Project “Making a difference for refugee women and girls in Serbia“ is carried out by NGO Atina with the support of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund)

Targeted Municipalities: Belgrade, Pirot (with Dimitrovgrad), Vranje (with Bujanovac and Presevo), Subotica, Kikinda, Sid (with Sremska Mitrovica), Banja Koviljaca (with Loznica), Sjenica (with Tutin)

Published on January 15^th, 2020

 

INTRODUCTION

UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) supported Atina – Citizens Association for combating trafficking in human beings and all forms of gender-based violence through a 3 years long project “Making a difference for refugee women and girls in Serbia". Project goal is aimed at enabling refugee and asylum seeking women and girls in Serbia to be safer and better protected against VAW/G, especially VAW/G survivors. For those purposes Atina must achieve 3 main results: 1. Refugee and asylum seeking women and girls in Serbia have increased agency to respond and prevent VAW/F; 2. That Refugee and asylum seeking women and girls in Serbia survivors of VAW/G receive appropriate and adequate service and that 3. Refugee and asylum seeking women and girls in Serbia are empowered for active participation and leadership.

 

RATIONALE

Starting from mid-2015, when the European refugee and migrant crisis erupted, the Republic of Serbia has been in its epicenter, being the central country on the migratory route. From then on, hundreds of thousands of people from numerous Asian and African countries, but primarily from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan transited through Serbia on their way to central and western Europe. In March 2016, the migratory route was `officially closed`, as part of the Turkey-EU political deal which aimed at managing further course of the crisis. This caused the refugee wave to dwindle down, but it did not prevent it fully. Refugees and migrants continued coming to Serbia, only to a smaller extent, and with prolonged stay on its territory, due to objective obstacles related to border-crossing from Serbia to Hungary and Croatia. As the refugee situation in 2015 and early 2016 was marked by a large daily influx of people and their fast move through Serbia, the approach of the state-run institutions as well as the local and international CSOs active and present in the field was largely humanitarian. However, the migrant situation in 2017 and 2018 and up until now (early 2020) has been characterized by the so-called long stay, which means that most of the refugees and migrants are residing in Serbia for several months or years. According to official estimates from the late 2019, there were over 4,000 refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in Serbia, mostly residing in one of 17 state-run asylum and reception centers. The majority of refugees and migrants who are currently residing in Serbia originate from Afghanistan, and then from Iraq, Pakistan, Iran and some other countries; around 2/3 of them are men, and 1/3 women and children, many of whom are unaccompanied minors.

The situation of long stay affected the changes in the approach of both state and non-state service providers, as they designed or developed longer-term programs of support. Migrant women and children, being the most vulnerable ones, remain at high risk of different forms of violence and exploitation, such as physical, psychological and sexual abuse, labor and sexual exploitation, forced prostitution, survival sex, forced and child marriages, etc. Given all this, in 2016 the Republic of Serbia has with the support of UNFPA, developed a document entitled Standard Operating Procedures for the Prevention and Protection of Refugees and Migrants from Gender-Based Violence (SOPs). As stated in the document itself, it was designed in order to “standardize, harmonize and coordinate the work of all participants engaged in the protecting migrants from gender-based violence”. Moreover, the SOPs document is aimed at providing all relevant and interested parties with the same information and equal understanding of the risks that gender-based violence victims are exposed to. This is necessary in order to design and deliver appropriate support to (S)GBV survivors and persons at risk among refugee and migrant population, a support which is based on their real needs and to refer them to specialized services. In addition to presenting international and local respective legislative framework, defining the notions, general principles and purposes, the SOPs also proscribe minimal standards in dealing with the victims, processing the cases of gender-based violence, procedures and obligations within different sectors and services, as well as the coordination between these sectors. In this regard, the SOPs document is intended for all institutions and organizations which provide assistance, support and protection to refugees and migrants in Serbia, and particularly to those operating along the migration route. These are, first of all, (local) police units and (regional) police departments, health care centers, competent public prosecutor's offices and courts of general jurisdiction, centers for social work and other social care institutions providing accommodation services, centers for family accommodation and adoption, national institutions competent in the field (Ministry of Labor, Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, Ministry of the Interior, Asylum Office), local and international organizations (Red Cross of Serbia, UNHCR, UNICEF, etc.). Having all this in mind, the SOPs appear to be an important tool for guiding competent authorities and other relevant stakeholders on how to deal with (potential) victims of gender-based violence among refugee and migrant population. However, the largest number of these actors has yet to be acquainted with the SOPs and to be trained on how to use them. Here lies the basis for the proposed action, as it intends to widen the scope of utilization of the SOPs document by competent authorities and other actors across Serbia, as described in the following section.

NGO Atina is a civil society organization founded in 2003 with the aim of combating human trafficking and all forms of gender-based violence and supporting the victims. For the last 17 years, Atina has been providing comprehensive support to sexual and gender-based violence survivors, including safe accommodation, case management, psychological support, economic empowerment, education, cultural mediation, etc. For this entire period, Atina was the sole provider of the safe shelter specifically designed for to support of HT survivors in Serbia. In 2018, Atina licensed a social service – assisted housing, and therefore gained equal status to other state-run social service providers in Serbia. Furthermore, in 2015 Atina founded its social enterprise – Bagel Bejgl bakery shop, aimed at training and empowering sexual and gender-based violence survivors, as they belong to hard-to-employ social group. As of 2015 and the eruption of the European migration crisis which spilled over into the Republic of Serbia, NGO Atina has, taken an active role in coping with its consequences, and in assisting the most vulnerable ones among this population – women and children. Given these new circumstances, Atina extended its support programs in order to properly respond to the specific needs of the migrant and refugee group, which was fleeing away from devastating conflicts in Middle Eastern, North African, and other countries. In the last five years, Atina implemented numerous projects and continues to maintain those designed to support refugees and migrants, to decrease risks of GBV among this population in general, and among women and children as the most vulnerable ones in particular, thus improving their overall living conditions while they reside in Serbia. For the time being, NGO Atina has versatile and valuable experience in providing support to gender-based violence survivors among refugees and migrants, and most notably women and children. This makes NGO Atina one of the most engaged NGOs in Serbia in relation to understanding this beneficiary group, its needs, and challenges they encounter in the protection system.

 

SCOPE OF WORK

For the purpose of the project, it is necessary to choose one trainer to conduct a particularly important indicator of the project connected to Capacity Building which consists of:

• 8 trainings delivered regarding  to Access to rights and services for refugee and asylum seeking women and girls in Serbia
• 125 professionals from competent institutions and organizations, but as well policy makers  (disaggregated by gender and type) are trained in effective detection of GBV cases, reporting and referring to specialized services
• 90% of stakeholders participating in trainings demonstrate a minimum of 15% improvement in knowledge in pre-/post-training test scores (disaggregated by gender)

Chosen trainer will have the responsibility to provide 8 trainings in targeted municipalities: Belgrade, Pirot (with Dimitrovgrad), Vranje (with Bujanovac and Presevo), Subotica, Kikinda, Sid (with Sremska Mitrovica), Banja Koviljaca (with Loznica), Sjenica (with Tutin)  for the relevant local authorities and NGOs to know how to deliver age- and gender-appropriate support to GBV and HT survivors. In particular, local authorities and NGOs will know how to provide specialized assistance to refugee and asylum seeking women and girls in Serbia VAW/G survivors through early identification, child-centered responses, and support to victims placed in alternative care. Trainer will train stakeholders, service providers, policy makers  and authorities to recognize signs, mitigate risks, and provide victim-centered support at the national level, as well as in eight municipalities

As a result of these trainings, it is expected that capacities and expertise of professionals from competent institutions and organizations, but as well policy makers  enables eficient access to rights and services for refugee and asylum seeking women and girls in Serbia.

 

Obligations and responsibilities of the trainer:

A.        Get to know the project

B.         Get to know all developed documents for the project;

C.         To participate in regular project team meetings;

D.        To develop program for the training and implement 8 trainings in different local communities;

E.         To develop comprehensive report on implemented activities.

 

Specific responsibilities of the Trainer are:

1. To prepare and assess for the specific task (it is necessary to get to know more ab out the local context of the municipalities in which trainings will be provided, also to understand more about migration issues specifically in the context of GBV)
2. To create a methodology as well as pre- a well as creation of pre-and post- knowledge tests and plan of implementation
3. To implement 8 trainings in municipalities
4. To report of training implementation and its accomplishments

Implementation of the trainings should last from 2nd of March until 1^st of December, 2020.

Timeframe	Activities
10/02/2020 – 17/02/2020	Preparation and assessment for the trainings
17/02/2019 – 24/02/2020	Preparation of the methodology  as well as creation of pre-and post- knowledge tests and plan of implementation
02/03/2020 – 01/12/2020	Implementation of the trainings
02/03/2020 - 01/09/2020	First reporting of the trainings implementation
01/09/2020– 01/12/2020	Second reporting of the trainings implementation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BUDGET:

NGO Atina will negotiate number of days of engagement with the selected consultant on the basis of the financial offer (gross amount) that will classify the following:

	Activity description	Days	Rate per day	Total
Activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3
Activity 4

*Add columns as needed depending on the number of activities needed to perform the assignment

            Subtotal                                               USD__________

            Other costs (specify)                           USD__________

            TOTAL                                               USD__________

The total cost should cover all preparatory work regarding the job description, communication costs between Project team, consultants and organizations (e-mail, telephone, fax, mail).

 

BIDDING PROCEDURE

Interested consultant should develop and submit the bidding proposal in English language to respond to above mentioned specific tasks no later than 5th February, 2020. The bidding proposal should include:

1. Description and contact details of the trainers applying;

2. A detailed Budget Proposal (in the required form);

3. CV of trainers involved emphasizing only relevant experience;

4. Past performance in similar areas of a trainers applying, with reference of previous contracting agencies.

 

SELECTION CRITERIA

Project team will make a decision on the selection of the most successful bidder, subject to the available budget, on the following four criteria:

• University degree in the relevant field;
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience;
• Experience of the candidate in performing similar projects or programs;
• An example of previous work as a reference of previous experience is desirable.

 

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF BID

All bids need to be submitted no later than 5ht February 2020 at 5PM in electronic version, to the email marija.pantelic@atina.org.rs. A selection will be made no later than 6th February 2020 and the selected consultant will be contracted no later than 7^th February, 2020.

Only the selected candidate will be informed.

 

 

 

 

The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) is the only global grant-making mechanism dedicated exclusively to addressing all forms of violence against women and girls at local and national levels. The three priority areas of their focus include preventing violence, expanding access to services for survivors, and strengthening the implementation of national laws.