Consultants for Developing a Pacific Regional Toolkit to Address technology-facilitated violence (TFV) against MPs

Background

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of national parliaments with a membership of 181 Member Parliaments and 15 Associate Members. The IPU promotes democratic governance, institutions and values, working with parliaments and parliamentarians to articulate and respond to the needs and aspirations of the people. It works to promote peace, democracy, human rights, gender equality, youth empowerment, climate action and sustainable development through political dialogue, cooperation and parliamentary action. The IPU has supported over half of its members to strengthen parliament capacity to perform their functions.  The IPU collaborates with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) both nationally and globally for over 40 years. UNDP and IPU are collaborating on a UNDP programme in the region to support Pacific Parliaments.

UNDP has been supporting more than 60 parliaments globally to strengthen parliament as an institution of good governance, inclusive development and public accountability.

In the Pacific, the UNDP Pacific Office (PO) has been supporting Pacific Parliaments to fulfil the core functions of parliaments of law-making, oversight and representation. The PO has supported Pacific Parliaments to reform the parliamentary professional service, provided trainings and activities to strengthen parliamentary library and research services, provided policy support with a focus on SDG advocacy, supported the production of Budget Briefs for members to assist with informed debates on the national budgets, increased opportunities for citizens and CSO engagement in the work of parliament, built capacities for members and staff on substantive and procedural issues as well as skills such as public speaking, dealing with the media, debating, and codes of conduct, supported the development for institutional frameworks to ensure that parliaments have sufficient power and independence to contribute to democratic development.

MPs face significant online harassment and violence that undermine their participation and safety in political life. IPU’s report on When the public turns hostile: Political violence against parliamentarians, shows that 71% of MPs surveyed reported having experienced violence from the public. In five focus countries, 65% to 77% of MPs reported online abuse.

Women MPs are particularly affected. Since 2016, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) carried out a series of studies on sexism, harassment and violence against women in parliament which exposed the nature and magnitude of online violence against women in parliament. In 2025, the IPU, in partnership with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) published the report Sexism, harassment and violence against women in parliaments in the Asia-Pacific region, which highlights an alarming increase in online gender-based violence compared to the levels reported in previous IPU regional studies. The IPU study finds that no country in the Asia-Pacific region has adopted legislation specifically addressing violence against women in politics, and that 12 countries have adopted laws against cyber harassment targeting women, however few of these cover sexual harassment or the most harmful and widespread manifestations of gender based technology-facilitated violence (TFGBV).

To support parliaments in addressing TFV, there is a need for a regional practical toolkit that provides guidance, strategies, and resources tailored to the Pacific context.

Existing good practices have been identified. In the Pacific region, UNDP Fiji has conducted research relating to online cyberbullying and targeted attacks such as to threaten their work as MPs and willingness to compete for public office.  The IPU and the UNDP has recently developed a body of guidance and institutional tools on violence against women in politics and its technology-facilitated forms, which provides a foundation for the regional toolkit from the gender-perspective. In June 2026, the IPU and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) jointly published Addressing violence against women in politics: Institutional responses and good practices by parliaments, other products have also been published, including IPU’s report on Combating non-consensual intimate imagery, and the IPU Plan of action for gender parity in parliaments.

Objective

To develop a comprehensive Pacific regional toolkit for parliaments to effectively prevent, respond to, and mitigate TFV against MPs, grounded in the findings of UNDP and IPU research, as well as good practices in sensitive parliamentary support.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Manager, Technical Cooperation Programme of the IPU, the experts will perform the following tasks:

• Conduct targeted research on effective and impactful toolkits used in parliamentary and comparable institutional environments, in order to identify good practices and design features that can inform and strengthen the practical toolkit on TFV
• Review the UNDP research on online harassment of MPs in the Pacific, the IPU report on When the public turns hostile, and studies related to TFGBV in the Pacific and beyond, as well as other relevant literature, policies, and frameworks on TFV.
• Create a practical toolkit for parliaments containing guidelines, policy templates training module templates, reporting mechanisms, and support resources to address TFV. The toolkit shall include TFGBV as one of its focus areas.
• Ensure the toolkit is culturally sensitive, gender-responsive, and adaptable to different parliamentary contexts within the Pacific region.
• Present draft versions for feedback to IPU and UNDP and incorporate their inputs into final documents.
• Submit final deliverables in English, including all supporting materials and a summary report.

Institutional Arrangements

• The expert will report directly to the Manager, IPU, Technical Cooperation Programme
•  All reports and documents relating to the assignment will be submitted to the Programme Manager, IPU
• The expert will be responsible for all technical related equipment including Laptops, Printing, Internet, and Software subscriptions relevant to this assignment.

Duration of the Work

Two consultants will be recruited for this to work up to 17 workdays between 01/10/2026 – 10/12/2026

Duty Station & Travel

• Home based.

Educational Qualifications (Minimum):

• Advanced university degree in social science, political science or law. An advanced degree is highly desirable. 

Experience:

• At least five years of relevant professional experience related to parliamentary political inclusion. Experience in gender equality or women’s rights an asset.
• Demonstrated experience working on TFV, including familiarity with its principal manifestations and with prevention and response measures.
• At least ten years of experience in parliamentary strengthening. Demonstrated experience of work with parliaments and parliamentarians in different countries and regional contexts required.
• Demonstrated experience developing policy frameworks, action plans or practical toolkits for institutional use, with examples of published or adopted outputs.
• Experience working in the Pacific region.
• Strong research, analytical, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Familiarity with the IPU and regional parliamentary mechanisms is a strong asset.

Excellent written and oral communication skills in English.

Competencies:

• Good representational and liaison skills.
• Excellent interpersonal, intercultural, communication and networking with a demonstrated ability to build and maintain professional relationships.
• Ability to meet deadlines.
• Excellent English writing and communication skills.
• Strong analytical and research skills, with the ability to synthesize evidence from multiple sources into practical institutional guidance.
• Sound judgement and discretion in handling sensitive information.

 Deliverables 

Recruitment principles 

Our guiding principle in selecting candidates is to secure the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity. We do not discriminate on any grounds and are committed to promoting diversity in our workforce.

Particular attention is paid to candidates from developing countries and to achieving gender balance. We strive to provide an environment where the contribution of each individual is valued. 
We ask all our personnel to apply the Common Principles for Support to Parliaments in their work.

We ask all our personnel to agree to our Code of conduct for personnel  and our Fraud and corruption prevention policy available at https://www.ipu.org/about-us/working-with-ipu, and our policy to prevent and address harassment including sexual harassment at IPU Assemblies and other events, available at: https://www.ipu.org/about-ipu/structure-and-governance/statutes-and-policies-ipu.