National Consultant - Development of a National Multi-Sectoral Costed GBV Plan for Liberia

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) remains a critical human rights, public health, and development challenge in Liberia, disproportionately affecting women and girls, particularly adolescents, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups. Despite progress in strengthening legal and policy frameworks including the enactment of the Domestic Violence Act (2019) and the Rape Law (2005) incidents of gender-based violence remains high, and service delivery systems continue to face capacity, coordination, and resource constraints. 

The Government of Liberia has reaffirmed its commitment to eliminating GBV in line with national priorities and international obligations, including the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 5 on gender equality. As the lead UN Agency for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and GBV prevention and response, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) supports the Government of Liberia in strengthening coordinated, survivor-centered, and multisectoral GBV prevention and response systems. 

However, the absence of a comprehensive, fully costed multisectoral GBV Action Plan limits coordinated budgeting, domestic resource mobilization, accountability, and joint implementation across key sectors, including health, justice, education, gender, youth, finance, and local governance. In this context, the Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, in collaboration with UNFPA and with support from the Spotlight Initiative 2.0, seeks to recruit a two consultant (one International and one National) to develop a comprehensive, multisectoral National GBV Costed Plan. The National Consultant will provide contextual expertise, policy alignment, stakeholder coordination, and data support to ensure the plan is grounded in the Liberian context.

The primary objective of this consultancy is to support the development of a comprehensive, multisectoral, evidence-based National GBV Costed Plan that is aligned with Liberia’s national priorities and budgeting systems. Specific Objectives: 

● To provide contextual and institutional analysis of GBV prevention and response systems in Liberia.

 ● To support the identification and prioritization of multisectoral GBV interventions across relevant sectors. 

● To facilitate inclusive stakeholder engagement and consensus-building processes at national and subnational levels

 ● To support the development of a standardized costing framework by ensuring availability and validation of national data and assumptions. 

● To contribute to the development of an investment case for GBV by providing national evidence and policy linkages. To ensure alignment of the costed action plan with national development frameworks, budgeting processes, and the GBV National Action Plan.

The consultant will employ a participatory, evidence-based, and highly collaborative methodology, with a strong focus on field engagement and contextual grounding of all inputs: 

• Comprehensive Desk Review: Analysis of existing national policies, legal frameworks, sector-specific strategies (Gender, Health, Justice, Education, and Finance), current GBV budget allocations, GBV data, and previous national action plans. 
• Stakeholder Mapping & Consultations: Conduct Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), and consultations with government ministries (Gender, Finance, Health, Justice, Education), civil society organizations, grassroots women’s rights groups, UN agencies, and other development partners. 
• Data Collection and Validation: Compilation and validation of sectoral data, service delivery information, and costing inputs.
• Validation and Consensus Building: Facilitating interactive multisectoral workshops to review findings and inputs and ensure stakeholder ownership. 
• Collaboration: Work closely with the International Consultant to ensure alignment between contextual inputs and costing and financing outputs. 

The assignment will be jointly executed by the International Consultant (Lead) and the National Consultant, functioning as a collaborative team.

 ● Facilitate access to national data, including: 

o Government budgets and expenditure data

 o Sectoral inputs for costing 

o Service delivery statistics 

● Compile baseline data and indicators for the Action Plan 

● Validate costing assumptions and inputs with relevant stakeholders. Stakeholder Coordination and Engagement 

● Lead stakeholder engagement processes at national and subnational levels.

 ● Ensure inclusive participation of: o Government ministries and agencies o Civil society and grassroots organizations o County-level actors and decentralized structures 

● Organize and facilitate consultations and technical working sessions.

 ● Document and synthesize stakeholder inputs.

● Provide contextual inputs to inform costing assumptions and parameters.

 ● Review costing outputs to ensure feasibility and alignment with the Liberian context. 

● Support integration of costing outputs into national planning and budgeting processes. 

● Contribute to the development of the financing strategy and investment case. Reporting and Documentation 

● Prepare consultation and analytical reports. 

● Contribute to drafting contextual and implementation sections of the Action Plan. 

● Provide technical inputs into final deliverables led by the International Consultant.

1. Inception Report: Detailing the methodology, costing approach, stakeholder engagement plan, and timeline. (Due: 10 days after contract signing) 

2. Situational Analysis & Context Report: A summary of the desk review and consultations highlighting gaps in GBV systems and financing context. (Due: 25 days after contract signing) 

3. Stakeholder Consultation Report: Detailed documentation of stakeholder engagement processes and findings. (Due: 45 days after contract signing)

 4. Validated Sectoral Inputs for Costing: Consolidated data, assumptions, and sector inputs to support costing (Due 60 days after contract signing) 

5. Validation Workshop Report: Summary of feedback and consensus from validation sessions, adjustments, and consensus achieved during stakeholder validation sessions. (Due: 60 days after contract signing) 

6. Contribution to Final National GBV Costed Plan: Inputs to contextual, policy, and implementation sections of the final document. (Due: 65 days after contract signing)

7. Contribution to the Executive Policy Brief & Investment Case: Inputs to the concise (4-5 page) summary document designed for advocacy and resource mobilization with development partners and the Government of Liberia (through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning as a lead institution).

Location: Monrovia, Liberia, with travel to counties as required. 

Duration: 65 working days

The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the UNFPA Liberia Country Office Deputy Representative and the direct supervision of the Programme Specialist, GBV/Harmful Practices.

 The consultant will maintain close technical collaboration with: 

● The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (policy leadership) through the office of the Deputy Minister for Research, Policy and Planning as the lead government counterpart. 

● The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (budget and financing alignment)

The consultant must meet the following criteria:

•  Strong understanding of Liberia's institutional and policy framework, 
•  Proven experience in policy analysis, qualitative and quantitative data collection, and contextual analysis; ● Familiarity with national budgeting systems is highly desirable. 

Payments will be made against the outlined deliverables as follows: 

● Upon submission of Inception and consultation outputs- 25%

 ● Upon submission of draft inputs for validation, 35% 

● Upon satisfactory completion of final deliverables, 40%.

UNFPA will provide the selected consultant with relevant documents and administrative support services, including internet access at its main Office in Monrovia. The consultants will have their own computer and other IT equipment. 

UNFPA will also connect the Consultants with all key stakeholders for consultation and interviews as may be needed.

Technical Proposal …70%

o Understanding of the assignment 20%

o Relevant experience (25%) 

o Methodology and approach (25%)

Interested consultants should submit the following: 

● A detailed proposal outlining their experience, technical expertise, methodology, and work plan to deliver the consultancy.

 ● A financial proposal that includes a breakdown of costs, specifying a total lump sum amount or daily rate, and terms of payment. 

● A current CV detailing relevant qualifications and experience.