UN Women’s office in Nigeria works to advance implementation of the agency’s normative, operational and coordination mandate, in close partnership with the Government of Nigeria, the United Nations Country Team and civil society organizations.  The UN Women Nigeria Country Office prioritizes women’s economic empowerment as one of its core programmatic areas of focus. UN Women’s efforts to enhance women’s economic empowerment in the recent past has included support to women entrepreneurs in ICTs, facilitating women’s financial inclusion, through a partnership with Mastercard, and supporting women IDPs in conflict-affected areas in the North East of Nigeria to re-engage in agricultural activities.

UN Women has also embarked in designing a flagship program on women’s economic empowerment through agribusiness, which will be implemented with other UN partners in support of the government of Nigeria’s Economic recovery and Growth Plan.

Additionally, UN Women Nigeria commissioned a study on gender sensitive procurement in Nigeria at the end of 2017. The study showed that despite Nigeria having one of the highest number of female entrepreneurs in the world, women-owned businesses do not secure government contracts, suggesting systematic gender disparities in the Nigerian procurement system.

As a follow-up to the study and its important findings, and as part of UN Women global high-impact Flagship Programming Initiative (FPI) in the field of women’s economic empowerment, UN Women Nigeria wishes to contract a consultant to undertake a series of additional interventions particularly related to promoting gender sensitive procurement and women entrepreneurs’ access to public procurement.

1.       Undertake a global review of preferential procurement policies in Nigeria

2.       Facilitate a multi-stakeholder dialogue on UN Women’s baseline study on: (1) the status of public procurement and engagement by women-led businesses; (2) the global review of procurement policies. The meeting will discuss options for a gender sensitive affirmative procurement policy and legislative measures.

3.       Support South-South Learning and capacity building by conducting a lesson learnt session from case study countries (e.g. Kenya and South Africa) to substantiate the crafting of appropriate policy and legislative instruments

4.       Conduct a review of procurement training packages available to government procurement officers, and develop a component on affirmative procurement measures to support their implementation

Deliverables:

1.       A global review of procurement documents to bolster advocacy with government, the National Legislative Assembly and private sector in support of WOBs.

2.       A multi-stakeholder dialogue on UN Women’s baseline study and the global review of gender biased procurement policies is organized and provides options for a gender sensitive affirmative procurement policy and legislative measures.

3.       Travels are organized for main stakeholders and lessons learned support the crafting of appropriate policy and legislative instruments in Nigeria.

4.       Procurement training packages available to government procurement officers are revised and include a component on affirmative procurement

5.       A review of of institutions providing trainings on procurement for business persons is conducted to inform the establishment of an institutionalized training program to support WOBs’ engagement in public procurement (in collaboration with BPP, UN and other relevant government MDAs)

A high-level advocacy dialogue between WOBs, government and private sector actors is organized

5.       Conduct a review of institutions providing trainings on procurement for business persons and their respective training packages, to inform the establishment of an institutionalized training program to support WOBs’ engagement in public procurement (in collaboration with BPP, UN and other relevant government MDAs)

6.       Facilitate a high-level advocacy dialogue between WOBs, government and private sector actors, to discuss ways of addressing the needs of WOBs i.e. appropriate services and support incl. financial solutions.

7.       Support advocacy dialogue and outreach interventions to expand partnerships for UN Women’s program interventions in the area of Women’s Economic Empowerment

CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES

• Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct. Exhibits positive actions without consideration personal gains nor interests. Upholds prompt action in cases of unethical behavior. Possess the ability to resist political pressure in decision making.

• Professionalism: Express professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work. Shows persistence and resilience when faced with challenges. Mandatory to be conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, deadlines and must be result-oriented.

• Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Showcase an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity. Ensure conscious and constant effort to eexamine personal biases and behaviours to avoid stereotypical responses

CORE COMPETENCIES

·       Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity

·       Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment

·       Planning and Organizing: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies.

Identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required. Allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work. Foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning. Monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary. Uses time efficiently

·       Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative

·       Work in teams: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

·       Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication

·       Self-management and Emotional Intelligence: Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others 

·       Conflict Management: Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

·       Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge

·       Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES

• Excellent research skills
• Ability to lead formulation of strategies
• Strong networking skills
• Excellent knowledge of the women’s economic empowerment thematic area
• Ability to build strong relationships and focus on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Focuses on impact and result for the partners and responds positively to feedback.
• Adaptability and dynamism
• Attention to detail
• Strong analytical skills
• Ability to work under pressure
• Technological awareness
• Accountability
• Vision

Qualification & Experiance:

·       The consultant will have experience implementing projects relating to Gender issues, Development Finance/Economics, International Development, Public Procurement, Public Policy;

·       A minimum of 7 years strategic planning experience for international and/or UN agencies at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of projects and establishing inter-relationships among international organizations and national governments, preferably in the field of gender, economic empowerment, procurement-related issues and economic empowerment of women;

·       The consultant will have practical extensive experience working in Nigeria

The consultant will have a strong knowledge of public procurement policies and processes, of women’s empowerment initiatives, economic development and informal sector initiatives;