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National Consultant: Review of women in the informal sector

Dhaka

  • Organization: UNWOMEN - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
  • Location: Dhaka
  • Grade: Consultancy - National Consultant - Locally recruited Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Women's Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
  • Closing Date: Closed

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.Bangladesh has experienced consistent economic growth which implies that the country is on track to graduate from Least Developed Country (LDC) status. Overall GDP growth has been strong, albeit slowing in recent years, with per capita GDP reach USD 1,751 in 2017-18 financial year. Agriculture remains the primary economic sector in Bangladesh, continuing to grow at 4.19% in 2017-18; while structural economic planning has led to the development of reliable exports particularly through manufacturing in the garment sector. Despite consistent economic growth, and efforts by the Government of Bangladesh to upskill the national labour force, economic growth has not been inclusive. While the economy has grown, trends in jobs creation and poverty reduction have slowed in recent years. Women’s labour force participation has not increased as expected, but their concentration in informal employment increased in recent years. Still as high as 29% of employed women in the labour market are unpaid family workers. These women, although included in the employed labour force, do not get any remuneration for their work. The inferior position of women in the labour market is also demonstrated in labour force data that reveals that, since 2010, more than 90% of female labour has been in the informal sector, Women are thus more likely than men to be employed in low-skilled and low waged informal jobs, with limited or no labour law coverage, social protection as well as employment contracts.UN Women in Bangladesh works to protect and promote the rights of women workers and entrepreneurs. In preparation of the next country programme cycle, UN Women is exploring possible programmatic interventions for women workers employed in informal sector, particularly construction as well as domestic work, in line with the SDG principles of Leaving No One Behind. A recent study? by ILO showed that an overwhelming majority (97%) of both live-in and live-out domestic workers? are women, 3% are male, more than one-fourth (26.2%) are children under the age of 18. In this context, UN Women is looking for a consultant to undertake a review related to the women working in these informal sectors, their socio-economic situation and working conditions, legal and policy frameworks that protect the workers as well as existing programmes/projects focusing on women in the above-mentioned informal sectors to identify entry points for programme formulation.

Objectives of the consultancy:The key objective of this consultancy is to assist UN Women Bangladesh office in understanding the situation of women working in the informal sector, particularly construction and domestic work, to identify programmatic entry points.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work/Duties and Responsibilities:Under the overall guidance of UN Women Country Representative and direct supervision of the Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Analyst, the consultant will undertake the following:

1.Conduct a desk review of data and literature on the following and produce a synthesis report (no more than 25 pages.)

  • the socio-economic situation, working conditions and the role of women workers in the informal sector, with a focus on domestic work and construction work;
  • an analysis of contributing factors related to high levels of informality for women workers, as compared to men;
  • legal and policy frameworks that protect women workers in the abovementioned sectors and the status of implementation of these laws and policies;
  • policies and Government initiatives to formalise sectors in which women are employed; and address the factors which contribute to women’s over-representation in informal employment;
  • Analysis of key stakeholders including trade unions, workers’ organisations and collectives, with a specific focus on the women workers network in these sectors, such as Domestic workers network

2.Review of existing or planned initiatives and mechanisms aiming to address the challenges of women workers in these sectors at both national and local levels, including any evaluation conducted of these initiatives and findings and recommendations from these evaluations. This may involve some key informant interviews. (no more than 5 pages)3.Based on the desk review and review of initiatives, provide a summary of problems that need to be addressed to protect and promote the rights of women workers in these sectors and the proposed strategy, and to promote access of women workers to decent work. (no more than 5 pages) ?Inputs:

  • The consultant is expected to work home-based using her/his own computer but may access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents or should s/he be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment;
  • UN Women will provide an introductory letter to facilitate the consultant’s access to key informants.

Duration of the assignment:The assignment will commence on 1 December 2019 and be completed by 31 January 2020.

Expected Deliverables:

  1. Annotated report outline including a list of documents and relevant initiatives/programmes and policies to be reviewed, and stakeholders/key informants identified with a workplan for data collection, review and analysis: 5 days by 10 December 2019;
  2. Progress report (no more than 4 pages) on progress with data collection, review and analysis by 31 December 2019;
  3. First draft report or acceptable quality: 20 days by 10 January 2019;
  4. Final report, addressing comments received: 5 days by 31 January 2020.

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

Competencies

Core competencies:

  • Communication – Facilitates and encourages open and effective communication;
  • Team Work – Demonstrates ability to work with the government and Civil Society Organizations, effective working relations with people of different backgrounds;
  • Accountability – Takes ownership of all responsibilities and deliver outputs in accordance with agreed time, costs and quality standards.

Functional Competencies:

  • Ability to conduct qualitative and quantitative research, reviews, mapping and studies independently;
  • Strong skills and experiences in communicating and presenting evidences and ideas for policy and programmatic interventions;
  • Consistent approach of work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Demonstrates openness to ideas and ability to manage complexities of the situations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Masters in the field of Gender Studies, Economics, in particular feminist economics, or Social science.

Experiences:

  • At least 7 years of experience in research and programme development focusing on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment;
  • Track record of credible analytical research and/or policy inputs in the field of women’s labour force participation;
  • Prior experience with research or programmatic engagement addressing informality of women’s work, preferable domestic work and/or construction work;
  • Prior experience working with Development Partners and UN agencies on similar work and/or assignments.

Languag

  • Excellent writing and editing skills in English, as well as strong communication skills in English and Bengali.

Interested Individual Consultants will submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.To be included as part of the proposal:

  • Cover letter, to include: (i) a brief summary of your experience and qualification against the “required experiences and qualifications” in the TOR;
  • One sample research report/project proposal that you have produced in the subject area relevant to the assignment;
  • Financial Proposal:

            Option 1: Offer your per day rate;            Option 2: Breakdown your offer by deliverables in two equal instalments.

NOTE: Documents required before contract signing:

  • UN Personal History Form;
  • Full medical examination and Statement of Fitness to work and travel for consultants with travel involved. (This is not a requirement for RLA contracts);
  • Security Certificate BSAFE: EN: https://agora.unicef.org/course/info.php?id=17891;
  • Individual subscribers over 65 years of age are required to undergo a full medical examination including x-rays at their own cost and obtaining medical clearance from the UN Medical Director prior to taking up their assignment;
  • Release letter in case the selected consultant is government official.

Only applications will all items mentioned above will be considered

Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of deliverables and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed, at the end of the assignment Please use "National Consultant: Review of women in the informal sector " as the subject heading of your application.

Schedule of payment:

  • 1st instalment by 31 December 2019 (50% of the total agreement amount) after submission of deliverable #1 and #2 as accepted & certified by the Programme Analyts-WEE;
  • 2nd instalment by 31 January 2020 (50 % of the total agreement amount) after submission of Final report accepted & certified by the Programme Analyts-WEE.

All applications must include (as an attachment) the CV and the financial proposal. Applications without financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. “Personal History Form - P 11” can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employme

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. UNDP 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.
This vacancy is now closed.
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