Background

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. The UN Women Pacific sub-region has four main thematic areas:

• Ending Violence against Women and Girls (EVAWG);
• Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) which includes the Markets for Change project (M4C);
• Gender and Protection in Humanitarian Action; and
• Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership.

UN Women’s Markets for Change (M4C) Project is a multi-year initiative that focuses on three countries of the Pacific - Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Given that between 75% and 90% of market vendors are women, with many more women reliant on market produce, the project’s goal is to ensure that marketplaces in rural and urban areas are safe, inclusive and non-discriminatory, promoting the gender, social and economic empowerment of market vendors, with specific attention to the needs and aspirations of women market vendors.

The overarching goal of the M4C project is to: ensure that marketplaces in rural and urban areas of Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are safe, inclusive and non-discriminatory, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The project is based on a Theory of Change (ToC), which states that market vendors can be empowered within the market environment through a combination of implementation strategies. The M4C project incorporates: the creation and strengthening of representative marketplace groups, which in turn strengthen women market vendors’ roles and influence; interventions focusing on financial literacy, access to financial services and increased participation in value chains; strengthening the accountability and capacity of market management, municipal and provincial governments to enable them to employ gender-responsive policies, procedures and decision-making processes that are receptive to the needs of market vendors as well as the design and construction of gender-responsive infrastructure and on-site services. The ToC guiding the M4C Project is that gender-equitable economic and socio-cultural empowerment of women market vendors within the market environment of the three countries can be attained through the following four outcomes:

• accessible, inclusive and representative governance structures within marketplaces are put into place that will enable markets to grow, and will specifically strengthen the role and influence of women market vendors;
• actions that improve governance and social and economic security will facilitate market vendors to achieve economic, social and financial advancement, with specific outcomes related to improved gender-equality and the advancement of women;
• actions that improve governance among market management and local governments will enable decision-making processes to be more gender-responsive, transparent, accountable and receptive to the needs of vendors;
• improved infrastructure and on-site services that are developed in a gender-responsive manner will significantly improve social and economic security for women market vendors.

UN Women implements outcomes areas 1, 3 and 4, and the UN Development Program (UNDP) is the responsible party for implementing outcome area 2.

The project is funded by the Government of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), with the Government of Canada joining into the funding partnership in March 2018

M4C has three project teams, one in each country (Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu), each having a Project Manager at the country level.  Teams are supported by a regional Women’s Economic Empowerment Specialist and overseen by a regional Technical Specialist based in the UN Women Fiji MCO head office in Suva. The consultancy will require liaison with the country teams to meet country level stakeholders, gather reports, information and data as required.

Purpose of the consultancy

This consultancy is the first stage of a small pilot project supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth in partnership with UN Women, with the guidance of a joint steering committee which includes advisors from UNCDF and UNDP.  The project aims to provide a combination of business development capacity building for micro vendors along with digital payment access to these same vendors in the markets. The project aims to grow the revenue of micro vendors serving tourists and re-seller vendors by encouraging product innovation, business efficiency, and digital payment acceptance. While the project is open to both male and female entrepreneurs, we aim to have a majority of participating businesses be women-owned. 

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth is interested in catalyzing partnerships in Fiji and Vanuatu to help micro and small retailers, operating in the informal economy through women entrepreneur market vendors, to expand their market access and benefit from tourism.  Mastercard and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth will bring technology, expertise, and financial contributions to the proposed partnership. Mastercard will work with issuers and payment facilitators to ensure digital payment access in targeted markets. Mastercard will subsidize mPOS devices, as appropriate. Additionally, Mastercard will provide pro-bono expertise to ensure digital payment access in the targeted markets.

These terms of reference define the scope, approach and deliverables for an analysis of the interests and needs of micro-entrepreneur market vendors, with a focus on women who are in a position to grow their market vending businesses by moving to digital financial technologies.  This would include those vendors serving cruise ship tourists in Fiji and Vanuatu, as well as vendors working with higher sales turnovers including wholesaling dry goods and vegetables.

Context

There remains a considerable portion of Pacific populations who rely largely on informal economic and subsistence activities. Women especially are heavily involved in informal economic activities. Women dominate many small-scale market operations in both Fiji and Vanuatu. Between 75% and 90% of all market vendors in the Pacific are women; hours are long, profits are often low and working conditions difficult. Earnings make up a significant portion of the incomes of their households. Many women market vendors are increasing the scale and scope of their operations and require additional support to scale up and expand their business ideas.

Annually nearly 550,000 tourists visit islands in the South Pacific via cruise ships. In Fiji, 118 cruise ships are expected to dock in 2018. The largest South Pacific islands rank 11 and 12 on the World Tourism Index, demonstrating the strong reliance on foreign tourists for livelihoods in both the formal and informal economies. Approximately half of these tourists are Australian, a country with very high digital payment comfort. Cruise ships unload tourists into the ports that have permanent or recurring temporary markets near the cruise terminals. Micro and small businesses sell fresh produce, spices, clothing, souvenirs, local artworks, carvings etc. Some of these goods are targeted to tourists, but not all. A survey conducted by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) found a strong positive correlation between passenger satisfaction and spending. In other words, the more satisfied passengers are with the variety of things to see and do, the longer they stay ashore and the more they spend in the local economy. In Vanuatu each cruise ship brings an average of $260,000 in spending, and one cruise ship passenger brings AU $125 (US $95) of spending power.

Micro-entrepreneurs operating on those markets typically only accept cash. These entrepreneurs are excluded from the benefits of digital payments and a digital economy, e.g. transactional data to improve business operations, greater security from being part of the formal financial system, and greater sales by reducing lost time spent on handling small cash. In addition, as the majority of market vendors in Fiji and Vanuatu are women, handling and carrying cash puts women at increased risk of their safety.  Moving to cashless transactions may contribute to greater safety and security for women vendors.  Despite the fact, that the majority of vendors are women, men still dominate the larger and higher cost sales items including high end handicrafts, root crops, kava and dry goods, and wholesaling of produce.

Methodology

The consultant will be expected to work with the M4C country teams in Fiji and Vanuatu, including other project partners, such as UNDP as the responsible party for outcome two under the M4C project, the UNCDF’s Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP), and private sector partners including banks.  Specifically, the consultant’s deliverables will be reviewed by a joint steering committee consisting of UN Women, UNCDF and UNDP.

It is expected that the consultant work in a participatory manner with the project teams, project stakeholders as well as service providers.  The approach must ensure inclusivity with a range of stakeholders including remote rural women and persons with disabilities.  The approach must be based on a gender analysis of the barriers and challenges that women face in economic empowerment; ensuring that the analysis and recommendations developed addresses these throughout.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Representative and the M4C Regional WEE Program Specialist, and technically guided by a joint steering committee consisting of members of the UNCDF Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme PFIP and UNDP, the Consultant will undertake the following tasks as outlined in the deliverable table in Section VI.

This assignment will cover:

• The mapping of the profiles of the various micro-entrepreneurs in the markets who have high cost sale items, or sell to cruise ship passengers and re-sellers, who are intermediaries between smaller vendors and established retailers/consumers. This profiling includes, but is not limited to the following information:
• age, ethnicity, business location, types of products sold, average monthly business revenue, duration in business, business category, legal registration, opening hours, percentage of sales to tourists, etc.
• Additionally, use the experiences of micro-entrepreneurs to understand the following with disaggregated data for women micro-entrepreneurs when relevant:
• entrepreneurial styles;
• access and use of formal and informal financial services;
• market linkages;
• financial management skills;
• digital literacy including digital security;
• aspirations and perceptions re barriers/obstacles for growth;
• practical needs for support to grow their businesses;
• access to credit and savings schemes;
• improved market linkages;
• business administration training and coaching e.g.: accounting/book keeping, business plan (for re-sellers);
• business development services e.g.: customer awareness, branding/marketing of products, packaging, product diversification/innovation.

Based on the above, make recommendations on specific interventions that can help such micro-entrepreneurs to grow with a specific focus on training and coaching.  Special consideration should be given to existing training curriculums that could be adapted for this project, including training implemented through Markets for Change project. Recommendations should also include market selection/prioritization and should ensure participation of women

Approach

The assessment and preparation of report may follow the process as below:

• Inception
• Document review and interviews with key informants, including stakeholders from the cruise:-
  • ship industry, market wholesalers / resellers, higher end items
• Data collection and preliminary analysis
• Data analysis
• Presentation of findings to joint working committee
• Based on discussion and feedback, initial drafting of report
• Finalization of the report

Duration of the assignment

The duration of this assignment will be approximately 30 working days over a period of 2 months in the first-second quarter of 2019 as per the schedule of deliverables below.

The scope of work will cover two M4C project countries: Fiji and Vanuatu.

Expected Deliverables

Assessment report covering all aspects as listed under the scope section of this ToR, including an infographic with key messages from the report:

(Pls refer to the actual TOR for full table of deliveries)

• All the documents, including the interview tools, and transcripts, all scoping materials including images materials and reports should be submitted in written English language.
• Note that all materials, including video footage and images will remain property of UN Women and cannot be used without UN Women’s permission.
• Note: The menitoned number fo work days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignement.  It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverable approved by the UN Women Fiji MCO Management shall be the only criteria for the national consultant's work being completed and eligible.

Inputs

• UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials for the project. Specifically, project documents and access to all training materials, reports, research and data collected from the Markets for Change project and partners including PFIP.
• UN Women will also cover the costs of daily subsistence allowance (DSA) for Fiji and Vanuatu as per standard UN rate, as well as the costs of in-country travel (including traveling internally to the provinces as required). Travel to Fiji from the consultant’s home base should be included in the financial proposal.
• The consultant is expected to work remotely using her/his own computer but may access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.
• UN Women will also cover the costs for translation of printed materials as required throughout the duration of the assignment.  For field work translation, UN Woman may consider providing support towards these costs if required.

Performance evaluation

Contractor’s performance will be evaluated based on: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

Competencies

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies

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

Required Skills and Experience

Education

A minimum of a post graduate qualification in Economics with preference for social economists / Social Sciences is necessary.

Experience

• Must have a strong background in research with a specific focus on the informal sector;
• Experience in working with low income women is highly desirable;
• Hands-on experience in research process, from conceptualization to report writing, as demonstrated by previous work is crucial;
• Demonstrated ability to research, analyze and write in a language that is concise, compelling and easy to understand with clear strong fact checking;
• Good understanding of local development context and challenges in the context of women’s economic empowerment in general and empowerment of micro-entrepreneurs in particular;
• Experience working with women micro-entrepreneurs in the informal sector is an added advantage;
• Cultural sensitivity, appreciation and understanding of lifestyles and value systems of different income groups are an added advantage;
• Demonstrate understanding of gender dynamics and their implications on entrepreneurship.
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email.

Language

• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Language skills such as Hindi, i-Taukei language or Bislama is an asset.

Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis:

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Travel to and from Fiji to start the assignment will need to be included in the financial proposal.

Winning Candidate

• The winning candidate will be the candidate, who hs accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).
• Please note that only applicants who are shortlisted will be contacted
• In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for the Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.  The creations of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, brining together resources and mandates for greater impact.  It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct part of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender eqaulity and women's empowerment.