Antecedentes

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 center of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of National priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with government, civil society and other relevant actors.

Under the framework of the current UN Women Nepal Country Office Strategic Note (SN) 2014-2017, UN Women in Nepal continues its work to strengthen women’s leadership and participation in national and local level decision-making processes and empower women economically by supporting the most vulnerable and excluded women’s groups. In order to reinforce the ongoing efforts, especially with strengthening the leadership role of excluded women, UN Women in Nepal is implementing a programme entitled “Advancing Women’s Economic Empowerment (AWEE) – Ensuring Nepal’s Sustainable and Equitable Development 2015–2017”, under leadership of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW), with the financial support from the Government of Finland (GoF).

The overall goal of the AWEE programme is to support the Government of Nepal (GoN) in its efforts to develop and implement policies to advance women’s economic empowerment and sustainable development. The specific objectives of the programme are: (i) to enhance the capacity of selected Government officials at the national and district level to integrate and monitor the inclusion of gender equality provisions in economic policies; (ii) to contribute to ensuring that networks of excluded women have the skills and enterprise development assistance for sustainable livelihoods; (iii) to increase the capacity and opportunity of networks of excluded women to influence local and national decision-making processes for sustainable development; and (iv) to strengthen the evidence base for policy advocacy on women’s economic empowerment and rights.

Guided by the output (ii), UN Women is looking for the service of an expert researcher to carry out a desk review on the impact assessments/evaluations of vocational skills and entrepreneurship development training assistances by the Government and its development partners.

Justification:

Nepal is one of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) in the world and its about 12% unemployment and 50% underemployment of youth population has been one of the causes of conflict and poverty. Shrinking job opportunities in the formal sector and lack of needed occupational skills for the promotion of informal sector economy have posed many dimensions of social and economic problems in the country. Vocational skills and entrepreneurship training helps engage people in income generation and thus promote the bottom-up economic development and poverty reduction. Nepal Economic Growth Assessment, in its first two of the top five priority recommendations, has enlisted ‘vocational and skill training for poor and disadvantaged youth for local employment and migration’ as one of the top five priority recommendations.

The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MoWCSW) recognizes that there have been multiple efforts made by different line ministries, especially the Ministry of Education (MoE), Ministry of Labor and Employment (MOLE), Ministry of Industries, Commerce and Supply (MOICS), Ministry of Agriculture Development (MOAD), Ministry of Livestock Development (MoLD) as well as development partners and international non-governmental organizations to improve vocational skills and entrepreneurial capacity of women, youth and unemployed. MoWCSW has itself provided skills and entrepreneurship development training to women’s groups through Women Development Programme (WDP) to advance gender equality by empowering women  in socioeconomic sectors and as of July 2008, a total of 385,758 women benefitted from the program.

The Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) was constituted in 1989, and the Department of Cottage and Small Industries (DCSI) and Cottage and Small Industries Development Board (CSIDB) were established under the MoICS to provide vocational skill training for the needy people. DCSI and CSIDB are responsible to operate skills training in 27 and 48 districts through their district level offices across the country. Main emphasis of both agencies is to facilitate self-employment and employment creation through skill training. They are playing a major role in improving a skill set of individuals and facilitate them to operate small entrepreneurships or income generating activities through their training network in all districts.

In addition, the government endorsed Technical Education and Vocational Training (TEVT) policy of Nepal (2007) stipulates in its preamble that ‘this training policy is designed to develop and unleash market forces which will put the system on a steep growth path where the number of training opportunities is expected to increase fourfold over the next 10 years. Likewise, quantitative targets set by the National Action Plan for Youth Employment (2008-2015) envisaged that ‘vocational and skills development training to be provided to 14,716 youths in 2007/08 will be increased to 20000 in 2008/09 and 30,000 in 2009/10. Similarly, vocational and skills development program for women will be increased from 7,500 in 2007/08 to 11,000 in 2008/09 and 16,000 in the year 2009/10. The TEVT Policy focuses on five elements: expansion, inclusion, integration, relevance and sustained funding to ensure that the TEVT market can take off.

Development Partners also contributed to such Government efforts to promote vocational skills and entrepreneurship development. The Asian Development Bank supported CTEVT through the Skills for Employment Project (loan 2277-Nep, 2004-2011) to provide the market-oriented short term training to 80,000 unemployed persons, and its Skills Development Programme (2013 – 2018) is aimed at supporting CTEVT to deliver similar training to 45,000 unemployed individuals, targeting 40% women and 30% excluded groups. The UNDP-supported Micro-Enterprise Development Programme (MEDEP) has reached out to 70,000 beneficiaries since 1998, providing entrepreneurship development training and micro-enterprise development assistance, especial focusing on women, unemployed youth and socially excluded groups. The Employment Fund executed by HELVETAS through the basket fund jointly created by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Department for International Development (DFID), and the World Bank (WB) has provided skills training to approximately 100,000 youths to enable unemployed youths to enter the labour market and establish small enterprises. The Enhanced Vocational Education and Training (EVENT) project, supported by the WB has targeted beneficiaries of 75,000 disadvantaged youths, especially poor, women and geographically and socially excluded groups for the services of short-term skills training, technical education and certifying their existing skills.

The MEDEP has conducted an assessment of its support in 2010.” This assessment suggested the needs of changes in emphasis for making the training model more efficient and effective in terms of poverty outreach and employment generation, incorporation of support for growth and financial services, provision of demand oriented business development, development of a composite enterprise promotion strategy and organization building (institution development), addressing finance gaps and use of Gender and Social Exclusion Assessment Framework as a monitoring tool. HELVETAS working on the vocational skills and entrepreneurship development organization also conducted an impact assessment of their support to vocation skills and entrepreneurship development training.  Similar assessments have been carried out by other government and non-government agencies.

As required by the national and international normative policy framework on issues of gender equality, many of those training programmes target women and girls. While the Government and its development partners continue focusing on the trainings to women and girls, their participation in the formal labour market is still found significantly lower than that of men in Nepal. In this light, a need for reviewing the existing and previous vocational skills and entrepreneurship development support and their results, especially from a perspective of women’s economic empowerment in the context of Nepali labour market, has been identified.

Results of this desk review will be utilized to redesign the training curricula being provided by the Vocational Skills Development Training Center (VSDTC).

Objectives:

This desk review of impact assessment of vocational skill and entrepreneurship development training aims to compile the relevant information on vocational skills and entrepreneurship development training programmes and produce an evidence-base for further policy advocacy and decision-making to mainstream the economic empowerment of women.

The specific objectives are:

• To compile the information on major vocational skills and entrepreneurship development training programs which have been or were implemented by the Government, public sector institutions and/or development partners for last 10 years;
• To summarize the overall results of the support provided by the major vocational skills and entrepreneurship development programmes based on a desk review of the secondary information and reference materials (e.g. policy documents, programme documents, project reports, evaluation reports, analytical researches, etc.) on the major vocational skills and entrepreneurship development programmes; and
• To assess the impact of the major vocational skills and entrepreneurship development programmes on women’s economic empowerment. The impact assessment shall be made with reference to efficiency, effectiveness, relevance and sustainability of respective support programmes and their overall impact on women’s economic empowerment.

Note:

Most vulnerable and excluded women’s groups: Rural women, conflict affected women, survivors of trafficking, returnee women migrant workers, home-based workers and women living with HIV.

Subedi, B.S. 2010. Vocational Education and Skills Training for Livelihood Improvement. Siksa Magazine; Nepal Labour Force Survey, 2008.

USAID, 2008

In 2012, the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) estimated that approximately 50,000 youths participate in short-term vocational and entrepreneurship development training (Pasa.B.2012. Short term vocational skill test in Nepalese context. Journal of Training and Development 2015, volume 1, Issue 1. TITI; Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT).

http://ctevt.org.np/

Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT). 2011. A study of Technical Education and Vocational Training Programs in Nepal. published by General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), Kathmandu.

National TEVT Policy of Nepal (2007).

National Action Plan for Youth Employment Nepal (2008 - 2015).

Subedi, B.S. 2010. Vocational Education and Skills Training for Livelihood Improvement. Siksa Magazine; Nepal Labour Force Survey, 2008. Under “Skills for Employment Project (loan 2277-Nep, 2004-2011) supported by ADB”

http://sdp.org.np/

http://www.employmentfund.org.np/about-us/ 

http://www.worldbank.org/projects/P104015/nepal-enhanced-vocational-education-training?lang=en

Micro-Enterprise Development Programme (MEDEP), 2010.

HELVETAS, 2014 (http://docplayer.net/14738844-Concept-note-impact-evaluation-of-vocational-and-entrepreneurship-training-in-nepal.html)

Deberes y responsabilidades

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision and guidance by Unit Manager, EE Unit of UN Women Nepal Country Office, in close consultation with Programme Officer for the day-to-day operations.

Stock-taking/compilation of the basic information

Develop a stocktaking matrix with the basic information of all vocational skills and entrepreneurship development training programmes implemented by the Government and/or development partners for last 10 years. The format of a matrix will be proposed by the Consultant after the commencement of this assignment in close consultation with UN Women Nepal Country Office. A stocktaking matrix includes but not limited to review of the nature and scope of programmes, targeted population, the number of benefited population, periods of support programmes (programme/project periods), total budget, basic information of training courses (duration of each course, subjects, training providers, etc.), achievement of the programme, strength and weakness of the programmes.

Desk review of the overall results of vocational skills and entrepreneurship development support for the last 10 years:

• Conduct a desk review of the secondary information and reference materials available on the major entrepreneurship and vocational skills development programmes;
• Summarize the overall results of the support for the last 10 years. A special focus will be given to how well those support programme addresses women’s empowerment both in designing and implementation;
• Summarize challenges and lessons learned from the major entrepreneurship and skills development programmes;
• Summarize results of evaluations if there is any evaluation reports available for the major entrepreneurship and skills development support programmes;
• Based on the results of the stocktaking and desk review, assess and analyze the impact of the major vocational skills and entrepreneurship development programmes on women’s economic empowerment. The Consultant will review the support programmes and identify any specific provisions/considerations which aimed at gender equality and social inclusion in designing and implementation of the support. The impact assessment shall be made with reference to efficiency, effectiveness, relevance and sustainability of respective support programmes and their overall impact on women’s economic empowerment;
• Based on results of the stocktaking and desk review, assess and analyze the impact of the entrepreneurship and vocational skills development programmes for the last 10 years on the achievement of the Government’s policy on entrepreneurship and vocational skills development. The Consultant will briefly summarize the related Government policy and strategy on entrepreneurship and vocational skills development and then assess the contributions of the support programmes reviewed under this assignment to the implementation of those policies and strategies. The impact assessment shall be made with reference to efficiency, effectiveness, relevance and sustainability of respective support programmes and their overall impact;
• Verify and/or supplement the paper-based secondary information by other data and information collection methods, such as key informant interview (KII) and questionnaire surveys to support the impact assessment. The Consultant is encouraged to contact relevant key informants / training participants to collect the supplementary information. Contact details of key informants will be provided by UN Women if it is necessary;
• Identify gaps of the existing major vocational skills and entrepreneurship development programmes especially on their impact on women’s economic empowerment, and compile a set of recommendations.

Methodology

The Consultant is expected to conduct this assignment based on the secondary data and information which are available in reports, literatures and other reference materials. Other methodologies such as key informant interviews and questionnaire surveys may be applied to verify and/or supplement the secondary data and information. Possible key informants include relevant government officials of line ministries, UN agencies and other donors, and staff/stakeholders of major entrepreneurship and skills development support programmes. 

To assess the effectiveness, relevance, sustainability of respective interventions, and their overall impact, the supplementary data and information will be collected to support the results of the analyses with the secondary data and information.

Guiding Principles:

• Gender equality and social inclusion;
• Culturally sensitive approach; and
• Human rights-based approach.

Expected Deliverables:

• Inception report with a clear work plan and methodologies (precise actions, timeline and specific tool and techniques in line with scope of work and specific tasks).

First draft report including, at least but not limited to, the following contents:

• Executive summary;
• Introduction;
• Methodology;
• Overview of relevant policy and strategy – vocational skills and entrepreneurship development;
• Desk review of major vocational skills and entrepreneurship development support programmes – Results and lessons learned;
• Gaps and recommendations; and
• Annexes.
• Power point presentation of the key findings; and
• Final report, reflecting comments on the draft report.

Schedule of Payments:

• Upon submission of a work plan with a clear timeline and descriptions of specific methodologies to be utilized followed by clearance of Unit Manager, EE Unit, UN Women (10% of the total budget, within a week of signing of the contract);
• Upon submission of the first draft report by clearance of Unit Manager, EE Unit (40% of the total budget, within three weeks of signing of the contract); and
• Upon submission of final report by clearance of Unit Manager, EE Unit (50% of the total budget, last week of contract period).

Remuneration will be made in standard UN Nepal rates for short term consultants.

Competencias

• Demonstrated research skills and experiences in relevant fields;
• Comprehensive knowledge about vocational skills and entrepreneurship development trainings conducted in Nepal;
• Proven ability to write reports, briefs and concept notes;
• Proven ability to coordinate with Nepal government ministries;
• Excellent communication skills and intercultural sensitivity; and
• Ability to multi task, work on many concepts at once, and work in a team.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Master’s degree in Economics, Public Policy, Gender and Development, Social Science, Business Management, or any other related fields;

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of work experience on livelihood, vocational education and enterprise development and of which 2 years of work experience on research and analysis in the same areas; and
• Work experience on gender and social inclusion will be an advantage.

Language:

• Excellent command of written and oral English and Nepali.

How to Apply?

Interested individual/consultants must submit the following documents:

• Expression of interest (one-page cover letter in English explaining their interests in this assignment);
• UN P11 form (blank form can be downloaded from: http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment/); and
• A sample of analytical writing not exceeding 5 pages.

Note: Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Please upload as one attachment of the documents as mentioned above online through this website.

Selection Process:

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualification of potential consultants as well as the financial proposals submitted in support of consultant applications. Candidate applications will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of applicant qualifications and financial proposal.

The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of below defined technical/interview and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for further evaluation process. The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal will be allocated to the lowest price proposal among the qualified candidates. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion.

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):

• Qualification (20);
• Experience (a minimum 5 years of work experience on livelihood, vocational education and enterprise development and of which 2 years of work experience on research and analysis in the similar areas) (30);
• Experience (a minimum 2 years of experience working in the field of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues) (15); and
• Quality of sample of analytical writing and cover letter (35).

Criteria:
Technical Evaluation – assessment of documents / interview as necessary  

The candidate who scores highest score will be considered for the service.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.

UN Women applies fair and transparent selection process that would take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants.

We will inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

Note:

In July 2010, the United nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.