INTERNAL/EXTERNAL VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Vacancy Notice No.: ETH/AA/IC/VN/002/2021
Type of Contract : National Consultancy
Duration of Contract : Until 31 December 2021
Grade : NOB
No of Positions :One (1)
General Background of Project or Assignment:
Forcibly displaced women, girls, men and boys are exposed to distinct protection risks. Understanding the gender specific nature of these risks is critical to prevent harm and facilitate protection including from GBV. For instance, gender analysis helps to determine, whether overcrowded displacement sites and food insecurity can place women, girls and men and boys at heightened risk of all forms of GBV, including exchange and sale for sex, sexual exploitation and abuse. Rooted in unbalanced power relations between men and women, women and girls can be at heightened risk of GBV. However, GBV can also be committed against men and boys. Forced displacement presents new risks, which may in turn contribute to the risk of GBV.
As of March 2021, Ethiopia hosts 805,164 registered refugees and asylum-seekers originating from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan and some 26 other countries. According to UNHCR statistics, over 62,000 women are at risk because of their gender such as single mothers or caregivers, single women, widows, older women, women with disabilities and survivors of violence.
UNHCR and partners implement various activities on mitigation of risks and prevention and response to GBV. These activities include the development of the National Action Plan (NAP) across different sectors such as Child Protection, Education, Energy Environment, Health, Nutrition, Shelter, Cash-Based Interventions (CBI) and Livelihoods. The major community-based prevention programs SASA! and Engaging Men in Accountable Practice (EMAP) operate in Ethiopia. SASA! is implemented in 18 and EMAP in 12 refugee camps. Even though these activities have been implemented, there is a need to generate evidence on the impact of these interventions. On response to GBV, the limited technical capacity of the legal partners across the operation has led to survivors relying on informal legal advice provided by GBV actors without actual assistance in pursuing their cases in courts. Only a small number of refugees benefit from this service, and women in particular benefit less. For instance, in Jijiga in 2020, only 23 cases were processed out of 168 cases; 220 mobile court sessions were held in Gambella in 2020 with 10% of these cases being GBV; 48 females received mobile court services from the total number of criminal cases (134) processed in Melkadida in 2020. In Gambella, most survivors do not consent to legal support due to fear of retaliation from family members of perpetrators. The legal response availed to persons of concern is dominated by male staff, and culturally women do not feel comfortable enough to disclose their cases to men. As a result, some women in Jijiga declined referral to such services.
Language barriers is the main challenge in the urban context; in practice, refugee outreach workers are availed to PoCs after the survivor’s consent to receive assistance with translation. Currently, GBV partners conduct safety audits[1] in each of the camps.
Since crises deepen gender inequalities, promoting gender equality in all responses is essential to ensuring that women, girls, men and boys can access protection and assistance safely. By understanding how gender plays a role in restricting access to protection and assistance, we can better facilitate inclusive access to services for all, including marginalized populations: adolescents; persons with disabilities; single-headed households; and older persons. Gender inequality at the individual, community and societal levels manifests as GBV. Women and girls everywhere are disadvantaged in terms of social power and influence, control of resources, control of their bodies and participation in public life – all as a result of socially determined gender roles and systemic inequality[2]. Gender equality and women’s empowerment are cross-cutting issues that should be integrated into every aspect of GBV programming. Effective integration of gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment programming into sectoral work enhances GBV prevention and response efforts[3].
UNHCR seeks to undertake a GBV assessment across all the six regions[4] of operations. This concept note will therefore also look at monitoring the traditional justice system and establishing baselines through the assessment conducted.
Required Qualifications:
Education:
Field(s) of Education
Relevant Job Experience
Essential
Desirable