Download the call for expression of Interest here.
IT for Change
February 2017
Overview
In January 2017, IT for Change and the WWW Foundation initiated “Online freedom for all = No unfreedom for women”, a project that intends to trigger national-level policy dialogues on balancing the right to free speech online with women’s right to freedom from technology-mediated violence, in 2 South Asian countries: India and Bangladesh. In the current conjuncture, online violence against women has acquired pandemic proportions, and women’s full and free participation in digital spaces is increasingly being thwarted by intimidation and violence. A recent global study by UN Women found that 73% of women have experienced violence online, and women are 27 times more likely than men to be harassed online. Governments, especially in countries in the global South, are yet to bring their laws and institutions up-to-speed, to effectively respond to this issue.
Against this backdrop, the project seeks to address key gaps/lacunae in existing legal-institutional frameworks on technology-mediated violence against women in India and Bangladesh.
Expressions of Interest
IT for Change is looking for a partner organisation in Bangladesh to undertake the following activities between March 2017 to November 2017:
- Convene sub-national/national consultations with key stakeholders (including representatives from government agencies, feminist activists and organizations, legal experts etc.) to scope and articulate critical issues in relation to technology-mediated violence against women (TMVAW).
- Produce short state-of-play issue-papers concerning adequacy and appropriateness of existing laws, policies and institutional mechanisms and emerging issues (such as intermediary liability, culpability etc.). Issue papers must highlight gaps and identify the way forward. It is expected that this process will be informed by desk research and key informant interviews.
- Undertake a campaign that combines offline and digital strategies for bringing visibility to the issue of TMVAW and spreading awareness about its devastating impact on the rights of women and girls.
- Produce a final report highlighting issues identified and a policy brief, with key recommendations on the legal-institutional ways forward.
- Reach policy makers / judges/ nodal agencies in government/ Members of Parliament through a policy round-table at the end of the project period, to share key recommendations.
Eligibility criteria
The prospective partner should be a university department or registered non-profit organization based in Bangladesh with demonstrated experience in women’s rights research and advocacy. Specific experience on violence against women and/or legal services for women is preferred. The applicant is expected to identify a legal expert on gender, whose services they will engage for the project, to produce issue-paper/s, collate the final report with recommendations and support the consultations and concluding round-table.
The total funding available for this project is 13,000 USD.
Details of Application:
Interested applicants should send in an Expression of Interest to itfc[at]itforchange[dot]net by 5 March 2017. The application must include a brief outline of:
- Organisational profile detailing past experience in the domain of women’s rights
- The context of TMVAW in Bangladesh
- Proposed plan for activities with timeline
- Budget (not exceeding 13000 USD)
- CVs of the project lead from the convening organisation and the collaborating legal expert