Guidelines and programmes for the Skills Development and Leadership of Women in the Private Sector

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.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to significant disruption in people’s lives in Jordan like the vast majority of countries around the world. Beyond the health response to the pandemic, Jordan introduced a number of labour and social protection related defense orders, which have constituted a large part of the national response to the pandemic. Those measures aimed to provide increased employment and wage protection and introduce new social protection programmes that address the newly emerged needs of employers and employees within the changed economic situation. Department of Statistics figures for Q3 2020 show that women’s unemployment rate increased 6.1 percentage points in comparison to Q3 2019 to reach 33.6% while male unemployment rate increased by 4.1 percentage points to reach 21.3% for the same period. Many women as well face an indirect impact being financially dependent on their spouses, who face high unemployment and layoffs rates. This is clear as only husbands work in 73% of households in Jordan. Therefore, women’s very low employment rate that reached only 9.9% in Q3 2020 and labour force participation rate for females that reached 14.9% play a big part in the socio-economic security of female population in Jordan directly and indirectly, especially in the economic crisis we are living in as a result to the pandemic. Younger women, older women and women with disabilities, women working in the informal sector, and those living in rural areas were hit harder by the pandemic due to additional challenges they face. Women are particularly vulnerable to layoffs and loss of livelihoods, and many women working in the informal sector experience sharp decline int their income.

In addition to the horizontal gender-based segregation women face in the labour market, where they are concentrated in few economic sectors that are aligned with socially assigned gender roles such as education and health sectors, women face significant vertical gender-based segregation in the labour market. Women are concentrated in entry and mid-level jobs, where few reach decision-making positions. UN Women report indicates that women have weak presence in boardrooms and senior positions, both in publicly listed companies and private shareholding companies in Jordan.

[1] https://www2.unwomen.org/-/media/field%20office%20jordan/images/publications/2020/november/meta_lr_021120.pdf?la=en&vs=14

depicts that, globally, companies with gender diverse boards achieve improved results in corporate governance implementation than companies with lower to no-gender diversity.[1] The identified connection between gender diversity and financial performance is due to various reasons, primarily that: improved diversity ensures greater efforts across the board, provides a mix of leadership skills, and reflects a better understanding of stakeholders and targeted consumers. These findings were ascertained through focus group discussions, where participants agreed that gender diversity in boardrooms lead to increased board effectiveness, mainly through more constructive discussions. In Jordan, at publicly listed companies, women hold 21% of senior management positions. Only 3. 5% of boards of publicly listed companies are led by women and 78% have no women on their boards. Meanwhile, for private shareholding companies, women members constitute only 9.1% of senior management, and only 2. 6% of those companies have women chairs. Jordan’s numbers are among the lowest in the world, even in comparison with other countries in the Middle East.[2]

The UN Women and ILO joint programme “Promoting Productive Employment and Decent Work for Women in Egypt, Jordan and Palestine” aims to address the structural causes of inequalities that hinder women from enjoying equal opportunities for decent work. One of the main vehicles used for this purpose is the partnership with the private sector to support a gender responsive private sector that attracts, retains and promotes women. One of the primary tools for that is the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), which is used as an instrument for the execution of gender equality and women’s empowerment practices in the private sector. The WEPs includes a principle on advocating for effective programmes to support women’s professional advancement including education and training that is complemented by networking and mentoring programmes. This goal can be reached through ensuring equal access to and participation in all company-supported education and training programmes which all stakeholders of private sector employers and employees’ representatives should be part of.

[1]https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/topics_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/ifc+cg/resources/guidelines_reviews+and+case+studies/gender+diversity+in+jordan

[2] https://www2.unwomen.org/-/media/field%20office%20jordan/images/publications/2020/november/meta_lr_021120.pdf?la=en&vs=1403

Objective of the Assignment::

The main objective of this consultancy is to develop, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, guidelines and institutional policy (to govern the implementation and institutionalization of the guidelines

for skills development and leadership for women in the private sector. In addition, the consultant is expected to develop and conduct two leadership trainings for selected WEPs signatories per the policy an guidelines.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Programme Management Specialist, direct supervision of the Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Analyst, and in coordination with the UN Women’s Private Sector Specialist, the consultant will perform the following tasks linked to the development and promotion of guidelines and programmes for skills development and leadership for women in the private sector.

Scoping and Review draft:

Write the first draft of the guidelines and institutional policy for skills development and leadership for women in the private sector for UN Women approval in preparation for consultations phase:

• Write the Inception report with a detailed workplan and timeframe for the consultancy

• Conduct a review of:

  • Existing international guidelines for skills development, career path and advancement and leadership for women in the private sector
  • Local publications released by the private sector and relevant international and national organizations related to skills development, career path and advancement, and leadership of women in the private sector
  • Define barriers, challenges and fundamental skills gaps in the national context based on initial screening of publications, experience, and available good practice guidelines that the guidelines and policy should address on the institutional and sector level.
  • Submit the first draft of the guidelines and institutional policy for skills development and leadership for women in the private sector for UN Women
  • Submission of the Second Draft and Conducting Consultations:

  Conduct consultations according to the detailed approach below and submit a second draft based on the consultations’ results:

  • Identify key stakeholders in collaboration with UN Women to apply the participatory approach. Main stakeholders should include but are not limited to, Ministry of Labour, employers’ representative in the private sector such as Chamber of Industry, Chamber of Commerce, 2 selected WEPs signatories and, employees’ representatives in Trade Unions, relevant civil society organizations, and international development partners namely ILO, World Bank, and IFC.
  • Conduct bilateral meetings with the above-mentioned stakeholders and focus group discussions, where the consultant would present the first draft, and collect feedback that should inform the process of developing the guidelines to fulfill the participatory approach requirements in the development of the guidelines.
  • Submit the second draft of the guidelines and institutional policy for skills development and leadership for women in the private sector, where the collected input from consultations will be reflected to the developed guidelines and verified by stakeholders
  • Submission of the Final Draft, and identifying and finalizing the national ownership and adoption in the private sector:

  Submit the final draft of the guidelines and institutional policy for skills development and leadership for women in the private sector and identify and finalize the national ownership and adoption in the private sector

  • Based on the collected information from previous phases, finalize the guidelines in alignment with the WEPs[1].
  • Identify corporate champions willing to adopt and pilot the implementation of the guidelines and report back on the process. This includes providing hands on advice to the 2 selected companies on how to develop a programme for women’s career development and leadership in its HR development plan in alignment with the guidelines with the support from UN Women. The selected corporate champions should be WEPs signatories.
  • In collaboration with Stakeholders identify the national owner of the guidelines and policy to adopt and promote. The national owner will be selected based in consultation with UN Women.[1] WEPs no.4, taking into consideration WEPs 2,3 and 4 Indicators (Non-discrimination in the workplace, Employee health and safety and Education and training for gender equality) .

Deliverables

Percentage of total payment

Timelines

Submission of the First Draft Based on Scoping & Review of relevant literature:

• Submit the inception report.
• Submit the first draft of the guidelines and institutional policy for skills development and leadership for women in the private sector for UN Women approval in preparation for consultations phase.

25%

End of September

25 working Days

Submission of the Second Draft and Conducting Consultations:

• Conduct consultations according to the detailed approach described in the description of responsibilities section.
• Submit a second draft of the guidelines and institutional policy based on the consultations’ results

40%

End of November

45 working days

Submission of the Final Draft, and identifying and finalizing the national ownership and carrying out adoption in the private sector:

• Submit the final draft of the guidelines and institutional policy for skills development and leadership for women in the private sector.

• Identify and finalize the national ownership and adoption in the private sector.

• In collaboration with at least 2 WEPs signatories that adopted the guidelines and institutional policy to develop a programme for women’s career development and leadership in its HR development plan with the support from UN Women.

35%

End Of December

30 working days

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

  § Demonstrated knowledge of economics and women’s economic empowerment, especially within the context of COVID-19;

  § Excellent written skills;

  § Experience in developing and writing similar content and guidelines.

  Fluency in English and Arabic.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Master’s degree or equivalent in business, economic, social science or other related fields. Bachelor’s degree in one of those fields in combination with 2 additional years of qualifying experience may be

accepted in lieu of the master’s degree.

Experience

• At least 5 years of experience of relevant work in the field of building capacity and training management and development in the private sector.

Proven experience in managing consultations and network with multi-stakeholders

Language Requirements

• Excellent command of written and spoken Arabic and very good command of written and spoken English

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)

• Criterion 1: Master’s degree or equivalent in business, economic, social science or other related fields. Bachelor’s degree in one of those fields in combination with 2 additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the master’s degree (25 points)
• Criterion 2: At least 5 years of experience of relevant work in the field of building capacity and training management and development in the private sector. (30 points)
• Criterion 3: Proven experience in managing consultations and network with multi-stakeholders (30 points)
• Criterion 4: Excellent command of written and spoken Arabic and very good command of written and spoken English (15 points)

Financial: Lowest Financial Proposal: 30% (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:

• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
• Personal CV; and Financial proposal; Proposed inclusive daily rate.

The above-mentioned documents should be completed and shared with Hazar Asfoura: hazar.asfoura@unwomen.org and Layla Al Qasim: layla.alqasem@unwomen.org