Consultant for Surging Women’s Employment in Lebanon

Consultant

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

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.

At 22.2 per cent, Lebanon has one of the lowest labour force participation rates for women in the region and the world, even prior to the current crisis. Drivers of low female labour include an entrenched patriarchal context that constrain women’s participation in the economy or relegates them to informal and lower-paying jobs, lack of policies and frameworks that facilitate women’s economic participation (e.g. childcare, family-friendly work policies), occupational segregation in female and male-dominated jobs driving gender pay gaps as well as Personal Status Laws that discriminate against women in divorce, child custody, inheritance and other areas. Insufficient job creation, both in number and quality, in the private sector is another key constraint. Economic growth and job generation in Lebanon have traditionally relied on construction, real estate and finance sectors, which are male dominated. Access to finance and investment are also challenges for entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs. While Lebanon remains in a deep state of economic and financial crisis, with political deadlock and lack of will to tackle necessary reforms, the Lebanese economy and its people have demonstrated resilience in the past.

UN Women Regional Office for the Arab States (ROAS) adopted its strategic plan for 2022-2025 in March 2022. In the strategic plan, it is highlighted that one of the key priorities to achieve gender equality in the Arab States is the speedy acceleration of women’s employment throughout the region, which has hovered around 21% since the 1990s. UN Women is embarking on a large-scale multi-country program to surge women’s employment in 7 countries (3 in North Africa, 2 in the Levante and 2 in the Gulf).

The initial phase of this work was concluded in May 2022. It was dedicated to the analysis of the factors behind the stagnated levels of women’s employment in the Arab States, with a focus on not only challenges but, more specifically, on distinct opportunities that could accelerate women’s employment in the region. The analysis established the need for a multi-disciplinary approach, bringing together efforts to shift social norms, reduce the burden of care work, improve laws and policies, and strategically use social and mass media to bring about these changes. The strategy has a strong emphasis on the role of the private sector, focusing on three sectors, with distinct business cases in each. Lastly, the approach seeks to guarantee sustainable finance to deliver on this agenda through a shift to gender-responsive budgeting and blended finance.

The regional programme will be implemented across several countries, with Lebanon being one of them. To this end, the UN Women Lebanon Country Office will engage national stakeholders to contextualize the programme to national priorities and local context. This will be done through national consultations and analytical work on relevant themes and economic sectors. ROAS will be engaging the services of a Business Case Consultant and Access to Finance Consultant to further advance and inform strategic planning for acceleration of women’s employment in the region, including in Lebanon. The Business Case Consultant will formulate an investment case for each of the (1) green jobs, (2) STEM, and (3) care economy sectors in the selected countries, including in Lebanon. The Access to Finance Consultant will support the development of national financing for advancing women’s employment in the four countries (including Lebanon) through identification of private sector and financial institution partners and documentation of national experience on sustainable finance interventions.

The consultant will work under the overall guidance of the Deputy Regional Director of the Regional Office for Arab States (ROAS) and report directly to the UN Women Lebanon Country Representative and the ROAS Women’s Economic Empowerment Advisor. The consultant’s role will complement the work of the ROAS hired consultants developing country level business cases towards surging women’s employment in the Arab States.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of the assignment is to:

• Support stakeholder mapping consultations and facilitate co-creation of the national women’s employment programme.
• Develop the Lebanon profile on women’s economic empowerment and contribute to employment projections.
• Support work on creating an enabling environment for women’s employment (policy and legal reforms and a shift in social norms)
• Contribute to economic sector assessments to support women’s employment.
• Support the development of a sustainable finance component to advance women’s employment.
• Provide continuous technical inputs and support to the ROAS consultants who will undertake a mission to Lebanon.

Deliverables:

1: Inception Report Upon awarding of the contract, the consultant will meet with the UN Women ROAS and Lebanon CO team which will provide a briefing on the background and intent of the assignment. Based on this discussion and the scope of this Terms of Reference, the consultant will submit to UN Women for its review, an Inception Report that outlines the work plans, methods and structure of the expected report, including timeframes.

2: Desk review In line with the objectives of the assignment, the consultant will conduct a thorough desk review of existing literature and data and provide an analysis in a desk review report which includes: a) An analysis on the current state of the economy, labour market, entrepreneurship, and access to financing in Lebanon, highlighting key challenges specific to Lebanon in comparison to other countries in the region, b) An analysis of the growth and employment potential for the STEM, green jobs, and care economy sectors and any other sectors with high growth potential, including identification of specific sub-sectors/value chains, c) Analysis of labour force trends in various sectors of the economy identified under the analysis above, profiling participation and challenges for women’s participation in these sectors, incorporating analysis on actions needed to promote women’s participation based on women’s different backgrounds (rural, urban, levels of education) and skills (low-skilled, semi-skilled, skilled), d) Mapping of key stakeholders in each sector, including an analysis of any public, private or international entities that are providing programmes, services, finance and investment in these sectors, in particular women’s participation in these sectors, identify approaches that have worked, that have not worked, and identify gaps in assistance, and

3: Stakeholder consultations and development of programme document on accelerating women’s employment in Lebanon The consultant will engage with key stakeholders including but not limited to government institutions, private sector corporations, financial institutions, cooperatives, business organizations, entrepreneurs, trade unions and syndicates, chambers of commerce and industry, think tanks, incubators/investment funds, international financial institutions, and international organizations in the sectors identified, through Key Informant Interviews and Focus Group Discussions to validate findings from the desk review and shape recommendations for a strategy to accelerate women’s economic participation. Memorandum on the meetings, that include the person met and contact information, and summary of discussions, should be attached as an annex to the report.

4: Technical and logistical support to ROAS consultants The consultant will establish communication with the ROAS consultants engaged by the UN Women Regional Office for Arab States to provide technical assistance (e.g. drafting documents, coordination with national stakeholders) in advance of and throughout their planned mission to Lebanon, including providing briefings on the Lebanon context, on deliverables, and providing recommendations on key stakeholders to meet and with scheduling these meetings. The consultant will support the ROAS consultants to arrange meetings and/or workshops with key stakeholders for their mission to Lebanon, currently scheduled in early February 2024.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the development and delivery of the employment strategy.

Deliverable

Expected completion time (due day)

Payment Schedule

1. Inception report. [expected 3 working days]

10 January 2024

10% of total contract

2. Draft desk review report. [expected 10 working days]

9 February 2024

-

3. Final desk review. [expected 3 working days]

20 February 2024

20% of total contract

4. Stakeholder consultation report [expected 14 days]

Support at least 3 country level consultations and submit a consultation report:

• Mapping relevant actors and designing an engagement approach that are suitable.
• Document the outcomes, agreements and next steps from the engagements with stakeholders.
• Outline emerging lessons from engagements to inform design of programme

29 February 2024

20% of total contract

5. Inputs into draft national women’s employment strategy

Contribute to the drafting of a national women’s employment strategy containing [expected 15 days]:

• An overview of the situation and the proposed response
• Aspects to incorporate include policies and laws, social norms, private sector and blended finance, accompanied by three country level annexes (care; STEM and green jobs).

15 March 2024

20% of total contract

6. Draft programme document [expected 15 days]

Lead the drafting of a high-quality programme document in line with UN Women’s programme and policy guidance.

1 April 2024

10% of total contract

7. Programme implementation plan [expected 10 days]

Support the development of the implementation plan and lead the rolling out of programme inception activities.

6 May 2024

20% of total contract

The deliverable deadlines may be adjusted depending on the scheduling of the ROAS consultants’ mission to Lebanon, and will be agreed upon between the Consultant and UN Women Lebanon CO.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel This is a home-based consultancy, with the consultant to be based in Lebanon, with meetings to take place with UN Women on a regular basis to brief UN Women on work progress, deliverables, and plans. There is expected domestic day-travel within Lebanon to conduct meetings, in person where possible, with stakeholders as necessary.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

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 Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Strong knowledge of economic development and job creation policies and programme development in Lebanon and the Arab States region.
• Ability to synthesize large volumes of research and data to produce analytical reports and present them to inform management and strategic programme development.
• Strong networking skills and ability to communicate with a diverse range of stakeholders and facilitate constructive discussions.
• Ability to handle complex tasks independently, multi-task, and meet multiple deadlines on time.
• Ability to write high-quality briefings, research, and programme documents.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s Degree (or equivalent) in Economics, Business Administration and Management, Social Sciences, or related field.
• A first-level university degree in combination with five additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of strong research background and demonstrated experience contributing to and producing high profile reports on economic empowerment and employment generation in Lebanon and the Arab Region.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages.
• Excellent and verbal written communication skills.
• Experience in programme development for UN agencies or other international institutions is highly desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Arabic is required. French is an asset.

Evaluation criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Criteria Weight Technical: 70% (70 points) The technical proposal will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• Criteria 1: Education: master’s degree (or equivalent) in Economics, Business Administration and Management, Social Sciences or related field. (20 points)
• Criteria 2: Minimum 7 years of demonstrated experience contributing to and producing high profile reports on economic empowerment and employment generation in Lebanon and the Arab Region. (20 points)
• Criteria 3: Quality of the proposed methodology (20 points)
• Criteria 4: Experience working with UN or other international organization programme development. (10 points)

Financial: Lowest Financial Proposal: 30% (Maximum 30 points) The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula:

• Contract will be awarded to the technically qualified consultant who obtains the highest combined score (financial and technical);
• The points for the Financial Proposal will be allocated as per the following formula: (Lowest Bid Offered*)/ (Bid of the Consultant) x 30;
• 'Lowest Bid Offered' refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 49 points in the technical evaluation.

Application:

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc )
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• Financial proposal; Proposed inclusive lumpsum.
• Two samples of previous publications or reports produced in the past 3 years that are relevant to the Terms of Reference.
• Technical proposal (maximum length: 5 pages There is no designated template or formal for the Technical Proposal, but should contain the following information:

1. Suggested methodology for carrying out the work in this terms of reference.
2. Summary of qualifications of the consultant to carry out the work in this terms of reference,
3. Summary of previous experience and work in a similar capacity,
4. Availability.

The above-mentioned documents should be merged in a standalone file including all them, since the online application submission does only permit to upload one file per application. Incomplete submission can be a ground for disqualification.

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.)

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Added 5 months ago - Updated 4 months ago - Source: jobs.undp.org