Background:
UN Women exists to advance women’s rights, gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. As the lead UN entity on gender equality and secretariat of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, we shift laws, institutions, social behaviours and services to close the gender gap and build an equal world for all women and girls. Our partnerships with governments, women’s movements and the private sector coupled with our coordination of the broader United Nations translate progress into lasting changes. We make strides forward for women and girls in four areas: leadership, economic empowerment, freedom from violence, and women, peace and security as well as humanitarian action. UN Women keeps the rights of women and girls at the centre of global progress – always, everywhere. Because gender equality is not just what we do. It is who we are.
A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes, and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality.
UN Women in Georgia supports state and non-state partners towards the achievement of substantive gender equality in Georgia. In line with national and international commitments, UN Women works on the levels of policies and legislation, institutions and grassroots, in order to achieve transformative results for increased gender equality and greater protection of the rights of women and girls.
Women’s economic empowerment (WEE) is a transformative, collective process through which economic systems become just, equitable and prosperous, and through which all women enjoy their economic and social rights, exercise agency and power in ways that challenge inequalities and level the playing field and gain equal rights and access to ownership of and control over resources, assets, income, time and their own lives. The key elements of economic empowerment are equal rights and access to ownership and control over resources; agency, power and autonomy; and policies, institutions and norms (UN Women, Women’s Economic Empowerment Strategy. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2024-03/un-women-womens-economic-empowerment-strategy-en.pdf.).
Women’s rights to economic equality and opportunities are enshrined in a number of multilateral normative frameworks, including CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action. The economic empowerment of women - to succeed and advance economically and to make and act on economic decisions - is a cornerstone of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as reaffirmed also by the Agreed Conclusions of the 61st Commission on the Status of Women (2017). The UN Secretary General’s High Level Expert Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment has outlined an action agenda to accelerate progress, with key steps tailored to different sets of actors and seven drivers that can create enabling environment to accelerate the impact (2018) . (UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2018/01/hlp-wee-reports-and-toolkits).
UN Women Country Office in Georgia with the generous support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Austrian Development Agency (ADA) is implementing the third phase of the “Women’s Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus” (WEESC) project. The project’s overarching goal is to ensure that women, particularly the poor and socially excluded, in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are economically empowered and participate in relevant decision-making. The WEESC project applies a holistic approach to reach this goal, enabling linked interventions at three levels: grassroots, policies and legislation, and institutions. The chosen approach and the implementation of the WEE agenda in the South Caucasus during Phase I (2018-2021) and Phase II (2021-2024) of the WEESC project served as a catalyst for action at all levels and supported the state and non-state partners towards the achievement of substantive gender equality in all three countries (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan). Phase III of the project is implemented for two years, from 2024 till 2026.
Mainstreaming gender statistics activities in official statistics is one the key priorities of the National Strategy for Development of Official Statistics of Georgia for 2024-2027 (NSDS) which was recently endorsed by the Government of Georgia. It emphasizes the importance of harmonizing the official statistics with international recommendations including those of the EU Statistical Requirements Compendium. The NSDS strategic objectives raise the importance of improving the production of official statistics to support evidence decision making. One of the areas of intervention specified in Objective 1.1 is conducting new surveys to meet specific national needs, particularly to pilot a survey on structure earnings (SES) in line with EU recommendations.
The Structure of Earnings Survey (SES) is a large survey of employees that examines the relationships between pay levels and individual characteristics of employees (such as sex, age, occupation, length of service, highest educational level attained) as well as those of their employers (including economic activity, size, and location of the enterprise - Eurostat, Structure of earnings survey. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/microdata/structure-of-earnings-survey. This survey is conducted every four years and collects data on gross earnings, hours paid, and annual days of work for workers. This is the primary data source used by Eurostat to compile and analyze the harmonized Gender Pay Gap for EU countries. The SES are typically conducted using a two-stage random sampling approach of enterprises or local units (first stage) and employees (second stage). The data collection methods differ across countries considering the existing surveys and administrative data sources. The SES plays also a crucial role in providing a comprehensive overview of earnings structures and disparities within the EU and understanding the gender pay gaps for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 8, which focuses on decent work and economic growth. The data generated by SES enables policymakers to develop targeted interventions and regulations to promote pay equity. It also allows businesses to assess and align their wage practices, ensuring compliance with equal pay laws. Furthermore, SES data supports advocacy and awareness efforts, driving systemic changes towards achieving equal pay for equal work.
The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) states that men and women should have "the right to equal remuneration, including benefits, and to equal treatment in respect of work of equal value, as well as equality of treatment in the evaluation of the quality of work" (CEDAW, Art 11, d). Moreover, the right to equal pay for the same work between female and male workers is one of the founding principles of the European Union, articulated in the 1957 Treaty of Rome. In Georgia, in September 2020, the Parliament of Georgia adopted an extensive package of changes to the Labour Code. According to one of the main amendments, employers are now obliged to ensure equal remuneration for female and male employees performing equal work. Article 4 (“Prohibition of labour discrimination”) states that “employers shall ensure equal remuneration of female and male employees for equal work performed”. The Labour Code identifies unequal pay as a form of discrimination.
Between 2024 and 2026, under UN Women’s flagship programme initiative Making Every Woman and Girl Count (FPI), UN Women supported Geostat in piloting a Structure of Earnings Survey (SES) in line with EU recommendations. Building on this pilot, and with additional support from UN Women’s regional project Women’s Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus (WEESC), Geostat subsequently designed and implemented a full-scale SES, covering data collection, cleaning, and analysis.
To support Geostat in the finalization of the full-scale SES, the UN Women Country Office (CO) in Georgia seeks to engage an international consultant to validate the full-scale SES microdata, calculations, and results, and to prepare a report on the main SES findings and analysis. The consultant will be reporting to WEESC Progamme Analyst and WEESC Project Analyst and will be supported by WEESC Project Assistant, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.
Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work
The international consultant will be responsible for:
- Validate the microdata (a small, anonymized subsample) of full-scale Structure of Earnings Survey (SES) in Georgia, ensuring full compliance with quality assurance requirements.
- Provide guidance on the calculation, validation and analysis of key indicators.
- Prepare a detailed outline of the SES statistical report, including main chapters, subchapters, tabulation plan for data analysis and agreed upon with UN Women and Geostat.
- Develop the report based on agreed outline. Geostat will be responsible for providing inputs for the methodology chapter, conducting all calculations, preparing statistical tables in line with the agreed templates, while the international consultant will be responsible for writing the report in accordance with the agreed outline.
Deliverables
- Deliverable 1: Validated SES microdata (a small, anonymized subsample), including data quality checks and editing, identified issues, and recommendations for improvement by 19 June 2026 (1 working day)
- Deliverable 2: Validated key SES indicators and ensured compliance with data analysis standards, including (i) support in validating the statistical weights calculation and ensuring consistency with EU SES methodology; (ii) provision of formulas and methodological guidance for calculating key indicators, followed by validation of the results; and (iii) development and validation of tabulation plan, including identification of statistical tables for dissemination by 30 June 2026 (4 working day)
- Deliverable 3: Statistical report outline, including detailed description of main chapters, sub-chapters and the corresponding tabulation plan data tables for each sub-chapter, developed and agreed upon with UN Women and Geostat by 30 June 2026 (1 working day).
- Deliverable 4: SES statistical report draft (15-20 pages) (including introduction, methodology, key results, definition of terms and appendixes, etc.) submitted and agreed upon with UN Women and Geostat by 30 July 2026 (5 working days)
- Deliverable 5: Final SES statistical report incorporating UN Women’s and Geostat’s feedback submitted and agreed upon with UN Women and Geostat by 31 August 2026 (2 working days)
Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel
This is a home-based consultancy, no travel is required.
Competencies :
Core Values:
- Integrity;
- Professionalism;
- Respect for Diversity.
Core Competencies:
- Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
- Accountability;
- Creative Problem Solving;
- Effective Communication;
- Inclusive Collaboration;
- Stakeholder Engagement;
- Leading by Example.
Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:
Functional Competencies:
- Strong problem-solving skills
- Technical credibility in research
- Excellent writing, presentation/public speaking skills
- Partnerships building
- IT literacy
Required Qualifications:
Education and Certification:
- Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Statistics, Economics or a related field is required
- A first-level university degree in combination with nine (9) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree
Experience:
- At least 7 years in case of Master’s or 9 years (Bachelor’s degree) of professional experience in the area of earnings and/or business statistics at the country and/or international level
- At least 7 years in case of Master’s or 9 years (Bachelor’s degree) of professional experience in designing and implementing quantitative enterprise surveys (including SES) at the national and /or international level
- Proven experience using statistical software (STATA, SAS, R) for analyzing enterprise surveys
- Previous professional experience with development agencies and/or the United Nations is an asset
Languages:
Fluency in English is required.
Statements:
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.
Diversity and inclusion:
At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.
If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.
UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)
Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.