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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Women’s economic empowerment is essential to achieving sustainable development. Women workers transform local, national and regional economies across the Asia-Pacific through agricultural work, manufacturing, entrepreneurship and labour migration including domestic and care work. A combination of discriminatory laws, policies and gendered social norms creates structural barriers for women seeking to realize their right to decent work and safe migration. This means women’s economic contributions are not translated effectively into increased social and economic equality.

Governance of Labour Migration in South and South East Asia (GOALS), a joint programme between International Labour Organization (ILO), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UN Women with a support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The programme works towards safe, orderly and regular labour migration for all women and men from the Colombo Process Member States through strengthened collaboration and effective labour migration governance. It envisions a three-year (August 2020 – July 2023) strategic and comprehensive focus for positive change, increased social and economic benefits for women and men migrant workers, their families and the countries of origin. Working with the Colombo Process Member States, guided by the Colombo Process Thematic Area Working Groups (TAWGs), the programme conceptualizes the links between countries of origin and destination countries and strives to strengthen governance from policy to practice, regional to national, and vice versa.

Focusing on implementation in South Asian member states, GOALS is working in partnership with civil society, trade unions and other social partners in the region to achieve the following outcomes:

• Outcome 1: Colombo Process Member States develop and progress actionable commitments for strengthened labour migration governance and policy coherence through multilateral dialogue
• Outcome 2: Selected member States in South Asia have improved labour migration policies and practices, in particular on skills development and qualifications recognition, fostering fair and ethical recruitment, and sustainable reintegration
• Outcome 3: The evidence base on labour migration is strengthened to inform knowledge, dialogue, policy making and action

On increasing the evidence base on labour migration to inform dialogues, policy making and programming, the programme aims to undertake research projects to ensure programmatic outcomes are evidence-based. This includes a gender assessment of skills development opportunities and analyses of the current and future skills supply and demand that will directly inform and contextualize the regional frameworks and guidelines on skills and qualifications recognition.

Rational

In international labour migration discourse, women migrant workers have become almost synonymous with domestic work. As a result, the representation of women – or potential representation of women – in sectors outside of domestic work has been rendered largely invisible. In addition, grouping all domestic workers in one category has led to a perception that there are more men domestic workers than women in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. While this is true in terms of sheer numbers, the critical importance of domestic work as a sector of employment for women – as well as the broad and structurally gendered spectrum of roles performed by men and women within domestic work – is too often overlooked. While men migrants are increasingly concentrated in vocational and mid-skilled occupations, women are overrepresented in low-skilled occupations, with a small number also concentrated in professional roles – with very few women employed at mid-skill level. Efforts to enhance the win-win proposition of labour migration through demand-driven recruitment has led to increasing attention on skills development and recognition, better jobs matching, and stakeholder engagement. As it is increasingly recognized that gender shapes the patterns of labour migration. Gender-disaggregated data on employment by sector, countries of origin and destination are then essential to understand the situation of migrant workers and importantly to ensure effective labour migration regimes for women.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), there were 23 million migrant workers in the GCC countries, and 39 per cent of whom were women. The Asia region continues to be the largest source of women workers in the GCC, with over three-quarters of Asian women migrant workers concentrated in domestic work sector. In the GCC labour market, women overwhelmingly employed as generalists and performing household duties such as cooking, cleaning and care work. Research confirms that women are also concentrated in the services sector including cleaning, hospitality, and retail, but are increasingly employed also in construction, mining,[1] and manufacturing and others. Further, women migrant workers play a critical role in business management and administration, and specific countries of origin also play a critical role in providing health and education workers.

As many of the Colombo Process countries make efforts in promoting the participation of women in the world of work through their national social and economic development planning, it is important to examine the situation of women migrant workers from these countries. In order to ensure women migrant workers are able to fully benefit from and contribute to win-win outcomes from safe, orderly and regular migration, it is critical to develop a clearer picture of the employment for women migrant workers from South Asia in the GCC more broadly. By doing so, countries of origin and destination will be able to work together to ensure skills development and recognition, as well as labour migration agreements, are designed to fully support women to participate in migration to ensure mutually beneficial economic development and growth across corridors.

Sri Lanka as one the major countries of origin of migrant workers in the GCC, particularly in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman, followed by Bahrain. In 2017, the total number of Sri Lankan people migrating for work abroad was 212,162, and 35 per cent of which were women.[2] Among all Sri Lankan women migrant workers, a large number of them work in the domestic work sector in the GCC, contributing significantly to the economy of the country. Considering the country’s reliance on foreign remittances generated by migrant workers, men and women, it is necessary to ensure equitable opportunities to recruitment, employment, skills development are available and responsive to their needs. Particularly, within a COVID-19 context, it is important to ensure job stability and access to essential services such as health care, legal, justice and social services are accessible for them.

As a signatory to the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), Sri Lanka is committed to enhance availability of pathways for safe, orderly and regular migration, taking into account the particular needs of migrants. In the past years, the Government of Sri Lanka has demonstrated its efforts in realizing the GCM by chairing the Colombo Process Thematic Area Working Group (TAWG) on Skills and Qualification Recognition and being key member of the TAWG on Promoting Cheaper, Faster and Safer Transfer of Remittances; on Pre-Departure Orientation And Empowerment; and on Fostering Ethical Recruitment Practices. Importantly, the Country is recognized for its progressive actions in providing migrant workers to access skills recognition scheme enabling them to achieve better outcome of employment abroad. In addition, the Government’s measures on reintegration plan to assist returning migrant workers have confirmed their determination in upholding the migrants’ rights.

Following to the changing labour market dynamics which have increased both opportunities and pressures for women to migrate, the migration process and employment abroad can enhance women’s economic and livelihood opportunities, autonomy and empowerment and consequently gradually change gender roles and responsibilities leading to gender equality. In order to promote employability of women migrant workers from Sri Lanka in a broader set of employment sectors abroad, it is necessary to understand the current situation of available skills development opportunities for women in Sri Lanka as well as in destination countries. A gender assessment of skills development opportunities is then needed. The assessment should provide an analysis of the situation of women’s access to skills development opportunities and detailed recommendation for policy planning for education and skills development in Sri Lanka and for employment in the GCC countries, mainly in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Both Sri Lanka and the target countries of destination will therefore benefit from the study contributing to improved labour migration governance and better skills matching. 

Objectives

UN Women is looking to contract an independent research consultant to collect quantitative and qualitative data to increase knowledge on skills development opportunities for women migrant workers from Sri Lanka and provide and analysis of the current and future skills supply and demand that will directly inform and contextualize the regional frameworks and guidelines on skills and qualifications recognition. The study will take into account existing skills development opportunities and the gender dynamics within occupational and skills categories. It will analyse the specific experiences of women migrant workers from Sri Lanka working in the GCC in different occupational sectors. The study will establish evidence to inform the development of inclusive and gender-responsive policy frameworks on skills development and labour migration which will lead to better achievements of women migrant workers from Sri Lanka in their labour migration to GCC countries.

More specifically, this study will provide an opportunity to:

1. Increase knowledge on specific issues experienced by women migrant workers from Sri Lanka participating in the GCC’s labour market;
2. Explore the existing skills and identifying skills gaps of targeted Sri Lankan women migrant workers;
3. Foster understanding on skills development and recognition opportunities, particularly for women migrant workers that will support the development and implementation of inclusive and gender-responsive labour migration policies;
4. Inform policy development and programme action and priorities that will make a significant contribution to promoting gender-equitable access to skills development opportunities leading to improved outcomes for all migrant workers.

[1] GIZ and ILO, 2015. Labour market trends analysis and labour migration from South Asia to Gulf Cooperation Council countries, India and Malaysia. pp. 52-53

[2] Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, 2017a. Annual Statistical Report of Foreign Employment 2017, http://www.slbfe.lk/page.php?LID=1&MID=232

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the technical supervision of the Migration Programme Specialist in close consultation with Programme Management Specialist of UN Women Sri Lanka Office (SLO), the consultant will achieve the following objectives during the assignment:

1. Develop a concept note inclusive of a workplan with timeframe and a methodological note on research methodologies and data collection tools, both quantitative and qualitative analysis.
2. Collect data through surveys and field work to acquire qualitative inputs (e.g. through Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), in-depth qualitative interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)) including with women migrant workers and key informants such as service providers, both governmental and non-governmental as necessary, ensuring diversity in terms of occupational sector, location, age group, and status;
3. Identify and analyse specific issues experienced by women migrant workers, particularly on
   1. the existing skills and skills gaps of Sri Lankan women migrant workers;
   2. What are the existing skills development opportunities available for women workers in Sri Lanka for targeted destination countries ? Identify the main actors that provide such training? Identify the categories, key objectives and the content of the training? Do they provide not only work related skills but other life skills such as negotiation/communication skills? Identify whether these trainings are designed based on the labour market demands or whether they one-size-fits all training to enhance the quality of the training? Are there any skills recognition schemes in place in both ends ? If so, in what sectors ?
   3. What are potential mechanisms and opportunities to practically enhance women migrant workers’ access to skills development and skills recognition in Sri Lanka and in targeted destination countries?
4. Based on the findings, draft and finalize the study (with minimum two rounds of comments), to the satisfaction of UN Women.
5. Facilitate a validation seminar with key stakeholders comprising representatives from government and non-government organizations as well as representative of migrant workers.
6. Incorporate comments and inputs received from the seminar to revise and finalise the report
7. Produce a research report in a compelling format, aiming at publishing the study in a public web portal.
8. Develop a communication strategy to disseminate the findings.

The consultant will be responsible for all aspects of the research required to produce the report, based on guidance from UN Women, and in consultation with other UN partner agencies ; ILO and IOM as relevant.

The consultant will propose methodologies and research participants as part of inception for the research. A mixed methodologies of qualitative and quantitative approaches is recommended.

Expected deliverables and timelines

The assignment will take place between December 2021 and March 2022, anticipating 30 working days in total and the consultant will produce the following deliverables:

All the documents, including the data collection tools and reports should be submitted in English language.

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes.

Supervision

The consultant will be supervised by Regional Migration Programme Specialist.

Contract period and work location

The consultant will ideally be Home- based. The contract period will be from 1 December – 31 March 2022.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies: (below are examples to be adjusted to each assignment)

• Excellent analytical skills
• Strong knowledge of UN Women processes and systems
• Strong networking skills
• Strong inter-personal skills, communicate effectively with staff at all levels of the organization;
• Ability to work in a highly pressured environment

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s degree in gender studies, migration studies, international development studies, human rights, law, or other related field. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• At least 5 years of relevant experience with a demonstrable ability to undertake research and analytical reviews in the areas of gender mainstreaming is required, with a focus on one of the following fields: labour migration, skills development and recognition, and economic empowerment.
• Excellent written and verbal English communication skill is required; experience in and knowledge of design, layout and creative presentations a merit
• Good understanding of gender-responsive labour migration governance would be a plus
• Ability to write and speak a local language of Sri Lanka would be an asset.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Evaluation                                                                                                                                                                                            Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis:
• Technical qualification (100 points); weight: (70%)
•  Financial proposal (100 points): weight (30%)                                                                                                                                        A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

• Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

  The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria: Technical Evaluation Criteria	Obtainable Score
  A) Education   Master’s degree in gender studies, migration studies, international development studies, human rights, law, or other related field.	20%
  B) Experience and skills At least 5 years of relevant experience with a demonstrable ability to undertake research and analytical reviews in the areas of gender mainstreaming is required, with a focus on one of the following fields: labour migration, skills development and recognition, and economic empowerment. Good understanding of gender-responsive labour migration governance would be a plus	50%
  C) Language and report writing skills Excellent written and verbal English communication skill is required; experience in and knowledge of design, layout and creative presentations a merit Ability to write and speak a local language of Sri Lanka would be an asset.	30%
  Total Obtainable Score	100 %

   

  Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered     

  as technically-qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

   

  Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Submission of application

• Interested candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to Somjai Noohuang somjai.noohuang@unwomen.org, not later than 24 November 2021, 1700H Bangkok time.                                                                                                                              Submission package includes: 

• Completed UN Women Personal History Form(P11);
• Motivation letter
• Examples of similar assessment/study report developed in previous assignments
• Updated CV
• Names of three former clients for reference check
• Financial proposal in USD which specifies a total lump sum amount per deliverable and any related expenses, i.e. travel costs (including visa cost, if necessary), and other related cost                                                                                                                       Please see the financial proposal template as below:

• 	Lump Sum fee (monthly fee)
  No.		DELIVERABLE	TASKS	Amount (USD)
  1.		Detailed implementation plan	Develop a study concept inclusive of a workplan with timeframe and a methodological note on research methodologies and data collection tools, both quantitative and qualitative analysis.
  2.		Progress Report containing a summary of qualitative interviews, FGDs and quantitative survey conducted with women migrants and other key stakeholders.	Collect data through surveys and field work to acquire qualitative inputs (e.g. through Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), in-depth qualitative interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)) including with women migrant workers and key informants such as service providers, both governmental and non-governmental as necessary, ensuring diversity in terms of occupational sector, location, age group, and status;
  3.		Draft report	Produce a draft report containing the main research findings of specific issues experienced by women migrant workers, particularly on the existing skills and skills gaps of Sri Lanka women migrant workers; What are existing skills development opportunities available for women workers in Sri Lanka and in targeted destination countries? Are there any skills recognition schemes in place in both ends? If so, in what sectors? What are potential mechanisms and opportunities to practically enhance women migrant workers’ access to skills development and skills recognition in Sri Lanka and in targeted destination countries? Based on the findings, draft and finalize the study (with minimum two rounds of comments), to the satisfaction of UN Women.
  4.		4.1. Agenda, participant list, and Power Point presentation 4.2. Validated and agreed draft Final Report	Facilitate a validation seminar with key stakeholders comprising representatives from government and non-government organizations as well as representative of migrant workers. Incorporate comments and inputs received from the seminar to revise and finalise the report
  5.		5.1. A final research report in a compelling format 5.2 Develop a communication strategy to disseminate the findings	Produce a research report in a compelling format, aiming at publishing the study in a public web portal. Develop a communication strategy to disseminate the findings
  		2. Other (please provide details as applicable)
  		Total

  Diversity                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 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.)?