Together for Equality: Preventing and Responding to Gender-Based Violence in Timor-Leste

Deadline: 15-Apr-24
UNDP is looking for civil society organizations and NGOs to submit proposals for a UN Joint Program titled “Together for Equality: Preventing and Responding to Gender-Based Violence in Timor-Leste,” for enhancing efforts to ensure that all women and girls in Timor-Leste can enjoy their right to live free from gender-based violence, and access quality essential services.

The project supports Timor-Leste’s implementation of the National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence, led by the State Secretary for Equality and Inclusion (SEII), along with key line ministries and civil society organizations. The project will reach approximately 200,000 direct beneficiaries in three municipalities (Dili, Baucau, Covalima) and the special administrative region of Oecusse (RAEOA), complementing other initiatives to eliminate GBV across all municipalities in Timor-Leste.

The UN Joint Program’s Objectives

• Prevent gender-based violence, in particular sexual harassment and other forms of violence against women and girls, before it happens or before it re-occurs.
• Empower survivors of gender-based violence, especially women and girls, to recover and rebuild their lives through improved access to multi-sectoral services and public spaces.
• Enforce implementation, monitoring, and adequate resourcing of legislation and policies that address violence against women and girls (VAWG) in public spaces, in the context of disaster risk reduction and promote gender equality more broadly.
• Addressing GBV requires a multi-sectoral approach. UNDP’s support focuses on strengthening the justice system to be more gender-sensitive and -responsive. Under Together for Equality, the UNDP’s expected Output and support areas are:
  • Output 2.2: Enhanced capacity of the justice and law enforcement institutions to provide survivor-centred access to justice for women, including survivors of gender-based violence.
    • Activity 2.2.1. Provide technical assistance to the PDO and CSOs’ in-house lawyers to enhance their knowledge, skills, and systems to handle GBV cases
    • Activity 2.2.2. Provide legal outreach and consultations on GBV and existing systems, institutions and procedures in place through PDO’s Access to Justice Clinics in the Dili, Baucau, Suai, and Oecusse Judicial Districts
    • Activity 2.2.3. Provide technical assistance to the PNTL and Office of Prosecutor-General in developing the institutional capacity in the GBV case management and protocols
    • Activity 2.2.4. Conduct monitoring on GBV cases in trials in the permanent and mobile courts and support advocacy

Grant Objectives

• Increased awareness and knowledge by legal professionals and practitioners in CSOs, NGOs and other rights defenders about gender-based violence and existing remedies and redress mechanisms to enforce them at national and/or regional level;
• Increased ability of CSOs and other rights defenders to develop a litigation strategy and communicate and advocate around it and to bring strategic litigation cases before national courts and other regional bodies;
• Strengthened abilities of legal professionals and practitioners in CSOs and other rights defenders to cooperate and engage in litigation practices to assist individuals in making effective use of available remedies to enforce their rights under national law and international human rights treaties;
• Advocate for improved legal service in the handling of GBV cases to be more survivor-centred and trauma-informed.

Funding Information

• Proposal Budget: The total amount of the grant available per organization is $15,000.
• Proposal implementation duration: The time-period for implementation is 5 months (from May 2024 to September 2024)

Eligibility Criteria

• The offeror and its relevant staff members should be a Timor Leste non-governmental organization (NGO), Civil Society Organization (CSO), or Foundation with the operational mandate in supporting GBV survivors.
• The offeror should have office in Timor Leste.
• The interested organizations/foundations should reflect a strong gender balance.
• The offeror should have the capacity to deliver quality services in a timely and professional manner.
• Organization 
  • Availability of legal documents of the organization issued by the Ministry of Justice
  • A minimum of 5 years of experience in advocacy and gender-based violence related issues
• Project Team 
  • A Team Leader/Manager with at least five years of relevant experience
  • Legal officers, paralegals and/or field staff on legal/social protection of GBV survivor with a minimum of 2-3 years of experience
  • Expert-level knowledge and experience of criminal proceedings and GBV protection and response in the formal justice system and international standards
  • Coordination skills with the rule of law institutions and other government bodies
  • Strong case management, monitoring, and reporting experience
• Head of CSO/Network 
  • Demonstrated experience of designing, implementing, managing, and monitoring programmes and projects.
  • Demonstrated experience of effectively and efficiently managing finance with accountability and transparency

For more information, visit UNDP.