By continuing to browse this site, you agree to our use of cookies. Read our privacy policy

International Consultant to conduct an assessment of unpaid care and domestic work-policy and practice.

Home Based - May require travel

  • Organization: UNWOMEN - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
  • Location: Home Based - May require travel
  • Grade: Consultancy - International Consultant - Internationally recruited Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Political Affairs
    • Legal - Broad
    • Women's Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
  • Closing Date: Closed

Background

Currently, more than 2.1 billion women and girls live in countries that will not reach any key gender equality targets by 2030 . Economic empowerment is one of these targets. Globally a significant part of care and domestic work is unpaid, and often the responsibility of women and girls due to deeply rooted social norms and gender stereotypes that shape people’s perception of who is responsible for meeting care needs. “The time squeeze on employed women is particularly severe forcing many to drop out of the labour market under pressures of the dual shift” . The 5R framework is critical to consider to assess situation of unpaid care and domestic work in a particular context. 

The Unpaid care and domestic work are not counted as economic activity in labour force surveys nor incorporated in the calculation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Socio-Economic policies around the world do not recognize unpaid work, rendering this gender inequality invisible, it is important to say parenting and equitable sharing of unpaid childcare for early socialization for positive, equitable social norms during childhood is critical. In Bangladesh women undertake almost five times more unpaid work than men, resulting from and reinforcing unequal power relations, gendered poverty, and gender-based discrimination . 

The Generation Equality Forum, which culminated in France in July 2021, has launched six Action Coalitions to accelerate the progress toward gender equality; one of these is on Economic Justice and Rights. The Action Coalition blueprint sets out priorities for how to achieve economic gender justice, two of which are: to create decent care jobs to recognize, reduce and redistribute unpaid care work; and to create an inclusive and enabling legal and policy environment to reduce the number of working women living in poverty and decrease the gap in labour force participation between prime-age women and men with small children . The Bangladesh Government’s 8th Five Year plan highlights the importance to address unpaid care work by adopting Child Daycare Centre Act and commitment for extensive programme for early childhood development under mother and child benefit programme. 

 

To counter the backsliding of women’s and girls’ rights in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN in Bangladesh has committed to taking gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and ending GBV to the next level and placed it at the heart of its future Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (the UNSDCF 2022-2026). Thus, the UN is in the process of developing a Joint Programming Framework (JPF), to deliver on this ambition. The JPF will act as an umbrella framework to ensure strong coordination of gender-related initiatives in the UN’s collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh and civil society.   

One of the work streams under the JPF is to comprehensively address the gendered care economy through joint programming between the UN, the Government of Bangladesh, employers and workers organizations and civil society. A dual approach of transformative policy reform and scalable direct demonstration projects will catalyze gender equality through the recognition, reduction, and redistribution of unpaid care work; gender parity in the labour force and poverty reduction through decent work; and the realization of child rights by reducing girls’ unpaid care burden, and by ensuring quality childcare and other care services. The responsibility for care services should shift from women to the State and public policies and should be designed, assessed, and implemented with a gender equality, and child rights lens. Public service provision for early childhood care and education, elderly care, care for people with disabilities, water, sanitation, technology, primary health care, social protection and energy are critical sectors to address unpaid care and domestic work. 

Addressing unpaid care work is one of the targets under Sustainable Development Goal 5 and policy actors are increasingly recognizing it as a critical issue for sustainable development in Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh has included unpaid care work as an indicator in the 8th Five Year Plan: indicator 71: Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex. UN Women’s recent “Beyond COVID 19: Feminist plan for sustainability and social justice” recommends putting care at the centre of a sustainable and just economy by investing more in care economy to address care deficits. Care is critical but neglected, and women pay the price. The plan highlights the need to strengthen quality care services through partnerships between governments and communities. The feminist plan recommends creating accountability through broad based coalitions and strengthening gender data on care practices and policies . 

Bangladesh is a significant country of origin of an estimated 11 million migrants in 151 countries worldwide. Official data shows that women migrants from Bangladesh are playing an important role in labour migration. The main destination countries are in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC), where primary categories of employment include domestic work, agriculture, construction and related trades, manufacturing, care services. According to Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), there are demands for trained women caregivers in the GCC. As many women from Bangladesh may aspire to take up employment in care and domestic work sector abroad, skills and qualification recognition of women migrants working in this sector is critical for enhancing their access to decent work when migrating and after returning to Bangladesh. A comprehensive and transformative strategy is required to build a rights-based, sustainable, effective, and inclusive care economy. The UN stands ready to support the Government of Bangladesh to co-create such a strategy together with the Government, Civil Society Organizations, and their platforms, think tanks, employers, and workers organizations, as a first step, evidence-based advocacy and policy dialogue is required with relevant actors, particularly with the government ministries, civil society organizations and academia. It is envisaged that this consultancy will produce the evidence base and a set of policy recommendations for the UN to advocate with one voice to take initiatives on the care economy in Bangladesh and to successfully report on 8th FYP’s indicator 71 over the next five years; and a draft roadmap for joint programming to address the existing gender quality, and quantity gaps in the care economy.           

Objectives of the Consultancy: 

The key objective of this consultancy is to produce gender transformative policy and programming recommendations for the UN’s advocacy and joint programming to address the care economy in Bangladesh. The consultant will map and assess relevant existing policies and programmes that address unpaid work globally and locally in Bangladesh. The consultant will also explore existing market-based care entrepreneurship and employer supported care enterprises, related regulations, and existing certification programmes for care givers. Based on the mapping and assessment, the consultant will identify key entry points for the UN to advocate and work with the government to transform the care economy over the next five years (2022-2026). 

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will work closely with technical support from UN Women, ILO, and UNICEF to

 

1) conduct a mapping and assessment of existing relevant policies and government’s commitment & programmes, best practices concerned with unpaid domestic and care work, formal and informal care work, job creation in the care economy, existing best practices of civil society organizations, market based care entrepreneurship practice, particularly for women migrant workers and relevant regulations, certification programmes for care givers, and the related decent work standards and child rights perspectives (child labour, childcare standards); and identify key entry points for the UN to work in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh to address these and to support to 8th FYP, Delta Plan, Perspective Plan, graduation from LDC and achieving the goal of being high income country by 2041; and

 

2) Based on the mapping and assessment of the relevant global and local good practices; and identification of strategic entry points, the consultant will produce

(i) a set of gender transformative policy recommendations for joint advocacy by the UN to reform the care economy in Bangladesh; and

(ii) a roadmap for joint programming for the UN to work in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh and civil society organizations and their platforms to promote gender transformative programmatic solutions to recognize, reduce and redistribute unpaid care work, and to create decent jobs in the care economy.  

 

Duties and Responsibilities:

 

a. Mapping, assessment, and strategy development on transforming the care economy.

 

  • Conduct a desk review to (i) map and assess the relevance and gaps in existing policies, programmes, and interventions of public, private, and non-governmental organizations’ work related to unpaid care work, and domestic work in Bangladesh, and (ii) to identify relevant international best practices that are replicable in the Bangladesh context.  
  • Identify and analyze inconsistencies and gaps in the legislation and policies, particularly gaps and provisions in relation to international standards such as ILO conventions and other relevant human rights instruments, as well as state laws.
  • Organize and conduct key informant interviews with relevant stakeholders to triangulate the desk review findings on gaps, good practices, and entry points in terms of policy and practice in Bangladesh, for UN advocacy and programming.  
  • Produce policy recommendations and a roadmap for joint programming to recognize, reduce and redistribute unpaid care and domestic work.

 

Input:

  • The consultant will receive technical input from UN Women, ILO, and UNICEF to conduct the assignment.

 

Duty station: Home based

 

Travel and DSA: Being home based work there will be to travel and DSA. However, if unforeseen travel outside the duty station not required by the Terms of Reference is requested by UN WOMEN, and upon prior agreement/approval, such travel shall be UN WOMEN  expense and the individual contractor/SSA shall receive a per-diem not to exceed United Nations daily subsistence allowance rate in such other location(s).

 

Duration of the Assignment:

The assignment will be for 30 days starting from 20 October 2021 (in between October-December).  Due to the COVID-19 situation the consultancy is home-based.

 

Supervision and Performance Evaluation:

Under overall guidance of UN Women Country Representative, the selected consultant will work closely with the relevant agency focal points and members of the Gender Equality Theme Group (GETG) of the UN.

 

Expected Deliverables and Payment Modalities

Payments will be made on monthly based on deliverables as follows.

Sl No

Items /Deliverables

Days

Submission date

Remarks

  1.  

Conduct a desk review on the existing policies, programmes, and interventions of public, private, and non-governmental organizations work on unpaid care work.

   7

  By 31 October 2021

100 % of the total contract amount shall be paid upon submission of all deliverable from 01 to 05 and all Acceptance and certified by the UN Women contract administrator

        2. 

Organize key informant interviews and conduct a mapping of programmes and policies which are critical for unpaid work.

   8

  By 17 November 2021

        3.

Identify strategic entry points for the UN to reduce unpaid work burden, highlight key programmatic and policy interventions that the government should take to address unpaid work.

   7

  By 30 November 2021

        4. 

Identify good practices from Bangladesh other countries and propose a strategy for south-south collaboration. 

   5

  By 5 December 2021

         5. 

Submission of final report.

  3

  By 15 December 2021

 

 

Performance Evaluation:

UN Women focal points will conduct a performance evaluation at the end of the assignment. 

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

  • Demonstrated development/programming skills particularly those that are pertinent to the UN’s strategic priorities on gender issues and women’s rights.
  • Ability for implementation, monitor and evaluation of gender and women’s economic empowerment interventions.
  • Ability to develop strategies and analytical papers, strategies, and tools.
  • Good knowledge of results-based management principles and approaches.
  • Good report writing skills.
  • Ability to establish and maintain broad strategic networks and partnerships with public and private sectors.
  • Demonstrated good oral and written communication skills.

 

Core Competencies:

 

  • Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.
  • Work in Teams: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
  • Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitate and encourage open communications and strive for effective communication.
  • Self-management and Emotional Intelligence: Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.
  • Conflict Management: Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.
  • Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.
  • Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree or equivalent in Economics, Development Studies, Women and Gender Studies or Public Policy and Governance or Political Science or other relevant Social Science discipline.

 

Technical Competencies:

  • At least 7 years of relevant experience in issues related to gender and women’s economic empowerment, particularly in unpaid economy/care economy.
  • Proven credible experience of working with the government, the UN and development agencies on gender equality issues.
  • At least 5 years of experience on programme strategy development and research in gender equality and women’s economic empowerment areas.

 

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include allcosts components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, only  and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the SSA in completing the assignment.The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done uponcompletion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages

 

Evaluation Method and Criteria:Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Cumulative analysis-

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant up on Cumulative Analysis/evaluation and determined as:1. Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and2. Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to thesolicitation;Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70 mark in technical evaluation will be considered eligible for financial evaluation.Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points out of 100)

Criteria-01; Academic qualifications and diversification- Max Point 10Criteria-02; Number of years of relevant experience in issues related to gender and women’s economic empowerment, particularly in unpaid economy.- Max Point 40

Criteria-03; Proven credible experience of working with the government, the UN and development agencies on gender equality issues. Max Point 20

Criteria-04; Number of years of experience on programme strategy development and research in gender equality and women’s economic empowerment areas. Max Point 30

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points (70) will be considered as technically-qualified candidate.

Interested candidates will submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. 

To be included as part of the proposal:

  • A brief expression of interest: a brief narrative presenting your suitability for this assignment
  • UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment
  • Writing sample
  • Financial proposal: Propose per day rate in USD for 30 working days, travel and accommodations costs will be based on the UN Women Policy and Guideline.

 

Only applications including all items mentioned above will be considered.

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=17891Individual 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

Note: The individual consultant who does not meet the above eligibility criteria shall not be considered for further evaluation. Necessary documentation must be submitted to substantiate the above eligibility criteria

This vacancy is now closed.
However, we have found similar vacancies for you: