Background/Context

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations (UN), 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 center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the efforts of the UN 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 Women has a universal mandate that encompasses a normative, an operational/programmatic as well as a coordination role, all of which are closely linked with its unique structure. At the core of its mandate, UN Women plays a leading role in supporting governments in delivering on their gender equality and empowerment of women (GEEW) commitments in the SDGs. UN Women is mandated to stimulate and coordinate improved action on gender equality across the whole UN system.

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is the most pervasive human rights violation worldwide. Nearly thirty years after the Beijing Platform for Action, despite unprecedented momentum and commitments to eliminate VAWG, the prevalence has remained persistent. Global emergencies, crises, and conflict have further intensified the drivers and risk factors of VAWG, and digitalization has exacerbated existing forms of violence and led to the proliferation of new forms. In addition, women and girls are likely to experience a continuum of gender-based violence at all stages of migration, which might include bullying as well as verbal, physical and psychological abuse, and sexual violence (including trafficking for sexual exploitation), which are rooted in deeply entrenched gender inequalities and harmful social norms.

Under this framework, UN Women, jointly with ILO, UNICEF and UNODC, and funded by the European Union, are implementing a Project titled “Ensuring Decent Work and Reducing Vulnerabilities for Women and Children in the Context of Labour Migration in Southeast Asia” (PROTECT: Protection of the Rights of Women and Children in Labour Migration). The project is implemented in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand and mainly aims to protect the rights of women migrant workers and migrant children in Southeast Asia through promoting decent work, while reducing the vulnerabilities of women and children in the context of labour migration, and through preventing and responding to violence against women and children, human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

In this regard, UN Women seek a national consultant to support the development of a National Action Plan on Ending Violence against Women (NAPVAW). The main objective of this consultancy is to support the Royal Thai Government in the development of Thailand’s second National Action Plan on Ending Violence against Women (NAPVAW).

Thailand has made significant progress in the area of ending violence against women and girls with the adoption of its first National Action Plan on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (NAPVAW) in December 2025, marking a critical step in strengthening Thailand’s policy and coordination framework to prevent and respond to violence against women. The NAPVAW development process was informed by extensive reviews and consultations to ensure alignment with ASEAN and international standards, including lessons drawn from Thailand’s participation in the End-Term Review of the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls and national consultations for the next ASEAN RPA (2026-2035). Building on this momentum, the work of the national consultant will play a key technical role in supporting and informing the development of the next phase of the NAPVAW in close partnership with government and key stakeholders, ensuring coherence with national priorities and alignment with ASEAN and global commitments on ending violence against women.

This consultancy will contribute to the UN Women Thailand Workplan 2026, Outcome 1.1: The UN Country Team, Government and CSOs coherently and systematically contribute to progress on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment and on the implementation of the CEDAW, Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the SDGs and UNSC Resolution 1325 as well as other global and regional normative frameworks and Output 1.1.1 “Government institutions and UN agencies have changed in skills or capacities attributed to the availability of UN Women's knowledge products and services contributing to global normative frameworks and gender-responsive laws, policy and plans.” It will also contribute to the PROTECT project, Output 1.2: Strengthened capacities of competent regional and national institutions for the formulation, implementation, and monitoring of regional and national frameworks on prevention and response to violence against women, including migrants and Output 2.2: Improved capacities and procedures of key institutions and service providers (embassies, governments, CSOs) to deliver coordinated multi-sectoral survivor-centered support to address VAW at local, national, and cross-border levels, under the overall objective to protect the rights of women migrant workers and migrant children in Southeast Asia.

The consultant will be reporting to Thailand’s Country Programme Coordinator and in day-to-day consultation with Programme Analyst, supported by Programme Associate, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues, including coordination of the procurement processes related to the development of the second NAPVAW.

III. Description of Responsibilities
The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks and deliverables:

Task 1. Develop the consultancy workplan:

• Conduct preliminary consultations with MSDHS and UN Women to develop a draft plan of consultancy activities (virtual or in person).

Task 2. Conduct a Desk Review and develop an inception report:

• Conduct a desk review of existing relevant documents, including the first National Action Plan on Ending Violence against Women, End-Term Review of the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, national and international instruments, as well as others relevant for the assignment.
• Develop an inception report followed by an action plan; the Inception Report should be structured as follows:
• Introduction
• Table of Contents
• Background information (findings from desk review)
• Proposed research design (Description of research methodology and questions, research tools, etc.)
• Proposed field schedule (Data collection, consultative meetings and in‐depth interviews)
• Preliminary list of relevant state and non-state actors to be interviewed, including women survivor of VAWG

Task 3: Conduct and facilitate a series of multi-stakeholder consultations, with governmental agencies, Civil Society Organizations, survivor advocates, service providers, researchers, and relevant parties across various regions in Thailand, to support the Government in developing Thailand’s second National Action Plan on Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW).

• Deliver a presentation and facilitate the workshop, including the review of the relevant documents upon request

Task 4. Draft a National Action Plan on Ending Violence Against Women (NAPVAW) in close coordination with MSDHS focal point based on the findings of the assessment and the literature/desk review.

• Draft a National Action Plan that fully integrates the existing National Action Plan on Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW) and the National Action Plan on Domestic Violence (DV), and that includes a result based logical framework which will include clear indicators, targets, baseline, responsible institutions, and estimated budget for the prospective implementation
• Submit the draft NAPVAW to MSDHS and UN Women for review and inputs

Task 5. Conduct validation workshops (at least 2) of the draft NAPVAW following rounds of consultations and inputs and finalize the draft NAPVAW.

• Incorporate recommendations and agreements from validation workshop into the draft NAPVAW

Submit the final version of the National Action Plan on Ending Violence against Women to MSDHS and UN Women for final review and inputs.

Schedule of Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy. The consultant may be required to travel on official mission, and in such case, the travel will be arranged by UN Women and the costs will be covered based on UN Women travel policy.

Also, UN Women will ensure the procurement processes for services related to venue selection, and other administrative needs related to smooth and efficient implementation of the above-mentioned consultancy.

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or higher in the field of Gender Studies, Social Science, Public Policy, or related development fields; A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of relevant work experience in gender equality, gender and development, and/or human rights, with demonstrated expertise in the development and/or implementation of gender policies and national action plans, including alignment with international human rights standards.
• Proven experience in drafting and/or contributing to publications related national action plans, policy briefs, and gender-responsive or human rights-based curricula, particularly in areas related to gender equality, justice, or security sectors.
• Skills and experience in teaching, research, facilitation of trainings, workshops, or learning programmes are an asset.
• Experience working on violence against women, gender-based violence, gender-responsive conflict intervention, migration, or related social and human rights issues is an asset.
• Previous experience of working with UN Agencies, international organizations, academic institutions, or multi-stakeholder partnerships is an asset.

Languages:

Excellent writing in English and Thai required.

How to Apply

• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• Multimedia work sample or portfolio
• Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as multimedia products, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.

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UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures, and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)