Deadline: 6-Oct-22
UN Women seeks a registered non-government organization to strengthen and support capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) to design, implement, and monitor/mentor programming on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG).
This is a key part of the work for women’s rights groups, autonomous social movements, and relevant CSOs, including those representing youth and groups facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination/marginalization, for more effective influence and for advancing progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment and ending violence against women and girls, including domestic violence and intimate partner violence.
The Spotlight Initiative will contribute to the elimination of domestic violence, including intimate partner violence (DV/IPV), by responding to the needs of women and girls and addressing the underlying causes of violence against women and girls, using a multi-sectoral and intersectional approach across the ecological model. This will involve strengthening and widening partnerships and solidarity across civil society, government, media, private sector, and development partners.
Civil society organizations (CSOs) play a crucial role in advancing shared strategic objectives to promote gender equality, women’s rights and empowerment as well as addressing VAWG at all levels. CSOs continue to be an important constituency, working to hold the government accountable to deliver on commitments. However, despite the potential of civil society and women groups to advance women’s rights, including ending VAWG, they have faced gaps in funding, strategy, and capacity.
Funding Information
The budget range for this proposal should be USD 350,000.
Eligible Activities
In order to implement this component, UN Women Timor-Leste Country Office requires an organization or partnering organizations with capacity to carry out the following activities:
- Facilitate institutional capacity assessment of emerging CSOs and grassroots groups representing marginalized women and girls, such as LGBTI community, people with disability, domestic workers and other organizations’ program activities, internal policies, management capacity and structures, etc.
- Deliver technical assistance including training and mentoring informed by capacity assessments to increase readiness of organizations to access EVAWG funds from both national and international sources.
- Facilitate opportunities for local and grassroots CSOs to access funds for strengthening their EVAWG programming. These funds will be used to support their organizational development in EVAWG programming so they can:
- Prioritize critical capacity actions to bolster their governance, management capacity and structures
- Enhance their internal governance capacities of organizations through improvements in organizational policies and identification of key legal and regulatory frameworks (for example codes of conduct on sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment, domestic violence, human resources policies, financial management policies, legal registration)
- Enhance their capacity to undertake evidence-based advocacy and service delivery with concrete results
- Enhance project cycle management skills, including project formulation, managing budget and finance, project implementation, monitoring, evaluation, learning and reporting
- Access training on the fundamentals of gender equality, lobbying, and advocacy especially as they relate to ending EVAWG
- Access training on collecting and using data as evidence for lobbying and advocacy
- Receive mentoring on leadership skills to play an active role in communities in preventing and responding to VAWG and caring for organizations and people (including self-care)
- Access training on proposal writing, reporting, monitoring and evaluation tools, and donor liaison, fundraising, and provide mentoring after the training.
- Facilitate dialogue with development partners, government, and donors for strengthening ownership of EVAWG efforts and explore finding availability.
- Support design of public communication tools to raise the profile of organizations (some nationally and some internationally) and support in publishing and assisting in lobby and influence with development partners and government.
- Identify funding opportunities for local organizations, including the assessing barriers to accessing funds, building awareness of regional and global funding on EVAWG, and exploring potential for a self- sustaining fund for women’s rights
- Provide analysis and documentation of funding barriers and collaborate with UN Women toward engaging the Office of the Prime Minister and other international organization’s funding mechanisms to develop guidelines on support to EVAWG granting,
Eligibility Criteria
Women’s organizations or entities are highly encouraged to apply.
Technical/functional competencies required
- Organizational experience and credibility on programming for ending violence against women and girls, gender, and development
- A proven commitment to delivery of results in a professional manner (able to provide records of successful projects)
- Expertise in results-based management for CSOs and grassroots groups
- Proven experience and success in capacity development and technical support to CSOs and grassroots groups
- Relevant experience in partnerships with UN Women, other UN agencies, government of Timor-Leste, or other development actors
- Has internal programmatic, administrative, and financial processes in place to ensure delivery of quality, cost-effective and timely programme results
- Has grassroots presence/outreach in relevant communities
- Has adequate numbers of professional staff with adequate qualifications and experience
- Previous experience with UN Women, other UN agencies or significant non-government donors
Governance and management structures:
- Officially registered in Timor-Leste (in a consortium or joint proposal one organization must have this status)
- Has a Board of Directors/ managing committee or an appropriate governance structure which are politically impartial, and review key decisions affecting strategy, partnerships, programmes, finance, and procurement.
- Key decisions are subject to review by a committee of the Board.
- Has no conflict of interest between staff in the organization and UN Women.
- Has an anti-fraud and corruption policy and consistently implements the policy
- Has in place policies and procedures regarding data privacy and data protection
- Has gender considerations reflected by proportion of women in management and Board of Directors. Has the capacity to follow the UN Protocol on Allegations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, including reporting requirements to UN Women
Financial and administrative structures:
- Has and follows written and transparent financial and administrative rules and regulations
- Has a clear system for procurement and subcontracting with appropriate checks and balances
- Has clear documented procedures and internal controls governing the payment cycle (requisition, approval, disbursement versus cash, vouchers etc.;
- Has segregation of duties in receipt and management of funds. Payments require two or more signatures;
- Is subjected to regular external audits (separate from donor mandated programme specific audits);
- Previous unqualified audits available for the past 3 years.
- Has a sustainable financial position
Other competencies, which while not required, can be an asset for the performance of services
- Experience managing programmes funded by the European Union
- Joint applications or consortium involving organizations representing diverse stakeholders are strongly encouraged (noting that submission should be made by one organization as the overall lead or coordinating entity)
For more information, visit https://www.unwomen.org/en/programme-implementation/2022/09/call-for-proposals-unw-ap-tls-cfp-2022-004-building-capacity-of-csos-in-evaw