Background

I. 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 Nepal, UN Women focuses on strengthening women’s voice, agency, and leadership across sectors to advance women’s rights, provide space for women’s meaningful participation, and contribute to tangible differences in their lives. Under the overarching Nepal Country Office’s Strategic Note (SN) for the period 2018-2022, UN Women focuses on two programmatic areas, inclusive governance, and women’s economic empowerment.

To advance women’s economic empowerment by promoting increased income security, better jobs, and economic independence of women and girls, especially those from vulnerable and excluded groups. For this purpose, UN Women will foster an enabling environment at home and in the community to address discriminatory social and economic norms and structural barriers, to ensure gender-responsiveness in the development and implementation of macroeconomic and sectoral policies, and to leverage women’s income generation capacity for advancing their empowerment and leadership. By adopting a substantive equality approach to women’s economic empowerment, UN Women aims to deepen its support beyond enhancing the skills and economic competency of women, to also addressing the social dimensions of their challenges and inequalities.

The economic empowerment of women— women’s success and advancement economically and their ability to make and act on economic decisions[1] is critical to realizing women’s rights and achieving gender equality and sustainable development. All over the world, women make vast contributions to economies, through for example paid labour, either formal or informal, subsistence agriculture, or paid or unpaid domestic or care work. However, gender inequalities in economic participation, decision-making - both in the private and public spheres - and access to resources and assets remain pervasive, and discrimination and exploitation of women persist and are demonstrated in multiple ways. 

Through its work, UN Women seeks to contribute to transforming discriminatory social norms and eliminating harmful practices and behaviours, including violence against women. All of the above contribute to fulfilling Nepal's obligations to international treaties and commitments, including regular reporting on progress related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Beijing Platform for Action, and to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

As part of its women’s economic empowerment interventions, UN Women Nepal continues its support to increase women’s productivity and income generation and leverage their economic capacity to advance the broader economic empowerment of women, enabling women to shift from informal to the formal economy. Building on the continued efforts in evidence-based policy/public advocacy for transformational change in social and economic norms, UN Women continues to produce quality knowledge products on relevant issues such as women’s unpaid work and care economy, and engage federal and local governments, civil society development partners and other UN agencies in advocacy initiatives.

Women, particularly from the marginalized communities, are more severely affected given their overrepresentation in the informal sector.[2] A UNDP survey published in July 2020 highlighted that 41 percent of women lost their jobs during the lockdown, compared to 28 percent of men[3]. A Rapid Gender Analysis on COVID-19 conducted in May-June 2020 by CARE Nepal, Save the Children, and Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens (MoWCSC) with support from UN Women reported as many as 83% of women losing their jobs and income during the lockdown. Those hardest hit were women daily wage workers, women working in the entertainment sector, and women operating their businesses.[4] The gender pay gap further compounds this inequality with Nepali women earning only 70% of the earnings of their male counterparts.[5] Women are managing larger households with reduced resources. With reverse migration and the return of male members, shifts in intra-household decision-making are discernible.[6]

To enhance its efforts, UN Women Nepal is seeking to engage an International Consultant on a retainer basis to support the Country Office’s programming on women’s economic security and rights. Reporting to the Head of Programmes, and in close collaboration with the programme team, the International Consultant will be responsible to analyze relevant policies, social data, and trends, and provide analytical advisory services to UN Women Nepal Country Office on development issues and policies to enhance the strategic impact of UN Women’s interventions in the areas of women’s security and rights in Nepal.  

In the past year, people’s lives in Nepal have been drastically worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. UN Women’s participation in a series of joint UN missions to assess the impacts of COVID-19 in the provinces unraveled a highly distressing humanitarian situation, with more severe consequences being borne by women, vulnerable, and excluded groups. UN Women’s targeted intervention to provide cash support to female-headed households as part of the comprehensive relief package enabled most vulnerable and excluded households to cope with immediate survival needs, achieve financial autonomy while physical distancing and mobility restrictions impair their income-generating ability, and respond to the specific needs of women and excluded groups, especially persons with disabilities. Further, the UN in Nepal will initiate the drafting of the next UN Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDCF) for 2023-2027.

In this context, the International Consultant is also expected to provide COVID-related technical oversight and quality assurance to the NCO, in addition to the robust analysis and technical advisory services to UN Women for its annual/strategic planning processes as well as the UNSDCF.

[1] UN Women (2017) Discussion Paper: Macroeconomic Policy and Women’s Economic Empowerment, September 2017

[2] Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), National Planning Commission (NPC & International Labour Organization (ILO). Report on the Nepal Labour Force

Survey 2017/18, p. 29. March 2019

[3] UNDP. Rapid Assessment of Socio-Economic Impact of COVID-19 in Nepal. Access here.

[4] MoWCSC, CARE Nepal, UN Women and Save the Children. (2020). Rapid Gender Analysis on COVID 19 Nepal. 2020. Access here.

[5] Ibid, p. 14.

[6] According to Nepal’s COVID-19 Crisis Management Center (CCMC), a total number of 132,825 migrant workers (4,600 female and 128,225 male) repatriated after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Duties and Responsibilities

II. Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Head of Programmes and in close coordination with programme team, the International Consultant will provide technical support and strategic guidance to the development and implementation of UN Women’s programmes to advance women’s economic security and rights. This is one of priority areas of collaboration in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens and UN Women in 2018, and is also in line with the National Gender Equality Policy 2021. The detailed scope of work and responsibilities of the assignment are as follows:

1. High-quality technical inputs and advisory support to UN Women Nepal’s programmes on women’s economic security and rights.

• Contribute to the finalization of relevant strategy papers for UN Women Nepal’s engagement and interventions in the areas of women’s economic security and rights.in the federal governance context, by providing reviews, technical inputs, and strategic advice to drafts. Key strategy papers include, but are not limited to, a feminist approach to women’s economic empowerment, gender-responsive budgeting, women’s unpaid work, and social accountability (10-15 pages) (minimum 2)
• Draft and/or review policy briefs or policy papers (5-7 pages), to UN Women and select partners on relevant issues. Key issues include, but are not limited to, Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR), CEDAW, gender, and macroeconomic policy, gender-responsive budgeting, social accountability, feminist leadership, private sector engagement, etc. (minimum 2)
• Collect, analyze and synthesize relevant data and information on Nepal’s macroeconomic policies with a focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment especially women’s economic security and rights, to inform UN Women’s annual work plan, strategic plan as well as the upcoming UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF)
• Draft and/or review terms of reference for UN Women’s programming on economic security and rights (minimum 4)
• Provide technical inputs and quality assurance support for UN Women’s research studies including review of key deliverables such as inception report, methodology/sampling note, data collection tools, draft, and final study reports
• Undertake mapping/scoping studies and desk research to inform UN Women’s programming efforts (minimum 2)
• Provide technical support, including participation in relevant reference meetings with UN Women’s implementing partners, for the implementation of its programmes and other interventions on women’s economic empowerment.
• Document lessons learned and good practices on women’s economic security and rights. (minimum 1 compendium of 10 pages)
• Contribute to knowledge building of UN Women Nepal on women’s economic security and rights by providing technical reviews and quality assurance of knowledge products and sharing best practices and lessons learned from global and regional experiences. 

1. Evidence-based policy advisory and public advocacy support to and capacity development of the Government counterparts, civil society, development partners, and other relevant stakeholders.

• Design and participate in expert group meetings/workshops on policy debates on relevant issues related to women’s economic security and rights.
• Design and participate in multi-stakeholder consultations/dialogues for knowledge building and public advocacy on emerging issues related to women’s economic security and rights.
• Design and conduct capacity development initiatives (including training and workshops) for government officials, elected representatives, civil society partners, and/or development partners in Nepal on issues related to women’s economic security and rights and COVID response from a feminist lens.

1. Contribution to the strategic partnership and resource mobilization efforts.

• Provide technical inputs to draft or develop concept notes or programme documents of UN Women’s interventions on women’s economic security and rights., including COVID 19 related socio-economic recovery response.
• Develop substantive briefs or concept notes on possible areas of resource mobilization on women’s economic security and rights, , including COVID 19 related socio-economic recovery response.

III. Expected deliverables

Expected deliverables include:

• Evidence of contribution to the finalization of relevant strategy papers UN Women Nepal’s engagement and interventions in the areas of women’s economic security and rights, in the federal governance context, by providing reviews, technical inputs, and strategic advice to drafts. Key strategy papers include, but are not limited to, a feminist approach to women’s economic empowerment, gender-responsive budgeting, women’s unpaid work, and social accountability (10-15 pages).  (minimum 2)
• Final draft and/or evidence of review provided to policy briefs or policy papers (5-7 pages), to UN Women, and select partners of women’s economic empowerment portfolios on relevant issues. Key issues include, but are not limited to, Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR), CEDAW, gender, and macroeconomic policy, gender-responsive budgeting, social accountability, feminist leadership, private sector engagement, etc. (minimum 2)
• Evidence of collection, analysis and synthesis of relevant data and information on Nepal’s macroeconomic policies with a focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment especially women’s economic security and rights.
• Final draft and/or evidence of review provided to terms of reference for UN Women’s programming on economic security and rights (minimum 4)
• Evidence of substantive technical inputs and quality assurance support for UN Women’s research studies including review of key deliverables such as inception report, methodology/sampling note, data collection tools, draft, and final study reports.
• Mapping/scoping studies and desk research to inform UN Women’s programming efforts (minimum 2)
• Evidence of technical support, including participation in relevant reference meetings with UN Women’s implementing partners, for the implementation of its programmes and other interventions on women’s economic empowerment.
• Evidence of documentation of the lessons learned and good practices on women’s economic security and rights (minimum 1)
• Evidence of contribution to knowledge building of UN Women Nepal on women’s economic empowerment by providing technical reviews and quality assurance of knowledge products and sharing best practices and lessons learned from global and regional experiences.
• Evidence of design and substantive participation in expert group meetings/workshops on policy debates on relevant issues related to women’s economic empowerment.
• Evidence of design and substantive participation in multi-stakeholder consultations for knowledge building and public advocacy on emerging issues related to women’s economic empowerment.
• Design and conduct capacity development initiatives (including training and workshops) for government officials, elected representatives, civil society partners, and/or development partners in Nepal on issues related to women’s economic empowerment and COVID response from a feminist lens.
• Evidence of technical inputs provided to draft or develop concept notes or programme documents of UN Women’s interventions on women’s economic empowerment, including COVID 19 related socio-economic recovery response.
• The final version of briefs or concept notes on possible areas of resource mobilization on women’s economic empowerment, including COVID 19 related socio-economic recovery response.

IV. Inputs

• UN Women will provide reference materials and facilitate coordination with key stakeholders.
• It is the Consultant’s responsibility to arrange private insurance.
• It is mandatory for the consultant to participate in a UN security briefing and to follow UN security rules and guidance.
• The Consultant will be required to provide a Statement of Good Health, endorsed by a certified Medical Practitioner.

V. Duration of the assignment and duty station  

This is a home-based assignment for a year on a retainer basis (as and when required) with a maximum of 100 working days. Given the context of COVID-19, the assignment will mainly be home-based and includes participation in meetings and consultations virtually.

VI. Schedule of payments

Payment will be made based on the quality of the work delivered upon certification of satisfactory performance by the supervisor. A work plan for the service delivery will be discussed and reconfirmed upon the signing of a contract. The contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communications, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Competencies

VII. Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Required Skills and Experience

VIII. Qualification and experience

• Master’s degree in Gender and Development Studies, Political Science, Economics, Social Science, or any other related field of studies.
• A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in working with gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.
• Demonstrable experience working on gender issues in South Asia will be an asset.
• Previous experience working with different levels of government, civil society, and development partners.  Experience working with the UN system is a considerable asset.  
• Fluency in written and oral English is required.
• The ability to handle documents and the information contained therein with the strictest confidentiality is a non-negotiable requirement.

IX. DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS?

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications though UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org.

• Expression of interest explaining why you are interested in this position and what professional skills and experiences make you a strong candidate.
• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded:  http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment 
• A separate page of the financial proposal.

• A sample of original writing produced within the last three months where the applicant is the lead author

X. Evaluation criteria

A two-stage procedure is applied in evaluating the proposals. 

1. The technical proposal is assessed first based on the qualifications listed above.  Those proposals that meet a minimum threshold (scoring at least 70% on the technical assessment) including possible interviews, will be considered further, including a thorough assessment of the financial proposal.

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications): 40 Points + 30 Points

• Master’s degree in Gender and Development Studies, Political Science, Social Science, or any other related field of studies. (5 points)
• A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in working with gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. (10 points)
• Demonstrable experience working on gender issues in South Asia will be an asset. (5 points)
• Previous experience working with different levels of government, civil society, and development partners. Experience working with the UN system is a considerable asset. (5 points)
• Writing sample (15 points)
• Interview (30 Points)

1. The financial proposal of candidates who meet the technical assessment threshold will be evaluated. The financial assessment will count as 30% of the total points. In this methodology, the maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest-priced proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion.

The formula is as follows:

p = y (µ/z)

Where:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal

µ = price of the lowest-priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Note: The applicant should not include travel in the financial proposal, as the travel reimbursement will be done separately as per actual expenditure following UN Women travel guidelines.

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.

UN Women is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals especially women are highly encouraged to apply.

UN Women 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.