Background

Public procurement refers to the many ways in which governments acquire goods (supplies or products), works, and services, using a range of contractual arrangements and purchasing tools. Public procurement offers an attractive market for entrepreneurs since governments around the world spend around 12 per cent of global GDP on public contracts. Public procurement was estimated to be at least $13 trillion out of the global GDP in 2018.

 

Access to public procurement represents an important potential market and a significant source of business for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) since public contracts can stimulate an increase in investment, job generation and productivity for firms. Moreover, a well-designed public procurement framework strengthens citizens’ confidence in government and private sector competitiveness, especially by creating opportunities SMEs. Women own 30 per cent of the small and medium businesses worldwide, yet women-owned businesses only access 1 per cent of all procurement contracts suggesting systemic gender disparities within procurement systems. In Ethiopia more than 1.5 million SMEs face a financing gap of 1.6 billion USD, which would have created 7.5 million jobs, if well addressed (First Consult 2021). While the gap is much more for women owned in SMEs (Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA), 2022).

In balancing the gender disparities and reaching the most marginalized ones, countries are developing policies and legal frameworks in facilitating business licensing and permits, trade regulations, labor regulations, tax administration and collateral by allowing use of rural land and resources (Ethiopian Rual Land use and Administration Policy). These efforts among others aim to support rural entrepreneurship and foster inclusivity.

While these are encouraging actions to help women actively participate in various developmental activities and entrepreneur ecosystem, realizing potential requires the implementation of policies and practices actively promoting the inclusion of women-led businesses and concerted efforts to integrate and include women in the workforce (Africa Freedom of Information Centre, 2023). 

 

While government contracts can be crucial for businesses and contribute to local economic growth, women-led enterprises face significant underrepresentation in this sector. Gender bias and entrenched power dynamics perpetuate discrimination and oppression throughout the planning, procurement, implementation, and monitoring of government expenditures.

One key strategic approach to promoting women's empowerment and fostering their active involvement in and benefit from the economy is Gender Responsive Public Procurement. This involves making sustainable choices in the acquisition of services and goods, considering their impact on gender equality and the empowerment of women by prioritizing sourcing from women. The entity responsible for overseeing public procurement in Ethiopia is The Ethiopian Federal Government Procurement and Property Administration Agency, which is accountable to the Ministry of Finance.

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has demonstrated an explicit commitment to address gender and other social inequalities that discourages sustainable and equitable development through conducive legal, policy and instrumental frameworks that support gender equality and women empowerment at all spheres of development. However, there is no existing policy or legal framework that particularly promotes the participation of women led businesses in public procurement in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Federal Government Procurement and Property Administration Proclamation (No. 649/2009) does not offer preferential treatment to women entrepreneurs, and there is a lack of available data on the extent of government sourcing from women entrepreneurs.

 

The current proclamation (No.649/2009) is waiting for endorsement from the House of People’s Representatives. To this effect UN Women has been providing documents on countries experience to support the agency on revising the public procurement Proclamation to become more gender responsive with a view that provisions on gender responsive procurement would enable Ethiopia’s women led businesses to compete and win more tenders contributing to their economic participation and sustainable development. 

The Public Procurement and Property Administration Agency is currently preparing a guideline on procurement, this would be an opportunity for UN Women to support the Agency to assess the gap and enhance their capacity towards gender responsive procurement practices. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Deliverable

No. of days

Required Approval

An inception report clearly outlining the scope of the assessment

  • 2
  • UN Women and PPA

Facilitate an inception workshop that will involve relevant stakeholders and develop a report of the inception workshop

  • 2

Develop an assessment report and a two-pager policy brief (English and Amharic) on gender responsive procurement in Ethiopia.

  • 5

Facilitate a validation workshop of the draft assessment and provide workshop report

  • 2

Develop a training manual (English and Amharic) to enhance capacity of the staff of the

  • 4

Provide a training in two rounds to the relevant staff of the agency

  •  4

Develop report of the outcome of the training

  • 1

Total

  • 20 days

Competencies

Core values / principes
 

Integrity:

  • Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct

Professionalism:

  • Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

  • Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies

Ethics and Values:

  • Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

  • Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Development and Innovation:

  • Take charge of self-development and take initiative.

Work in teams:

  • Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multiethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

  • Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

  • Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

  • Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

  •  Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

  • Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies

  • Ability to work with minimal supervision.
  • Evidence of having undertaken similar assignments
  • Experience on gender responsive, procurement, budget analysis and development of assessments
  • High level written and oral communications skills in Amharic and English
  • Result-oriented, team player, exhibiting high levels of enthusiasm for gender equality, diplomacy and integrity.
  • Demonstrate excellent interpersonal and professional skills in interacting with government and development partners at regional and federal level.
  • Experience in conducting assessment, writing high quality reports both in English and Amharic

 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s degree in Gender, Economics, International Development, or other relevant Social Science fields.

Experience:

  • At least 10 years professional experience related to the qualifications stated.
  • Demonstrated expertise with comprehensive and documented knowledge of public procurement issues, coupled with a strong understanding of gender mainstreaming principles.
  • Proven experience in conducting assessments, developing training manual and delivering training, and facilitating workshops for government officials.
  • Familiarity with effective training methodologies and techniques.
  • Experience working with the United Nations will be considered an advantage.

Language Requirements:  Amharic and English

 

Application:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided?on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need. 

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application. 

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)