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.

In 2015, on 25 September, the United Nations General Assembly adopted unanimously the Resolution 70/1 Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gender equality and women’s empowerment is at the heart of the agenda, as numerous goals and targets address structural barriers to achieve equal rights and opportunities between women and men, girls and boys.

One of the key areas of concern is the economic empowerment of women. It is expressed in targets and indicators of SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) and SDG 8 (Promote inclusive and sustainable development, decent work and employment for all). Progress toward it depends not only on the adoption of a set of public policies by governments, but also on the existence of an enabling environment and active engagement of the corporate sector. This is also relevant to the achievement of SDG 1 (Poverty Reduction), SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities) and SDG 17 (Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development).

About 90 per cent of jobs in the world are in the private sector. This represents a huge potential to implement transformative actions in the world of work and social responsibility in favour of women, benefiting the whole society. There is an increasing consciousness, interest and commitment of private and public sector companies on the value and benefits of gender equality and the economic empowerment of women and its role to achieve it.

UN Women - in partnership with the European Commission is proposing the regional programme “Promoting Economic Empowerment of Women at Work in Asia – WeEmpower Asia” to contribute to the economic empowerment of women, recognizing them as beneficiaries and partners of growth and development, by increasing commitment of private companies to gender equality and women´s empowerment and strengthening companies’ capacities to implement these commitments. The programme will ultimately contribute to the achievement of gender equality through enabling women’s labour force participation, entrepreneurship, economic empowerment and thus their full and equal participation in society.

The guiding platform will be the Women’s Empowerment Principles. The WEPs are a set of Principles for business offering guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. Coordinated by UN Women and the UN Global Compact, the Principles emphasize the business case for corporate action to promote gender equality and women's empowerment and are informed by real-life business practices and inputs gathered from across the globe.

Targeting women led enterprises and networks, multi-national companies, and relevant stakeholders in selected Asia countries, the project will promote business opportunities for women entrepreneurs and women-owned enterprises in Asia and their business relations with Europe, while supporting inter-regional dialogue and exchange of good practices to increase the capacity of the private sector more broadly in the implementation of gender-sensitive business culture and practices. The programme will cover seven countries: India, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. It will also have a regional component under the responsibility of UN Women Region Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP).

UN Women seeks the services of a national consultant to develop the WeEmpower Asia Programme Strategy for Malaysia for an analysis of existing policy, programmatic initiatives, investments and support services by the government, entrepreneurship accelerators and incubators, corporates and civil society organizations in the area of women’s small and medium sized enterprises (SME), particularly focusing on business ecosystem, women’s entrepreneurship, women in business, business issues and challenges as well as identifying issues women-owned enterprises facing to be connected to (international) markets. This should include an assessment of gender sensitive procurement practises of business in a broader sense.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of Country Programme Manager, Thailand/Malaysia - WeEmpower Asia Programme and in close consultation with the Programme team, the national consultant will provide technical expertise in studying women’s small and medium sized enterprises (SME) including identifying business ecosystem, especially in the areas of women entrepreneurship, women in business, business issues and challenges and gender sensitive procurement, existing policy, programmatic initiatives, including entrepreneurship accelerators and incubators,  investments and support services by the government, corporates and civil society organizations, potential industry sectors for intervention, potential partners and key stakeholders as well as geographic locations.  

Specifically, the consultant will undertake the following tasks: 

• Conduct a detailed mapping/review of Malaysia women SME business ecosystem, especially in the areas of women entrepreneurship, women in business, gender-sensitive procurement, existing policies, programmatic initiatives, investments and support services by the government, entrepreneurship accelerators and incubators, corporates and civil society organizations, potential interventions, potential partners and key stakeholders as well as geographic locations the areas of women’s entrepreneurship. – 3 days

• Hold bilateral or group discussion with relevant stakeholders such as industry federations, women entrepreneurs/ SMEs/networks, private sector companies, government and civil society organizations – 3 days.

• Facilitate interaction with relevant stakeholders including industry federations, women entrepreneurs/ SMEs/ networks/entrepreneurship accelerators and incubators private sector companies, government and civil society organizations to identify areas of collaboration - 3 days

• Analyse barriers (women business issues and challenges) and provide program recommendations for implementation, identify the potential partnerships and map out resources (from donors, governments and or others) that WEA could tap into. – 3 days

• Analyse the current policy frameworks and provide recommendations for policy influencing to create an enabling environment for women SMEs and women entrepreneurs. This should include identifying the right stakeholders - 3 days.

• Based on the assessment and consultative processes, develop a programme and policy strategy including identifying potential interventions and rationale, potential partners and key stakeholders as well as geographic locations, potential priority sectors (i.e. Finance, Tech etc.)  and work plan for Programme implementation - 3 days

Duration of Assignment and Duty station

The consultant is expected work from home-based during December 2019 – February 2020. The consultant may be required to travel on mission within Malaysia as assigned by hiring unit.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to UN Women’s mission, vision and values;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:
Technical Knowledge

• Excellent knowledge and experience in the entrepreneurship space and working with private sector
• Policy Experience

Knowledge Management and Learning:

• Shares knowledge and experience;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

• Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to design, planning and implementation of programme, managing data, reporting;
• Ability to provide input to and use new IT based systems.

Leadership and Self-Management:

• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Remains calm, in control even under pressure;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Good understanding of gender and development in South Asia;
• Demonstrable ability to work in a team;
• Ability to work under pressure;
• Excellent writing and communication skills;
• Excellent computer literacy and skills.

Required Skills and Experience

RECRUITMENT QUALIFICATIONS AND APPLICATION

• Masters’ degree in Gender and Development Studies, or any Social Sciences.
• Minimum 7 years of professional experience in developing and implementing programmes on women’s economic empowerment with a focus on women SMEs and women entrepreneurs.

• Demonstrable understanding of gender, development, policy and praxis issues in the context of women’s economic empowerment with preferably a focus on women workers in the informal sector and farmers
• Relevant papers, articles and knowledge products published
• Ability to work independently and with minimal supervision
• Strong written skills in English and good command over official Malaysian language as medium of communication.

Evaluation:

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Submission of application

Interest candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to UN Women website as well as to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org and copy to Nutnita.limpanonda@unwomen.org , no later than 20th December 2019, COB.

Submission package includes:

• Updated CV
• Personal History Form (P11) which can be downloaded http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs;
• Technical proposal
• Writing examples/publications
• Financial proposal

Note:

• Applications received after the close date will not be accepted;
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
• For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
• Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.

Payments:

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will not be based on the number of days worked but on the completion of each stated deliverable within the indicated timeframes. Any travel under this consultancy will be covered by UN Women as per our rules and regulations.