Background

1.  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.

Under its Strategic Note 2018-2023; PNG Country Office focuses on delivering programmes that are aligned to global norms, policies and standards under four thematic areas;

• Women’s leadership and political participation
• Women’s Economic Empowerment
• Ending Violence Against Women
• Women, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Actions

UN Women has supported the review of PNG’s Informal Economy Policy. A critical factor in labour force participation and employment rates for women is their engagement in agriculture and fishing for household consumption in rural areas, where some 87 per cent of the population is concentrated. To ensure the aspirations of the informal economy policy are realised for women, UN Women will support the localization of this policy at subnational level through engagements with subnational governments.

UN Women is seeking to recruit an Informal Economy expert to support the organisation’s work on enhancing women’s participation and benefit in local economy. In particular, the job requires strong knowledge and experience in developing and implementing initiatives focussed on business development and women’s financial inclusion, women’s voice and agency, social protection, developing knowledge products, programming and policy support at national and subnational level.  It also requires supporting and developing mutually reinforcing partnerships with relevant regional bodies, Government counterparts, UN organizations, private sector entities, and CSOs.

This expert position will complement an International Technical Specialist and locally engaged Programme management team to ensure that UN successfully implements the Safe and Prosperous Districts programme and the Markets Economic Recovery and Inclusion Program.  The expert will provide technical advice to the UN Women WEE Program Team on issues around strengthening programming within the Informal Economy, Social Protection, Business Development and Financial inclusion.

Duties and Responsibilities

2.  Objectives of the assignment

The key objective of the assignment is to provide technical assistance and specialist services on UN Women’s contribution to women’s economic empowerment in the informal economy in PNG.

3.  Scope of Work/Duties and Responsibilities         

Under overall guidance of the UN Women Deputy Country Representative, and direct supervision of the International Technical Specialist, the consultant will perform the following tasks and deliverables:

• Provide technical support to policy development
  • Provide guidance to subnational governments on the design and implementation of local government policy and plans for implementing the National Informal Economy Policy at the local level. The expert will provide technical support to UN Women team and local authorities to increase their awareness and capacity to implement the finalized National Informal Economy policy.
  • Lead in consulting relevant development partners to coordinate support towards the implementation of the subnational Informal Economy Policy and the Voice Strategy  
  • Provide inputs to key policy frameworks related to women’s economic empowerment ensuring the policies incorporate the norms and standards within relevant global and normative frameworks such as CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for action, ILO conventions and related SDGs.
• Support Resource Mobilization
  • Lead preparation of knowledge products and briefs to add to the efforts for resource mobilization.
  • Provide technical inputs into project design documents drawing on global best practices and knowledge of the local context and development priorities needs of PNG.
  • Develop proposals for Safe and Prosperous Districts 3 and for scaling up MERI Phase 2, in line with the focus of the UN Women Strategic Note (2024-2028).
  • Review and evaluate proposals and oversee the preparation of donor proposals.

4.  Duration of the assignment

The total duration of the contract assignment will be 80 days, between August to November 2023. This assignment will be hybrid with Port Moresby and home-based work.

5.  Expected Deliverables

The consultant is expected to deliver the following results:

All the documents, including the interview tools, training materials and reports should be submitted in written in English language.

Upon receipt of the deliverables and prior to the payment of the instalment, the deliverables, related reports and documents will be reviewed by UN Women and approved within two weeks of submission.

6.  Inputs

Transport:

UN Women will also cover the costs of daily subsistence allowance (DSA) for Port Moresby and other areas within the country as per standard UN rate, as well as the most direct economy airfare for missions, as per UN Women regulations, for all approved official travel. The Consultant is responsible for all international travel to Port Moresby and should include the costs in the financial proposal for at most 2 return trips to Port Moresby.

UN Women will provide transport in the field only, consultant is expected to arrange own transport within Port Moresby and from homebased to Port Moresby. This should be included in the financial proposal.

Communications:

The Consultant will be required to provide their own local communications such as SIM cards. Some internet access is available while in Port Moresby however the consultant is expected to arrange his/her own internet access in the field. These costs should be included in the lump sum fee of the financial proposal. 

Accommodation:

All accommodation costs and other living expenses will be covered within the consultancy fee. 

Security:

The consultant will be provided with a UN security briefing and will be required to follow UN security rules and guidance.

Insurance:

The Consultant will arrange private insurance and the cost of which will be included in the financial proposal.

Office space and facilities:

The consultant is expected to work remotely using her/his own computer and other means of communications but may access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.

7.  Performance evaluation:

Contractor’s performance will be evaluated based on timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Competencies

8. Required Experience and Skills:

The consultant should fulfil the following requirements:

• At least 10 years of experience of relevant work in the Women’s Economic Empowerment space
• Proven competence in qualitative and quantitative research, in the specific area of the informal economy. (Experience needs to demonstrate such competence.)
• Past experience in designing and implementing high quality research in Papua New Guinea or the Pacific.
• Knowledge of Papua New Guinea context or experience in the country or Pacific region would be advantageous.
• Experience working with national and district governments in Papua New Guinea
• UN Experience would be an asset

Language and other skills

• Good command of English both written and oral
• Ability to communicate in the local languages (Tok Pisin) would be an added advantage.
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email.

Required Skills and Experience

9. Education

• Master’s degree in Economics, Business Administration, Commerce or other related fields

10. Submission of application

Interested candidates are requested to submit electronic application to the UNDP website not later than 21 July 2023

Submission package

• CV
• Letter of Interest containing the statement on candidate’s experience in the field of recruitment
• Financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount breaking down lump sum professional fee and international travel expenses (from the country of origin to Port Moresby and back), visa and other travel related costs and travel expenses within Port Moresby and the above local trips including travel expenses.

All applications must include (as an attachment) the CV and the financial proposal. Applications without financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Annex II: Price Proposal Submission Form

[ Mandatory document for the Consultant to complete and submit]

To:          United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Ref:        ___________________________________________________________________________

                [ name of consultancy position]

Dear Sir / Madam,

I, the undersigned, offer to provide professional consulting services to UN Women within the scope of the referred Assignment.

Having examined, understood and agreed to the Terms of Reference and its annexes, the receipt of which are hereby duly acknowledged, I, the undersigned, offer to deliver professional services, in conformity with the Terms of Reference.

My maximum total price proposal for the assignment is given below:

I confirm that my financial proposal will remain unchanged.  I also confirm that the price that I quote is gross, and is inclusive of all legal expenses, including but not limited to social security, income tax, pension, etc., which shall be required applicable laws.

I agree that my proposal shall remain binding upon me for the duration of the contract timeline i.e. __________________________ days / weeks / months / year.

I understand that you are not bound to accept any proposal you may receive.