UN WOMEN Jobs - 91335- National Consultant – Research Support to Gender E

National Consultant – Research Support to Gender Equitable COVID19 Response - We Empower Asia (Open to Indian Nationals Only)

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Home Based with Travel Assignments, INDIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-May-2020

Application Deadline :

25-Apr-20 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 May to 30 June 2020 (15 Working Days)

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

1 May to 30 June 2020 (15 Working Days)

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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 implementing the regional programme “Promoting Economic Empowerment of Women at Work in Asia – WeEmpowerAsia” 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 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.

In India, women’s participation in the economy has been dismal, with trends indicating a decline in the last decade. The female labour force participation rate in India is 23.3 for rural and urban areas. A disproportionate percentage of women workers are in the informal economy, implying contract-less labour and a lack of social benefits. For women in business, women entrepreneurs also face societal barriers in setting up businesses and issues with managing collateral for loans in a country where land titling is still governed by patriarchal notions of land ownership.

The global pandemic of COVID19 has set off an economic slowdown of unprecedented proportions and impacted the unorganised labour force very badly, especially the women. In the immediate aftermath/first phase of this pandemic Governments are focussed on containment, prevention and control of the epidemic. In response to address the livelihoods challenges the Governments have announced huge stimulus/financial allocations/packages to the beleaguered labour force through various schemes, programmes and initiatives. Women are 35% more likely than men to live in poverty and therefore are more vulnerable. Government policies would need to take cognizance of the consequent impact on women workers and women-owned businesses.

In the backdrop of the corona virus pandemic UN Women is hiring the services of a National Consultant to develop a Policy Brief analysing the impact of the pandemic on women small medium and large businesses/enterprises and recommend how the Government’s response to COVID19 through its financial/stimulus packages be engendered so as women are equitable beneficiaries of the government’s programmes. A second National Consultant (Research Support) under this assignment will provide desk research, data analysis and compilation and provide logistical coordination to the main National Consultant.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of Country Programme Manager-WeEmpowerAsia Programme and in close consultation with the National Consultant (Gender Equitable COVID19 Response – WeEmpowerAsia), UN Women Programme team, the National Consultant (Research Support) will provide research support to in developing a Policy Brief on Engendering the Stimulus Packages for the COVID 19 response. The consultant will undertake desk review and research based on secondary data, schemes and programmes announced by Government of India and states, leverage her/his networks to support UN Women organise webinars, online/offline discussions and forums.

Specifically, the consultant will be responsible for providing the research and analysis support in successfully delivering the following by the National Consultant (Gender Equitable COVID19 Response):

Analyse, support and strengthen Government stimulus packages in response to COVID-19 to address gender differentiated priorities and challenges faced by women owned small , medium and large businesses/enterprises and women workers in global supply chains
Identify risks and opportunities to offset damage to women’s economic power and promote public-private partnerships as a co-ordinated response.
Use the analysis to engage donors, funders, private sector and foundations to ensure gender equitable strategies, interventions and allocation of resources for securing interests of small and medium women managed/owned businesses in economic revival and fiscal policy/plans, women run supply chains

Deliverable 1: Research Support to National Consultant (Gender Equitable COVID19 Response – WeEmpowerAsia) in developing a Policy Brief: Conduct a detailed review of stimulus/financial packages, schemes, programmes announced by different Government of India Ministries/Department and state governments in response to COVID19 from the perspective of how responsive are these to the needs of women small, medium and large businesses/enterprises as well as those workers in global supply chains develop a Policy Brief including recommendations to make them equitable engendered packages. (8 days)

Deliverable 2: Research and logistical support to UN Women in organising 4 online/offline discussion forums (webinars, interviews, discussions) with participation of relevant stakeholders from government, private sector, MSME, chambers of commerce entrepreneurs, UN agencies and experts on economic empowerment of women. (7 days)

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:

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;
Good writing and communication skills;
Excellent computer literacy and skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters’ degree in Gender and Development Studies, or any Social Sciences.

Experience:

Minimum 2 years of professional experience in legal and policy research Demonstrable understanding of gender, business and human rights, development, policy and issues in the context of women’s economic empowerment and Indian private and corporate sector companies.
Demonstrable understanding of gender, development, policy and praxis issues in the context of women’s economic empowerment with 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

Language:

Strong written skills in English and good command over Hindi as medium of communication.

Application:

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs;
Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;
Applications received after the close date will not be accepted;
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

Required Degree and Qualification (5 points);
Expertise and Experience relevant to the assignment (10 points);
Demonstrable experience on policy advocacy with the government and other stakeholders (5 points);

The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

Writing Samples (20 points)
Interview (80 points)

Please Note:

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.

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.