National Consultant – Digital Literacy and Hate Speech Trainings and Community Dialogues

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the efforts of the United Nations system to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. UN Women provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Security Council resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325), unanimously adopted in October 2000, stressed the importance of the equal participation and full involvement of women in all efforts to maintain and promote peace and security. It created a robust framework for implementing the WPS agenda and reinforced global, commitments, treaties and conventions on women’s rights, including the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. In the lead up to the 20th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), we see that the work of women peace advocates on the ground often remains unrecognized, undervalued and underfunded.

In this context, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have an acute, multifaceted impact that may contribute to a deeper global crisis or feed additional conflict with especially dire consequences for women and girls. Conflict-affected countries are at “highest immediate risk” of COVID-19 and the world’s most high-risk countries are three times more exposed to epidemics, such as COVID-19. Therefore, the response to COVID-19 must similarly build on and support the capacities of women, especially women peacebuilders. Women peacebuilders need to be an integral part of the COVID-19 response early on. Women’s participation in conflict prevention, resolution, peacebuilding and recovery is not only an essential element of sustaining peace, it is a proven, effective and cost-effective approach for the longer-term peace outcome. In the context of COVID-19 pandemic, social cohesion, conflict prevention, safeguarding and protecting peacebuilding gains in fragile locations is a primary focus. They also need to be resourced to do that work and be part of any national or local structures on deciding the way forward with the response.

Since the re-emergence of conflict in 2004, women and other marginalized groups in the southern border provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and some districts of Songkhla of Thailand have suffered the heaviest casualties. Women have been made widows and heads of households but are deprived of their opportunities to earn the necessary income and raise their young families in a secure environment. The violent conflict does not only bring threats to personal safety, but also affects economic survival and the overall quality of life in the deep southern region. The impact of COVID-19 has proved to further reverse the limited progress that has been made on gender equality and women’s rights with social and economic consequences for women and girls. In addition, COVID-19 has exacerbated gender inequalities and, in some cases, social tensions. Both on- and offline, hate speech, fake news, discrimination and stigma are rampant as a result of the virus’s quick spread. Violent groups are likewise capitalizing on the spread of COVID-19 to advance their agendas. COVID-19 may become a driver of conflict, with devastating impacts on women and girls. In light of these developments, it is of particular importance to enhance women and young women’s abilities to promote social cohesion and awareness in their communities and to enhance their digital literacy so that they can engage positively online.

Building on 20 years of experience in the area of women, peace and security (WPS), including conflict prevention and resolution, peacebuilding, security sector reform and access to justice, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has been working to ensure a gender sensitive approach to promoting social cohesion, preventing violent extremism, and countering hate speech at the regional level. It is an approach firmly based on the empowerment of women to build resilient, cohesive and peaceful communities, with a focus on those that are most marginalized and in particularly vulnerable situations. One of the components of this work is the empowerment of women, especially young women, to promote social cohesion and counter hate speech in their communities.

In this regard, under the DFAT contribution to Women, Peace and Security Global Facility: From Resolutions to Accountability and Leadership in the context of COVID-19 pandemic,  UN Women will promote women and girls’ meaningful participation in sustaining peace processes including conflict resolution, prevention of violent conflicts, and preventing violent extremism (Outcome 2) with the expected outputs including Output 2.2: Peace process actors have increased evidence-based knowledge and Output 2.3: Peace process actors have strengthened knowledge, capacity and expertise. It intends to address the needs and amplify the voices of women and girls in conflict-affected areas and will continue to provide the technical support to women and girls in promoting social cohesion and resilient communities through capacity building on media and information literacy, as well as to monitor, report and counter hate speech. In this connection, UN Women will recruit a consultant to facilitate community and university-based dialogues to discuss the promotion of social cohesion and peaceful co-existence and the role women play in prevention of terrorism, violent extremism and hate speech in the Southern Border provinces of Thailand.

UN Women Thailand in partnership with governments, civil society, research institutes and think tanks will also implement the project “PEACEBUILDING IN A PANDEMIC: Empowering Women to Promote Social Cohesion and Prevent Terrorism and Violent Extremism in the Context of COVID-19 in South and Southeast Asia” (“Empowered Women Peaceful Communities- Asia”) in Thailand with the aim to empower women in the South Border provinces of Thailand to build resilient and peaceful communities and prevent extremist violence as well as to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. In realizing this goal, UN Women Thailand will focus on achieving the following two outputs: (i) Women have increased resources and capacity to lead efforts that build resilience and social cohesion in their communities; and (ii) Governments have increased access to the necessary gender expertise and women’s groups have increased capacities to influence the development of gender-sensitive policies to prevent and counter terrorism, violent extremism and hate speech. 

In this regard, UN Women is seeking for a national consultant to conduct community dialogues/trainings of women and community leaders and members on counter-hate speech and promotion of social cohesion and deradicalization in communities in the Southern Border Provinces to empower women to build resilient, cohesive and peaceful communities to prevent radicalisation and violent extremism and produce awareness advocacy materials on prevention of hate speech and promotion of positive message and social cohesion in the Southern Border Provinces of Thailand for distribution through traditional media and non-traditional media channels.

Under the supervision of the Country Programme Coordinator for Thailand, the primary role of the Consultant includes:

• Conduct community dialogues/trainings of women and community leaders and members on counter-hate speech and promotion of social cohesion and deradicalization in communities in the Southern Border Provinces;
• Produce awareness advocacy materials on prevention of hate speech and promotion of positive message and social cohesion in the Southern Border Provinces of Thailand for distribution through traditional media and non-traditional media channels;
• Document best practice and lessons learned of entrepreneurship program for selected women entrepreneur groups in the Southern Border Provinces and provide recommendations on future interventions on women’s economic empowerment.

Expected deliverables and timelines 

Supervision
The consultant will work under the direct supervision of Country Programme Coordinator for Thailand, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific who will be responsible for the quality assurance of the deliverables.

Contract period and work location
The time required for the consultancy is within the period from 15 September 2021 to 30 June 2022 (10 months). For upcountry assignments, UN Women will be responsible for the accommodation and travel expenses for any cost incurred during assignment period. 

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent analytical skills
• Strong networking skills
• Strong inter-personal skills, communicate effectively with staff at all levels of the organization
• Ability to work in a highly pressured environment

Education:

• Master’s degree in the field of Communication Science, Social Science, Political Science, international relations, international development, gender studies, conflict/humanitarian action or other related areas.

Experience:

• Minimum of 3 years of experience in researching and capacity building in the area of Women, Peace and Security, peacebuilding and deradicalization in the Southern Border Provinces of Thailand.
• Familiarity with UN agencies, government agencies and/or non-profit organisations in the southern border provinces of Thailand is preferred.

Language requirement and report writing skills:

• Proficiency in Thai.
• Proven experience in report writing and technical consultancy on thematic areas of Women, Peace and Security, peace building and deradicalization in the Southern Border Provinces of Thailand.

Evaluation
Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis:

• Technical qualification (100 points); weight: (70%)
•  Financial proposal (100 points): weight (30%)

A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interviews.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technically qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Submission of application

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to [email protected], with cc to [email protected], not later than 07/09/2021.

Submission package includes: 

• Cover letter outlining relevant work experience and updated CV;
• UN Women Personal History Form(P11);
• Minimum of one writing sample;
• Financial proposal which shall specify a total lump sum amount, breaking down the daily professional fee, proposed number of working days for each deliverable. Please see the financial proposal template as below: