International Consultant for External Light Review Exercise - Trafficking in Persons for Forced Criminality Project

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 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 benefit women and girls worldwide. Against this background, and in response to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’s call to leave no one behind, UN Women works to promote peace and security by supporting women of all backgrounds and ages to participate in processes to prevent conflict and build and sustain peace and security. In this regard, UN Women is guided by ten UN Security Council resolutions, bolstered by a number of related normative frameworks, which make up the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda.

The cross-border peace and security landscape in South-East Asia has evolved dramatically in recent years. The Mekong region, in particular, is experiencing a rapid transformation in human trafficking dynamics as criminal operations increasingly shift online. The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda identifies trafficking in women for forced criminality as a critical security concern, particularly in conflict and crisis-affected settings. The nature of conflict and its drivers has shifted. The gender dimensions of non-traditional security risks, including trafficking in persons and cyber security, pose new challenges that require innovative responses and solutions. These emerging security issues in South-East Asia have significant adverse impacts on women’s rights, stability and security across the region.

Within this context, UN Women in partnership with the Government of Japan, is undertaking a project to provide immediate support to survivors and mitigate and prevent the surge in trafficking in women and other cyber-enabled harms along this border area, leveraging the WPS agenda. 

The project focuses on 1) Providing survivor-centered support and reintegration services to women affected by trafficking and/or cyber-enabled harms; 2) Providing a package of support to build resilience and mitigate the surge in trafficking in women for forced criminality and cyber-enabled harms in the Thailand-Myanmar border area; and 3) Leveraging existing anti-trafficking mechanisms to combat trafficking. As the project is now coming to an end on 30 March 2025, UN Women is seeking to conduct an external light review exercise of the project focusing on the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of key processes and outputs, which will foster reflection on this new area of work of UN Women and will inform possible future development on the same thematic area. In this context, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific will hire an International Consultant to support the Regional Office and the Thailand Project by conducting a light review of the project. 

The consultant will be reporting to the Programme Coordinator – Governance, Peace and Security.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

The International Consultant for the advertised External Light Review Exercise will be working under the supervision of the Programme Coordinator - Governance, Peace and Security of UN Women’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific to ensure the following:

UN Women will provide technical guidance where possible. The consultant shall be required to bear all the related costs and work independently to successfully achieve the end findings. 

The consultant will be responsible for the following costs: 

• The professional fee must be quoted in the lump sum amount per deliverable. The lump-sum amount must be detailed on how the professional fee of each team member is calculated. 
• Indirect costs such as printing, stationeries, communications concerning the scope of work of services must be included in the financial proposal. 
• All costs related to survey administration including logistics arrangements for data collection, online interviews, etc. 
• All costs related to quality assurance, data entry, data cleaning, and data processing.

Methodological Approach

The anticipated approaches to be used for data collection and analysis by the consultant include desk review, key informant interviews and interviews with other relevant stakeholders, and other participatory techniques as deemed fit by the consultant. The external light review must integrate gender and human rights-based approaches throughout each of the areas of analysis outlined above, and throughout its methodology^[1]. This is particularly important in order to give a full picture of the complex and intersectional nature of women’s human rights. 

Deliverables

Duration of Assignment and Duty Station

The time required for the consultancy is estimated at 20 working days within the period from 10 February 2025 – 30 April 2025. The consultancy fee will be paid against deliverables. The assignment is home-based, no travel is expected.

Schedule of Payments

Payment in full upon final submission and satisfactory deliverables as outlined in the table above.

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:

• Strong interpersonal, teamwork and communication skills; 
• Ability to work independently and proactively solve problems; 
• Capacity to plan, prioritise and deliver tasks on time; 
• Capacity to engage with national and international staff, provide clear feedback and maintain effective rapport with different kinds of people; 
• Ability to research, analyse and present complex information; 
• Ability and willingness to work as part of a team to meet tight deadlines and produce high-quality work. 

Ethical Code of Conduct: 

The light review of the project is to be carried out according to ethical principles and standards established by the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG).

• Anonymity and confidentiality. The evaluation must respect the rights of individuals who provide information, ensuring their anonymity and confidentiality.
• Responsibility. The report must mention any dispute or difference of opinion that may have arisen among the consultants or between the consultant and the heads of the Programme in connection with the findings and/or recommendations. The team must corroborate all assertions, or disagreement with them noted.
• Integrity. The evaluator will be responsible for highlighting issues not specifically mentioned in the TOR, if this is needed to obtain a more complete analysis of the intervention.
• Independence. The consultant should ensure his or her independence from the intervention under review, and he or she must not be associated with its management or any element thereof.
• Incidents. If problems arise during the fieldwork, or at any other stage of the evaluation, they must be reported immediately to the manager of the evaluation. If this is not done, the existence of such problems may in no case be used to justify the failure to obtain the results stipulated in these terms of reference.
• Validation of information. The consultant will be responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the information collected while preparing the reports and will be ultimately responsible for the information presented in the evaluation report.
• Intellectual property. In handling information sources, the consultant shall respect the intellectual property rights of the institutions and communities that are under review. 
• Delivery of reports. If delivery of the reports is delayed, or in the event that the quality of the reports delivered is clearly lower than what was agreed, the penalties stipulated in these terms of reference will be applicable. 

Required Qualifications:

Education and Certification:

       • Master’s degree or equivalent in International Development Studies, Social Sciences, Politics, Law, Human Rights, Gender, Women Studies, Economics, Monitoring and             Evaluation or related field.

       • 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:

• A minimum of 7 years’ relevant experience undertaking evaluations, assessments or reviews is required. 
• Substantive experience in assessing similar development projects in the area of Women Peace and Security is required.  
• Previous experience in the field of trafficking in persons and/or cybersecurity would be considered an asset.
• Substantive experience in evaluating or assessing projects with a strong gender focus is preferred.
• Experience working in Asia and the Pacific is preferred. 
• Previous experience in Thailand and Myanmar would be considered as an asset. 
• Experience working on gender, particularly having expertise in undertaking gender-sensitive evaluations is preferred. 

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.

How to apply:

Submission package includes:

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc )
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) outlining relevant work experience
• List of the most relevant previous evaluation performed.
• Summary of the proposed methodology for the light review exercise (1 page) will be requested from shortlisted candidates only. 
• At least three sample reports from previous evaluation/review (all samples will be kept confidential) or links to website where reports can be retrieved (highly recommended) will be requested from shortlisted candidates only. 

Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.)

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.)