National coordinator of men engagement and volunteerism programme

TERMS OF REFERENCE (to be completed by Hiring Office)

Hiring Office:

UNFPA Turkmenistan CO

Title:

National coordinator of men engagement and volunteerism programme

Purpose of consultancy:

For nearly three decades, UNFPA has been a strategic partner of the Government of Turkmenistan in empowering women and promoting gender equality. The UNFPA Gender Programme aims to cooperate with government agencies to create comprehensive systems and mechanisms to enable women and adolescents to make informed choices and be protected from violence, and to engage men and boys in promoting positive social norms in society.

Within its mandate and in cooperation with national partner agencies and CSOs, UNFPA CO initiated the interventions within the Youth and Gender programmes aimed at tackling harmful gender norms and gender stereotypes concerning the roles of women and men in the family and in society. 

Thus, in partnership with the State Committee on Physical Culture and Sports and CSOs, UNFPA CO successfully piloted a men engagement project in Ashgabat and 2 velayats: Mary and Lebap to promote gender equality and prevention of Gender Based Violence (GBV) through volunteerism. An assessment of results was held in November 2024, and the recommendations included scaling up the project to cover all velayats and institutionalization with the national partner agencies to ensure the sustainability of the project.

Within this scaling up of the initiative, the UNFPA plans to hire one national consultant to lead the volunteerism programme in Ashgabat, focusing on continuous education of young men and boys in sports schools and of young people with disabilities on gender equality and GBV prevention. In addition to the trainer's responsibilities, the consultant will coordinate 11 trainers of the volunteerism programme in the velayats, focusing on their professional capacity development, quality assurance and proper data management. 

Scope of work:

(Description of services, activities, or outputs)

The deliverables of this consultancy include: 

Coordination phase:

1. Develop and prepare training modules and materials for a 5-day pre-service ToT on understanding gender and developing trainer skills – 5 days; 
2. Conduct a 5-day ToT - 5 days;
3. Facilitate the online and offline meetings and activities organized by UNFPA on the implementation of the programme - 5 days;
4. Collect information and data from all velayats and prepare monthly and quarterly reporting on the progress of the whole programme, with the description of the training conducted, quantitative results, lists of participants, photos, training evaluation summaries; challenges and recommendations for improvement - 10 days;
5. Provide a final report summarizing the achievements, challenges and recommendations, as well as providing quantitative information on the number of young men trained for the whole programme  - 2 days.

Project implementation phase:

1. Recruit 12-15 young people (men and women) to serve as volunteers and conduct activities that promote gender equality in the communities - 10 days;
2. Train the volunteers on their job to promote gender equality, GBV prevention, and equip them with facilitation skills - 10 days;
3. Organize opportunities, secure permissions and for volunteers to conduct sessions on gender equality and GBV prevention among peers in sports schools and in the communities - 10 days;
4. Conduct monthly and regular meetings to coordinate other trainers from different velayat who carry out scaling up activities with volunteers - 10 days
5. Coordinate and collaborate on the data collection for Situational analysis on social norms and gender stereotypes by conducting focus group discussions,  interviews and surveys – 10 days;
6. Lead regular volunteerism programme by providing advisory support and organizing at least once a month capacity development sessions and activities that would benefit volunteers following the developed programme (inviting guest speakers, arranging visits, etc.). The topics will be related to the issues of gender equality, GBV, RH and RR, as well as leadership and interpersonal development, other - 10 days;
7. Regularly communicate with sports schools, regional departments of Physical Culture and Sports, CSOs, hyakimliks, youth councils, other agencies in the community to collaborate and increase the visibility of the programme - 10 days.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables:

The total number of days: 97 working days

Deliverable 1: Provide an interim report for the activities, including ToT, held in June by June 27, 2025.

Deliverable 2: Provide monthly brief updates and an interim report for the third quarter on the progress with the description of the training conducted, quantitative results, lists of participants, photos, training evaluation summaries as well as challenges and recommendations for improvement report for the activities held in July - September by September 27, 2025.

Deliverable 3: Provide monthly brief updates and an interim report for the 4th quarter on the progress with the description of the training conducted, quantitative results, lists of participants, photos, training evaluation summaries as well as challenges and recommendations for improvement report for the activities held in October- December by December 10, 2025.

Deliverable 4: Provide monthly brief updates and a Final report including the information for Q1, 2026 and overall information on the results achieved during the implementation of the scale up phase and recommendations by February 28, 2026.

Duration and working schedule:

Duration of this consultancy is from June 1,  2025 – February 28, 2026

Place where services are to be delivered:

The place where services are to be delivered is Ashgabat and Ahal velayat

Delivery dates and how work will be delivered (e.g. electronic, hard copy etc.):

Dates for deliverables are provided under the section Scope of work. All written deliverables will be provided in an electronic format. 

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:

The National Consultant will report to the UNFPA Programme Analyst on Gender and Youth by providing an update monthly on progress, challenges encountered, and support requirements

Supervisory arrangements: 

The National Consultant will directly report and work under the guidance of the UNFPA Programme Analyst on Gender and Youth 

Expected travel:

No travel is expected 

Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:

• At least a Bachelor's Degree in social work, teaching, social sciences and other related subjects or equivalent;
• Minimum 2 years of experience as a social worker or a trainer working with young people and people with disabilities;
• Direct experience working with CSOs in Turkmenistan;
• Knowledge of cultural, social norms, customs and gender in Turkmenistan;
• Excellent Turkmen/Russian speaking and writing skills are required, and proficiency in English will be an asset. 

Inputs / services to be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner (e.g support services, office space, equipment), if applicable:

UNFPA will provide the consultant with all the necessary training materials and lesson plans. However, additional information will be identified by the Consultant through desk reviews, consultations in the community, and other.

Other relevant information or special conditions, if any:

The consultancy fee will be calculated based on GS-2 level of the UN salary scale for General Service Category, effective 1 November 2020 and will be paid upon quality provision of the deliverables as follows:

Instalment 1 upon completion of Deliverable 1 by June 27, 2025

Instalment 2 upon completion of Deliverable 2 by September 27, 2025

Instalment 3 upon completion of Deliverable 3 by November 30, 2025

Instalment 4 upon completion of Deliverable 4 by February 27, 2026