Consultant on strengthening case management response services for married girls

The purpose of the International Consultancy is to undertake a situation analysis on existing case management response for married girls in 3 countries in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Lao PDR and the Philippines) and support the rollout of the 2025 guidance on design and implementation of response services for young and adolescent married girls in at least 3 countries across South and Southeast Asia. 

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

1. Accelerated progress on meeting the unmet need for family planning.

2. Accelerated progress on ending preventable maternal deaths.

3. Accelerated progress on ending gender-based violence and harmful practices, including child marriage.

4. Strengthening societal resilience by adapting to demographic change through evidence-based policies.

Outcome 3 of the Strategic Plan responds to SDG Target 5.3 (eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early, and forced marriage). Despite global progress, East Asia and the Pacific remain home to 95 million women and girls married before age 18. The 2026–2029 Strategic Plan emphasizes integrated programming that bridges humanitarian and development actions, ensuring that support reaches the most vulnerable in a period of global polycrisis.

While response services for married girls are often underdeveloped or lack survivor-centered integration with child protection, this consultancy builds upon the technical guidance developed in 2025 to strengthen social workforce capacity and referral mechanisms.

The UNFPA Asia and Pacific Regional Office aims to support Country Offices with practical, survivor-centered guidance to respond to the needs of those in a child marriage, in alignment with relevant global standards for survivors of GBV.  To facilitate this, UNFPA APRO seeks an Individual Consultant to 

• Conduct a Situation Analysis:  Identify and assess relevant national and subnational guidance materials, including procedural manuals for social service delivery. This includes a deep-dive analysis into the GBV and Child Protection frameworks of 4 selected countries to map legal mandates, service providers, and existing capacity-building initiatives. 
• Rollout the guidance developed by UNFPA APRO in 2025: Building on the 2025 Case Management for married girls toolkit, facilitate the practical rollout of these tools. This involves supporting at least 4 countries across South and Southeast Asia in adapting the guidance to local context and conducting training  on the tools, where possible. 

The total duration of the consultancy will be 94 working days between June - 15th December 2026.   The selected consultant will develop a workplan in consultation with the UNFPA APRO GBV and HP team.

Place where services are to be delivered:

Home based with travel to UNFPA Country Offices as needed.

Delivery dates and how work will be delivered:

Payments will be made in installments (total 3 installments) based on supervisor approval of each deliverable.

Each payment will be released upon submission and formal acceptance of the corresponding deliverable by the GBV Technical Specialist, UNFPA Asia and the Pacific Regional Office (APRO), in line with the agreed deliverable schedule.

Payment Schedule: 

• Payment of the 1st instalment will be made after acceptance of deliverables 1-4
• Payment of the 2nd instalment after acceptance of deliverable 5-6 
• Payment of the 3rd or final instalment upon acceptance of deliverables 7-8

Expected deliverables include: 

1. Review Pakistan’s SOPs (shelters& Helpline), Anti Rape Crisis Cell Guidelines National Framework to End Child Marriage, and develop guidance on referral between GBV and CP services. (online) (estimated required 8 workdays)
2. TOT on new tools for strengthening case management for married girls in Pakistan (including contextualising training package and conducting the TOT)- In-person (estimated required 8 days)
3. Four (4) national webinars for Pakistan CO (online) (estimated required 4 workdays)
4. Three (3) Coaching and mentoring session for Pakistan CO (online) (estimated required 4 workdays)
5. Comprehensive analysis of 3 selected SE Asian countries detailing frameworks, service availability, and access to services for married girls.(estimated required 24 workdays)
6. Localized tools for implementing the guidance on case management for married adolescents in at least 3 target countries and support to the roll out through online or on site consultations/training.(estimated required 35 workdays)
7. Regional report with summary of desk reviews, key gaps identified during rollout, and programmatic recommendations (estimated required 5 workdays)

      8. Regional webinars to support roll out of localised tools and resources. (estimated required 6 workdays)

Monitoring and progress control:

A work plan/delivery monitoring schedule will be determined by APRO and the Consultant at the outset of the consultancy. A tracking sheet will be used to note progress against the TOR deliverables and deadlines.   

Supervisory arrangements: 

The consultant will report to the UNFPA APRO GBV and HP Technical Advisor and work closely with the GBV and HP team.

Expected travel:

Travels to UNFPA Country Offices or other venues are anticipated, with exact dates and duration to be determined based on the need at the time of deployment. Travel expenses will be covered by UNFPA as per Travel policy.

Inputs / services to be provided by UNFPA:

The consultant will use their personal laptop/computer.  UNFPA APRO will link the consultant to Country Office Gender/GBV focal points wherever necessary. 

Other information:

The consultant will use his/her personal laptop/computer.  

Master’s degree with specialisation in relevant areas such as social sciences, gender/GBV, or child development/protection.

Professional Experience and Required Skills:

• At least seven years of specialised experience in design, delivery and monitoring of GBV case management services
• At least four years of specific experience in programming with married girls and/or child survivors of sexual violence or harmful practices
• Demonstrated experience in development of community engagement strategies/models to involve communities in protection and empowerment of adolescent girls and/or married girls   
• Demonstrated record of developing guidance and training materials to build capacity of frontline GBV/HP practitioners in adolescent-friendly approaches to response service delivery 
• Strong consultation and interviewing skills
• Excellent writing and documentation skills 
• Working experience in the Asia Pacific Region and previous experience with UNFPA is an asset
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work within different cultural environments

Proficiency in English required

UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click here to learn more.

Selection may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, and other administrative requirements. 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts.