Technical Support/Consultant for Women’s Empowerment Principles’ (WEPs) Campaigns Coordination, Activation and Training

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.

 

In 2015, on 25 September, the United Nations General Assembly adopted unanimously the Resolution 70/1 Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gender equality and women’s empowerment is at the heart of the agenda, as numerous goals and targets address structural barriers to achieve equal rights and opportunities between women and men, girls and boys.

 

One of the key areas of concern is the economic empowerment of women. It is expressed in targets and indicators of SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) and SDG 8 (Promote inclusive and sustainable development, decent work and employment for all). Progress toward it depends not only on the adoption of a set of public policies by governments, but also on the existence of an enabling environment and active engagement of the corporate sector. This is also relevant to the achievement of SDG 1 (Poverty Reduction), SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities) and SDG 17 (Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development).

 

About 90 per cent of jobs in the world are in the private sector. This represents a huge potential to implement transformative actions in the world of work and social responsibility in favour of women, benefiting the whole society. There is an increasing consciousness, interest and commitment of private and public sector companies on the value and benefits of gender equality and the economic empowerment of women and its role to achieve it.

UN Women - in partnership with the European Commission is working together on a regional programme “Promoting Economic Empowerment of Women at Work in Asia – WeEmpowerAsia” to contribute to the economic empowerment of women, recognizing them as beneficiaries and partners of growth and development, by increasing commitment of private companies to gender equality and women´s empowerment and strengthening companies’ capacities to implement these commitments.

The programme will ultimately contribute to the achievement of gender equality through enabling women’s labour force participation, entrepreneurship, economic empowerment and thus their full and equal participation in society.

The guiding platform will be the Women’s Empowerment Principles. The WEPs are a set of Principles for business offering guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. Coordinated by UN Women and the UN Global Compact, the Principles emphasize the business case for corporate action to promote gender equality and women's empowerment and are informed by real-life business practices and inputs gathered from across the globe.

Targeting women led enterprises and networks, multi-national companies, and relevant stakeholders in selected Asia countries, the project will promote business opportunities for women entrepreneurs and women-owned enterprises in Asia and their business relations with Europe, while supporting inter-regional dialogue and exchange of good practices to increase the capacity of the private sector more broadly in the implementation of gender-sensitive business culture and practices. The programme will cover seven countries: India, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. It will also have a regional component under the responsibility of UN Women Region Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP).

In the Philippines, given dynamic engagements and commitment of various women’s organizations, pro-active national machinery on women’s empowerment and gender equality and key government agencies - women’s economic empowerment is a new thematic and programmatic area for the UN Women particularly in the space of private sector and business community engagement. Through the WeEmpowerAsia programme - it will enable meaningful interaction, active participation, and harness contributions from key stakeholders to put forward women’s empowerment, gender equality and ensure their full participation in society towards an inclusive and sustainable economic development.

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.

 

In 2015, on 25 September, the United Nations General Assembly adopted unanimously the Resolution 70/1 Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gender equality and women’s empowerment is at the heart of the agenda, as numerous goals and targets address structural barriers to achieve equal rights and opportunities between women and men, girls and boys.

 

One of the key areas of concern is the economic empowerment of women. It is expressed in targets and indicators of SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) and SDG 8 (Promote inclusive and sustainable development, decent work and employment for all). Progress toward it depends not only on the adoption of a set of public policies by governments, but also on the existence of an enabling environment and active engagement of the corporate sector. This is also relevant to the achievement of SDG 1 (Poverty Reduction), SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities) and SDG 17 (Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development).

 

About 90 per cent of jobs in the world are in the private sector. This represents a huge potential to implement transformative actions in the world of work and social responsibility in favour of women, benefiting the whole society. There is an increasing consciousness, interest and commitment of private and public sector companies on the value and benefits of gender equality and the economic empowerment of women and its role to achieve it.

UN Women - in partnership with the European Commission is working together on a regional programme “Promoting Economic Empowerment of Women at Work in Asia – WeEmpowerAsia” to contribute to the economic empowerment of women, recognizing them as beneficiaries and partners of growth and development, by increasing commitment of private companies to gender equality and women´s empowerment and strengthening companies’ capacities to implement these commitments.

The programme will ultimately contribute to the achievement of gender equality through enabling women’s labour force participation, entrepreneurship, economic empowerment and thus their full and equal participation in society.

The guiding platform will be the Women’s Empowerment Principles. The WEPs are a set of Principles for business offering guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. Coordinated by UN Women and the UN Global Compact, the Principles emphasize the business case for corporate action to promote gender equality and women's empowerment and are informed by real-life business practices and inputs gathered from across the globe.

Targeting women led enterprises and networks, multi-national companies, and relevant stakeholders in selected Asia countries, the project will promote business opportunities for women entrepreneurs and women-owned enterprises in Asia and their business relations with Europe, while supporting inter-regional dialogue and exchange of good practices to increase the capacity of the private sector more broadly in the implementation of gender-sensitive business culture and practices. The programme will cover seven countries: India, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. It will also have a regional component under the responsibility of UN Women Region Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP).

In the Philippines, given dynamic engagements and commitment of various women’s organizations, pro-active national machinery on women’s empowerment and gender equality and key government agencies - women’s economic empowerment is a new thematic and programmatic area for the UN Women particularly in the space of private sector and business community engagement. Through the WeEmpowerAsia programme - it will enable meaningful interaction, active participation, and harness contributions from key stakeholders to put forward women’s empowerment, gender equality and ensure their full participation in society towards an inclusive and sustainable economic development.

1. Objective

The overall objective of the WeEmpowerAsia programme is that more women lead, participate and have access to enhanced business opportunities and leadership within the private sector to advance sustainable and inclusive growth. The programme will achieve this through three complementary areas to be implemented in seven selected middle-income countries in Asia:

• Women’s networks, public institutions, and the private sector will collaborate and share expertise and knowledge to build an enabling business environment for women’s economic empowerment in the workplace and in the marketplace
• The capacity of women-owned businesses and women entrepreneurs will be developed to enable them to engage with government and private sector corporations in policy development and dialogues for advancing women’s economic empowerment, and
• The private sector will be supported to implement gender-sensitive practices and culture within their businesses through the take-up of the Women Empowerment Principles (the WEPs – a set of guiding principles to achieve gender equality within companies).

Duties and Responsibilities

In line with promoting women’s leadership, participation and enhancing access to work and business opportunities that enable women’s access to decent work, well-being and economic empowerment, UN Women needs a service provider with technical expertise and experience and Advocacy and campaigns work, coordination as well as training/capacity building. This is to meaningfully engage and ensure private sector commitment and action in implementing the Women’s Empowerment Principles and promote women’s economic empowerment.

These would include:

1. Women’s Empowerment Principles signing campaign planning, coordination, development of related outreach and campaign material and roll out to boost Philippine based signatories
2. Conduct of regular WEPs Orientation sessions
3. Organize training and capacity building for WEPs signatories to ensure alignment and implementation of their commitment, including the use of Gender Analysis tool
4. Active engagement in various groups, networks, associations, and chambers to promote and raise awareness about the WEPs.

 

Deliverables	Target Date of completion	Payment
Upon submission and approval of the following: Proposed plan and calendar of activities, including initial list of companies, individuals and stakeholder groups to be involved/engaged, as well as outreach and campaign material to be developed, including PowerPoint presentation slide decks and webinar setup (if any) Activity design and concept note of the following: WEPs signing campaign 2021 WEPs awareness sessions WEPs learning sessions Target no. of new WEPs signatory: 80   Target no. of participants per session: 25	20 February 2021	20% of contract price
Upon completion and approval of the following: Launch of WEPs signing campaign for March 2021, curation of signing opportunities and related outreach and campaign materials, including presentation slide decks and immediate post-event follow-up communications Documentation including activity report and annexes e.g. photos, recording etc. Media and Social Media monitoring report as well as initial follow-up on activities by new WEPs signatories	15 April 2021	20% of contract price
Upon completion and approval of the following:   Roll out of WEPs Awareness Session and related outreach / campaign material for April – July 2021, including presentation slide decks and immediate post-event follow-up communications Launch and Roll out of WEPs Learning Sessions and related outreach / campaign material for April – July 2021, including presentation slide decks and immediate post-event follow-up communications Activity report and annexes	31 July 2021	15% of contract price
Upon completion and approval of the following:   Roll out of WEPs Awareness Session August-December 2021 and related outreach / campaign material for April – July 2021, including presentation slide decks and immediate post-event follow-up communications Launch and Roll out of WEPs Learning Sessions and related outreach / campaign material for August-December 2021, including presentation slide decks and immediate post-event follow-up communications Activity Report and annexes	31 December 2021	15% of contract price
Upon completion and approval of the following: Activity Design and concept note WEPs Signing Ceremony 2022, including curation of signing event and related outreach / campaign material, presentation slide decks and immediate post-event follow-up communications Documentation including activity report and annexes e.g. photos, recording etc. Media and Social Media monitoring report as well as initial follow-up on activities by new WEPs signatories	31 January 2022	10% of contract price
Final payment upon acceptance and approval of: Final Activity Reports and Annexes End of project debrief and planning	29 February 2022	20% of contract price (final tranche)

 

The service provider is expected to leverage on existing networks aside from the networks and groups already identified and actively working with the UN Women, and further expand the pool of companies to ensure sustained and meaningful engagement, uptake/adaption and implementation of WEPs.

Overall Objectives:

To raise awareness among private sector groups and companies and encourage/activate companies to adapt and implement gender-sensitive practices and culture within their businesses through the take-up of the Women Empowerment Principles.

Specifically, the service provider will undertake the following: 

• Organize and coordinate the awareness raising event - from company vetting/identification, to sending and confirming invitations 
• Host and facilitate learning and awareness raising sessions
• Encourage enlistment and adaption of WEPs among various private sector groups/companies including conduct and use of Gender Analysis tool
• Assist in putting together and implementing key action points of enlisted private sector groups
• Actively engage and promote WEPs in various groups, networks, associations, and chambers.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the United Nations' values and ethical standards.
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN and UN Women.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Ability and willingness to work as part of a team to meet tight deadlines and produce high quality work.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications

 

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in International Development Studies, Social Sciences, Politics, Law, Human Rights, Gender, Women Studies, Economics or related field.
• Minimum of 3 years relevant experience in advocacy campaigns work, networking, training and facilitation with strong understanding of issues related to gender equality in the context of women economic empowerment in the Philippines
• Knowledge of the issue on women economic empowerment is desirable
• Excellent command of written English and Tagalog is required
• Computer literacy and advanced skills in Microsoft Office
• Experience working with UN or other international development organizations and donor agencies would be an advantage

 

Timeline and Location:

 

The total duration of the engagement is for a period of 12 months from 15 February 2021 –

28 February 2022.

 

Location:  Metro Manila, Philippines

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PARTIES 

UN Women will provide technical guidance where possible. The Supplier is required to bear all the related costs e.g. meeting venue, meals, travel related costs, logistics and administrative costs incurred for each workshop, activities, etc. and work independently to successfully achieve the end results.

 

COMMUNICATION AND REPORTING OBLIGATIONS

 

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Philippines Programme Manager, UN Women WeEmpowerAsia Programme who will be responsible for the quality assurance of the deliverables. 

 

SUBMISSION OF QUOTATION

 

Please submit your electronic application to jean.ricohermoso@unwomen.org no later than 29 Janaury 2021. Please provide brief explanations of why you are suited for this Consultancy, and cite relevant experience.

 

Submission package includes:

 

• Application Letter
• CV, P11

• Financial proposal which shall specify a total lump sum amount based on deliverables.
• Sample written work

• List of activities/sessions conducted/organized/facilitated in the past.

 

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 applications, with evaluation of the technical

application 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.

 

Technical qualification evaluation criteria

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

 

Technical Evaluation Criteria	Obtainable Score
Education   Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in International Development Studies, Social Sciences, Politics, Law, Human Rights, Gender, Women Studies, Economics or related field.	20%
Experience and skills Minimum of 3 years relevant experience in advocacy campaigns work, networking, training and facilitation with strong understanding of issues related to gender equality in the context of women economic empowerment in the Philippines Knowledge of the issue on women economic empowerment is desirable Computer literacy and advanced skills in Microsoft Office Experience working with UN or other international development organizations and donor agencies would be an advantage	70%
Language and report writing skills Excellent command of written English and Tagalog is required (submit sample written work and list of activities/sessions conducted/organized/facilitated)	10%
Total Obtainable Score	100 %

 

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation

 

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated. 
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100. 
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technically qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.