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 line with UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2018-2021, the UN Women Egypt office is contributing to three interdependent and interconnected outcomes:
- Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems
- Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy
- All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence
Women’s economic empowerment is central to realizing women’s rights and gender equality. Women’s economic empowerment includes women’s ability to participate equally in existing markets; their access to and control over productive resources, access to decent work, control over their own time, lives and bodies; and increased voice, agency and meaningful participation in economic decision-making at all levels from the household to international institutions.
Empowering women in the economy and closing gender gaps in the world of work are key to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5, to achieve gender equality, and Goal 8, to promote full and productive employment and decent work for all; also Goal 1 on ending poverty, Goal 2 on food security, Goal 3 on ensuring health and Goal 10 on reducing inequalities.
Under the framework of the United Nations Partnership Development Framework (UNPDF) Output 4.2: Women Economic Empowerment and in alignment with the goal and objectives of the Economic Empowerment pillar of the National Strategy for Women’s Empowerment (NSWE), UN Women Egypt has supported the economic empowerment of women through implementation of projects such as the One-Village-One-Product (2014-2016), Village Savings and Loans Associations (2014-2017), and the creation of a more inclusive and gender-sensitive environment along the agricultural value chains of select agribusiness firms (2017-2018). The projects have had positive outcomes for women participants, the majority of whom are poor and marginalized, as demonstrated in their increased income through savings, access to loans and investments, in addition to greater self-confidence and community recognition. A critical factor across all UN Women interventions has been the formation of women’s networks that have enhanced participants’ social skills and created opportunities for networking and exchange of knowledge, thus contributing to better and more effective cooperation among them. These networks have also provided a voice to women’s need for formal financial services (as in the case of the VSLAs) and improved working conditions (as in the case of the agribusiness firms).
Building on the successful results achieved through the above-mentioned projects, UN Women in Egypt is implementing a 5-year project (2019-2024) that aims to support women's empowerment for sustainable economic growth in Egypt. The project will be implemented by a consortium made up of UN Women and UNIDO, with UN Women as the lead agency.
The project intermediate outcomes are contributing to:
- Increased productivity and job opportunities generated by women entrepreneurs;
- Increased employment of women by businesses; and
- Reduced gender-specific barriers to women’s entrepreneurship and to women entering into and remaining in the work force.
Project interventions will result in a) Increased number of new businesses established by women entrepreneurs in the sectors of focus, b) Enhanced capacity of women led businesses to grow, attract and retain workers, c) Strengthened performance of productive clusters to employ more women, d) Enhanced employability of women in growth-oriented sectors, e) Increased abilities of businesses to implement gender-sensitive corporate policies, f) Strengthened individual and collective agency of women in the sectors of focus, g) enhanced capacity of Government to mainstream gender in public policies and programs, and h) Increased access of women entrepreneurs to tailored financial and non-financial services.
UN Women seeks to recruit an international Women’s Economic Empowerment consultant, resident in Egypt. Reporting to the Deputy Representative, the Consultant will work in close collaboration with the programme and operations team, as well as relevant external partners.
Objectives of the Assignment:
- Provide the programme with best practices and benchmarks from international experiences in the field of the economic empowerment of women
- Conduct comprehensive analysis and develop strategies to achieve programme results including labour market stakeholder engagement.
Support UN Women efforts and the WEE portfolio in the area of gender mainstreaming with the different stakeholders including the government, private sector, and civil society organizations.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the guidance of the Deputy Country Representative and in coordination with the Women Economic Empowerment Programme Specialist, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:
- Provide support to the program team and field implementing partners to integrate gender equality and women economic empowerment strategies within all aspects of program design, planning, implementation, reporting processes, and M&E systems, including concept notes and proposals for sub-projects, annual work plans, M&E plans, and semi-annual and annual reports.
- Conduct policy-relevant research on the country office’s priority areas for gender equality and economic empowerment of women;
- Provide evidence-based input to support advocacy and support programme implementation;
- Conduct ongoing assessment of social and financial barriers to women’s participation in the labour force and provide strategies to address these barriers;
- Participate in writing proof-reading and providing comments on draft research papers, project documents and reports as required;
- Contribute substantively to discussions on the Women Economic Empowerment portfolio and other intersecting programmes at UN Women Egypt Country Office ;
- Contribute to proposal drafting and resource mobilization to augment UN Women’s impact in Egypt;
- Support strategic partnerships with a special focus on engagement with the private sector by preparing relevant documentation, i.e. project summaries, discussion papers, WEPs profiles, and participating in public information events;
- Identify knowledge gaps and develop relevant knowledge management tools and knowledge products (briefs; good practices; lesson learned papers; case studies; etc.) in the collaboration with the M&E Specialist;
- Collaborate with the Communications and Programme team to document research results, facilitate multi-stake holder dialogue on research results and ensure policy recommendations emerging from the dialogues taking forth;
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:
Functional Competencies:
- Knowledge and expertise in gender research and policy analysis;
- Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills;
- Ability to draft and communicated high quality clear and concise outputs;
- Familiarity with statistical analysis and indicators, especially gender-related statistics and indicators;
- Capacity to set priorities, self-organize research work and to plan, prioritize and deliver tasks on time;
- Capacity to engage and communicate with partners from private sector and leverage partnerships within WEPs and other platforms;
- Ability to develop and maintain partnerships with government counterparts, UN agencies, donors, and NGO partners;
- Proven excellent written skills;
- Ample knowledge and use of computer office tools (word, database, spreadsheets, etc.).
Required Skills and Experience
Education and Certification:
- MMaster’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women's studies, international development, or a related field is required;
Experience:
- A minimum of 4 years of progressively responsible work experience in the public sector, development policy and/or research with a strong focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment;
- Technical experience in women’s economic empowerment;
- Demonstrated knowledge of international best practices in gender equality and women’s empowerment
- Experience in coordinating and liaising with government agencies, academia, NGOs and/or donors;
- Experience in writing proposals and development of strategic documents;
- Experience working in the UN System is an asset;
- Experience in Egypt is strongly preferred.
Language Requirenments:
- fluency in English is required; Arabic is a plus
All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
- A current and complete C.V. in English with indication of 3 references as well as the permanent e-mail and phone contact.
- Financial proposal: Lump sum per month. Please note, the sum is inclusive of all travel-related expenses.
Evaluation Criteria:
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.
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:
Cumulative analysis: When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the candidate whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical criteria.
Technical Criteria weight: 70%
Financial Criteria Weight: 30%
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the financial evaluation.
Criteria Weight Technical: 70%
- Relevant education: max. 10 points;
- A minimum of 4 years of progressively responsible work experience in the public sector, development policy and/or research with a strong focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment; 15 points
- Demonstrated knowledge of international best practices in gender equality and women’s empowerment; 15 points
- Experience in coordinating and liaising with government agencies, NGOs and/or donors; 10 points
- Experience in writing proposals and development of strategic documents; 5 points
- Experience in Egypt is strongly preferred; 10 points
- Experience working in the UN System is an asset; 5 points
Financial: Lowest financial proposal (30%) The Financial officer must be a Lumpsum all-inclusive; (all costs including any travel or transportation related expenses ...etc.).
Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical). The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:
(Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30
*"Lowest Bid Offered" refers to the lowest price offered by Offer or scoring at least 49 points in technical evaluation.
Applications:
Candidates must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:
- Personal CV;
- UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
- 3 References/letters of recommendations from previous recent employers
- Education certificates.
- Health certificate signed and stamped.
Please note: All documents have to be uploaded in 1 single file.