Republic of Moldova

National consultant to develop the statistical toolkit for data collection on entrepreneurship from gender perspective

Vacancy Number: Pr16/01360

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	25 Jul 2016, 10:00 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	01 Aug 2016, 10:00 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	10 Aug 2016
Reference to the project:	Strengthening the National Statistical System
Expected Duration of Assignment:	August-October 2016, estimated volume of work – up to 30 full working days
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted by pressing Apply On-line link, no later than 25 July 2016. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: aurelia.spataru@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants. Important notice: The applicant who has the statute of Government Official / Public Servant, prior to appointment will be asked to submit the following documentation: a no-objection letter in respect of the applicant received from the government, and; the applicant is certified in writing by the government to be on official leave without pay for the duration of the Individual Contract. A retired government official is not considered in this case a government official, and as such, may be contracted. The above requirements are also applicable to Government-owned and controlled enterprises, other semi/partially or fully owned Government entities (including but not limited to research institutions, state-owned colleges/universities, etc.)
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference IC Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

Entrepreneurial activity is an important factor in creating and increasing employment opportunities and fuelling economic growth. Everywhere, men are more likely to be involved in entrepreneurial activity than women. Because of the serious gender gap in entrepreneurship in all countries of the region, the issue of women and men’s entrepreneurship has received growing attention among policy makers in the member states of the UNECE. In the Beijing Platform for Action, countries have agreed to foster women’s access to self-employment and entrepreneurship.

Legal framework

At the national level, according to the main National development strategy Moldova 2020 by 2020 creation of new enterprises is to be encouraged by the authorities through support to entrepreneurial spirit, among women in particular, whose share was only about 28% among entrepreneurs. At the sector level, the main strategic document aimed to regulate the entrepreneurial activity in the country is the Strategy on Development of Small and Medium Enterprises for 2012-2020 and its Action Plans. The second action plan for 2015-2017 has been complemented with a separate priority on development of women’s entrepreneurship, including, among many others, three actions dedicated to its measurement of entrepreneurship through gender perspective.

From gender equality perspective, the Law on wnsuring equal opportunities for women and men stipulates the equal access to entrepreneurial activity, and the National program on ensuring gender equality for 2010 – 2015 envisaged stimulation of entrepreneurship and private initiatives by women. Thus, the appropriate legal framework is in place to enable the authorities in accomplishing the above mentioned objectives and to develop feasible supporting actions and measures.

Measurement issues

Considering the current increased users’ demand for statistical information on business activity as a whole, and entrepreneurship through gender perspective in particular, the necessity occurs to produce updated data, of better quality, coverage and relevancy. Efforts are needed to make available reliable statistics in order to provide an adequate basis for analysing entrepreneurship subjects and their potential, contribution of this sector to economic development of the country, and for well-informed and justified policy decisions in the field.

The Joint UN Project on Strengthening the National Statistical System of RM is implemented by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of the Republic of Moldova, in partnership with UNDP and UN Women, and aims at improving disaggregated data collection, production, dissemination and use of statistical information with particular attention to national needs and official statistics overall conformity with international, in particular EU, standards.

In 2015, the Project provided support to the national counterparts (policy-makers, civil society and academia) through their familiarization (by UNECE and UNSD experts) with the international concepts and practices on measurement of entrepreneurship by gender. Also, NBS was assisted with the development of Conceptual framework on measuring entrepreneurship from gender perspective in Moldova. It resulted in the analysis of available data sources (official and administrative) at national level which provide information on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs within NBS (Business Register, short term statistics, Annual Structural Survey, Labour Force Survey etc.), Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications and Ministry of Justice (Population register), Ministry of Finance and other sources.

The methodological framework mentioned above will be used in 2016 for other activities of the Action Plan, namely the preparation and piloting of the corresponding statistical survey on enterprises. This is one of the UN Joint Project’s targets in 2016 and further assistance will be provided to the Government aimed to ultimately contribute to the improvement of sex-disaggregated data made available to decision-makers and planners within the Moldovan public authorities (in particular the Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family) and supporting institutions (in particular Organisation for Development of Small and Medium Enterprises/ODIMM, National Employment Agency) so that government policy, implementing partners’ planning and programing on gender equality in entrepreneur opportunities is properly informed and evidence-based.

For detailed information on Context, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Scope of work

The Joint UN Project on Strengthening the National Statistical System is to hire one national consultant to develop the statistical toolkit for a survey on establishments to measure the entrepreneurship from gender perspective in the Republic of Moldova in compliance with the national legal and policy framework and concerned international standards and European norms.

The expected output will represent a set of documents, namely methodology, questionnaire and instructions for data collection from business establishments to enable the capturing and analysis of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics that determine the entrepreneurial experience of women and men in the country. This statistical toolkit should be further used in the framework of a new module to be attached to one of NBS existing business surveys conducted on regular basis. Also, the toolkit should be applicable and tailored for both traditional and electronic (e-reporting) data collection methods– which should be piloted by NBS, with the participation of the national consultant, before the completion of present assignment. On the basis of piloting’s results the consultant should fine-tune the toolkit and provide recommendations for follow-up activities to be performed by NBS in 2017 when the full data collection in the field is to be undertaken.

The overall objective of the assignment is to provide national stakeholders with a new statistical toolkit to collect data and produce evidences for decision-making regarding challenges and perspectives for entrepreneurship development and diminishing of gender-caused disparities in this area providing equal access and opportunities for women and men entrepreneurs. Such data, generated as the result of expected module-survey, in combination with data from other available sources (official statistics and administrative) should provide the national decision-makers with complete (all) evidences on entrepreneur activity by women and men in the country.

On behalf of NBS, as the main Project’s partner, the participation and necessary involvement of representatives of divisions on business and social (responsible for gender statistics) statistics will be ensured. Activities envisaged under the present task will contribute to the achievement of mid-term priorities of NBS and will be carried out in accordance with the Law of RM on Official Statistics, the Law on Ensuring Gender Equality between Women and Men and other national/ sector policy and regulatory documents and in compliance with international standards in official statistics and relevant best practices of other countries.

The list of national stakeholders to benefit of the results of the given assignment includes: Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family, Organisation for Development of Small and Medium Enterprises/ODIMM, National Employment Agency others.

For detailed information on Tasks and Responsibilities, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

Education:

• Master degree in economics, statistics, accounting and/or other science related to areas relevant for the assignment;
• Additional certifications in the area of gender equality or other relevant area (will be an asset);

Experience:                                                 

• At least 5 years of overall professional experience (executing function, teaching, advising, managing, etc.) in areas related to business or entrepreneurial activity, inside the country or outside;
• At least 3 records of practical experience related to the development (or participation at) analytical and methodological works in the area of entrepreneurship or business (methodologies for calculation of economic/business indicators, designing of questionnaires, research articles, thematic analysis, assessments, evaluations, reviews, policy advise, legislation adjustments, etc.);
• Experience of gender sensitive analysis (will be an asset);
• Experience of collaboration with Government, preferably in area/s relevant for the present assignment;
• Experience in working with development partners and UN agencies in particular;

Competencies and Skills:

• Knowledge of the peculiarities of statistical sector (statistical processes, notions, requirements, etc.), especially in economic/business and gender statistics confirmed through appropriate data use;
• Knowledge of the national business and/or entrepreneurial activity related legislation and policy framework;
• Familiarity with international standards and best practices, terminology and definitions used in the field of business and/or entrepreneurial activity statistics (will be an asset);
• Strong analytical and writing skills;
• Excellent communications skills in Romanian; Good knowledge of English;

Personal Qualities and other requirements:

• Good interpersonal skills, solid judgment/decision making, initiative and creativity;
• Availability to work with UNDP and Project’s national stakeholders during the indicated/approved period;
• Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations, in particular, respecting differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status.

UNDP Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.

Documents to be included

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Technical Proposal explaining how applicant responds to each of the qualification requirements and why he/she is the most suitable for the work, as well as a short vision on achievement of tasks.
2. Personal information (as a detailed CV or as a Personal History Form /P11) including records on past experience in similar projects/assignments and concrete outputs obtained;
3. Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total lump sum amount and the number of anticipated working days).

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.

In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including all related costs e.g. fees, phone calls etc.) and the number of anticipated working days.

Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

For the current assignment not travel is required.

 

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