CONTEXT/BACKGROUND

The Arab region is among the lowest performing regions regarding women’s economic participation. Based on recent estimates, 79.3% of women in the region are economically inactive, which means they are neither working nor actively seeking work. Among the 20.7% who are economically active, 20.1% are unemployed. Where data is available. 62% of women workers are in the informal economy. Furthermore, a high percentage of women is employed in care jobs which tend to be underpaid and undervalued, with the figure placed as high as 52.8% in West Asian Arab States with high presence of women migrant workers. Women in the region are also disproportionately engaged in unpaid care work, and the time they spend on it is estimated at 5-6 times that of men.

The reasons behind this low participation are complex, mutually reinforcing and interconnected and include: 1) an inadequate legal, policy and institutional environment coupled with a generally low representation of women in decision-making positions; 2) unequal access to and control over resources such as land, finance, digital technology and to services such as transport; 3) social norms and discriminatory practices perpetuated through formal and informal institutions prevalent in societal culture; 4) protracted conflicts, militarization, sexual and gender based violence in various forms which hinder women’s participation. These factors have historically rendered women, in general, disadvantaged compared to men when seeking employed work or entrepreneurship activities and more so in the case of rural, poor or disabled women and women in displacement, especially refugee women, who face compounded vulnerabilities.

The situation of women in the economy outlined above has been further exacerbated by COVID-19 with reports in some countries in the region showing higher loss of jobs among women than men, an increase in unpaid care work during lockdowns and movement restrictions which have also negatively affected the livelihoods of informal economy workers and increased domestic violence. The Ukraine war is also impacting food and fuel prices with expected socio-economic pressures on family dynamics that may lead to further exacerbate women’s unpaid care work given women’s role in ensuring food and nutrition for the family, worsen their food insecurity, increase further the incidences of domestic violence, and women dropping out from the labour market due to high transportation costs. 

As such and in order to build forward better and fulfil the commitments made under UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025, UNDP Regional Hub is planning to document good practices and lessons learnt in its and Country Offices’ work on women’s economic empowerment in the Arab region, and to develop a regional program for women’s economic empowerment (WEE). UNDP has been focusing on a set of barriers to WEE such as lack of finance, access to land or markets, segregation with regard to employment, and legal restrictions. UNDP plans to strengthen its work to address the critical dimensions of household dynamics, unpaid care work and social norms. UNDP identifies five critical entry points for women’s economic empowerment including: 1) gender-responsive policy dialogue;  2) addressing unpaid care work to eliminate livelihoods barriers; 3) utilizing the digital economy for the benefit of women MSMEs and entrepreneurship; 4) utilizing the green economy for women’s employment and 5) linking economic participation to political participation and legislative change by increasing women’s voice in policy making and eliminating the legal barriers to women’s economic participation. Earlier work by UNDP identified promising and innovative approaches from several organizations’ practice that demonstrate how support for women’s economic participation can contribute to wider women’s empowerment—both inside and outside the economic sphere. These include: 1) economic opportunity (e.g., expanding employment and entrepreneurship, promoting decent and productive work, improving access to finance); 2) legal status and rights (e.g., improving women’s property, inheritance and land rights); and 3) voice, inclusion and participation in economic decision-making (e.g., developing mechanisms to enhance women’s involvement in decision-making bodies).

The purpose of this assignment is thus to support the two processes: 1) documentation of good practices by UNDP country offices for women’s economic empowerment with an emphasis on projects that support women’s entrepreneurship and MSMEs including in the informal economy and 2) the development of a regional project in this area. In line with the above, the regional project is expected to have an integrated approach that addresses both obstacles to women’s economic empowerment, as well as creating new opportunities in the form of inclusive green and digital jobs; providing access to skills and productive resources/finance and addressing unpaid care work. It is expected to complement the gender justice initiative which tackles access to economic rights as well as gender integration in other areas of the Regional Programme, specifically connected to women’s leadership and social protection.  The focus will be on approaches that serve women in poor areas, in rural areas and in displacement and more generally unpaid workers, informal workers, women running MSEs and HH businesses. This project must have a regional focus facilitating policy dialogues, developing guidance notes and tools/methodologies for women’s economic empowerment, and facilitating regional exchange meetings, networking opportunities and capacity development. Gender data and analysis and social norms would be considered as cross cutting issues.

The objectives of this assignment are the following:

1. To identify and document successful approaches, good practices and lessons learned in the area of women’s economic empowerment in Country Offices’ (CO’s) work in the region. The documentation should include what actions took place, in which context and the way they contributed to a positive change in the lives of women and girls. The process should also capture lessons by identifying challenges, risks and mitigation.
2. To identify entry points for a regional project on women’s economic empowerment and develop a regional proposal through a consultative process.

SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED WORK

The consultant will be responsible for the following areas of work and tasks:

At National level:

• Conduct a review of selected 10-12 women’s economic empowerment (WEE) projects or significant components of projects in selected COs (6-8) in the Arab region, the different typologies (GCCs, fragile and crisis countries and middle-income countries). The review would look at projects; 1) that have supported MSMEs, and/or entrepreneurship in the formal and/or informal sectors including projects that focused on access to finance; 2) that have targeted women and 3) that are considered successful in achieving positive results. The projects can be ongoing or completed before a maximum period of one year. A first level selection process will be conducted by UNDP, where 20 projects will be identified from up to 12 COs as a short-list based on the above criteria;
• In collaboration with UNDP, the consultant is expected to develop criteria for identification of good practice and finalize the selection of the desired number of projects and COs accordingly;
• Assess the selected projects throughout the project cycle by understanding and documenting the success factors: what actions took place, the context in which they took place the manner in which they contributed to a positive change in the lives of women and girls. The assessment must also capture challenges, risks and mitigation to contribute to learning. The assessment should reflect on the suitability and effectiveness of the gender approaches utilized in the project, beyond parity. These include if and how the project contributed to addressing the following: 1) unpaid care work and time poverty of women; 2) movement restrictions; 3) social norms; 4) mainstreaming GBV and do no harm approaches and 5) engaging with men. It should also consider the extent to which the project impacted: 1) higher participation and leadership among women; 2) participation in policymaking; 3) addressing legal challenges.  It should also reflect on how and the extent to which results have created change in gender roles and relations and power dynamics. The assessment should consider how the project fits within the programme portfolio, with a focus on any intentional linkages that were established for achieving the project’s results;
• Document the above highlighting good practices, gaps and lessons from these projects;
• Submit a written analytical assessment and documentation of the above for each of the projects and an overall synthesis that would go into a regional practice document on women’s economic empowerment;
• Provide recommendations for strengthening UNDP’s interventions in women’s economic empowerment at national level in line with the priorities of the UNDP Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and Global Gender Strategy 2022-2025.

At Regional level:

Following the completion of the country-by-country review, the consultant is expected to:

• Finalize the UNDP good practice guide on women’s economic participation that documents the approaches utilized, the good practices and lessons learned and can be used as a tool for resource mobilization;
• Map initiatives and partners among regional organizations on gender inclusive economies to determine participants in the consultations;
• Conduct consultation meetings with the external regional and national partners and stakeholders and with country office relevant teams in close coordination with the regional gender team at the Amman Hub to identify opportunities, gaps and entry points for UNDP’s programming in this area; and
• Develop a proposal with strategic entry points for UNDP’s regional work on WEE building on the regional consultations and findings of the country assessments that reflects the integrated nature described above. The focus of the regional project should be supporting women-run MSMEs, entrepreneurship in the formal and informal sector, with an emphasis on green and digital opportunities and gender-responsive supply chains.

Tasks

• Guided by the findings of the UNDP global review of women’s economic empowerment and the Global Gender Strategy 2022-2025, develop the inception report with the criteria, methodology and tools a that will be utilized to assess the selected projects that will be studied in depth;
• Review the selected projects’ key documents such as the project documents, annual reports, mid-term evaluations and/or final evaluations and prepare preliminary results;
• Liaise with country gender focal points and coordinate and schedule interviews with the programme and project staff and partners;
• Conduct interviews with relevant staff in COs, project managers and partners;
• Prepare a draft report on the approaches utilized for WEE, good practices and results achieved, gaps, lessons and recommendations;
• Conduct a validation meeting with regional and COs gender, inclusive growth and other staff as applicable for feedback, comments;
• Submit the final project assessment reports for each of the 10-12 projects;
• Develop the synthesis analysis of the country projects and the practice and lessons learnt regional document;
• Conduct a desk review of existing initiatives on WEE in the region by international and regional organizations and identify a list of interviewees from among the key organizations;
• Conduct interviews and consultation sessions with national, regional and international stakeholders to discuss options for UNDP’s regional support in the area of WEE and to explore resource mobilization opportunities;
• Develop a proposal with strategic entry points for UNDP’s regional work on WEE building on the regional consultations and findings of the country assessments.

  EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

  Expected Outputs and Deliverables	Expected number of working days for each deliverable	Targeted Due Dates	Review and Approvals Required
  Deliverable 1: Inception report that includes the methodology, criteria and final list of projects;	Up to (10) working days	(2) calendar weeks from contract signature date	Gender Team (RBAS/Hub) in consultation with the Inclusive Growth Team (RBAS/Hub) and UNDP Cos
  Deliverable 2: The report of the first project that is assessed to be approved as a prototype before moving on with the others;	Up to (10) working days	(4) calendar weeks after successful completion of Deliverable (1)
  Deliverable 3: The draft report on good practices ,lessons and recommendations for each of the first 5 projects out of the 10 projects;	Up to (50) working days	(14) calendar weeks after successful completion of Deliverable (2)
  Deliverable 4: The draft report good practices, and, lessons and recommendations for each of the remaining 5 projects;	Up to (40) working days	(12) calendar weeks after successful completion of Deliverable (3)
  Deliverable 5: The synthesis regional report on good practices, lessons learned and recommendations;	Up to (5) working days	(3) calendar weeks after successful completion of Deliverable (4)
  Deliverable 6: The stakeholder map including their initiatives;	Up to (5) working days	(4) calendar week after successful completion of Deliverable (5)
  Deliverable 7: The regional project proposal and results of all consultations as annexes;	Up to (20) working days	(6) calendar week after successful completion of Deliverable (6)

   

Corporate

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’s values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional

• Time management and organizational skills, with the ability to undertake multiple tasks and deliver under pressure;
• Strong analytical and synthesis skills;
• Strong research and data gathering skills;
• Ability to work independently and achieve quality results with limited supervision and within tight schedules;
• Experience in reports production;
• Ability to write in a clear and concise manner;
• Good teamwork and interpersonal skills;
• Flexibility and ability to handle multiple tasks and work under pressure;
• Excellent computer skills especially Word, Excel and Power Point

Leadership

• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and to provide credible leadership;
• Demonstrated flexibility in leadership by performing and/or overseeing the analysis/resolution of complex issues;
• Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of development experience.

Managing Relationships

• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain strategic partnerships;
• Demonstrated well developed people management and organizational management skills;
• Excellent negotiating and networking skills with strong partnerships in academia, technical organizations and as a recognized expert in the practice area.

Managing Complexity

• Ability to address global development issues;
• Demonstrated substantive leadership and ability to integrate knowledge with broader strategic, policy and operational objectives.

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Ability to strongly promote and build knowledge products;
• Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information and best practices from within and outside of UNDP;
• Demonstrates a strong capacity for innovation and creativity in providing strategic policy advice and direction.

Judgment/Decision-Making

• Mature judgment and initiative;
• Proven ability to provide strategic direction to the project implementation process;
• Independent judgment and discretion in advising on handling major policy issues and challenges, uses diplomacy and tact to achieve result.

Education:

• Master’s degree in economics, development economics, gender studies, public policy or other related fields;

Work experience:

• At least 7 years’ experience in gender equality and empowerment of women with proven experience in developing, managing or running projects or policy support for economic empowerment of women;
• A focus on supporting entrepreneurship and MSMEs is highly desirable;
• Relevant experience in the Arab region and preferably in crisis contexts;
• Proven significant and relevant experience in international development organizations; and
• Experience in relevant assignments including documenting good practices on gender equality and economic empowerment of women and/or evaluation of gender equality programmes.

Language Requirements:

• Language proficiency in both written and oral English and Arabic is required. Knowledge of French is desirable.

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT

• The individual is required to exhibit his or her full-time commitment with UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS);
• S/He shall perform tasks under the general guidance and direct supervision of the Gender Team at UNDP Regional Hub in Amman. Additional strategic guidance on the assignment is coordinated with and received from the Inclusive Growth Team at UNDP Regional Hub in Amman and participating UNDP COs;
• The supervision will include approvals/acceptance of the outputs and deliverables as identified in the previous section;
• The individual is expected to liaise and collaborate in the course of performing the work with UNDP colleagues from selected country offices, and the UNDP Regional Hub in Amman. The individual is required to provide periodical progress reports on regular and needed basis throughout the assignment to monitor progress;
• The individual is required to maintain close communication with UNDP-RBAS on regular and needed basis at any period throughout the assignment in order to monitor progress. In the event of any delay, s/he will inform UNDP promptly so that decisions and remedial action may be taken accordingly. Delays that would affect the flow of the collaborative work and the delivery of outputs on schedule will lead to termination of contract;
• UNDP will provide all the documents to the consultant for her/his review and will support the consultant in arranging the interviews and meetings at country an regional level. The consultant may be asked to liaise directly with some stakeholders for organizing some of the meetings; and
• Should UNDP deem it necessary, it reserves the right to commission additional inputs, reviews or revisions, as needed to ensure the quality and relevance of the work.

DURATION OF THE WORK

The expected duration of the assignment is expected to be up to (140) working day(s) over a period of (11) calendar month(s) from contract signature date.

DUTY STATION

Home Based Assignment.

TRAVEL PLAN

If any unforeseen travel outside the consultant home-based city is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the consultant shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).

SCOPE OF PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

Interested candidates should provide lump sum fees for requested services with detailed breakdown. This amount must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. Also, please note that the contract price will be Deliverables/Outputs based - not fixed - subject to change in the cost components.

The contractor will be paid an all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based lump sum amounts over the assignment period, subject to the submission of Certification of Payment (CoP) duly certified or an invoice and confirmation of satisfactory performance of achieved work (deliverables/outputs) in line with the schedule of payments table hereunder:

RECOMMENDED PRESENTATION OF OFFER

Interested individual consultants must submit documents under point 1, 2 & 3 to demonstrate their qualifications. Candidates that fail to submit these documents, the application will not be considered.

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
2. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
3. Brief Description of why you consider yourself as the most suitable candidate for this assignment; 
4. Financial Proposal* Please do not submit financial proposal in this stage. Financial proposal shall be requested from Candidates who are considered technically responsive When the financial proposal is requested it should indicates the all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. The terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

Interested candidates can find Procurement Notice, Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and P11

templates on the following link: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/.

Interested candidates shall submit required documents to Job Advertisement Website (https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm) as one document not later than 05 October 2022.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF THE BEST OFFERS

This selection criteria will follow the Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%; using the following evaluation criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Step I: Screening and desk review:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Applications will be first screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum requirements will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

• Criteria A: Master’s degree in economics, development economics, gender studies, public policy or other related fields;
• Criteria B: At least 7 years of working experience in gender equality and empowerment of women with proven experience in developing, managing or running projects or policy support for economic empowerment of women;
• Criteria G: Language proficiency in both written and oral English and Arabic is required.

Shortlisted candidates will undergo a technical evaluation which will include desk review for shortlisted candidates as per above criteria

Step II: Technical Review 

Technical evaluation Criteria max 100 points (Weighted 70):

• Criteria A: Master’s degree in economics, development economics, gender studies, public policy or other related fields (10 points);
• Criteria B: At least 7 years’ of working experience in gender equality and empowerment of women with proven experience in developing, managing or running projects or policy support for economic empowerment of women (20 points);
• Criteria C: A focused experience on supporting entrepreneurship and MSMEs (5 points);
• Criteria D: Relevant experience in the Arab region and preferably in crisis contexts (20 points);
• Criteria E: Proven significant and relevant experience working with the United Nations and/or any other international development organization (15 points);
• Criteria F: Experience in relevant assignments including documenting good practices on gender equality and economic empowerment of women and/or evaluation of gender equality programmes (15 points);
• Criteria G: Language proficiency in both written and oral English and Arabic is required (10 points);
• Criteria H: Knowledge of French is desirable (5 points).

Shortlisted candidates will be assessed and scored against the following evaluation criteria:

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation

For those offers considered in the financial evaluation, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points. The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula: (PI / Pn) * 30 where Pn is the financial offer being evaluated and Pl is the lowest financial offer received.

Step III: Final evaluation

The final evaluation will combine the scores of the desk review and the financial proposal with the following weights assigned to each:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology (weighted scoring method), where the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight: [70%]

Financial Criteria weight: [30%]

Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the Technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.