Background

UN Women Country Office in Georgia in close partnership and with financial support of the Swiss Development Cooperation Agency is implementing the project “Partnership for Women’s Economic Empowerment in South Caucasus” in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.  The expected project results will support implementation of UN Framework Agreements concluded between UN agencies, funds and programmes and respective governments in the target countries. The Inception Phase of the project commenced in the beginning of November 2017 with primary objective of establishing project baselines, refining project targets in further consultation with key stakeholders in the three countries. The inception phase will last until the end of June 2018 resulting in the finalization of the agreements and work plans with project’s responsible parties.

The main phase of the project aims to contribute to the following outcome - women, particularly the poor and socially excluded, have increased economic security and access to livelihood and development opportunities, and meaningfully participate in decision-making processes. This outcome will be attained through the achievement of the following three outputs:

Output 1: Women in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, particularly the poor and socially excluded, have increased access to information, skills-building and sustainable economic opportunities, and participate in and contribute to local and regional development;

Output 2: Mechanisms and staff capacities of selected ministries/ state institutions in Armenia and Georgia are strengthened to develop and deliver gender-responsive programmes and services, strategies and plans for women’s economic empowerment, and women’s organizations effectively influence and participate in these processes;

Output 3: Legislative and policy frameworks in Armenia and Georgia are reviewed in line with international human rights standards and commitments on women’s economic empowerment and are based on gender analysis and sex-disaggregated data

In Georgia, the project activities will be implemented directly by UN Women, while project activities in Armenia and Azerbaijan will be implemented by UN Women Responsible Parties to be selected in the inception phase of the project.

According to ILO and for the purposes of this Terms of reference, labour market regulations include labour market institutions as well as part of labour market policies: they cover wage setting institutions, mandatory social benefits, the unemployment insurance system, as well as different aspects of labour legislation (law on minimum wage, employment protection legislation, and the enforcement of the legislation). Labour market policies (LMP), on the other hand, comprise all kinds of regulative policies that influence the interaction between labour supply and demand. They consist of polices that provide income replacement (usually called passive labour market policies) as well as labour market integration measures available to unemployed or those threatened by unemployment (Unternational Labour Organization, available on-line at: http://www.ilo.org/empelm/areas/labour-market-policies-and-institutions/lang--en/index.htm).

For the main phase of the project to have meaningful interventions resulting in increased employability and employment rates of women UN Women would like to hire an International Consultant to conduct gender analysis of labour market regulations (policies and institutions) in Armenia and Georgia in the inception phase of the project.

Duties and Responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities of the National Consultant are:

  • To conduct desk review looking at the role and relevance of labour market regulations or the lack of them (policies and institutions, including labour market information systems) in Armenia and Georgia for women’s economic empowerment and attainment of greater gender equality;
  • To conduct follow up key informant interviews (with government, civil society, experts from academia, development partners) to fill in the information gaps identified through the desk review and among other issues to understand:
  • Which labour market regulation (policies and institutions) may impact on the labour supply side to move from informal to formal economy?
  • How can these regulations be enhanced/ better targeted to increase employability and access to gainful jobs of women, especially those marginalized and vulnerable?
  • To summarize Armenia’s international commitments in the area of labour regulations, including relevant time lines for compliance;
  • To prepare final report in English reflecting gender analysis of labour market regulations (institutions and policies) in Armenia and Georgia – shared with UN Women for inputs and accordingly finalized. The report should reflect key findings and provide recommendations for relevant government as well as development partners.

Deliverables:

  • A detailed work plan related to the consultancy (1 working day);
  • Desk review and all key informant interviews for the purposes of the analysis conducted – 20 working days, completed by 20 February 2018;
  • Progress report describing the qualitative research conducted (desk review and key informant interviews), listing all international commitments, key policies, laws and programmes reviewed as well as names, positions and dates of key informants interviewed – 2 working days, completed by 20 February 2018; 
  • Final report (in English) on gender analysis of labour market regulations (institutions and policies) in Armenia and Georgia with key findings and recommendations (main body of the text without annexes should not accede 30 pages) finalized in consultation with UN Women - 7 working days, completed by 5 March 2018.

Competencies

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s degree in economics, social and political sciences, human rights, gender equality, development studies. PhD degree is an asset.

Experience: 

  • At least 5 years of work experience in the field of employment analysis and strategy development;
  • At least 3 years of work experience in conducting qualitative studies (data collection through desk review, key informant interviews, etc.) and report writing;
  • Demonstrated previous work experience in gender analysis of employment regulations; 

Language:

  • Fluency in English (knowledge of the Russian language is an asset).

Evaluation of procedure:

The candidates will be evaluated against the following technical and financial criteria:

  • Master’s degree in economics, social and political sciences, human rights, gender equality, development studies (60 points);
  • At least 5 years of work experience in the field of employment analysis and strategy development (100 points);
  • At least 3 years’ of work experience in conducting qualitative studies (data collection through desk review, key informant interviews, etc.) and report writing (100 points);
  • Demonstrated previous work experience in gender analysis of employment regulations (60 points); 
  • Fluency in English (30 points).

Maximum total technical score amounts to 350 points. Only candidates who have passed over the minimum qualification criteria and have accumulated at least 245 points out of maximum 350 under technical evaluation will qualify for the next stage i.e. evaluation of their financial proposals.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 150.

S – score received on financial evaluation.

Fmin – the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;

F – financial offer under consideration.

The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).

Management Arrangements:

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision and guidance of UN Women Georgia Country Office team – Country Representative and National Programme Specialist and under day to day management of UN Women Programme Analyst responsible for Women’s Economic Empowerment.

Financial Arrangements:

Payment will be made in the following number of instalments provided deliverables are submitted, accepted and approved:

Instalment I: 40% upon the submission of deliverables 1,2 & 3;

Instalment II: 60% upon the submission of deliverables 4

Application procedure:

*The applicants are required to submit an aggregated financial offer (“aggregated financial offer” is the total sum of all financial claims of the candidate for accomplishment of all tasks spelled out in this ToR.

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

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