UN Women inviting Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Deadline: 24 May 2020

UN Women CO BIH seeks to engage three (3) civil society organization (CSOs) (one per each funding objective), that will contribute to achieving UN-Women CO BIH Strategic note Impact 3: Women and girls live a life free of violence and Output 3.3.1. Service providers have improved capacities for service delivery for survivors of violence against women and girls. By building on the results achieved by different stakeholders in ending violence against women in Bosnia and Herzegovina, UN Women particularly seeks to support the provision of specialized and multi-sectoral services to survivors of domestic violence, violence against women and sexual violence in the post COVID 19 recovery phase by addressing the challenges emerged as a result of pandemic.

With this Call for Proposal, UN Women seeks to contribute to increasing the quality of response to survivors of domestic violence and violence against women in light of COVID19 response and recovery guided by Declaration of the Committee of the Parties to the Istanbul Convention during the outbreak of the current pandemic of COVID-19.

Namely, UN Women seeks to support:

Enhancing the provision of specialized services in post- COVID 19 recovery period;
Enhancing multi-sectoral response to domestic violence survivors in post COVID 19 phase and
Harmonization of legislation and capacities to provide response to sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina with Istanbul Convention.

Guiding Principles

Submitted proposals should include following guiding principles:

Evidence-based programming, building on lessons learned and recommended practices, to ensure optimal results and use of resources;
Coordination and multi-sectorial partnerships, including among government, nongovernmental, women’s and other civil society organizations and networks;
Participatory approach in designing activities and improvements, making sure implementation of the “leave no one behind” principle;
Commitment to sharing knowledge, by documenting, evaluating and disseminating results, and working with UN Women staff in the process;
Priority placed on consistency of activities and sustainability of results beyond the project duration.

Objectives

Under this call, UN Women will support three (3) CSOs, one per each of the following funding objectives:

Funding objective 1: Partner that includes sub-partnerships of CSOs providing specialized service
- Rapid needs assessment of the shelters as well as other feedback collected from the field, showed structural and capacity-related issues in the provision of specialized services for domestic violence survivors. Service providers are under-capacitated and burned out, facing serious challenges to provide services in the time of social distancing and hampered access to general services.
- In order to address some of the outlined challenges, successful proposals should encompass some of the following elements:
  - Increasing and strengthening capacities of service providers for provision of specialized services (falling within these categories: procurement of outdated or missing equipment /furniture in the shelters; procurement of communication software for provision of specialized services; supervision for professionals providing services; support to exit strategies for survivors leaving the shelters; support for economic empowerment schemes/plans/programmes specifically targeting survivors of DV, and other well justified needs for strengthening capacities as described by the applicant);
  - Assessment of capacities, good practices and challenges in provision of specialized services during COVID 19 crisis and post-COVID 19 phase. Assessment should be used for strengthening policy and/or capacities of service providers to enable continuing provision of services to domestic violence survivors in crisis or emergency situations.
  - Note: submitting proposals do not have to address all of the above elements to be eligible. All expressed needs for increasing and strengthening capacities of service providers to provide specialized services should be well justified in the proposal submission.
Funding objective 2: Individual partner or partner that includes sub-partnerships
- Emergency situations in RS, BD and FBiH indicated a special protocol for institutions providing immediate response to survivors of domestic violence. Referral mechanism were reportedly not functioning as before, and provision of multi-sectoral services has been a challenge.
- In order to address the above-mentioned challenge and contribute to adaption of provision of multi-sectoral service in emergency and crisis situations, successful proposals under this objective should include one or more of the following elements:
  - Assessment of the provision of multi-sectoral service to survivors of domestic violence during COVID 19 crisis. Assessment should be used to understand good practices and challenges in access to and provision of services during COVID 19 crisis and to develop proposals on how to enhance these services;
  - Assessment of policy and legislation in relation to provision of multi-sectoral services to survivors of domestic violence in emergencies and crisis situation. Assessment should be used to enhance current policies to address the gaps found in provision of services during COVID 19 pandemic;
  - Outreach and/or media campaigns addressing the consequences of COVID 19 to survivors of domestic violence and increase of domestic violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Funding objective 3: Individual partner or partner that includes sub-partnerships
- Limited available researches on sexual violence against women in BIH show a poor rate of reported cases. Fear of social stigma and repercussion, uncertainty of survivor if violence constitutes a criminal act, doubts in the legal system are among causes for poor reporting (SOC, 2017). Mapping of sexual violence services indicate there are no rape crisis centres in BiH that provide services such as medical and forensic examination or support and counselling, as stipulated by the Istanbul Convention (WAVE, 2019). Convention requires from the state to take necessary legislative or other measures providing a coordinated response of institutions and organizations to a case of violence as well as protection and support to survivors of all forms of violence against women (Istanbul Convention, 2011).
- In order to address the above-mentioned issue, successful project proposals should include one or more of the following elements:
  - Assessment of the policy and legislation in BiH and its harmonization with Istanbul Convention. Assessment should be used to develop a policy proposal for harmonization of legislation with the standards of Istanbul convention;
  - Assessment of the type, capacities, quality and availability of services for survivors of sexual violence. Assessment should be used to develop proposals for enhancing the provision of services (such as guidelines, protocols, training packages, minimum standards, etc.);
  - Outreach/media campaign raising awareness about the presence and consequences of sexual violence in BiH, including addressing the stigma related to survivors of sexual violence.

Competencies

Technical/functional competencies required:
- Registered civil society organization working in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- Detailed information of the previous experience in the implementation of programs in the area of combating violence against women and gender equality;
- Proven experience in monitoring human rights policies and standards, designing and advocating for policy options;
- Priority will be given to proposals that foster cooperation and networking with other non-governmental and governmental institutions.
Other competencies, specific to the funding objectives:
- Funding objective 1: Priority will be given to proposals that are targeting all shelters for survivors of domestic violence in BiH. Submitting CSOs should have at least 5 years of experience in direct provision of specialized services to survivors of domestic violence and cooperation with other CSOs in the implementation of similar projects;
- Funding objective 2 and 3: Priority will be given to proposals that will form wider partnerships and cover larger territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina (within and across Federation of BiH, Republika Srpska and District Brcko)