Antecedentes

Uganda has made significant progress in strengthening gender equality and women’s empowerment to promote socio-economic transformation. There has been formulation of a gender responsive regulatory framework, including policies and strategies. The country is also signatory to various international commitments, including the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the 1995 Beijing Platform of Action, and subscribes fully to the fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on promoting gender equality and empowering women. These and other commitments are domesticated through Uganda’s 1995 Constitution, which guarantees equality between women and men, and includes affirmative action measures to increase women’s role in decision-making and participation in the development process.

Uganda’s policies on affirmative action have steadily increased the share of women who take part in political decision-making at all levels of society. The share of women in the national Parliament has thus increased from 18% in 2000 to 35% in the current 10th Parliament— Further, there has been a process for institutionalization of gender planning in all sectors and increased collection of gender disaggregated data and information through research. Thus, there has been improvement in the number of women in political leadership and gender parity in enrolment of girls at primary level, in addition to increased ownership of land by women.

Despite the progress made, only 27 percent of registered land is owned by women and although 70 percent of the women are engaged in agriculture, less than 20 percent control the outputs and proceeds from their efforts. Women also continue to face constraints related to access to, control over and ownership of businesses and productive resources such as land and credit. Also, whilst the increase in the number of women in the national Parliament is remarkable, it is still short of fulfilling the gender parity principle established in the African Union’s Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa.

Rationale:

The elimination of gender inequalities and the empowerment of women and girls will accelerate the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Evidence shows that women’s economic empowerment raises economic productivity, reduces infant and maternal mortality, improves nutrition, promotes health, increases the chances of education for future generations and advances women’s rights. To accelerate progress in the years ahead, we must recognize women as vital agents of change and remove the barriers, including their disproportionate burden of unpaid care work, to their full economic potential.

Fostering the full participation of women in local economic development and entrepreneurship requires overcoming entrenched discriminatory attitudes and stereotypes and challenging existing inequitable historical, social and economic structures. Support is needed for both national and local governments and the private sector to design, plan, implement and sustain local public and private investments with a emphasis on unlocking barriers to women’s economic empowerment.

Inclusive Economic Local Development (IELD) is a global joint UNCDF, UN Women and UNDP programme, that aims to support local investments that take into consideration the differentiated and specific needs and priorities of poor women and men, with emphasis on unlocking barriers to women’s economic opportunities and empowerment. With the objective of achieving gender equality and empowerment of women as well as not leaving anybody behind as mandated by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the IELD programme will identify, in consultation with some key Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), local governments, civil society organizations(CSOs) and communities, the most pressing bottlenecks faced by women at the local level, and support the public and private investments that lift these barriers and therefore creating an enabling environment to achieve and sustain inclusive and equitable socio-economic development, and to enable women’s access to local economic opportunities, entrepreneurship, and public services.

This will be achieved by working with local governments and other local economic actors and the use of a Gender Sensitive Local Economic Assessment tool (LEA) and a tool for measuring the impact of investments on women’s economic empowerment. IELD will promote local public investments that lead to women’s economic empowerment and develop a pipeline of investible projects that will mobilize (primarily) domestic capital resources for women’s economic empowerment at the local level.

To this end, UNDP is seeking the services of a competent and experienced consultant to undertake a mapping study to provide a baseline and the direction for the design of the IELD country framework document.

Deberes y responsabilidades

The objective to this assignment is to lead the mapping exercise of providing information needed to design an IELD programme in the country. The recommendations stemming from the mapping exercise will provide the necessary background and guidance for the future interventions. The mapping exercise includes two major components:

• Mapping of the current initiatives undertaken on women’s economic empowerment in Uganda;
• Institutional analysis of the key development partners and donor agencies to identify their engagement and interest in women’s economic empowerment.

Specifically, the consultant will be required to:

Conduct a comprehensive mapping of the ongoing country-wide initiatives and programmes (government or private) on women’s economic empowerment including:

• implementing agency;
• source of funding and the overall budget envelop;
• geographic coverage;
• sector areas (e.g., agriculture, manufacturing, etc.);
• overall approach and methodology, including financial instruments used (e.g. grants, loans, etc.), targeted beneficiaries (individuals, SMEs, local governments, etc.) and terms of application.

Conduct an institutional analysis of various relevant development partners and donor agencies to identify their engagement and interest (on a Likert-type scale) and roles in women’s economic empowerment (e.g. donors/providers of funds; policy makers; regulators; implementers/managers, etc.);  

Identify current gaps and the areas of opportunities and suggest potential entry points for the IELD programme, based on the forgoing mapping and institutional analyses;

Compile recommendations, including key areas of opportunity for the design and implementation of the joint IELD programme while clearly formulating the complementary nature and the value proposition of the proposed design vis-à-vis other ongoing programmes. Specifically, the recommendation should suggest;

• overall approach and methodology (public or private sector approach or a combination thereof, financial instruments to be used and the relation to other existing/planned programmes):
• sector and target beneficiaries;
• potential sources of funding;
• implementing and other partners (government and non-government);  

Make recommendations on potential options for the country programme framework.

Competencias

• Strong analytical skills;
• Excellent report-writing skills;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
• Having a sound knowledge of the current state of sustainable development agenda, issues related to women’s economic empowerment and informal sector initiatives;
• Good knowledge of local governments, civil society, development planning and capital investment programs implementation;
• Knowledge of UN policies regarding Project quality assurance and monitoring is an asset.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Public Administration, Law, Political Science, Gender studies, Finance, Economics, International relations, Development studies, or any other related fields.

Experience:

• At least 5 - 7 years of practical experience in policy analysis or relevant research at national or international level, consulting, and the conduct of case studies with a good understanding of developing countries context, particularly in Africa;
• Experience of working on issues of gender and women’s economic empowerment;

Language:

• Fluency in both oral and written English.

Methodology:

The consultant will undertake a desk review of the existing policies, programmes and projects to identify best practices as well as challenges for women’s economic empowerment. The desk review will be complemented with a field research employing both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Under the qualitative methodology, the researcher is expected to carry out focus group discussions of selected women entrepreneurs as well as consultative meetings and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders including government and non-government entities as well as development partners and donors. Individual respondents will be selected from both urban and rural locations as well as formal and informal sectors.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The key deliverables of this assignment include:

• Inception report detailing the approach to the assignment, key activities to be undertaken, timelines and budget requirements. 
• Institutional analysis of the key development partners and donor agencies to identify their engagement and interest in women’s economic empowerment;
• Final report including mapping of the current initiatives undertaken on women’s economic empowerment in Uganda.
• Recommendations for the key areas of opportunity for the design and implementation of the joint IELD programme to be submitted to the joint IELD country technical team;
• A set of PPP slides presenting the key results of the assignment;
• A presentation session of the key results to the joint IELD country technical team and other stakeholders as appropriate;
• Final Inception report - 5 working days;
• Institutional analysis of the key development partners and donor agencies to identify their engagement and interest in women’s economic empowerment - 2 workings days;
• Final report including mapping of the current initiatives undertaken on women’s economic empowerment in Uganda - 12 working days;
• Recommendations for the key areas of opportunity for the design and implementation of the joint IELD programme to be submitted to the joint IELD country technical team - 2 working days;
• A set of PPP slides presenting the key results of the assignment - 1 working day;
• A presentation session of the key results to the joint IELD country technical team and other stakeholders as appropriate - 1 working day.

Working Arrangements:

Institutional Arrangement:

The consultant will work closely with the team from UNDP, UN Women and UNCDF and shall report to the Team Leader - Institutional Effectiveness Programme, who will be responsible for ensuring the overall technical quality of the deliverables, and compliance with the terms of the assignment.

The required format for all the reports generated shall be agreed with the UNDP upon the inception of the assignment.

All costs needed to achieve the deliverables set forth in this RFP are to be included in the financial proposals from the offerors (transport, professional fees, communication, consumables, living allowances, etc.) except logistical costs related to the organization of the stakeholder workshop.

Duration of the Work:

The expected duration for the assignment is twenty-three (23) work days equivalent from date of approval and acceptance of contract by both parties. The expected start date is 12 June 2017 and the latest date of completion is 11 August, 2017.

Duty Station:

The consultant’s duty station shall be Kampala. The contractor shall be expected to report on the progress of the assignment on a weekly basis. 

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule Payments:

Price Proposal:

• The financial offer should be quoted as a lump sum amount, ‘all-inclusive ‘. The term “All inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal except logistical costs related to the organization of the planning meetings and validation workshop;
• Individuals on IC are not UN staff are therefore not entitled to DSAs.  All living allowances required to perform the demands of the TOR must be incorporated in the financial proposal, whether the fees are expressed as daily fees or lump sum amount;
• The contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components. Payments will be effected based on deliverables.

Payment Schedule:

• 30%-An inception report detailing the understanding/interpretation of the TOR; the methodology of carrying out the assignment;
• 70%- Final report including mapping of the current initiatives undertaken on women’s economic empowerment in Uganda including recommendations for the key areas of opportunity for the design and implementation of the joint IELD programme to be submitted to the joint IELD country technical team; a set of PPP slides presenting the key results of the assignment; and presentation session of the key results to the joint IELD country technical team and other stakeholders as appropriate.

Proposed Work Plan and Indicative Time:

• It is planned that the consultancy starts no later than 12 June 2017 and ends by 11 August 2017.

Evaluation Criteria and Method:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Technical Criteria -  Maximum 70 Points:

• Relevance of Education – Max 05 points;
• Proven track record and experience in policy analysis or relevant research at national or international level, consulting, and the conduct of case studies with a good understanding of developing countries context, particularly in Africa– Max 15 points
• Prior experience working on issues of gender and women’s economic empowerment – Max 10 points;
• Technical proposal with demonstrated understanding and sound proposed methodology for achieving the deliverables of the assignment – Max 40 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

Financial Criteria – Maximum 30 Points:

• The lowest-priced RFQ among the technically compliant/responsive offers – Max 30 points.

Submission of Application:

The candidate is required to submit an electronic application directly uploaded on the UNDP jobs website with all the requirements as listed here below. Annexes and further information may be downloaded on http://procurement-notices.undp.org/. (Reference #37701).

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document to this website - http://jobs.undp.org (Ref no.72170).

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II);
• Personal CV, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.

Technical proposal:

• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment;
• Financial proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (Annex II);
• Annexes 1 and II - may be downloaded from the UNDP Procurement Notices Website -http://procurement-notices.undp.org/ - under reference #37701. For further clarifications, please contact; janet.anyango@undp.org; moses.lutwama@undp.org;

Interested applicants should submit applications through uploading of all their required documentation in one single pdf document on this website only

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.