RFP-AFG-AFC-009- Provision of Consultancy Services GBV

Terms of Reference for Danish Refugee Council (DRC) GBV consultant on engaging men and boys on GBV prevention – Afghanistan

GBV consultant will be responsible for developing context-specific, community-based GBV prevention content and training material focusing on the engagement of men and boys in reducing violence through behavioural change and transformation; Offer continued training, capacitation and mentoring of DRC protection staff on the safe facilitation of GBV prevention sessions among communities, GBV prevention programming, safe handling of disclosures; Provide workshops and training to strategic partners (external to DRC) on this approach to GBV prevention.

Country Office

DRC Afghanistan

Project Area

Kabul, Nangahar, Herat, Kandahar

Consultancy timeline

6 months from the signature of the contract

Introduction

1. Objectives of the consultancy

DRC will pilot, with an aim to continue build and expanding, a GBV prevention programme focused on the engagement of men and boys in the reduction of GBV. The rationale for this initiative stems from the acknowledgement that in the current context in Afghanistan, response interventions to GBV abuses are presently heavily constrained in their quality and scope of action. Given the scarcity of safe spaces and access to female service providers, DRC aims to invest in the prevention of GBV at the community level, with the intention of addressing root causes of GBV. There is widespread evidence of high prevalence of GBV within the communities where DRC operates. Therefore, we intend to establish a community-based approach to GBV prevention, with a focus on engaging men and boys on accountable practices towards violence reduction. In the longer term, the program will seek improve the awareness and change behaviours within communities themselves so that they can become active agents in in reducing the risk of GBV. The focus of the program will be to engage men and boys.

The development of the prevention curriculum will draw from internationally or locally available and tested curricula such as (but not limited to) the IRC Engaging Men through Accountable Practices (EMAP). The curriculum will need to be tailored to the Afghanistan operational and socio-cultural environment. The sessions will be designed in a practical and interactive manner, including discussions and games to help community members acquire a better understanding of the key drivers and contributors of GBV, and will work with participants to gradually develop the tools to become proactive in preventing such forms of violence from reoccurring. The trainers and facilitators of the sessions will support men and boys to become actors of change and ultimately help transform their communities.

DRC recognizes that the successful impact of this pilot depends on strong trainers and facilitators that will deliver the sessions, who themselves need to be comfortable in discussing issues related to gender and have undergone some degree of self-reflection regarding their own experiences and struggles around such themes. In other words, trainers and facilitators will only be successful if they themselves practice personal accountability and self-reflection and analyse how they may be contributing to violence against women and girls. For this reason, DRC intends to invest significantly in capacitating staff including through the hiring of a national or international consultant with proven experience in delivering trainings on these curriculums. DRC will continue to monitor progress of staff will be monitored and “GBV prevention champions” will be identified among staff. These champions will then be selected to facilitate sessions among selected groups within target communities.

Female staff will also receive trainings on the GBV prevention framework for women and girls. . Recognizing that any prevention intervention must be linked with GBV services (including health and reproductive health), DRC is also considering identifying health clinics focused on reproductive health for women. DRC will assess the opportunities for training women health workers, nurses, midwives from these clinics on GBV awareness and prevention. Trained staff can then support in raising awareness on GBV prevention and services among women and girls who receive treatment in their clinics. Finally, DRC will continue to align with ongoing initiatives from the GBV sub-cluster to engage communities on these topics through different means. In particular, DRC will also be adopting interventions such as the ‘community dialogues on GBV’ that are being developed by the GBV sub-cluster as a means to increase outreach and encourage safe disclosures and responses. Adding to this, DRC will also initiate community-led safety audits to better understand the prevalence and risk of GBV within communities and prevailing perceptions around such issues.

2. Context

The current complex crisis in Afghanistan has had a disproportionate impact on women and girls. Although updated and accurate data on gender-based violence is non-existent in Afghanistan, observations from protection monitoring analyses, and information shared to from the GBV Sub-Cluster partners, as well as available national statistics, indicate that violence against women and girls continues to be a serious threat. According to UNAMA (November 2021), Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of violence against women globally, with 9 out of 10 women experiencing at least one form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime.

Capacity to respond to GBV cases is currently constrained by the limited services available for women and girls, and insufficient number of shelters. Disclosures on abuses are also rendered more complicated as women are not allowed to go anywhere without a mahram (male guardian), which hinders their ability to seek out help independently.

A key driver of GBV are traditional gender norms and a patriarchal culture which have long contributed to reinforcing discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan, compounded by poverty and severe economic hardship which forces households to resort to harmful comping mechanisms (including forced and early marriage). This has resulted in a variety of factors influencing GBV at many levels including individual (poverty, illiteracy, unemployment), inter-personal (unequal relations due to gender inequality), community (lack of support to victims, lack of security, lack of decisive treatment to offenders, restrictive access to justice for women) and societal (weak governance, corruption and a continued culture of impunity). The present limitations in capacities to respond to GBV abuse highlights the need to continue investing on sensitizing communities on drivers of GBV and forms of gender inequality and to constructively engage all members within a community to become active agents of change in reducing violence against women and girls and transforming stigmatising beliefs and behavioural practices which drive abuses.

3. DRC in Afghanistan

DRC has worked in Afghanistan since the 1990s, through Humanitarian Mine Action, and expanded its scope and reach of programming in 2011 to provide multi-sector and holistic packages of assistance. We currently work in four regions of the country (West, East, South and Central), focusing on the most vulnerable and at-risk of conflict and natural disaster-affected populations, including IDPs, host communities and documented/undocumented returnees.

Under the Strategy 2025, DRC Afghanistan will implement a comprehensive programme aimed at increasing protection and enhancing inclusion across Emergency, Protection, Economic Recovery, Shelter & Settlements, Camp Coordination and Camp Management, and Humanitarian Disarmament & Peacebuilding sectors. Due to the unpredictability of the Afghan context, DRC will maintain capacity to respond to sudden and large-scale emergencies, while also promoting the transition to long-term recovery programming.

In Afghanistan, DRC is currently implementing a general protection programme. Interventions and services under the protection programme include non-specialised case management, protection monitoring, cash for protection, non-specialised psychosocial support, non-specialised legal counselling and support to civil documentation.

The key focus of the mission for the period 2022-2025 is multi-sectoral integration. DRC Afghanistan is uniquely positioned to leverage on complementarities of its complex portfolio to strengthen the impact of its programming on hard-to-reach communities. The overall goal of DRC Afghanistan’s multi-sector programme is to promote favourable conditions for shock and displacement-affected communities to seek safety, claim their basic rights and pursue self-reliance.

DRC mission in Afghanistan currently operates across 12 provinces from four Area Offices and one Country Office. The mission includes more than 600 staff, for a projected portfolio of approximately 50 million USD for 2022.

the consultancy

The objectives of the consultancy are the following:

1. Conduct a review of existingGBV prevention material, particularly material for engaging men and boys on GBV prevention that is available internationally or in-country. These may include IRC-EMAP, Raising Voices-SASA! or other curricula. Identify content that is appropriate to use in the Afghanistan context including through consultations with the GBV sub-cluster and other GBV actors in the country.

2. Develop a curriculum for the engagement of men and boys on GBV prevention at community-level that is adapted to the Afghan context, taking into account socio-cultural sensitivities. For this purpose, established material such as EMAP, SASA! or others can be drawn from. The content of the curriculum should seek to develop community-level interventions that lead to behavioural change, changes in mindsets, attitudes and belief systems that are driving harmful practices and GBV.

3. Develop a curriculum/ material for the engagement of women and girls in GBV response/ prevention at community-level including help women and girls gain a better understanding of different gender roles, power dynamics, the different types of VAWG and to safely report abuses. Given the sensitivities associated with these topics in Afghanistan, the consultant will work closely with the protection coordinator and other GBV actors to identify safe ways to approach these topics and necessary adjustments to terminology, delivery methods of the sessions in each of the areas where DRC has a presence.

4. Develop and facilitate a capacity building plan for DRC staff (including both male and female staff) on this content for DRC protection staff across 4 area offices of Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar and Herat and staff located in field offices (Ghazni, Kunar, Farah). The purpose of the training to DRC staff has a dual purpose:

   1. Allow staff to acquire familiarity and ease in discussing topics around GBV and gender equality. Help staff to question, deconstruct their own personal biases around these topics in a non-judgemental and safe space setting.
   2. Train staff on the content of the GBV prevention curriculum including facilitation/ communication skills and on how to identify warning signs of GBV and how to safely approach survivors and when/how to report.

5. Evaluate learning progress of staff and community groups to identify “GBV prevention champions” who can lead in rolling out these curricula among community groups. This includes:

   1. In coordination with DRC MEAL team, develop a M&E plan/tools to track learning of staff around GBV and GBV prevention topics (for instance through pre-and post-tests of staff or others as appropriate).
   2. Support in developing a MEAL approach to assessing changes in learning and awareness among community groups.
   3. Apply these tools to closely monitor and assess staff as appropriate in order to identify those who would be comfortable, most appropriate to facilitate sessions on GBV prevention among community groups.

6. Provide ongoing mentoring to staff throughout the consultancy period. This includes rotational visits to all area offices for face-to-face capacitation of staff and follow up, on the job mentoring and job-shadowing while staff conduct facilitation of sessions with the communities. In the last stage of the consultancy, identify “GBV champions” who will lead on rolling out this initiative at the community level by facilitating sessions to community groups. This will require the consultant to shadow the sessions to assess facilitation skills and provide on the job training and capacitation to these staff.

7. Plan and deliver workshops on the curriculum developed to protection cluster partners/ trainings and capacitation to GBV partners at the GBV sub clusters in those areas (Kandahar and Herat) where DRC is co-coordinating the Protection cluster.

8. Identify recommendations on the way forward on ways to safely expand this pilot to additional areas/ communities and on programmatic adaptations to consider.

consultancy deliverables

The ultimate deliverables of this consultancy will be:

1. A contextually relevant/safe curriculum on GBV prevention. The curriculum should outline a community-level approach or set of interventions aim at changing behaviours and harmful practices on VAWG through:
2. Engaging men and boys in the prevention of GBV.
3. Encouraging women and girls’ participation on dialogues around VAWG and empowering women and girls on how to safely disclose and report abuses.
4. A training guide for practitioners/ staff to aid the proper facilitation and implementation of the GBV prevention curriculum developed.
5. An M&E plan, methodology and tools for:
6. Assessing DRC staff performance, change in attitudes and knowledge on gender and GBV;
7. Measuring the impact the GBV prevention interventions within communities, in particular focusing on the impact the curriculum has on behavioural transformation among session participants.
8. On-site training to DRC staff across 4 areas (Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat and Kandahar) throughout the consultancy period. This includes formal trainings, mentoring and on-the-job coaching and shadowing to ensure staff are comfortable in delivering the content of the curriculum and are able to deliver it appropriately and safely. This will require the consultant together with the support of the protection coordinator develop a workplan identifying the number of trainings, sessions to be conducted in each DRC office and the amount of the consultant will need spend in each Area office on a rotational basis. This program will be based on the recommendations of the selected consultant.
9. Two (one-off) workshops to protection cluster partners in Herat and Kandahar to introduce the GBV curriculum developed, its approach and methodology. This could help to expand its use and help identify other partners willing to pilot it in Afghanistan.
10. 1 Training to DRC partners working on GBV who are interested in piloting the curriculum.
11. End of consultancy report with recommendations for the way forward.

Timeline

Please find below a tentative timeline (in months) for the assessment for reference

Task/Milestone

Month

• Consultancy kick-off meeting;
• KIIs with key GBV actors in Afghanistan and review of existing (international or local) curricula on GBV prevention
• Development of Afghanistan-specific curriculum on GBV prevention
• Introductory visits to all of DRC Area offices to understand staff capacities/ level of awareness
• Rotational visits to all DRC Area offices to train and mentor DRC protection staff on the curriculum
• Tracking progress of staff learning/ attitude towards GBV
• Identification of ‘GBV prevention Champions’
• Piloting the curriculum among communities (trainer to shadow staff doing the facilitation and provision of on-the job training)
• 1 Training to DRC partner on the curriculum
• 2 Workshops to protection cluster members.

*A degree of flexibility can be granted on the proposed timeline based on consultant’s recommendations (max 2 additional weeks). Based on funding availability the timeline of this consultancy may be extended.

DRC contribution

DRC protection coordinator and protection specialist will be appointed to support the selected consultant throughout the duration of the project. The protection coordinator and protection specialist will be available to as well as accompany the selected consultant during field visits, support during interviews and with the trainings’ arrangements and delivery, based on the consultant’s recommendations.

During the field visits to Nangahar, Herat, Kandahar for trainings, accommodation can be provided by DRC in DRC standard accommodation. Training halls, stationery, and refreshment for training participants can also be provided by DRC.

DRC would also facilitate the visa process for international consultants.

The cost of travel and other expenses should be included in the overall quotation for the service.

Consultant Profile

The successful applicant will have demonstrable experience and access to Afghanistan, and expertise in conducting trainings on gender and gender-based violence to a diverse group of participants with differing level of knowledge and/or awareness on these issues

. Some of the key requirements are:

1. An advanced University Degree in Gender Studies, Development Studies, Social Sciences, psychology or an equivalent will be an added advantage.
2. Demonstrated at least 5 years of experience in facilitating trainings including conducting Training of Trainers (ToT) on GBV response and prevention.
3. Demonstrated experience on GBV programming in fragile/developing contexts. Knowledge of community-based interventions for GBV and the engagement of men and boys on GBV prevention will be an added advantage.
4. Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of a local language (Dari and Pashto) is a strong asset.
5. The candidate should either be already based in Afghanistan or will need to be willing /capable to come in Afghanistan for this assignment from the second month of the consultancy onwards.
6. Understanding or previous experience in working in Afghanistan is a strong advantage.

Documents to be submitted

1. DRC Annexes: Supplier Registration form, Supplier Code of Conduct, and General Condition of Contract.
2. Detailed proposal, outlining the proposed methodology for the work
3. A detailed work plan for the consultancy (see timeline above)
4. A CV demonstrating relevant experience to the project, including two referees (with phone number and email address)
5. Sample of comparable work (both research and training materials)
6. Detailed budget covering all fees and expenses, which details costs required for each component of the assessment and deliverables
7. At least 3 references related to relevant work previously conducted

COMMITMENT to principled service delivery

In light of the current context in Afghanistan and the sensitivity of the matter treated under this consultancy, the selected consultant shall commit to the following the following principles throughout the entire duration of the engagement with DRC and with regards to the use of the materials collected during the service after the end of the work:

1. Do no harm
2. Free prior informed consent
3. Informant/Trainee confidentiality
4. Protection of information
5. Non-discrimination and respect
6. Ethical data collection
7. Holistic participation
8. Collaborative learning
9. Cultural sensitivity

Evaluation of consultants

• Administrative Evaluation

A bid shall pass the administrative evaluation stage before being considered for technical and financial evaluation. Bids that are deemed administratively non-compliant may be rejected. Documents listed above shall be submitted with your bid

• Technical/financial Evaluation

Technical/Finance proportion: 75/25

Minimum passing technical score 50

The technical criteria for this consultancy and their weighting in the technical evaluation are:

Technical criteria #

Technical criteria

Weighting in technical evaluation

1Technical quality of the research proposal35%

1.2Demonstrated understanding of requested deliverables, all important components of the ToR are sufficiently addressed and considered 20%

1.3Style, language, sophistication, and presentation15%

2Expertise and access40%

2.1Demonstrated previous experience of working in Afghanistan or other fragile/development contexts5%

2.2Presence in Afghanistan or capacity to deploy to Afghanistan for the duration of the assignment 10

2.3Demonstrated experience in conducting, gender, GBV trainings or similar10%

2.4Demonstrated experience in developing/ adjusting training materials and content to ensure relevance to the operational/socio-cultural context.10%

2.5Fluency in English and Knowledge of Dari and/or Pashto5%

3Personal Qualifications (of staff involved in the project)25%

3.1An advanced University Degree in Gender Studies, Development Studies, Social Sciences, psychology or an equivalent15%

3.2Must have a minimum of 5 years of experience in facilitating trainings or facilitating training of trainers (TOT). Must have demonstrated experience in GBV programming particularly in the engagement of men and boys on GBV prevention.10%

Note: Shortlisted candidates who pass the technical evaluation will be interviewed by the DRC technical team.

How to apply

Interested firms or individuals who wish to participate in this project are invited to submit their proposals through the link provided below. The proposals should comply with the requirements and specifications outlined in the Request for Proposal (RFP) document. The deadline for submission is [5th July 2023]. The evaluation criteria and the terms and conditions of the contract are also available in the RFP document.

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