UNDP Somalia’s current Country Programme Document (CPD) (2011-2015) provides a framework within which to provide an effective and coherent response to gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) in its programmes. The current move is to address the causes of gender inequality through strategic actions that seek to transform the unequal power relations between men and women; and respond directly to the acute challenges and available and emerging opportunities faced by Somali women today. Notably, the CPD incorporates gender empowerment outputs and indicators under Outcomes 1, 2, and 3. Across these three outcomes, interventions will build women’s capacity and open up spaces for women to participate in peace building, good governance and MDG planning; increase their representation in formal institutions including Parliament and the police, provide women with sustainable livelihoods and business opportunities, enshrine and protect women’s rights, provide women with access to justice and basic services and strengthen women’s security through community initiatives.
A fourth outcome, ‘Somali women and men attain greater gender equality and are empowered’ focuses specifically GEWE with 4 sub-outcomes. In 2011, a Gender Unit was established to provide direct support, capacity building and foster coordination with the various projects under the other 3 outcomes in implementing gender-related activities while at the same time, implementing a specific GEWE project under outcome 4. Sub-outcome 4.3 of the GEWE project focuses on promoting women’s social and economic development; seeking synergies with projects under the Poverty Reduction and Environment Protection Programme (PREP) which aims to increase sustainable livelihoods opportunities and improve natural resources management amongst Somali men and women. Currently the PREP projects have contributed in many ways to women’s economic empowerment for example, the programme employs a policy that 30% or more of its beneficiaries on livelihood projects are women in deprived communities and IDP camps. To date they reach approximately 45% women beneficiaries. In 2012, the Private Sector Development (PSD) project provided grants and microfinance loans to a total of 816 persons, of which 622 (77%) were women. The project also provided vocational training in South Central region for 750 youth, of which 350 were women. However, livelihood support to women remains basic for example, micro-credit grants and cash for work initiatives which target or designate specific quotas for women without addressing the root causes of economic inequalities or providing women additional skills to grow their businesses from small market stalls; and elevate their status in society.
It is against this backdrop that the Gender Unit is looking to hire two researchers (one international, one national) on a consultancy to conduct a study on women’s access to economic resources and involvement in the private sector to inform the design of project interventions to promote women’s economic development and especially their ability to grow their businesses beyond microcredits. The overall aim is to identify entry points for scaling up women’s participation in the private sector and recommend effective programme interventions that will allow women to become self-sufficient on a sustainable level.
|
Duties and Responsibilities
|
Objectives of the assignment
- Contribute to the design of a women’s economic empowerment project initiative, based on empirical information of local realities and lessons from existing interventions;
- Provide policy and programmatic advise to government (e.g. Ministries of Finance and Planning, Justice, Agriculture and Fisheries , Commerce and Industries etc.), private sector, chambers of commerce, international organizations, donors, and other UN agencies;
- Inform advocacy efforts by the business women themselves (working in partnership with local women’s organizations with a private sector agenda and experience and skills) to lobby for increased access for women to economic assets and opportunities at the local and national levels
Scope of work
The study will cover all regions of Somalia; including Somaliland (presenting the distinguishing factors on the issues across all three regions) while examining:
- The legal and regulatory framework for the private sector
- The legal framework for women’s access to economic resources
- The present situation of women in the private sector including existing opportunities
- Challenges faced by women in accessing economic resources or engaging within the private sector; and
- Impact of ongoing women’s economic empowerment initiatives in improving women’s socio-economic status as well as contribution to development.
Monitoring and Progress controls
- Under the overall supervision of the UNDP Gender Unit’s Programme Specialist, the international consultant will lead the research team and develop expected deliverables as listed in section V.
Final product/Deliverables
- A short briefing note on the key findings and recommendations of the study to aid preliminary dissemination to key stakeholders for feedback to be incorporated into the final study report.
- A detailed study report, which fills knowledge gaps on women’s access to economic resources and role in the private sector, demonstrates the impact of current project initiatives provides recommendations for practitioners and policy makers; and makes recommendations for possible project interventions to enhance women’s role in the private sector in Somalia.
Review/approval time
This entire Consultancy is expected to last for 45 working days within a validity period of 4 months (from issuance of the consultancy contract) broken down as follows:
- The study will be implemented during a two-month period.
- The research team will spend one week selecting the research locations, conducting a desk study, developing the research methodology, designing and refining key questions, and arranging logistics.
- The team will visit and stay in field locations for four weeks in total. Data transcription and frequent communication between the teams and the Gender Unit will take place in this period.
- The remaining three weeks will be used to analyze the collected data and for the head of the team to draft the final report.
|
Competencies
|
Core Competencies:
- Ability to establish and maintain good working relations with colleagues, external partners and government authorities in a multi-cultural environment, coupled with good time management skills
- Ability to set priorities and manage time effectively
- Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting, as well as ability to monitor and advise on adjusting plans and actions as necessary
- Ability to set priorities and manage time effectively
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
Functional Competencies:
Knowledge Management and Learning:
- Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example
- Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills
- Development and Operational Effectiveness:
- Ability to organize and manage results-oriented strategic and thematic evaluations. Substantive knowledge and understanding of evaluation and development evaluation in particular.
- Excellent knowledge of current development issues particularly those pertinent to UNDP’s Practice Areas.
- Ability to conceptualize issues and analyze data.
- Good technical skills in measurement and evaluation, including grasp of methodological and operational dimensions and the ability to link corporate and country level issues.
- Ability to successfully lead multidisciplinary experts and to coordinate the work of others.
- Ability to lead business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems (business side), and affect staff behavioral/ attitudinal change
- Good knowledge of Results Management Guide and Toolkit
|
Required Skills and Experience
|
The research team members are expected to have the following skills and experience:
Education:
- Master’s degree in relevant social science discipline (preferably gender studies)
Experience.
- 9 years’ of relevant experience in the field of gender and development with a focus on private sector development in a post-conflict setting
- Knowledge of critical gender issues in the Somali context; or extensive knowledge of gender in a conflict and Islamic context
- Excellent skills in gender mainstreaming, analysis and monitoring coupled with programme and project development
- Proven ability of developing and implementing qualitative research methodology and identifying relevant stakeholders
- Experience in Human Rights and Results Based Management (RBM) approaches to programming
- Working knowledge and experience of the UN System; knowledge of UNDP processes and Gender Equality policies is an asset
- Research experience in private sector development would be an added advantage.
Language requirements:
- Excellent communication skills (spoken, written and presentational) in English
Other Information
- The consultant will be required to have a personal lap top computer and cover their transportation within Nairobi.
Terms of Service
This is a non-staff contract under the Individual Contractor (IC) modality of hiring of the UNDP. Individuals engaged under an IC serve in their individual capacity and not as representative of a government institutions, corporate body or other authority external to UNDP. The incumbent shall not be considered as staff of UNDP, the UN common system or the government and are therefore not entitled to any diplomatic privileges or any other special status or conditions.
FC: 30000
|
|
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.
|
Post a Comment