Consultant on Social and Gender Norms Change to Prevent GBV

The consultant will map and document social and gender norms change interventions aimed at preventing and addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV) within the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. They will develop a comprehensive documentation framework, regional guidance, and a practical Social Norms Assessment Tool to support UNFPA Country Offices in designing, implementing, monitoring and measuring social and gender norms change interventions for GBV prevention.

Responsibilities

• Conduct a comprehensive literature review of global, regional and country-level documents and publications assessing and providing guidance on “what works” in social and gender norms change to prevent and address GBV.
• Identify and document specific tools, indicators and methodologies that have demonstrated effectiveness in supporting social and gender norms change for GBV prevention and response.
• Map existing social and gender norms change interventions at Country Office and Regional Office levels, including developing an inventory of active and past programmes, analysing thematic focus areas and challenges, identifying regional best practices, and identifying critical programmatic gaps.
• Draft a comprehensive regional guidance document on social norms change for GBV prevention aligned with UNFPA’s social norms interventions in EECA.
• Develop guidance to support UNFPA Country Offices in designing, implementing and scaling contextually relevant social and gender norms change interventions aimed at GBV prevention.
• Formulate standards for monitoring and measuring the effectiveness of social norms change initiatives to prevent and address GBV.
• Develop a user-friendly Social Norms Assessment Tool tailored to Country Offices to support planning, monitoring and measurement of normative change, including qualitative and quantitative measures, core indicators, ethical standards, and practical instruments such as scorecards and survey templates.
• Provide short monthly email updates highlighting progress against agreed deliverables, challenges encountered and any support required.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or Ph.D.) in Gender Studies, Sociology, Social Anthropology, Public Policy, International Development, or a related social science field.
• Minimum of 7–10 years of relevant professional experience in programming and evaluating gender equality, social norms change, or harmful practices initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience in designing programmatic assessment tools, monitoring frameworks, or minimum standards for social change.
• Strong familiarity with the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) regional context and UN/UNFPA programmatic frameworks.
• Excellent research, analytical, writing, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and deliver high-quality outputs within strict timelines.
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
• Working knowledge of Russian is a distinct advantage.

Skills

• Gender Equality Programming
• Social Norms Change
• Harmful Practices Initiatives
• Programmatic Assessment Design
• Monitoring Frameworks
• Social Change Standards
• UN Programmatic Frameworks
• UNFPA Programmatic Frameworks
• Research Skills
• Analytical Skills
• Report Writing
• Communications Skills
• Social Norms Assessment Tool Development
• Gender-Based Violence Awareness
• Independent Work
• Project Delivery
• English Language Proficiency
• Russian Language Knowledge

Languages

English, Russian