Request for Proposals: Strengthening Digital Safety Awareness and Practice among Vulnerable Populations in Vietnam

Request for Proposals:

Strengthening digital safety awareness and practice
among vulnerable populations in Vietnam

Purpose:

The SecDev Foundation is calling for proposals from nonprofit agencies, consultancies or social enterprises to research, design and implement a project addressing online gender-based violence in Vietnam. The SecDev Foundation will provide up to USD75,000 for a program of activities that promote a safer internet environment, and better digital safety awareness and practices, among vulnerable populations. Target beneficiaries should be focused on one or more of the following groups:

• Ethnic minority women and girls who may be at particularly high risk of online gender-based violence as it relates to human trafficking;
• Women and girls recovering from domestic violence and/or sexual harassment or trauma;
• LBGT youth without adequate family or community support;
• Women and girls from marginalized economic and social groups, such as homeless, orphaned, abandoned or street kids.

The project can be initiated with a research phase, however it should primarily focus on activities that will directly impact beneficiary groups. Expected activities can include online and offline awareness campaigns, online and offline skill-building activities, and other forms of intervention and remediation that strengthen the ability of target beneficiaries to recognise and respond to online gender-based violence. The award will be on a subcontract basis, requiring full financial and narrative reports. The timeline for implementation will be nine months from the date of project initiation.

Background:

Online gender-based violence refers to the range of threats faced by women and girls, as well as other sexual minorities such as the LGBT community. This includes online harassment, cyberstalking, attacks on their sexuality, exposure of personal information, threats based on morality or religion, threats related to human trafficking, manipulation of images, non-consensual distribution of intimate images or distribution “sex videos” that are used for blackmail and can result in repeated trauma every time they are reposted online.

As described in the background paper linked below, online GBV “infringes on women’s right to self-determination and bodily integrity, impacts on their capacity to move freely, without fear of surveillance, and denies them the opportunity to craft their own identities online, and to form and engage in socially and politically meaningful interactions.”

Background paper on online gender-based violence:

https://www.apc.org/sites/default/files/APCSubmission_UNSR_VAW_GBV_0_0.pdf

Potential activities and support:

Organizations submitting proposals may design their own schedule of activities, but should ensure that one or more of the following are the primary focus:

• A research phase and/or clear evidence of a need and means to deliver support to target beneficiaries;
• Identifying and combating use of the internet and digital technologies that are harmful to women and marginalized communities;
• Assisting individual internet users or groups of users to use technology to document and combat online GBV, and/or to challenge harmful sexist online practices;
• Including one or more online/offline campaigns to raise awareness and take specific actions against the proliferation of online GBV;
• Design and dissemination of localized digital safety training materials, to be used for online or offline trainings for target beneficiaries;
• The potential to contribute to or point toward advocacy needs for internet policy and regulation that protect and promote women's rights, and the rights of people of diverse gender and sexual identities.

Other requirements:

• A proposal written in English of no more than 12 pages, with a detailed budget, goal, objectives, activities and expected results/outcomes;
• Cover page with name, address and contact information;
• Annexes can be included if needed;
• A statement on the experience, capabilities and similar projects implemented by your organization;
• Timeline of nine months, with a finish date no later than Dec 2021;
• Relevant partnerships and collaborations that will be involved in the proposal.

About the SecDev Foundation:

The SecDev Foundation is a Canadian-based, not-for-profit organization that wants better digital futures for all. We operate globally to help communities pursue digital opportunity, safety and citizenship. We work to ensure all of our partners and beneficiaries — especially women and youth — have the skills and knowledge they need to protect themselves from digital harm, and become great digital citizens. We help societies better navigate the emerging opportunities of the global digital economy, which is founded on savvy digital citizens. We help local communities build digital bridges in countries affected by conflict and war. The SecDev Foundation for the past five years has supported digital safety awareness outreach targeting youthful Vietnamese internet users. We have initiated a broad range of online campaigns and educational materials that have reached millions of youth across Vietnam. More information is available at www.secdev-foundation.org.

Proposal instructions:

Interested parties should submit a proposal and budget to Ms Do Thi Hong Thuan at [email protected] no later than 15 January 2021. Only responses that comply with the requirements and instructions given above will be considered.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (Vietnamese)