Rapid Exploratory Study on Gender and Informal Sector (small and micro enterprises) in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Contract

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

Background

The Covid-19 pandemic emerged at the time when the Namibian Economy is at the crossroads after experiencing setbacks in terms of stimulating diversification and realizing stability as a result of severe drought which saw agricultural output declining to 42% below previous 20 years productivity. These among others contributed to the fall in GDP and resulted in unemployment estimated in 2018 at a national rate of almost 33% of which 34.3% are female and 32.5% male. Efforts to reduce poverty have been hampered by the failure of the market to stimulate jobs and to curb unemployment. Namibia also faces key developmental challenges such as the growing informal economy, lack of decent and secure jobs and lack or insufficient social protection for workers. The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) from their Annual Labour Force Surveys of 2012-2014 reports that the informal sector created about 40% employment. The majority of the vulnerable women tend to engage in the informal sector to make a living from selling of basic items mainly food items in the informal markets, and streets as vendors to make a living. COVID-19 is therefore deepening pre-existing gender and socio-economic inequalities and exposing vulnerabilities in social, political and economic systems. Significantly, the effects of COVID-19 impact the vulnerable people especially women and elderly, small producers and informal small and micro enterprise owners whose livelihood depends on earning from the informal sectors.

The informal sector in Sub Saharan African countries contributes about 55% of GDP and employs more than 50% of the labour force; while in Namibia it is estimated that the informal sector is represented by an estimated +/-300 000 informal economy operators, that accounts for approximately 12% of the GDP[1]. The significance of the informal economy in Namibia cannot be ignored as it provides livelihoods and incomes for large population of the country, most of them who are self-employed of which more than half are women. The informal economy is the means of survival for many fellow Namibians. This segment of the economy is characterized by actors who are at a great risk of losing their incomes/employment and have little to no savings to rely on or no social protection mechanisms to assist them. Thus, the informal sector is very unpredictable, risky with no security of labour or income with employment created in the informal economy sector reported to be largely exploitative and insecure.

[1] https://www.unjobnet.org/jobs/detail/17946351#_ftn1

Duties and Responsibilities

The assignment requires the service of an individual consultant to carry out the rapid study on what the exact effects and or impacts of the unprecedented and multidimensional COVID-19 pandemic are in the informal sector, including what impact the economic stimulus package has made in this sector and specifically what the gendered /differential impacts of the pandemic on men and women in the informal sector maybe.

Thus, the study will investigate and responds to the questions highlighted below through open-ended, in-depth structured interviews to know details about the coping strategies for survival and what their plans are on recovery and moving forward. Life stories will be collected to easily portray the impact of the crisis on men and women in the informal small and micro enterprise sector; what the COVID-19 pandemic means for their businesses and how they plan to move forward with their enterprises post-Covid-19.

Specifically, the study is trying to find out on:

• What the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been on the small and micro enterprises?
• Whether the enterprises benefitted from the economic stimulus package.
• What impact did the economic stimulus package make on the enterprises, if benefitted? What are the plans on recovery and moving forward?

Competencies

• Be knowledgeable of different qualitative research methodology and techniques, especially in the field of gender and development;
• Excellent written and oral English communications skills;

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced University degree in any relevant social sciences such as Gender/ Development Studies, or equivalent qualifications. A PhD in any of these areas would be an added advantage.

Experiences:

• Expertise in previous assignments in the area of research in gender and the economy
• Track record and vast experience in research, rapid data collection and recording, interpretation, analysis in the area of gender and development
• 5 to 10 years experience in Gender Analysis and research in any gender related field.

Languages:

· Fluency in English with excellent written and oral communication skills.

Recommended Presentation of Offer;

• Completed Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
• Personal CV or a P11 Personal History form, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
• Brief description of approach to work/technical proposal of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a proposed methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment (max 1 page).

Financial proposal:

Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (based on the number of working days mentioned ToR.

Note:

• Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows uploading maximum one document.
• Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply;
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

Incomplete applications will be excluded from further consideration.

To view the full Terms of Reference (TOR) and download letter of confirmation of interest and P11 form, please access the UNDP Procurement Notice site on the below link:

https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=72413

Application process:

Applicants are requested to submit price offers indicating the total cost of the assignment (including daily fees, per diem and travel costs). All application should be done via the online portal and must not be emailed to the Procurement email address.

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that will take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.

Applications will be screened against qualifications and competencies specified above through a desk review