Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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 the efforts of the United Nations system to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. UN Women provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Thailand is recognized as a key destination for labour migration in the Mekong region and is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking, including trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour. People living in districts along the border of Thailand and neighbouring countries such as Lao PDR and Myanmar are vulnerable to human trafficking. Chiang Rai Province, bordering Lao PDR, and is home to nine distinct ethnic minority groups, migrant workers, and stateless people including Akha, Hmong, Kachin, Lahu, Lisu, Lua, Karen, Mien and Shan ethnic groups, many of whom have limited access to government’s social services or limited opportunity or access to education and quality employment and thus are at high risk for sex and labour trafficking and other forms of exploitation.

In addition to these challenges, the onset of the COVID pandemic has further exacerbated the vulnerabilities of ethnic minority groups, limited employment opportunities and pushing people to migrate to cities where they are at risk for trafficking and exploitation. COVID-19 has had devastating social and economic consequences for vulnerable people, especially women and girls from ethnic minority groups, who are likely to engage in unpaid care work or to be employed in the informal sector with limited access to support, information, and labour and social protections. The pandemic has also exacerbated existing inequalities that ethnic minority women and girls face, and risks and incidents of violence against women and girls have increased dramatically. Combined with the impacts of climate change on women’s livelihoods and health and the high risks of human trafficking targeting ethnic minority women, the pandemic has served to increase the socio-economic and physical risks women from ethnic minority groups are facing and to push them further into poverty.

Since 2018, UN Women Thailand has worked to empower women as key drivers for in preventing and ending human trafficking, exploitation and gender-based violence in communities particularly at-risk communities in Chiang Rai Province, applying a gender-responsive approach. The project has enhanced capacities and coordination between community members and local authorities on prevention of human trafficking and GBV through capacity building and establishment of community mechanism. In response to COVID-19, UN Women supported the implementation of economic empowerment programme in Chiang Khong to provide capacity building trainings to empower vulnerable women particularly ethnic minorities.

UN Women is continuing to expand its efforts in preventing and responding to COVID-19 impacts, climate changes, human trafficking and exploitation through empowering women, improve socio-economic empowerment and enhancing women’s roles in communities at risk in the border provinces of Thailand, applying a gender-responsive approach by supporting a project aimed at helping vulnerable women ethnic minority women and youth affected by disaster, crises and COVID-19 in the Chiang Rai Province in the north of Thailand. This project seeks to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and the climate crisis on women’s incomes and employment and will focus on supporting sustainable livelihoods for women through skill building and training sessions, providing seed funds for start-up and/or locally-based small enterprises, improving women’s access to available occupational training projects and resources, and working with local women to generate income using new and innovative approaches, such as using online employment platforms, social media, and other technology.

Against this aforementioned context, UN Women is seeking a national consultant to provide a package of economic empowerment services for vulnerable ethnic minority women and youth severely affected by the socio- economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and support dialogues and engagement of local authorities to further coordination for sustainability of women’s economic empowerment.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The project aims at helping vulnerable women affected by crises and COVID-19 in the Chiang Rai Province in the north of Thailand through partnership with women’s groups and women entrepreneurs from the Southern Border Provinces. Under the direct supervision of the Programme Analyst – Thailand Programme, the consultant will carry out two strands of activities in Chiang Rai, Northern part of Thailand:

1. Provide economic empowerment services for vulnerable ethnic minority women and youth severely affected by the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Support livelihoods training for 110 ethnic minority women and youth in communities to produce non-food or zero-wasted products.

• Conduct a series of livelihoods training workshops for various sectors, including developing non-food or zero-wasted products and services in partnership with women’s groups and women entrepreneurs in the Southern Border Provinces.

• Support the establishment of the Northern Border Provinces and the Southern Border Provinces’ women’s groups for exchanging women’s economic empowerment.

• Support in development of a MOU between the North and South entrepreneurship between groups of conflict-affected women in the Southern Border provinces and ethnic minority groups in the Northern Border provinces, especially in Chiang Rai for partnership in developing non-food or zero-wasted products.

2. Contribute to the capacity of community leaders and local authorities on COVID-19 socio-economic recovery and provide spaces for dialogue and engagement.

• In partnership with local CSO in Chiang Rai, support a dialogue between members of local women’s organizations and local officials from 5 government agencies to ensure women’s needs are included at the center of COVID-19 socio-economic recovery.

• Provide supports and technical advice on a dialogue between women’s organizations and local government authorities in Chiang Rai with the engagement of women’s group/women entrepreneurs from the Southern Border provinces to promote coordination and collaboration on COVID-19 socio-economic recovery and ensure women’s effective inclusion and participation in the economic recovery planning processes.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME  

Under the supervision and guidance of the Programme Analyst for UN Women Thailand, the consultant is expected to submit a proposal with detailed activities, deliverables, timeline and budgetary requirements. The submission of deliverables/reports has to be in line with the languages specified for each deliverable.

IV. SUPERVION AND DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT

The consultant will be supervised by the Programme Analyst for Thailand who will be responsible for the quality assurance of the deliverables.

All the deliverables, including annexes, notes and reports should be submitted in writing in English. Upon receipt of the deliverables and prior to the payment, the deliverables and related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women. The period of review is one week after receipt.

INPUTS

• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background information and documents, and a list of stakeholders relevant for the assignment.
• The Consultant is expected to work using his/ her own computer.
• UN Women will directly cover travel costs as per UN Women’s rules and regulations.

SCOPE OF BID PRICE AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

The contract price is a fixed deliverable-based price regardless of extension of the contract duration. Payment will be done once deliverables detailed in section II are submitted and approved by UN Women.

The lump sum costs should include a consultancy fee, administration costs, communication costs, and expenses related to the consultancy. All prices/rates quoted must be exclusive of all taxes. The lump sum costs must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs calculation using the template in Annex 1.  

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:

• Strong knowledge of programme management;  
• Ability to create, edit, synthesize and present information in clear and presentable formats;
• Ability to multitask, manage time and work effectively under pressure;
• Ability to provide input to business process re-engineering, elaboration and implementation of programme/financial management systems;
• Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow;

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: 

https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf