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National Consultant- Providing technical, coordination and communication support for a scoping study and positioning on women’s economic empowerment in Bangladesh.

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:
    • Development Cooperation and Sustainable Development Goals
    • Economics
    • Communication and Public Information
    • Women's Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
    • Scientist and Researcher
    • Managerial positions
  • 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. Placing women’s rights at the Centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It has been providing strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. 

 

The national plan of the Government of Bangladesh recognizes that women’s economic empowerment is one of the key goals to achieve the agenda 2030. In Sep 2020, the Honorable Prime Minister pledged to achieve gender parity in the labour force by 2041. In 2016, the UN Secretary General convened a High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment to drive poverty eradication, inclusive economic growth and gender equality.  

Despite the strong policy frameworks and commitments, women remain marginalized and deeply undervalued in social and economic life, resulting in lower participation in the formal economy, lower wages, lower economic resilience, and autonomy, and vulnerablility to highly gendered risks of exploitation. Their contribution to economy has not been translated into inclusive and equitable growth, and their labour force participation has not been increased as expected, instead their concentration increased in informal employment. The female labour force participation rate is 36.3% compared to 81.4%  for males; the ratio of women to men is 1:3  in wage employment. Most of women are in the informal sector including temporary employment such as day laborers and in unpaid family businesses, along with unpaid care and domestic work burden.    

 

In Bangladesh, women comprise of around 60%  of RMG workers, and 30%  of leather footwear and textile manufacturing workforce, and more than 50% of tea garden workers are female. Despite having higher concentration of women workers in the RMG and textile sectors, women’s contributions in many aspects to the economy are often overlooked. Furthermore, in rural areas, women often work as unpaid family workers, adding value to agricultural products through sorting, packing, and processing and as low-paid home-based workers. This unpaid labour is not recognized as economic gains to families and communities, therefore itdoes not effectively translate into women’s economic empowerment. Women domestic workers are also catalytic for broader economic empowerment of women. By performing domestic and care work, employers of women domestic workers can spend more time working, running businesses, and engaging productively in social and economic life. Further, women domestic workers perform essential services by caring for children, the elderly, people with illnesses and people with disabilities. 

 

Bangladesh is a significant country of origin, with an estimated 13 million migrants in 151 countries worldwide. Remittances from more than 13 million citizens abroad are very important for Bangladesh. Overseas employment is the country’s second-largest source of income, with remittances amounting to $21.75 billion in 2020. Between 1976 and 2020, an estimated 13 million migrated from Bangladesh to take up employment in foreign countries. About 924,415 women migrated from 1991 to 2020 from Bangladesh to different countries .

Majority of Bangladeshi female migrant workers are employed as domestic workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. They are often exposed to high levels of exploitation, violence, and abuse by their employer and upon return to home. According to an ILO needs assessment study conducted recently, while 66.4% of the returnee migrants surveyed returned empty handed, for female migrants the percentage was much higher at 93%. The returning migrants also do not have social protection and have limited knowledge about and access to alternative livelihoods opportunities.

 

Due to COVID 19 pandemic, in addition to the huge jobs and income loss, women are more likely than ever to be employed. Nonetheless, it is necessary to note that they are more likely than men to be employed in low-skilled, low waged jobs with limited or no labour law coverage, social protection, and employment contracts. At the same time more women than men are losing their paid jobs in the formal sector. Previous crises have shown that when women lose their jobs in greater numbers, traditional gender roles tend to be reinforced, and this is already happening in the present crisis. Further, following to the COVID-19 pandemic, many more people, both women and men, are required to work from home due to lockdowns and movement restriction. These have also resulted in an increase in unpaid care and domestic burden borne by women.

 

With low level of literacy, skills and training, combined with gendered social norms, and direct and indirect discrimination in laws and workplace practices for women, there are structural barriers for women to realize their right to decent work. This is compounded by a lack of gender-disaggregated data and evidence to inform policy improvements. As a result, women are less represented in the formal employment, over-represented in low-paid informal employment as well as in unpaid care work; and at higher risk of labour exploitation and trafficking. Women’s economic contributions are not being translated effectively into increased social and economic equality. Ensuring effective protections for women workers requires integrating their voices into labour policies, labour market planning and workplace practices and support services. This in turn is essential to realizing women’s full social and economic equality in Bangladesh.

 

In line with Prime Minister’s pledge to achieve gender parity in labour force by 2041, a comprehensive national strategy on Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) is highly required to achieve gender parity in labour force participation. Taking into consideration the policy frameworks to promote inclusive growth, and such strategy should also address the issues in minimizing the gender gaps in employment, income and in ensuring the decent working conditions for both women and men. Along with supply-side issues for women’s labour force participation, there are equal needs for demand-side policies that stimulate employment and address other sectoral policies to contribute to the women’s economic empowerment of Bangladesh.

 

Overall Purpose and Specific Objectives:

To provide substantial technical, coordination and communication support for conducting a scoping study and a gender responsive review of existing laws, policies, and practices to draw recommendations for an inclusive national strategy development on Women’s Economic Empowerment in Bangladesh.

 

Specific objectives of the task:

- To assist in conducting an assessment to provide an overview of the available policies, evidence, and practices to enhance women’s economic advancement in Bangladesh.

- To assist in mapping out the existing key stakeholders engaged at public, private and civil society sphere, who are critical for economic advancement of women in Bangladesh 

- To provide technical inputs  to review all relevant policies and laws and draw recommendations for the decent employment of women and youth girls in public and private sectors.

- To gather, analyze and synthesize the information to contribute in the findings of the assessment and policy recommendations and practical steps for achieving gender parity in the economic participation, access to economic resources and   equal benefits from all economic sectors.

- To support UN Women in preparing and positioning for women’s economic empowerment in Bangladesh.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work and main responsibilities: 

Under the direct supervision of the Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Analyst of UN Women Bangladesh and strategic guidance from Head of Office, UN Women Bangladesh, the National consultant will work in close collaboration with UN Women team and International Consultant (IC) throughout the assignment.  

The national Consultant will work in close collaboration with the international consultant to accomplish all the deliverables within the scope of work, but not limited to. She/he will provide intensive support to conduct KII (key informant interviews), gathering data/information, develop preliminary reports, provide logistics and technical support to International Consultant and UN Women team for the following areas as mentioned below:

The scope of work will include:

 

• Assist in conducting an in-depth desk review to (i) map and assess the relevance and gaps in existing policies, plans, programmes, and interventions of public, private, and non-governmental organizations for women’s economic empowerment in Bangladesh, and (ii) to identify relevant national and international best practices that are replicable in the Bangladesh context.   List down all documents (policies, strategies, reports) are reviewed and prepare an annotated bibliography. 

• Assist in organizing and conducting 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 advocacy and programming.  

• Assist in analyzing gender implications of key sectoral (economic) policies/strategies or instruments that are in place and in developing an action plan for UN Women in supporting the development of a national strategy for women’s economic empowerment, including making linkages with national and global gender equality objectives and commitments.

• Coordinate, organize meetings/ workshops on sharing the findings of assessment and mapping, with key stakeholders (government, private sector, and civil society organizations (CSOs), Women’s rights organizations) for their inputs and endorsement. 

• Assist with technical knowledge and provide initial inputs to expedite UN Women’s participation in the National Employment Summit (by providing logistics support and inputs to concept note, power point and technical notes/ brief, etc).

• Support UN Women team with data and information to develop an internal strategy for UN Women Bangladesh on women’s economic empowerment. 

• Assist in preparing a final report (an analytical and comprehensive final report not exceeding 30 pages) with consolidating information and findings that contribute to development of comprehensive national strategy on women’s economic empowerment in Bangladesh.

 

Expected Deliverables

No.

Tasks and Deliverables

 Working days

Target dates

Percentage of Payment

 1.

Prepare methodology and workplan for the review.

 

Deliverables: Inception report with workplan

   2 days

  By 20 October 2021

 

 

 

 

 

  60% of the payment shall be paid upon submission of deliverables 1 to 3 and all acceptance and certified by the UN Women contract administrator

  2.

Organize key informant interviews with relevant stakeholders, document findings and consult relevant documents to gather information and data.

Deliverables:  Draft report on the KIIs, and preliminary findings on desk review.

  8 days

  By 30 October 2021

 

  

  3.

Gather information, data by reviewing sectoral policies relevant to women’s economic empowerment and prepare a

Annotated bibliography on the list of policies/strategies are consulted.

 

Deliverables:  Documented information, Annotated bibliography

 8 days

 By 15 November, 2021

  4.

- Logistics and technical support (Drafting a Concept Note, technical brief, presentation), to UN Women to prepare for the “National Employment Summit”

-Coordinate and communicate with ILO team to support UN Women for the session in the Employment Summit.

-Inputs to UN Women Bangladesh internal strategy (7-10 pages) (programmatic) on women’s economic empowerment.

 

Deliverable:  All hard and soft copies of (Concept note, technical brief, power point) the documents are ready in a standard format.

-draft inputs are available for UN Women internal strategy on WEE to prepare etc.

 7 days

 

 

 

  By 30 December  2021

 

 

  40% of the payment shall be paid upon submission of deliverables 4 to 5 and all acceptance and certified by the UN Women contract administrator

  5.

 Prepare a final report (end of assignment report with all relevant products at final and standard format).

 

Deliverables: Final report

  5 days

By 10 January 2022

 

Total Days

30 days

 

 

 

Contract period and work location: 

The National Consultant will be based in Dhaka, Bangladesh and work at the UN Women Office if required. (The working modality will be determined based on COVID-19 situation and UN protocol and Government rules and regulation.)  Travel costs and Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) for authorized travel outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh will be provided, if required.

 

Duration of assignment:

15 October 2021 to 10 January 2022 (30 working days)

Supervision and performance evaluation:

The national consultant will be work under the direct supervision of the Programme Analyst, Women’s Economic Empowerment, UN Women Bangladesh

 

Travel and DSA:

If needed (subject to COVID-19 protocol for movement). (The working modality will be determined based on COVID-19 situation and UN protocol and Government rules and regulation.)  Travel costs and Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) for authorized travel outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh will be provided, if required. But NO DSA and Travel will be provided at Duty station which is based on Dhaka. 

 

Competencies

Corporate Competencies: 

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards. 

• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women 

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability. 

• Treats all people fairly without favoritism. 

• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment

 

Functional Competencies: 

• Ability to pragmatically apply in-depth knowledge and experience of issues and practices in the fields of women's rights and gender equality in Bangladesh. 

• Strong communications skills, and experience in facilitating high level session with Government, Civil Society Organizations, and private sector. 

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude; Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.  

Required Skills and Experience

Education  

- Minimum Master’s degree in Economics, Law, Development Studies, gender Studies, Public Policy and Governance or other Social Science related subject

 

Experience 

• Strong experience in conducting research, and coordination and communication expertise on socio- economic issues from a gender perspective.

• Minimum 07 years of experience in working on national policies/strategies on women’s economic empowerment and or women’s advancement issues in Bangladesh.

• At least 05 years of experience or proven track record in advocacy with Government and International agencies and provide technical inputs to strategies and / or policies, tools, and instruments from gender perspectives.

 

Additional Capacity: 

• Previous record on writing research report and technical documents.

• Working experience with UN agencies is an asset 

• Strong background to deliver the planned results in a professional manner, and to ensure the quality of the product. 

 

Language Requirement -  Fluency in written and spoken English and Bangla is required.

 

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 49 points out of 70)

Criteria-01; Academical Qualification and Diversification- Max Point 10

Criteria-02; Strong experience in conducting research, and coordination and communication expertise on socio- economic issues from a gender perspective.- Max Point 20

Criteria-03; Number of years of experience in working on national policies/strategies on women’s economic empowerment and or women’s advancement issues in Bangladesh.- Max Point 15

Criteria-04; Number of years of experience or proven track record in advocacy with Government and International agencies and provide technical inputs to strategies and / or policies, tools, and instruments from gender perspectives.- Max Point 15

Criteria-05; Strong writing and analytical skills in English - Max Point 10

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 70. 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 (49) 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:

  • Updated CV
  • Personal History Form (P11)
  • Writing of similar work sample
  • Financial proposal
  • *The financial proposal should include: Daily rate of consultant for BDT for 30 working days.  No need to quote for travel. If required UN Women will cover following their policy travel.
  •       

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.
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