Call for Proposals - Spotlight Initiative for Civil Society Organisations across the Caribbean to Host the Caribbean Observatory on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme
 

The Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme invites interested Civil Society Organisations across the Caribbean to apply on the following to:

I. BACKGROUND 

In September 2017, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) launched an ambitious joint partnership to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls (VAW/G) worldwide. The Spotlight Initiative (SI) aims to mobilise commitment of political leaders and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Initiative aims to end all forms of violence against women and girls, targeting those that are most prevalent and contribute to gender inequality across the world. The SI deploys targeted, large-scale investments in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Pacific and the Caribbean aims to achieve significant improvements in the lives of women and girls.  

Complementing the Spotlight country programmes in six Caribbean countries (Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago), the Regional Spotlight Initiative focuses on four (4) pillars of programming: i) working to ensure institutions are gender-responsive; ii) establishing comprehensive and evidence-based prevention programmes aimed at changing social norms and gender stereotypes; iii) promoting the collection and use of quality, comparable data to inform public policy, advocacy, policy making, and delivery of complimentary services to improve prevention; and iv) supporting autonomous women’s movements to influence, and monitor policy and to ensure accountability.

The regional programme complements the investments of regional institutions and aims to contribute to the scale, sustainability, visibility, lessons learnt and replication of programming throughout the region. It will address specific regional institutional bottlenecks that impede or limit the reach of technical support to respond to and prevent family violence in CARICOM member countries. In particular, the regional programme will support the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organisation of Easter Caribbean States (OECS) as the two inter-governmental frameworks leading functional cooperation in the region. It is a timely injection of technical expertise and resources to ensure that the COVID-19 response is shaped by involvement of women in all diversity in community and national decision making to ensure the accessibility of services and approaches to prevent and protect against family violence. 

The regional programme will add value in a number of ways, including:

• Support the integration of protection and prevention programming within the COVID-19 national and regional action plans, during the crisis response and in the recovery phase
• Ensuring that countries without a country level Spotlight programme benefit from the regional public goods developed through the regional programme
• Supporting regional integration and functional cooperation both within and between regional institutions as approaches to ending family violence are mainstreamed into approaches to crime and security, health, justice and data and research
• Build capacities of regional level organisations to provide technical support to national institutions that will contribute to sustainability
• Support the demands of civil society for inter-governmental and state action and accountability to end family violence.
• Provide models for Caribbean specific community approaches to support behavioural and cultural change.

The expected results include:

Institutional strengthening:

• Regional intergovernmental institutions (security, justice/judiciary, police, disaster reduction response (DRR), social welfare and health sectors) will have the capacities (through the generation of knowledge, standardised tools/protocols and financial resources) to detect, prevent, monitor and respond to family violence and to drive improvements in comprehensive multi-sectoral response and delivery of essential services at country level; including in relation to the COVID-19 response.

Prevention approaches: 

• Model of cultural and behavioural change across the life course driving primary and secondary family violence prevention and sexual and reproductive rights programming across the region;
• Institutions of socialisation (schools, youth groups, families, faith-based institutions and cultural influencers) mobilised and equipped to implement and monitor prevention programmes based on best practices in changing unequal gender norms, harmful stereotypes and ending family violence against women and girls; and
• Regional models for tertiary prevention for perpetrators of family violence strengthened and accessible for national level implementation.

Research and Data:

• The generation of regionally agreed protocols and standards for the collection, analysis, use and reporting of administrative data on family violence to be implemented at national level;
• Expansion of the CARICOM pool of experts on family violence data management, strengthened data collection and analysis on VAW/G including in the context of COVID-19; and
• New knowledge on the linkages between family violence and vulnerable population groups and the economic costs of family violence that will inform resource allocations for comprehensive national level approaches. 

Supporting women’s movement:

• Women’s organisations across the region more effective and with greater population reach in their advocacy, programming and influencing and monitoring of state and inter-governmental accountability to end family violence;
• Organisations providing services to victims of family violence resourced for rapid response to the COVID crisis; and
• Intergenerational connectivity between women’s organisations across their diversities for sharing practices and as a platform for regional social accountability.

II. SCOPE OF WORK 
 
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), through the Spotlight Initiative, seeks to establish a Caribbean Observatory on SRHR under Pillar 3 of the Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme contributing to “strengthening regional cooperation to prevent and respond to family violence in the Caribbean”. The Observatory as an output of the broader Spotlight Initiative will contribute to the achievement of Outcome 3.2: Advocacy platforms are established/ strengthened to develop strategies and programmes, including community dialogues, public information and advocacy campaigns, to promote gender-equitable norms, attitudes and behaviours, including in relation to women and girls’ sexuality and reproduction, self-confidence and self-esteem and transforming harmful masculinities.

UNFPA seeks expressions of interest from civil society organisations (CSOs) with a regional scope working in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) representing vulnerable populations.
 
The Caribbean Observatory on SRHR is to be set up and led by a CSO. It is aimed at advocating for strengthened policy and programmatic linkages between family violence and SRHR, which will improve coverage, access to, and uptake of both SRHR and GBV services for vulnerable populations, and promote social monitoring towards the advancement of integrated SRHR/GBV in the region. The Observatory will also provide timely and independent analysis and will serve as an advocacy platform for change of harmful social norms across the Caribbean, promotion of south-south cooperation, innovation and expertise.

It is being established under Pillar 3 of the Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme and will also contribute to the realisation of Pillar 5. The pillars and outputs are as follows:
 

Pillar 3: Prevention 
The work around the Caribbean Observatory on SRHR will contribute to the realisation of:
 
Outcome 3: Gender equitable social norms, attitudes and behaviours change at community and individual levels to prevent violence against women and girls, including family violence

Output 3.2: Advocacy platforms are established/ strengthened to develop strategies and programmes,  including community dialogues, public information and advocacy campaigns, to promote gender-equitable norms, attitudes and behaviours, including in relation to women and girls’ sexuality and reproduction, self-confidence and self-esteem and transforming harmful masculinities.

Pillar 5: Data
It will also contribute to the realisation of:

Outcome 5: Quality, disaggregated and globally comparable data on different forms of VAWG, including family violence, is collected, analysed and used in line with international standards to inform laws, policies and programmes

Output 5.2: Quality prevalence and/or incidence data on family violence, is analysed and made publicly available, and relevant data used for the monitoring and reporting of the SDG target 5.2 indicators to inform evidence-based decision-making.

                                  
III. REQUIREMENTS AND COMPETENCIES 
 
Organisations wishing to apply to host the Caribbean Observatory on SRHR should meet the following requirements and competencies:

1. Interested and committed to host the Observatory in the short and also long term
2. Be a CSO with a regional scope working in SRHR and in at least two intersecting areas from the following: prevention, mitigation and response of violence against women and girls; gender equality women’s empowerment; child protection; human rights; and access to justice
3. Have experience working with different grassroots and vulnerable populations including women, adolescents and members of the LGBTQI+ community
4. Proven experience in and technical capacity for advocacy, policy dialogue around SRHR and lobbying for policy and legislative reforms
5. Strong understanding of gender equality and women empowerment principles, community mobilisation and engagement for social norms change
6. Have the capacity to undertake communication for development
7. Possesses technical capacity to manage programmes and projects effectively
8. Possesses a high capacity to foster partnerships and coordinate with other stakeholders
9. Experienced in resource mobilisation and effecting sustainability initiatives
10. Be registered by the relevant bodies
11. Have established physical offices/presence in several countries across the region
12. Have a pulse for what is happening on the ground in relation to SRHR
13. Previous experience working with UN agencies is an asset but not mandatory.

IV. SUBMISSION DETAILS
 
Only Expression of Interest Forms submitted in English will be considered. Those wishing to apply shall submit the following:

1. Letter of Expression of Interest (ANNEX 1);
2. Application Form for Proposals (ANNEX 2);
3. Evidence of established management structure (i.e. organogram/ organisational structure); 
4. Copy of valid legal registration in the country;
5. Documents such as past contracts, donor reports are desirable but not mandatory;
6. Previous audit report is an asset but not mandatory.
7. Past annual financial statement(s) is required

VI. TIMELINES
 
Interested civil society organisations should submit their Expression of Interest, Call for Proposals and supporting documents by Friday, 23rd July 2021 hour 11.59 PM EST by email to srocprocurement@unfpa.org.
 
Expected timeline of the process from the selection of an implementing partner to the endorsement of the partnership is as follows:

• Advertisement of the Call for Proposals Friday, 9th July 2021
• Expression of interest and Call for Proposals submitted Friday, 23rd July 2021 11.59 PM (EST time).
• Selection and contact of shortlisted partners by Friday, 6th August, 2021
• Development of partnership and signing of Implementation Agreement with work plan on Friday, 20th August 2021

For further questions regarding the process please contact: srocprocurement@unfpa.org.

Note:

• There is no application, processing or other fee at any stage of the bid solicitation process. 
• UNFPA does not solicit or screen for information in respect of HIV or AIDS and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.