Consultancy: Invitation for a National Consultancy to Support the Assessment of Existing Sexual Gender Based Violence Data Collection Tools and Information Management Systems under the Spotlight Initiative (5 October to 15 December 2019)

Invitation for a National Consultancy to Support the Assessment of Existing Sexual Gender Based Violence Data Collection Tools and Information Management Systems under the Spotlight Initiative (5 October to 15 December 2019)

The Spotlight Initiative (SI) is a global, multi-year partnership between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls by 2030. The initiative, launched in September 2017, targets countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Pacific and the Caribbean with a view to achieving significant improvements in the lives of women and girls. Zimbabwe is one of the eight countries in Africa to benefit from this transformative initiative. One of the outcome areas under the SI seeks to ensure that quality, disaggregated and globally comparable data on different forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG), including sexual gender-based violence (SGBV) and harmful practices (HP), is collected, analysed and used in line with international standards to inform laws, policies and programmes. The Zimbabwe National Statistical System (NSS) is generally strong, and many of its stakeholders have an established statistical infrastructure. However, gaps and challenges exist in the generation, storage, analysis, dissemination and use of SGBV survey and administrative data. For example, the current NSS does not have standardized or harmonized data collection tools and methodologies for SGBV, VAWG and HP while the SGBV IMSs of civil society organisations (CSOs) are not interoperable with those of Government Departments.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which is one of the recipient UN organisations implementing the SI in Zimbabwe, is seeking the services of two national consultants to provide support to the assessment of existing sexual gender-based violence (SGBV) data collection tools and information management systems. The main purpose of this consultancy is to conduct a comprehensive assessment of existing SGBV data collection tools and information management systems with the view to coming up with concrete recommendations for harmonised SGBV data collection and design of an SGBV/HP Information Management National Framework. This will ensure the linking of the development of data collection instruments with the development of the IMS so that it is interoperable, multi-sectoral, reduce duplicative processes, limits the amount of data that is collected and allows multiple stakeholders to interact with a common data set. Each consultant will have a responsibility over a cluster of SGBV/ HP information management sub-sectors, namely i) health, education, social services, police and judicial/ court statistics; and ii) population-based systems, mainly implemented and managed by ZIMSTAT, and community-based GBV surveillance systems and work of civil society organisations (CSOs). Each consultant is expected to prepare and submit a final report for the cluster of sub-sectors they would be working on.

The first consultant must have an advanced university degree (Master's degree or PhD) in statistics or a relevant social science with at least seven years of relevant and proven professional experience in statistics, computer science and information technology, statistical research and data analysis with a leaning towards SGBV. A qualification in gender or computer science and information technology and proficiency in pivot tables/charts, data analysis, Microsoft Access and other database software systems will be an added advantage. The second consultant must have an advanced social science university degree (Master's degree or PhD) in gender, development studies, or other relevant social sciences with at least seven years of relevant and proven professional experience working in the area of gender based violence prevention and response. A qualification in computer science and information technology will be an added advantage. Both consultants must have national, regional or international level experience in the development of GBV IMS for their sub-sector, with clear evidence of work; exceptional command of the SGBV guiding principles and what it means to provide a survivor-centered response; good computer skills; excellent communication, analytical, report writing and presentation skills; and ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work.

The consultancy will be for forty-five (45) working days during a performance period running from 5 October 2019 to 15 December 2019.

Terms of reference for the consultancy can be collected from the UNFPA Country Office Reception, Block 7, 1^st Floor, Arundel Office Park, Norfolk Road, Mt.  Pleasant, Harare, or requested by e-mail from Piason Mlambo (mlambo@unfpa.org).

The closing date for submission of applications is Monday, 30 September 2019 at 1200 hours. Hard copy submissions should be addressed to the Country Representative, UNFPA Country Office and should clearly be marked “Application for a consultancy to support the assessment of SGBV data collection tools and information management systems”. Electronic submissions should be made to zimbabwe.office@unfpa.org. Bidders shall not receive responses to questions sent to zimbabwe.office@unfpa.org since it is a secure mailbox. The application/submission should contain both a financial and technical proposal. In the technical proposal, the prospective bidder should enclose any sample of previous similar work.