Result of Service

The ultimate result of this consultancy is supporting the preparation of the Regional Report on Elderly Abuse.

Work Location

Somalia

Expected duration

2 Months

Duties and Responsibilities

Background: The issue of older persons abuse has been receiving increasing attention. United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 66/127 recognized June 15th as the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Multiple global and regional frameworks, including MIPAA, recognize the need to protect older persons from abuse as a priority for their wellbeing and empowerment. Although a binding global comprehensive human rights instrument on older persons rights has not yet been developed, many countries have moved towards adopting legal and policy frameworks on older persons as well as other laws that criminalize abuse of older persons. As countries across the globe move towards ageing societies, a paradigm shift in understanding the full range of older persons rights is needed to empower older persons and protect them from abuse. In the Arab region, family members, especially women, continue to act as primary care providers for older relatives as social norms dictate a sense of duty to support and protect older family members, and in many instances stigmatizes the use of formal care services, especially long-term care institutions. However, these social norms are slowly changing as a result of migration, urbanization, increased life expectancy and behavioral changes. Shrinking families are finding it increasingly difficult to care for older persons in light of growing economic hardships, internal and international migration, the lack of adequate social protection systems and increased longevity, and limited knowledge of the skills needed to provide appropriate care for older persons, thus creating increased stress on care providers. Older persons in the region today are more prone to live alone, suffer from ill-health, income insecurity, and exclusion. In light of the domestic and private nature of providing care for older persons, elder abuse becomes more difficult to detect, acknowledge, and address in the Arab region. To date research on elder abuse in the Arab region remains very limited. Large-scale prevalence studies are non-existent; however, the few available studies indicate that elder abuse is on the rise. The research reviewed on elder abuse in the Arab region for the most part focused on understanding the types and scope of elder abuse, in addition to the institutional framework and protection mechanisms. The majority of the literature adopted a qualitative research methodology. One angle that would benefit from more research is the prevalence of ageism, the limited understanding of older persons human rights, and their impact on perceptions and perpetration of abuse both by caregivers and by older persons themselves. Caregivers, especially family members, are more prone to commit abuse against older persons if they don’t recognize that their behavior is abusive in the first place. Similarly, older persons may not be aware of the abuse they suffer from, given some social norms and expectations that may cloud their judgment of what constitutes abuse. To address this knowledge gap, ESCWA and UNFPA are developing a study on elder abuse in the Arab region. This study aims to unpack the perceptions of elder abuse from an older persons’ rights perspective in selected countries in the Arab Region and analyze the influence of perceptions on the occurrence of abuse, especially against older women. The study report will seek to propose a comprehensive framework of policy solutions to fight abuse against older persons, including through improving recognition of abuse, proposing interventions targeted at family and care providers, and offering policy advice on means to enhance detection, assessment, and protection mechanisms. The proposed methodology and outline of the report: The study will adopt a qualitative research methodology. The methodology will include primary data collection in addition to desk research. To that end, focus group discussions and key informant interviews would be conducted with older persons and caregivers (including family members, health providers, care homes, etc.) and policy stakeholders in four selected country case studies. The methodology will ensure a specific focus on older women through the design of the questionnaires, etc. Duties and Responsibilities: In particular, the national consultant will be responsible for: 1. Completing the training on the research methodology that will be offered by the regional consultant. 2. Conducting desk research as necessary and as agreed with ESCWA team and regional consultant. 3. Carrying out primary data collection on older persons’ abuse and perceptions through 3 focus group discussions for each of the participant’s groups: Older persons, family informal carers, professional social and health care workers and policy stakeholders. We aim to include 12-16 individuals in each of the four participants groups. If organising focus group discussions proves difficult, these could be replaced with individual interviews, aiming for a total of 48-52 individual interviews, with a minimum of 15 interviews of older persons and 15 interviews of informal carers (family members) and at least 18 individuals of the other participants’ groups (professional health and care providers, non-governmental organsiations supporting older people and representatives of the government). 4. Aim to include a diverse sample of participants; the specific characteristics of participants will be discussed and agreed upon with ESCWA and the international consultant. 5. If required, tailor the interview/FG topic guides (which will be translated into Arabic) to the cultural context with consultation with ESCWA. 6. Employ the interview/FG topic guides designed by ESCWA and the international consultant to conduct the interviews and facilitate the discussions. 7. Analyze and synthesize the interview data thematically guided by, and in consultation with, ESCWA and the international consultant. 8. Draft the case study using the findings from the desk and field research (in English or Arabic). 9. Propose a set of recommendations.

Qualifications/special skills

A Bachelor’s degree in demography, political science, public health or related area is required. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. A minimum of 5 years of professional work experience in social affairs research and collecting qualitative data is required. Research in the area of older persons is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in Arabic and English is required. Knowledge of French is desirable. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.