Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. UN Women has a universal mandate that encompasses a normative, an operational/programmatic as well as a coordination role, all of which are closely linked with its unique structure. At the core of its mandate, UN women plays a leading role in supporting governments in delivering on their gender equality and empowerment of women (GEEW) commitments in the SDGs.

UN Women Nigeria Country Office and other sister agencies (UNIDO, ILO and WHO) are currently implementing the Joint United Nations project for Strengthening the Capacity of Local MSMEs/Manufacturers to Produce High-quality PPEs and Healthcare-related Products. The objective of the project aligns with the objectives of Nigeria’s National COVID-19 Multi-Sectoral Pandemic Response Plan, namely objective 1: Contribute to an effective national and local response to the COVID 19, and objective 3: Minimize disruption of critical social, economic and medical services during the pandemic. The project will contribute to the task list of COVID-19 Nigeria Phases 3-4 “Response” with regards to laboratories, infection prevention and control and case management.

In view of this, UN Women seeks the services of a research assistant to support mapping and assessment of capacities of 70 women-owned and youth-owned MSMEs through their networks in the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The consultant will document active women-led organizations, identify their capacity gaps/needs and challenges in the cause of business operations, establish a database of these organizations and their physical contacts and provide key recommendations including but not limited to capacity building needs, resources mobilization and partnership strategies and opportunities towards building leadership and promoting their participation in affirmative procurement in Nigeria. It is expected that the selected consultant will support consultative workshops with the women and youths to discuss their businesses, capacities, share good practices and opportunities for growth and advancement. The consultant is also expected to support the lead consultant preparing comprehensive but succinct report that will meet the standards and expectations of UN Women in terms of structure and content.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the leadership of the Deputy Country Representative and working closely with the M&E Specialist and Programme Staff, the Research Assistant will work with the Lead Consultant to perform the following tasks:

• Support the development of an inception report with clearly designed and detailed mapping methodology and data collection tools for conducting the mapping exercise
• Lead scoping missions to map out 70 women-owned and youth-owned MSMEs producing PPEs through their networks in the selected state covering the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.  
• Support capacity assessment and identify capacity gaps/needs, and challenges through interviews, KII, FGDs and or workshops;

The selected Consultant will be expected to complete the following key-deliverables within the indicative timeframe:

Competencies

Core Values / Guiding Principles:

• 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.

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Excellent methods for content analysis of large bodies of qualitative information;
• Demonstrates outstanding skilled knowledge of qualitative data analysis methods;
• Demonstrates excellent ability to prioritize and focus research questions to produce relevant and useful recommendations;
• Objectivity and ability to analyze large datasets in short period;
• Excellent knowledge and technical skills on community engagement approaches Excellent written and verbal communication skills, particularly to summarize complex findings and convey complex achievements in clear results language;
• Produces timely, quality outputs;
• Strong skills in data presentation;
• Vast knowledge of business environments in Nigeria
• Excellent understanding of international development issues and knowledge of the UN system

Required Skills and Experience