Antecedentes
Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
Economic empowerment (EE) is one of the key priority areas of UN Women. UN Women works with Governments and multilateral partners (UNDP, ILO, World Bank, regional development banks) to promote women’s economic empowerment and increase their access to economic opportunities, especially for those who are most excluded. Through the Inclusive and Equitable Local Development (IELD) programme, jointly designed and implemented by UNCDF, UNDP and UN Women, the project aims to create an enabling environment by responding to infrastructure impediments which prevent women and men from entering the labor market, and unlock domestic capital, for public and private infrastructure projects, which can have a transformative impact on women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship. The Programme Division of UN Women is managing and coordinating the IELD UN Women component.
The main objective of a gender-responsive Local Economy Assessment (LEA) is to generate a qualitative and nuanced understanding of the economy of the target locality, its position within, and linkages to the broader economy of its surrounding region and the country as a whole, from a gender perspective. The LEA also aims to develop an in-depth understanding of the critical characteristics of the economy, its structure, the nature of its sectors, clusters and value chains and the dynamics that drive each as well as the challenges that undermine their equitable and sustainable growth as well as the opportunities that may unleash their potentials.
The Assessment will provide the analytical foundation for guiding the development of the locality’s Local Economic Development Strategy. It will also guide the precise identification and prioritization of the range of interventions and actions to be implemented through the Strategy that will be undertaken by the various economic actors to achieve its objectives.
In the longer-term and as the assessment is re-implemented annually, it will function as the depository of knowledge about the target local economy, its evolution and the transformation of its sectors, clusters and value chains. It shall also enable the tracking of performance, the shifts in competiveness and the extent to which growth has been equitable and sustainable.
While incorporating gender perspectives in economic development at the national level is now being advocated by various organizations, including UN agencies and multilateral organizations, this has not been seriously overlooked at the local level. This, despite the overwhelming empirical evidence that taking into account the needs, priorities and opinions of both women and men of the territory, ensuring that both benefit equally from social change and economic growth, and that gender inequalities are eliminated, are all essential for the success of any Local Economic Development strategy aimed at creating decent work opportunities.
UN Women is hiring a consultant/gender expert to develop a gender-responsive Local Economic Assessment Tool, currently being prepared under the joint UN Women/UNCDF/UNDP Global Programme on Local Economic Development. The consultant will be supervised by the Macroeconomic Policy Advisor in the Economic Empowerment Section at UN Women, and is expected to liaise closely with UN Women’s Programme Adviser/Global Programme Manager in the Programme Division for the IELD Project, a UNCDF consultant/expert conducting a mapping of existing local economic assessment tools, and the UNDP consultant/expert currently developing local economic financing tool.
Deberes y responsabilidades
Objective of the consultancy:
- Planning, design and development of a gender-responsive Local Economic Assessment Tool;
- Guidance in the transition of the LED process from the Local Economy Assessment Phase to the LED Strategy Formulation Phase;
- Identification, agreement and prioritization/sequencing of interventions to be implemented by a range of stakeholders including the public sector (local and central), the private sector, nongovernmental/non-state actors, development partners and others;
- Testing of the LEA Tool in country with gathering of evidence to inform ongoing work.
Duration of the consultancy:
- The consultancy will be undertaken during the period of 15 September 2016 to 14 February 2017.
Location of assignment:
- The consultant will undertake the assignment off-site, but is expected to travel at least twice to NY, and possibly in one/two country case studies.
Remuneration:
- The applicant is requested to submit a financial proposal as a lump sum.
Reporting:
- The consultant will report to the Macroeconomic Policy Advisor.
Competencias
Core Values/Guiding Principles:
Integrity:
- Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity:
- Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
- Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.
Functional Competencies:
- Expertise and knowledge on economics and gender analysis as it relates to local economic development and financing for local economic development;
- Strong background on gender and economics, and familiarity with feminist perspectives on economic development and analysis;
- Extensive knowledge of Location Quotient and Shift Share Analysis or equivalent, including their application to local economic analysis from a gender perspective;
- A good track record of research and publication in the application of Location Quotient and Shift Share Analysis or equivalent to local economic development from a gender perspective;
- Strong analytical, organizational, reporting and writing abilities;
- Capacity to plan, prioritize and deliver tasks on time;
- Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
- Ability to work under pressure.
Habilidades y experiencia requeridas
Education:
- Advanced university degree in economics, social and/or environmental sciences.
Experience:
- A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience on economic development, with an added focus on local economic development, combined with work experience on gender equality and women’s empowerment;
- A strong mastery of development issues including intergovernmental processes, policy debates and country experiences and challenges;
- A strong understanding of the UN system and of UN Women’s mandate;
- Excellent English written skills for diverse audiences (demonstrated through publication record);
- Excellent conceptual, writing and presentation skills;
- Demonstrated record of publications on gender and economic development, value chains, financing, gender and labour markets, social accounting matrices, gender analysis of spillovers and multiplier effects from investment on local labour markets, etc.
Language:
- Fluency in oral and written English is required;
- Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable.