Job Description
Purpose of consultancy:
Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls is at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2021-2025 National Action Plan for Human Rights promotes human rights education and brings gender education practices in line with international standards. The National Gender Equality Plan (2021-2025) mandates gender education for state employees and promotes positive social norms and a culture that is non-discriminatory and violence-free.
The assignment is aimed at development of the methodology materials on psychology counselling of GBV survivors for department of Medical Psychology and Psychiatry of the State Medical University of Turkmenistan.
The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women defines GBV as “a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full advancement of women”.
Turkmenistan reinforced its commitments regarding the SDGs and made new commitments to advance the system for supporting women and girls subjected to GBV within the framework of the National Action Plan on Gender Equality for 2021 – 2025 (NAPGE). The commitments on addressing GBV include advancement of legislation, strengthening multi-sectoral response practices, as well as GBV data and awareness raising.
Gender-based violence (GBV) has been shown to have profound, negative impacts on psychosocial and mental health, and presents a global challenge to gender equality, equity and safety. Women who experience GBV can face rejection from their families and communities, experience stigma and be exposed to ongoing risks of violence. GBV survivors also experience higher rates of mental disorders such as depression, post-traumatic stress (PTS), and anxiety disorders, and are more likely to have attempted suicide. There also appears to be a bidirectional relationship between GBV and mental health problems, in that experiencing GBV seems to increase the likelihood of developing mental health problems, while mental health problems increase the risk of experiencing GBV.
Globally, nearly one in three women (30%) will experience physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) or sexual violence by a non-partner in their lifetime
Mental health problems for GBV survivors occur within a social and cultural context of gender inequality, discrimination, normalization or acceptance of violence against women, and stigma. This broader context shapes the mental health outcomes of survivors and it should be considered by health and mental health providers when working with this specific population.
Turkmenistan published this year the Report on domestic violence survey which identified needs of survivors in integrated service provision. The national capacity in providing the psychology counselling in the country is extremely low, existing few educated psychologists are not employed due to absence of designated labor units in organigrams of service providers. The entry point for educating the psychologists for GBV counselling was selected Medical University due to the following reasons: (1) in majority of cases survivors turn to medical facilities especially with severe cases, (2) the capacity of medical facilities in providing psychology services need to be developed.
UNFPA continues its technical support in the implementation of national priorities on Reproductive Health (RH) and GBV services through the Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework between the Government of Turkmenistan and United Nations for 2021-2025 (UNSDCF) and the UNFPA Country Programme for 2021-2025 (CPD). Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the provision of specialized services to women experiencing domestic violence were developed for healthcare, psychosocial and police sector specialists.
Scope of work:
Two international experts will work in cooperation with faculty members and national specialists and provide tailored technical assistance in the following areas:
The methodology materials should be aligned with UNFPA guidelines on psycho social counseling of GBV survivors. Essential service package for women and girls subject to violence. Core element and quality guidance https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2015/12/essentia...
Survivor-centered approach should be applied to the materials development with focus on delivering services in a way that puts the survivor in control; helping her analyze the available choices and supporting her in making decisions. Implementing this approach in a remote service delivery format comes with unique challenges in ensuring adherence to the four guiding principles: 1) Right to safety; 2) Right to confidentiality; 3) Right to dignity and self-determination; and 4) Right to non-discrimination.
Strategies and techniques should be employed to adapt the GBV guiding principles for GBV support to remote service delivery also.
Methodology materials should also include the following:
Action protocol for situations where the survivor is in imminent danger
Breathing exercises and other techniques for relaxation
Remote case management protocol
Decision making and problem-solving skills and techniques
The international experts’ scope of work is aligned with the program needs described above and agreed with faculty members of the Medical Psychology and Psychiatry department of the Medical University of Turkmenistan.
Duration and working schedule:
Duration of this consultancy is 30 working days, from January 30th till April 10th 2023 including operational closure of the contract.
1. Assessment phase: 5 days
Desk review of existing learning materials and assessing the level of knowledge and skills in treatment by each category through questionnaire (2 day).
Identification of gaps/shortages in learning environment and reporting them (3 days).
2. Actual delivery phase: 21 day
To develop the following three modules for psychology counselling. (11 days)
1.Title: Conflict management, conflict resolution skills
Target audience: Civil registration offices
Beneficiaries who receive counselling: married couples going through conflict situations (3 days)
2.Title: Psychology counselling for survivors of domestic violence. Short and long term strategies in case management
Target audience: Grammatologist medical doctors in admission departments, social workers, psychologists.
Beneficiaries: women who suffer from domestic violence. (4 days)
3.Title: Psychology counselling of victims of sexual violence. Psychology counselling of adolescent pregnant girls.
Target audience: Adolescent reproductive health specialists, child gynecologists.
Beneficiaries: girls who been raped; pregnat adolescent girls. (4 days)
To develop the check lists and indicators for monitoring of protocols compliance. (2 days)
To conduct two trainings 3-day each and one 2-day training on the 1st module (8 days)
3. Analysis and reporting phase: 4 days
Development of a preliminary report, which consist of findings, developed materials and recommendations for its introduction and most effective ways for introduction and proper use. (2 days)
Consultations with the national specialists to clarify agree and fine-tune the developed protocols and training materials. Development of a final report, including an executive summary and detailed bibliography. (2 days)
Place where services are to be delivered:
The consultancy services will need to be delivered both off site and on site. All the logistic and transport arrangements to and from Turkmenistan to be carried out and covered by the UNFPA office in Turkmenistan.
Delivery dates and how work will be delivered:
Dates for deliverables and trainings must be within the months of February –March 2023 and not later than March 20th. Exact dates to be announced upon confirming by the MoH. All deliverables will be provided in an electronic format.
Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:
The UNFPA NPO, Reproductive Health, and an authorised focal point of the Medical University of Turkmenistan will monitor the International Consultant’s work through reviewing submitted materials. The consultant will provide an update on a weekly basis on progress, challenges encountered, and support requirements.
Ethical Considerations
UNFPA requires its consultants to adhere to ethical principles and standards when doing research. The selected consultant should clearly identify any potential ethical issues and approaches, as well as the processes for ethical review in the inception report.
National Ownership
The involvement of appropriate national partners will be a critical condition for the development of the protocols in ensuring stakeholder ownership of the mission and its subsequent use in decision-making.
Supervisory arrangements:
Both of consultants will work on all expected outputs together. The International Consultant will directly report and work under the overall guidance of the UNFPA NPO on reproductive health, along with the overall guidance from the UNFPA Head of Office.
Expected travel:
Travel to Turkmenistan for 12 days is expected. Logistic arrangements such as visa, tickets, stay in Turkmenistan to be arranged by the UNFPA country office. Travel costs will be covered according to the UNFPA’s Duty Travel Policy.
Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:
Recognised international researcher and practitioner with at least 7 years of professional experience in psychology education, psychology counselling in GBV aspects, in humanitarian settings, or emergency situations;
Advanced degree in sciences (Psychology/Psychiatry, Medical Education, Public Health) or a relevant field;
Strong analytical skills with experience in effective, innovative teaching practices in medicine
Ability to work in a team
Demonstrated experience in applying UNFPA and WHO recommendations and evidence gathered from the medical science and clinical field to development of the expected outputs.
Fluency in English. Knowledge of Russian is an advantage;
Familiarity and experience with Central Asian countries or CIS countries is an asset.
Inputs/services to be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner, if applicable:
UNFPA will provide the consultant with all the necessary materials, data, information and available reports. UNFPA Country Office will put together a list of core sources and readings before the start of the consultancy.
Other relevant information or special conditions, if any:
The consultancy fee will be calculated based on the P4 Salary Scale for Professional and higher categories effective 1 January 2022. The fee will be paid in a lump sum upon quality provision of all deliverables.
