptops to be transformed to them as a technical support in frames of this project.

categories of violence against women and girls; disaggregation by sex, age and relationship between victim and perpetrator, ethnicity of the survivors of violence, and the number of complaints received, legal and other types of aid rendered, and sentence imposed on perpetrators will be registered. The prevalence and incidence data on VAWG will be easy to analyze and be made publicly available to inform evidence-based decision making.

UN Women in Tajikistan seeks for IT Data Specialist to support development and installation of data management system on violence against women cases for 12 NGOs in Khatlon region (Shahrituz district), Sogd region (Istaravshan district), DRS (Varzob district), Dushanbe at a national level (INL Project), 5 NGOs in Dushanbe, Sogd and Khatlon districts (Spotlight Programme Tajikistan) and 3 women’s departments of CoWFA (Varzob, Shahrituz, Istaravshan) (IT Data Specialist). The Specialist will cooperate closely with the National Expert on VAW Data Management (also to be hired by UN Women).

 

The selection of districts is supported by the Committee on Women and Family Affairs under the Government of the RT.

Duties and Responsibilities

Goal and objectives of the consultancy:

The objective of this assignment is to strengthen technical capacity of women’s rights NGOs to collect incidence data, including qualitative data, on VAWG for evidence-based monitoring and reporting.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Under the direct supervision of the UN Women National Portfolio Coordinator, the Consultant will support the Expert on VAW Data Management in strengthening technical capacities of NGOs through performing the following tasks, that include but are not limited to the following:

1. IT DATA SPECIALIST will support the installation of VAWG data registration system (developed in frames of Spotlight Initiative in Tajikistan) for CoWFA relevant department, 12 target NGOs of GBV Prevention and response Project in Tajikistan funded by INL, 5 additional NGOs of SPT and  3 women’s departments of CoWFA (Varzob, Shahrituz, Istaravshan).

This stage requires constant consultations with Expert on VAW Data Management at each step:

• Installment of the E-registration system (developed in frames of SPT in 2022 and updated in 2023) on the procured laptops.
• Systematization and formalization of requirements on VAWG data management.
• Deployment of the VAWG data management system to live, providing monitoring and user counseling.
• Consideration/testing the correctness of key classifiers, indicators, and VAWG-specific metadata to collect and report on by CSOs.
• Consideration of standard reporting templates (both regulatory and internally used reports).

2. IT DATA SPECIALIST acts as a co-trainer to demonstrate the capabilities of the VAWG data management system and administers QA session on the system.

– Supports development of the training Module by Expert on VAW Data Management on VAWG indicators for NGOs, especially in the part related to the usage of data management system, and development of user – friendly video tutorial.

3. Support Data Expert in conducting 2-day training for targeted 12 NGOs, 3 women’s departments of CoWFA (Varzob, Shahrituz, Istaravshan), funded by INL and 5 NGOs (covered by SPT)

4. IT DATA SPECIALIST consults Expert on VAW Data Management on technical approaches in the process of Module preparation.

5. IT DATA SPECIALIST will provide on-job mentoring for the responsible staff of newly trained NGOs at least one or two times during the project implementation.

6. Provision of distance support and monitoring visits to target NGOs:

• Provision of distance support in case of system failure or counseling of relevant staff.
• Monitors NGOs, ensuring that trained NGOs started collecting/managing data as per provided standards.
• She/he will join monitoring visits of Expert on VAW Data Management and consult on-job data management system use.
• Counselling of relevant staff on saving data on Cloud platform.
• Follow up one-day training/meeting on the results and the data processing, Q/A, etc.

Competencies

Ethical guidelines: Given that the Consultant will touch upon primary data gathering, it is important to ensure that he/she adheres to the standard ethical guidelines and safety recommendations for social research: UN Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the UN System (2005, updated 2016); UNEG Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation (2008); UNICEF Ethical Research Involving Children (2013); WHO Putting women first: ethical and safety recommendations for research on domestic violence against women (2001); WHO Ethical and safety recommendations for intervention research on violence against women: Building on lessons from the WHO publication “Putting women first” (2016).

Principles of Confidentiality shall be strictly adhered to:

• information will only be shared internally and externally on a ‘need to know’ basis and only with individuals and/or organizations relevant to the data process.
• Experts cannot discuss any case information with family, friends or co-workers.
• only non-identifying data of individuals will be shared in documents and reports.
• all written information with identifying details will be kept in password protected documents or in locked/secure space (if printed).

Results:

• Measurement and methodologies for VAWG/Harmful Practices’ data collection are improved and strengthened among target NGOs.
• The activities will create a framework and capacity that will allow for VAWG/HP data to be regularly collected, analyzed, and used in line with international standards.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration

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

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to produce high-quality work according to tight deadlines with minimum supervision.
• Good knowledge of technical area and IT data management products;
• Experience of data analysis
• Ability to present key debates and recommendations in an engaging manner, to diverse audiences.
• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to details.

Technical competencies:

• It is absolutely a must for this assignment to meet deadlines;
• Computer literate (being able to use MS Windows, office applications, Internet search);
• Proven track record and experience in gender-related work, and in particular- on GBV.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree in the field of information technology and management, statistics or demography, sociology.

Working Experience:

• At least 5 years of practical experience in software development, business process management and design of data collection platforms, including both online and offline centralized solutions. Successful engagement in similar assignments for related agencies, research or IT companies.
• Demonstrated experience in development of electronic data capture systems for record-keeping of individual/client-level data and case management of service providers.
• Solid experience in development and implementation of reporting modules, preferably in the field of collecting service-based data.
• Proven ability to develop training modules, technical documentation and basic experience in provision of interactive training and mentoring to adult audience as a trainer /facilitator.

Knowledge of languages:

• Fluent Tajik and Russian languages.

 

Application Process 

The application MUST include:

• Letter of Interest.
• Personal History Form (P-11 form) – including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at  a signed [scanned] copy should be submitted.
• Financial Proposal – indicate a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference, and estimated number of working days per deliverables, including travel costs.

Note: UN Women will cover training arrangements, i.e. logistics, travel costs and accommodation for participants in Dushanbe as per local market prices.

Candidate should have the ability to quickly produce degree certificates and medical certification (of good health) should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post.