Gender and Economics 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.

Women in East and Southern Africa represent the most deprived group of the population in spite of their paramount social and economic role. They have limited access to, and control over critical resources, as a result of social, cultural and economic norms. UN Women’s programmatic work to support women’s economic empowerment in the region is centered around three pillars: (i) Improving women’s access to climate resilient agricultural value chains; (ii) Promoting and strengthening women entrepreneurship; and (ii) Enhancing women’s income security and social protection.

COVID 19 hit East and Southern Africa at the beginning of the second quarter of 2020. The pandemic has exacerbated existing gender inequalities in economic opportunities across East and Southern Africa where most people earn their livelihoods through the informal economy. The shock triggered by COVID-19 came at time when the region’s economy was already plagued by rising income inequality, financial fragility and mounting debt, and limited fiscal space by Governments. The socio-economic impact of the pandemic affected women disproportionally in the region as a result of their overrepresentation among very small businesses, and informal and vulnerable workers. The lockdown measures have also increased the unpaid care burden of the region or rates of Gender Based Violence against women and girls.

The populations most at risk during pandemics such as COVID 19 include those who depend heavily on the informal economy; are in areas prone to shocks; have inadequate access to social services or political influence; limited capacities and opportunities to cope and adapt and little or no access to technologies. In Kenya COVID-19 has exposed the extent of inequalities between women who comprise 50.5 percent of the total population and men in Kenya in terms of social and economic systems. Women were already more likely to be multidimensionally poor than their male counterparts (65 percent compared to 56 percent of men). Women in Kenya also comprise 70% of low wage earners. Many work in the informal sector employed or running micro and small enterprises. Layering gender on to these vulnerabilities, brings into sharp focus how pandemics such as COVID-19 are likely to deepen gender and other inequalities. Addressing the shocks to women’s economic and productive lives, as well as their economic and social rights, is central then to Kenya’s immediate and long-term recovery plans and to “building back better”. In 2020, it is believed that up to 14.3m Kenyans were affected by Covid-19 more so, the 36.1% who live below the poverty line, especially women.

The restrictions in movement and social distancing leads to isolation in which domestic violence can thrive. The strain due to a reduction or loss of incomes by male heads of households and lack of healthy outlets to deal with the psychological strain of not meeting the social norm expectations on being a provider are some of the factors that are contributing to the spike in GBV in Kenya. Overall, there was a 75% increase in calls to the national Health Care Assistance Kenya (HA)K hotline during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya (comparing February 2020 call data and May 2020).

To respond to the crisis, Governments across the region are spending significant resources to provide immediate support measures and to boost economic recovery through ‘fiscal stimulus’ packages. It is important to ensure that adopted economic stimulus and recovery package are gender responsive and address equity gaps. UN Women has developed a range of policy tools to support Governments in identifying and addressing the gender impacts of the pandemic, including one on “How to Assess and Engender Fiscal Stimulus Packages to Respond to the Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19” which is the focus of this assignment and can be accessed through http://unwo.men/Aj0750EBf6L .

UN Women, with support from the Government of Korea, is launching the programme “Engendering Fiscal Stimulus Packages and Recovery Efforts Adopted in Response to the COVID-19 Health and Economic crises” to support Governments in East and Southern Africa in engendering fiscal stimulus packages through direct advice and technical assistance, as well as advocacy and policy dialogue. UN Women is seeking to engage the services of a national economist to conduct the assessment, serve as project coordinator and expert for the implementation of the project in Kenya.

Reporting to the Policy Advisor – Women’s Economic Empowerment within the ESARO office and working closely with the WEE Analyst/Team Lead at the Kenya Country Office, the National consultant is responsible for implementing the programme “Engendering Fiscal Stimulus Packages and Recovery Efforts” which includes coordinating relationships with national partners and stakeholders, monitoring and reporting, and managing the finances. He/she will work under the overall guidance and support of the Regional Programme Coordinator, Gender and Economics in the Regional Office.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment:

• Conduct a gender-responsive assessment of the fiscal and economic stimulus package adopted in response to COVID-19 in Kenya;
• Coordinate the advocacy campaign through engagement with decision-makers, CSO, academia and social media work on the gender-responsive implementation of COVID-19 fiscal stimulus and social protection packages;
• Coordinate the establishment of a reference team that will provide technical backstopping and oversight.

Management of Kenya based Project:

• Act as a focal point for the program “Engendering Fiscal Stimulus Packages and Recovery Efforts Adopted in response to the COVID-19 Health and Economic crises” in Kenya;
• In collaboration with Regional Program Coordinator and other national focal points, contribute to the development of a workplan to operationalize the project;
• Lead the implementation of work plan activities in Kenya;
• Monitor the project progress in Kenya according to the work plan and draft Kenya focused inputs to regional monitoring and donor reports;
• Coordinate the exchange of information and provide inputs to the development of knowledge products internally and externally of the programme;
• Design and implement country advocacy strategy to influence agenda of key national institutions to engender fiscal stimulus packages;
• Establish a reference group of eminent professionals that will provide technical backstopping to the process.

Technical assistance and advice on engendering fiscal stimulus packages:

• Apply and implement the applied policy guidance tool developed by UN Women to undertake an assessment of fiscal stimulus packages implemented at the country level from a gender perspective;
• To provide ongoing technical assistance and support to Government counterparts in Kenya in implementing those strategies including, conducting gender analysis of fiscal stimulus packages, organizing events to discuss and disseminate results and recommendations, support different stakeholders in the implementation of policy dialogues and advocacy strategies to promote recommendations to engender fiscal stimulus packages, and other technical support and advice as needed;
• To design, under the oversight of the regional, strategies to integrate gender in Kenya national fiscal stimulus package and recovery policies;
• To foster partnership and ongoing liaison with women-owned businesses in Kenya and facilitate dialogue and consultations between women-owned businesses and government counterparts;
• Provide technical assistance and support to Government counterparts in the process of piloting, implementing and adapting existing Gender responsive budgeting initiatives to integrate gender priorities in post-COVID19 recovery strategies.

Capacity Building Initiatives for partners and other stakeholders:

• Support the Regional Programme Coordinator in adapting existing tools and developing new ones to support Governments in analysing gender impact of stimulus packages and integrating gender priorities in economic recovery plans in Kenya;
• Facilitate tailored capacity-building sessions for leaders of women’s networks to facilitate their advocacy and monitoring interventions aimed at enhancing gender-responsiveness of stimulus packages;
• Design and deliver, in collaboration with the Programme Coordinator, capacity building activities for UN Women’s Kenya CO staff, Government and other key national stakeholders to enhance capacity to engender economic policies;
• Support the Regional Programme Coordinator in the delivery of one regional capacity building event for UN Women staff and Government counterparts on key economic reforms to integrate women’s needs in post-COVID19 recovery in 2021.

Deliverables:

• Inception report detailing work plan and proposed approach to implementation of the project;
• Monthly monitoring reports on different project activities and results;
• Deliverables linked to specific project activities including national advocacy strategies, implementation of the policy guidance tool, concept notes, power point presentations, training modules, and other as necessary to support development of capacity building and policy dialogue activities;
• Delivery of training and capacity building activities;
• Final project report.

Payment Schedule:

No.

Deliverables

Estimated time

Payment Percentage

1.

• Submission of final Inception report on gender responsive assessment of the fiscal and economic stimulus package adopted in response to COVID-19 in Kenya, with comments addressed and the power point presentation for inception meeting

15 October 2021

30%

2.

• Narrative report summarizing activities conducted.
• Prepare and submit draft report (validated by key stakeholders) with recommendations and actions to engender fiscal stimulus packages

15 November 2021

3.

• Develop training modules on how to engender stimulus package
• Submit training report(s)
• Submission of narrative report summarizing activities conducted to date.

15 December 2021

30%

4.

• Develop and produce strategy on engendering stimulus package.
• Policy briefs and advocacy briefs on engendering stimulus packages
• Submit a narrative report summarizing activities conducted to date and results including advocacy efforts made

15 December 2021

20%

5.

• Prepare and submit the final study report that includes experience, lessons learned and recommendations for future programming, revise training modules in line with lessons learned
• Clearance of the final approved training modules
• Final Policy brief on engendering stimulus package

20 December 2021

20%

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/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

• Good understanding of national context including the development plans; social protection mechanism and the gender equality situation;
• Strong analytical skills on gender and economic policy and women’s economic empowerment;
• Strong communications skills in spoken and written English;
• Strong drafting skills and ability to produce a variety of knowledge products for different audiences and purposes;
• Ability to produce impactful communications materials and knowledge products;
• Strong commitment to knowledge-sharing within a multicultural environment;
• Ability to design and deliver training and other capacity building strategies in the area of gender and economics to a variety of audiences;
• Basic project management skill.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s degree or equivalent in development economics, feminist economics or any other relevant field of economics or public policy.

Experience

• At least 5 years of experience and record of accomplishment promoting economic policy reform in the area of development economics, gender and economics, poverty reduction, social protection or women’s economic empowerment policies in the context of Kenya;
• Proven experience with economic policy analysis and mastery of quantitative and qualitative analysis and methods;
• Experience working in other countries in East and Southern Africa is an asset;
• Experience working in the UN System is an asset.

Language requirements

• Fluency in English;
• Knowledge of Kiswahili is an asset.

Please note that applications without a completed and signed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

UN Women Personal History form (P-11) can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process

UNWOMEN 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.