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 UN Agencies (UNIDO, ILO and WHO) are currently implementing a Joint United Nations project for “Strengthening the Capacity of Local MSMEs/Manufacturers to Produce High-quality PPEs and Healthcare-related Products". The project aims at mitigating the economic impact of COVID-19 on MSMEs in line 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. UN Women’s key role under this project focus on strengthen marketing capacity for targeted women MSMEs on product branding, packaging, labelling, distribution; provide support to enhance their access to market.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will undertake activities as detailed below to strengthen the targeted women entrepreneurs in terms of strengthen marketing capacity for targeted women MSMEs on product branding, packaging, labelling, distribution; provide support to enhance their access to market.

Functions

The consultant will be expected to:

1. Develop training materials and conduct on-site training on international good practices in packaging branding and labelling standards.
2.  Provide advice and assistance in the target women agribusiness associations with information on the acquisition packaging materials.
3. Provide support to the targeted women cooperatives/associations to increase their access to local, national, and international supply chains, branding, new business opportunities and partnerships including Fair Trade market opportunities.
4. Develop and submit training modules on international good practices that cover the following contents:
5. Branding, packaging, and promotion of product/product visibility
6. Guidelines for improving sales in a competitive environment
7. Develop a training agenda in consultation with UN Women focal person
8. Facilitate a three-day training for 63 selected women entrepreneurs.
9. Design and share in a flash drive designed template for women’s products (find attached list of products) and suggest better ways to rebrand and repackage products
10. Provide support to the targeted women entrepreneurs to increase their access to local, national, and international supply chains, through branding, new business opportunities and partnerships
11. Map and design a mentorship programme targeted at providing enhanced use of technology and increased access to markets for 25 Women entrepreneurs in PPE Production, across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The mentorship programme will cover the period June to August 2022.

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

Reporting

Under the supervision of the Deputy Country Representative, and in close collaboration with women economic empowerment team, and other relevant UN Women Nigeria CO staff, the selected consultant will develop and deliver the above listed outputs in accordance with the above outlined timeframes and specifications.

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 facilitation skills
• Demonstrates outstanding skilled knowledge of branding and product promotion.
• Knowledge of Nigeria Business environment and marketing concepts
• 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.
• Excellent understanding of international development issues and knowledge of the UN system

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree or equivalent in areas related to Public Relations, Marketing, Entrepreneurship Development, Business Administration, Social Sciences, Economics, or related field.

Experience:

• A minimum experience of 10 years of relevant professional work experience in areas such as product branding, marketing promotion and public relations.
• Strong knowledge of national and international business environment, product promotion and public relations
• Technical expertise in facilitating capacity development training targeted at WOBs on product branding, packaging and distribution
• Experience in providing mentorship for business entrepreneurs especially WOBs
• Ability to speak and write in a clear and gender-sensitive language.
• Familiarity with the UN system and knowledge of UN Women.

Note: Applicants are required to submit the following documents in a SINGLE pdf document (The system allows only a single attachment).

1. Application letter explaining interest in the consultancy and suitability of the candidate for the consultancy position
2. Updated CV
3. A short proposal (max 1,500 A4 pages) that explains how the consultant will do the work.
4. Personal History Form (P11). The P11 Form can be downloaded from the following website: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc
5. Financial proposal specifying a daily consultancy rate / breakdown per deliverable.

Duration of the Assignment

The assignment is expected to take 40 working days from the date of signing the contract. 

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