Call for Proposals to Address Gender Stereotypes and Discriminatory Social Norms

Deadline: 8-Sep-21

UN Women has announced a second round of the Call for Proposals that address civil society organizations of six Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) promoting gender equality, women’s empowerment, prevention and combating gender-based violence.

The initiatives, supported through this Call for Proposals, will be complementary to the activities implemented by UN Women and UNFPA under the joint project “EU 4 Gender Equality: Together against gender stereotypes and gender-based violence” project, funded by the European Union” in six project countries.

Priority Areas

UN Women is inviting the proponents to submit proposals suggesting creative and efficient solutions to address harmful gender stereotypes and discriminatory social norms through behavioural change at the individual and community levels. The proposals should have a country-specific focus and be prepared as per geographical coverage and priority areas:

Armenia: The proponents are invited to submit proposals to be implemented in three targeted marzes that are the focus regions of the EU in Armenia: Tavush, Shirak and Lori marzes. The proposals should suggest capacity development, awareness raising, advocacy, communication, social mobilization and/or other creative solutions to address gender stereotypes, social norms and discriminatory practices against women and girls in the areas that include but are not limited to:
- Harmful practices (gender-biased sex selection)
- Responsible parenting and fatherhood
- Distribution of unpaid domestic and care work
- Women in the labour market (including gender pay gap)
- Women in politics and decision-making in public spheres
- Violence against women and girls (including domestic violence)
- Women’s empowerment and freedom of choices, including reproductive choices
- Women in STEM/ICT
- Stereotypes faced by women with disabilities
- Discrimination against vulnerable and marginalized groups of women and men, including people living with HIV, people with disabilities, mothers of children with disabilities, internally displaced people and other marginalized groups.
Azerbaijan: The proponents are invited to submit proposals that can be implemented across the country. The proposals should suggest capacity development, awareness raising, advocacy, communication, social mobilization and/or other creative solutions to address gender stereotypes, social norms and discriminatory practices against women and girls in the areas that include but are not limited to:
- Distribution of unpaid domestic and care work
- Women in the labour market (including gender pay gap)
- Women in politics and decision-making in public spheres
- Women’s empowerment and freedom of choices, including reproductive choices
- Education of girls and young women
- Women in STEMICT
- Health (including reproductive health)
- Discrimination against vulnerable and marginalized groups of women and men, including people living with HIV, people with disabilities, internally displaced people and other marginalized groups.
Belarus: The proponents are invited to submit proposals that can be implemented across the country. The proposals should suggest capacity development, awareness raising, advocacy, communication, and/or other creative solutions to address gender stereotypes, social norms and discriminatory practices against women and girls in the areas that include but are not limited to:
- Distribution of unpaid domestic and care work
- Women in the labour market (including gender pay gap)
- Women’s participation in decision-making in public spheres
- Women in STEM/ICT
- Women’s empowerment and freedom of choices
- Discrimination against vulnerable and marginalized groups of women and men, including people living with HIV, people with disabilities, single mothers, mothers of children with disabilities.
Georgia: The proponents are invited to submit proposals to be implemented in three targeted regions that are the focus regions of the EU in Georgia: Guria and Imereti (and the capital Tbilisi). The proposals should suggest capacity development, awareness raising, advocacy, communication, social mobilization and/or other creative solutions to address gender stereotypes, social norms and discriminatory practices against women and girls in the areas that include but are not limited to:
- Distribution of unpaid domestic and care work
- Women in the labour market (including gender pay gap)
- Women in politics and decision-making in public spheres
- Women in business
- Violence against women and girls (including domestic violence)
- Women’s empowerment and freedom of choices,
- Education
- Discrimination against vulnerable and marginalized groups of women and men, including people living with HIV, people with disabilities, internally displaced women, single mothers, mothers of children with disabilities, LGBTI and other marginalized groups
Moldova: The proponents are invited to submit proposals that can be implemented in the two selected districts (Straseni and Falesti) The proposals should suggest capacity development, awareness raising, advocacy, communication, and/or other creative solutions to address gender stereotypes, social norms and discriminatory practices against women and girls in the areas that include but are not limited to:
- Responsible parenting and fatherhood
- Distribution of unpaid care work and freedom of choice in the family
- Women in the labour market (including gender pay gap)
- Women in politics and decision-making, including in security and defense sectors
- Violence against women and girls (including domestic violence)
- Women’s empowerment and freedom of choices
- Education
- Discrimination against vulnerable and marginalized groups of women and men, including people living with HIV, Roma women, people with disabilities, single mothers, mothers of children with disabilities, older women and other marginalized groups.
Ukraine: The proponents are invited to submit proposals that can be implemented at the specific selected locations Kyiv and Odessa (municipalities); Vinnytsia municipality and region; Kherson and Zaporrizhzhia regions. The proposals should suggest capacity development, awareness raising, advocacy, communication, social mobilization and/or other creative solutions to address gender stereotypes, social norms and discriminatory practices against women and girls in the areas that include but are not limited to:
- Responsible parenting and fatherhood
- Distribution of unpaid domestic and care work
- Women in the labour market (including gender pay gap)
- Women in politics and decision-making in public spheres
- Women in security and defense sector, and peace negotiations
- Violence against women and girls (including domestic violence)
- Women and girls in STEM and ICT
- Women’s empowerment and freedom of choices, including reproductive choices.
- Discrimination against vulnerable and marginalized groups of women and men, including people living with HIV, Roma women, internally displaced women, women veterans, people with disabilities, single mothers, mothers of children with disabilities, older women and other marginalized groups.

Funding Information

The budget range for this proposal should fall between a minimum indicative amount of USD 15,000 and a maximum amount of USD 80,000.
The foreseen starting date of the project is 1 October 2021.
The implementation period – minimum 6 months – maximum 12 months.

Eligibility Criteria

Technical/functional competencies required:
- At least 3 years of documented successful track record in the area of work contained
- Proven in-house expertise in working on issues around gender equality, women empowerment, ending violence against women and children, combating gender stereotypes and harmful social norms, as well as delivering results in it.
- At least 3 years’ experience in management of projects with similar size of the one submitted under this Call.
- Knowledge of English. Russian is an asset.
The following competences are considered an asset in proponents’ performance:
- Good knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues, as well as needs of vulnerable groups of women;
- Experience in establishing and nurturing partnerships with local public authorities, non-governmental, media and other stakeholders towards the achieving of set goals;
- Experience in working at national, local and community level.