International Technical Consultant to Enhance GBV Coordination Mechanisms

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.
In Cambodia, UN Women’s work is guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2024-2028, the Regional Strategic Note (2023-2025), and the Corporate Strategic Plan (2022-2025), These frameworks shape UN Women Cambodia’s key priorities in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE).
The first priority is to strengthen government capacity and accountability to integrate international norms and commitments (CEDAW, UNSCR 1325, SDGs, Beijing PfA, Sendai) into national legislative, regulatory frameworks and plan of actions, including supporting dialogue, national action plan women, peace security, civil society engagement in accountability for GEWE commitments.  The second area of focus is Ending Violence Against Women where office focus includes creating an enabling environment to prevent, respond to and prosecute all forms of GBV as well as ensuring that marginalised women who experience violence, including women migrant workers, access services and protections.  Thirdly, Cambodia office works to enhance gender responsiveness in climate change action and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).  A focus on empowerment, women’s leadership, challenging negative gender norms and leaving no one behind runs through the programme. Lastly, women’s economic empowerment powered by Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP)s and right based approaches to foster innovation, advance gender equality and drive including economic growth partnerships, accelerators, and policy support.
Cambodia has developed a legal framework to reduce violence against women and girls (VAW/VAWG), and through the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), with support from development partners, implemented the first, second and third National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women (NAPVAW) covering 2009 to the present.
In collaboration with the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), UN Women has been instrumental in the development and implementation of the National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women (NAPVAW), particularly focusing on vulnerable groups such as women migrant workers. This includes strengthening multi-stakeholder coordination and improving services in line with the UN Essential Services Package.
Recognising that harmful social norms drive gender-based violence, UN Women has implemented primary prevention strategies, engaging women migrant networks, LGBTIQ+ communities, and emerging young gender advocates. Through intergenerational dialogues and digital campaigns, these efforts aim to shift social norms towards more inclusive and respectful behaviours.
Through an UN-to-UN agreement with UNFPA with the funding support from the Australia-Cambodia Cooperation for Equitable Sustainable Services-Phase 2 (ACCESS 2), one of the UN Women key priorities is to strengthen multi-stakeholder coordination and improve the quality of essential services in line with the UN Essential Service Packages. This work recognizes the difference between coordination, and service provision, and also recognizes that as part of ACCESS 2 UNFPA is focusing on the different roles between coordination and case management, including the intended development of SOP on GBV case management to be drafted in 2025, UN Women will continue to support MOWA in capacity strengthening on the approaches and good practices in coordination and governance of multi-stakeholder coordination both at the national and sub-national levels. In this regards, UN Women Cambodia is seeking the services of international consultant with EVAW and gender equality’sexpertise to support the lead in conducting the assessment on the existing practices of coordination mechanism and develop SOPs that complement and support the SOPs on case management which UNFPA is leading, to enhance the coordination of the GBV working group at the national and sub-national levels. Alignment and coordination with the development of SOP on GBV case management led by UNFPA, will be key to ensuring clarity of roles and responsibilities in GBV response in Cambodia.
A key issue observed in Cambodia on handling GBV/VAWG cases is related to uncertain roles and division of function in GBV response, especially between the agency of coordination and case management. This has resulted in many coordination groups managing GBV cases in a fragmented way. It is critical therefore to differentiate between these roles and build a robust coordination mechanism to benefit the survivors and the service providers.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work
This consultancy is designed to review/assess the good practices and gaps of existing coordination mechanism in Cambodia, with the aim to guide/inform the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for and improve the Terms of References (TOR) for the national and sub-national coordination mechanism and provide technical support to MOWA, IPs, and GBV Working Group secretariats on coordinated approaches.
The consultant will work under the supervision of the Country Programme Coordinator and in close collaboration with UN Women Cambodia EVAW programme team, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), ACCESS 2, UNFPA and other key stakeholders to undertake the tasks below:
A. Provision of policy advice and technical assistance to conduct a review/assessment on the existing practices of coordination mechanisms at the national and sub-national levels

●    Conduct a comprehensive desk review of relevant national and regional policy/ guidelines/protocols/SOPs, existing Terms of Reference (TORs), evaluations, assessments, reports, and relevant research on the existing practices of the national and sub-national coordination mechanism including recent assessment and reports on GBV/VAWG  case management and GBV sub-national data practices at national and sub-national level, to align with international/global guidance.
●    Develop a practical guiding framework including tools and plan for conducting a participatory consultation with stakeholders both at the national and sub-national levels including women from a diverse background and civil society organization working on EVAW.
●    Coordinate and provide technical lead on the consultation process with relevant stakeholders including TWGG-GBV at the national level and data collection at the sub-national level
●    Conduct consultations and interviews with key government stakeholders at the national/sub-national levels and development partners, CSOs, selected GBV Working Group members at the sub-national level, and women subject to violence that have received services including maginalised groups (women with disabilities, women migrant workers, LBTI women, etc.).
●    Conduct an analysis of the findings from the desk review and consultations/interviews both at the national and sub-national levels and produce the good quality report with highlighting the good practices, identifying the area for improvement, and provide strategic recommendations for effective coordination and guiding information for development of the SOP for coordination, ensuring alignment with and clarity of roles between coordination and GBV/VAWG case management

B. Provision of policy advice and technical assistance to develop SOP to enhancing the coordination of the GBV working group at the national and sub-national levels

Building on the assessment on the coordination mechanism, the consultant will undertake the task below:

●    Building on the desk review from Part A, conduct a comprehensive desk review of the relevant/good practice SOPs/guidelines on coordination mechanisms both at the national and sub-national levels
●    Develop a practical framework including tools and plan to develop the SOP to enhance the coordination of the GBV working group both at the national and sub-national levels in line with the Essential Service Packages and standards, ensuring alignment with and clarity of roles between coordination and GBV/VAWG case management
●    With the analysis from the desk review and informing by the assessment report on the coordination mechanism in Task A, produce a draft SOP to be consulted and finalised with UN Women, MOWA and relevant stakeholders

C. Provide technical support to MOWA, IPs, and GBV Working Group secretariats on coordinated approaches to further strengthen the coordination mechanisms at the national and sub-national levels.

In alignment with Module 5: Coordination and Governance of the Coordination of the Essential Services Package (ESP), along with the established practices and development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for coordination, the consultant will undertake the following actions:

●    Formulate a concept note aimed at enhancing the capacity of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), implementing partners (IPs), key stakeholders, and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Working Group secretariats at both the national and sub-national levels regarding coordinated approaches and SOPs.
●    Develop and validate training materials in line with Module 5: Coordination and Governance of the Essential Services Package (ESP), as well as any existing good practices in coordination and SOP development.
●    Collaborate closely with the UN Women and MoWA, ACCESS 2, and UNFPA teams to design a training work plan, including the identification and number of participants, and ensure coordination support from MoWA.
●    Facilitate two three-day training sessions, one at the national level and another at the sub-national level.
●    Prepare progress reports detailing the outcomes of the training sessions.

Expected deliverables and timelines 

No.	Tasks and Deliverables	Expected completion time (due day)
1	Task 1: Develop an inception report, including approach designed to achieve deliverables and detailed workplan in consultation with UN Women and MOWA. 1st Deliverable:  Submission of inception report including a detailed workplan	17th April 2025
A. Tasks for conducting a review/assessment on the existing practices of coordination mechanisms at the national and sub-national levels
2	Task 2: Develop a workplan and concept note for conducting review/assessment on the existing practices of coordination mechanisms for the assignment​ in consultation with UN Women programme team and key stakeholders. Conduct desk review on existing/relevant national and regional policy/ guidelines/protocols/SOPs document, existing TORs, evaluations, assessments, reports, and relevant research on the existing practices of the national and sub-national coordination mechanism Develop a concept note and workplan for conducting the assessment on the coordination mechanism 2st Deliverable:  Part 1: Submission of the concept note and workplan for conducting the assessment on coordination mechanism	5th May 2025
3	Task 3: Technical lead in conducting the consultation process both at the national and sub-national levels in consultation with MOWA and UN Women Design methodology/tools for consultation workshop/interviews/focus group discussion (FGD) with key stakeholders including women who are risk of violence and from diverse background, for data collection process ensure the application of the survivor centre approaches and inclusive participatory approach Develop data collection plan for conducting the assessment on the coordination mechanism Coordinate for consultation process both at the national and sub-national levels and identify stakeholders to be consulted at the national and sub-national levels in consultation with MOWA and UN Women Lead in conducting data collection and consultation with relevant stakeholders at sub-national levels Lead in conducting consultation with relevant stakeholders at the national levels including drafting concept note for conducting consultation workshop with relevant stakeholders at the national level Develop the field work/consultation analysis report 3rd Deliverable:  Part 1: Submission of the consultation/data collection tools for interview/FGD with key stakeholders both at the national and sub-national levels including fieldwork/data collection plan at the national and sub-national levels Submission of fieldwork analysis report from the consultations with relevant stakeholders at the national and sub-national levels	20th May 2025 13th June 2025
4	Task 4: Develop the assessment report on existing practice of coordination mechanisms at the national and sub-national levels in consultation with MOWA and UN Women 4th Deliverable: Part 1: submission of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd draft of the assessment report on the existing practices of coordination mechanisms at the national and sub-national levels with focus on the good practice, identify area for improvement/gaps and  strategic recommendation for developing the SOP for enhancing the coordination of the GBV working group at the national and sub-national levels, including powerpoint presentation to be consulted with MOWA, UN Women and relevant stakeholders for inputs and feedback Part 2: Submission of final full report and final power presentation	18th July 2025 28th July 2025
B. Developing SOP to enhance the coordination of the GBV working group at the national and sub-national levels
5	Task 5: Develop a workplan and concept note developing SOP to enhance the coordination of the GBV working group at the national and sub-national levels in consultation with UN Women programme team and key stakeholders. Conduct desk review of global/international on good practice of the existing/relevant SOPs/guidelines on coordination mechanisms both at the national and sub-national levels Develop a concept note and workplan for developing the SOP to enhance the coordination mechanism of the GBV working group at the national and sub-national levels 1st Deliverable:  Submission of the concept note and workplan for developing the SOP to enhance the coordination mechanism of the GBV working Group at the national and sub-national levels	15th August 2025
6	Task 6: Building on the assessment report on the coordination mechanism in Task A, develop a draft  SOPs to enhance the coordination mechanism for the GBV working group at the national and sub-national levels to be in line with global/international guideline and standard such as Module 5: Coordination and Governance of Coordination), the ASEAN Guidelines for Developing National Standard Operating Procedures for a Coordinated Response to Violence against Women with guidance from and in consultation with MOWA, UN Women and relevant stakeholders. The SOPs must focus on a coordinated response and include joint agreements on the: Description of the Purpose and Scope of the SOPS, groups and settings they apply to, definitions and key terms, legal and policy framework, principles and standards for coordinated service provision, rights of the survivor, reporting and coordinated referral mechanism, responsibilities of the national coordination mechanism and service providers in a coordinated response, inclusive approaches to coordinated services, preparation for adapting to emergencies, and data collection and management. These SOPS will link to the Case Management SOPs closely. An initial task will to agree upon how the SOPs link. Provide technical advice/lead to identify stakeholders engage in the SOP committees including roles and responsibility Develop the draft SOP to be consulted with MOWA, UN Women and relevant stakeholders Technical lead in consultation with relevant stakeholders on the draft SOP  6th Deliverable:  Par1: Submission of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd draft of the SOP to enhance the coordination for GBV working group at the national and sub-national level in line with the global/internation good practice/standard/guideline including Power Point Presentation Part 2: Submission of final SOP including power presentation	11th September 2025 24th October 2025
	Provide technical support to MOWA, Ips, and GBV Working Group secretariats on coordinated approaches to further strengthen the coordination mechanisms at the national and sub-national levels.
7	Task 7: Part 1: Provide technical support to develop two three-day training sessions materials to build capacity the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), implementing partners (Ips), key stakeholders, and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Working Group secretariats at both the national and sub-national levels Review the existing module 5 of ESP, coordination approaches and SOPs to formulate a training concept note and workplan aimed at enhancing the capacity of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), implementing partners (Ips), key stakeholders, and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Working Group secretariats at both the national and sub-national levels regarding coordinated approaches and SOPs. Create training materials based on Module 5: Coordination and Governance of the Essential Services Package (ESP), as well as existing good practices in coordination and SOP development. Part 2: Provide capacity building to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), implementing partners (Ips), key stakeholders, and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Working Group secretariats at both the national and sub-national levels: Conduct and facilitate two three-day training sessions, one at the national level and another at the sub-national level. Prepare progress reports detailing the outcomes of the training sessions. 7th Deliverable:  Part 1: Submission of training materials on coordination approaches and SOPs, including concept notes, slide presentations, case studies, pre and post-test Part 2: Submission of each session training reports	19th November 2025 28th February 2026

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

The consultancy is expected to be started on 7^th April 2025 and continue until 28^thFebruary 2026.

This is a home-based consultancy. The consultant may be required to travel to Cambodia/provinces as needed for the purpose of the assignment where required by UN Women-Cambodia. The standard UN Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) will apply to mission travel that may be required in the fulfillment of this assignment.

A workstation will be provided to the consultant to ensure effective consultation and support during in country mission. The Consultant will bring his/her own personal computer to conduct this assignment. The consultant will be based in her/his current residence.

Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payment will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes on satisfactory completion of task. Payments will be made upon submission of deliverables with an approval of the National Country Programme Coordinator. Travel cost will be reimbursable based on actual expenses and proof of document and complied with the UN Women travel policy. And the travel cost will not be included in tCompetencies :

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:

Technical Competencies:

• Expertise in GBV/VAW, Gender Equality and Gender Mainstreaming: deep understanding of gender equality principles, gender mainstreaming strategies.
• Proven experience in working on multi-sectoral coordinated responses and prevention programmes aimed at reducing GBV/VAW.
• Strong facilitation skills, with the ability to engage diverse groups of participants, encourage active participation and manage group dynamics effectively.
• Proven expertise in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) techniques, including assessing the impact, effectiveness, and coordination of GBV/VAW programs
• Familiarity with the UN system and its relevance to gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Ability to analyze and interpret data related to gender equality and use this analysis to inform coordination and prevention SOP development

Functional Competencies: 

• Knowledge of the social, cultural, and political context of Cambodia and local issues of gender, women’s participation in private and public sphere, multiple challenges that potential young leaders face to advance their personal development plan as well as participate equally in emergent socioeconomic development;
• Promotion respectful and gender sensitive learning environment throughout the assignment and in the office;
• Knowledge of gender-sensitivity, GESI and how to respond to the priorities of survivors of GBV and people with disabilities research methodologies, particularly with vulnerable populations;
• Proven excellent context analysis and writing skills and high-quality reports produced;
• Communicating and information sharing: facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Required Qualifications 

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in social and political sciences, human rights, gender equality, development study, etc., or relevant field 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:

• Minimum 10 years professional experience in addressing gender, policy development and in EVAW programme planning and implementation, monitoring, evaluation, reporting and resource mobilization, preferably from the UN System or an international organization.
• Prior experience in working on multi-sectoral coordination and prevention programmes addressing gender equality, violence prevention, victim support services, and response mechanisms is essential.
• Familiarity with intervention programs offering support to GBV/VAW survivors, such as legal aid, psychosocial services, shelters, and healthcare, along with experience in assessing their impact and sustainability.
• Comprehensive knowledge of gender-sensitivity, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) principles, and responsive research methodologies tailored to the priorities of GBV survivors and individuals with disabilities, especially within vulnerable populations.
• Professional experience working in women’s human rights and/or gender related work in Asia and Pacific, preferably in Cambodia, in particular on GBV and EVAW would be a strong asset.

Languages Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required (Both oral and written).

EVALUATION

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis: (Desk review/Interview)

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on the following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Technical Evaluation Criteria	Obtainable Score
Education and certification	15 %
Experience	70 %
Language skills	15 %
Total Obtainable Score	100 %

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

How to Apply 

• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• Additional materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials/document may be asked from the shortlisted candidates only.

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.