Republic of Moldova

UN Women: International Consultant - Women’s Economic Empowerment Specialist: – Private Sector Engagement and WEPs in Republic of Moldova

Vacancy Number: Pr19/01919

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	10 Nov 2019, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	N/A
Starting date:	15 Nov 2019
Reference to the project:	UN Women
Expected Duration of Assignment:	22 working days in the period of November 2019 – October 2020 (of which 12 days – home-based, 10 days – 4 missions to Moldova)
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Procurement Notice Annex I&II Personal History Form (P11) UN Women UN Women Conditions of Service Consultants

Contacts:

Ms. Irina Cozma.

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. Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. 

Through its programmes and projects, UN Women is providing technical assistance to national partners (governmental and non-governmental), including private sector, in the implementation of existing international and national commitments to women’s rights and gender equality, it facilitates networking and exchange of good practices and advocates for women’s rights and gender equality in all areas of life.

The work of UN Women in the Republic of Moldova is guided by its new Country Strategic Note for 2018-2022, aligned with the Republic of Moldova–United Nations Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development 2018–2022, the Global Strategic Plan of UN Women for 2018-2021, the National Strategy on Gender Equality for 2017-2021 (NSGE), and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The UN Women Strategy for Moldova 2018-2022 focuses on three main areas where gender equality gaps are still present: 1) strengthening women’s participation in politics and decision making, 2) advancing the economic empowerment of women and 3) preventing and combating violence against women and girls. To achieve progress under these areas, UN Women works with variety of national and international partners and as part of different national and regional initiatives. UN Women’s interventions are contributing to the realization of the National Strategy on Gender Equality (NSGE) for 2017-2021 and its associated Action Plan, approved in early 2017, focus on ten areas of interventions such as: women’s participation in decision-making, labor market and gender pay gap, social protection and family policies, health, education, climate change, institutional mechanism, stereotypes in the society and non-violent communication, gender equality in the security and defense sector and gender responsive budgeting.

Rationale

The Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) is a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact, launched in 2010 following a year-long international, multi-stakeholder consultation process. The Principles present seven steps that business and other sectors can take to advance and empower women. The WEPs elaborate the gender dimension of corporate social responsibility and business' role in sustainable development and were designed for companies to review their policies on empowerment of women, to acknowledge and to start making changes. In the international community these are recognized principles for women’s equality participation. They represent the global standard that has been accepted all around the world and provide seven principles that all companies can subscribe to. Since the launch of the Women's Empowerment Principles in 2010, over 1,900 CEOs from around the world have signed the CEO Statement of Support for the WEPs, signaling their support for gender equality and the guidance provided by the Principles.

A survey among private sector players in Moldova, undertaken in 2015-2016, confirmed private companies’ readiness to adopt the WEPs and revealed that the existing good practices on women’s economic empowerment need to be further communicated and promoted. Further consultations between UN Women, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and other leading agencies reinforce the above findings. Government partners also recognize that women’s inclusion drives development and acknowledge that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and national economic and development plans require rapidly moving towards substantive gender equality.

In 2018, UN Women has contracted a local Company (Business Consulting Institute) to work further with the private sector companies on promoting Women’s Empowerment Principles. So far, through this collaboration the following contributions have been done: i) The awareness on WEPs was raised, ii) mapping and sharing of good practices on WEPs implementation was carried out, and iii) knowledge products and tools to guide private sector institutions on WEPs implementation and monitoring in their workplaces and industries etc. were developed. In 2019, the mapping of the current situation in advancing gender equality and on WEPs implementation by private sector companies in Moldova (through a qualitative and quantitative study) was carried out.

As a result, it was identified that the economic empowerment of women, but also equal opportunities are not among the priorities of micro, small and medium-sized companies. While, most companies declare that they promote gender equality and women's rights and support community initiatives that would demonstrate the company's commitment, and find it extremely useful to support such initiatives, 61% of companies were unable to offer a concrete example of action. The company’s representatives are aware of the need to integrate the principles of women's economic empowerment and gender equality in their companies, but they are not sufficiently informed about these issues and their practical implementation. 

In this respect and in the framework of its Strategic Note, UN Women plans to engage further with the private sector in Moldova in the implementation of the WEPs and in promoting gender equality at the workplace, marketplace and community. Following the good practice of other countries in the region on WEPs promotion, UN Women will support establishment of a WEPs Platform in Moldova. The WEPs Platform will coordinate and support private sector’s efforts in realizing their commitment to WEPs and gender equality. The WEPs Platform will have a multi-stakeholder structure, including representatives of businesses, mainly WEPs signatory companies, interested civil society organizations, relevant academia, public institutions and development partners.

The launching event for the WEPs Implementation Guide in Moldova and the establishment of WEPs Platform in Moldova is planned to take place in the beginning of December 2019 within the on-going collaboration with Business Consulting Institute.

In this context, UN Women intends to subcontract an International Consultant, Women’s Economic Empowerment Specialist to provide support in i) organizing the launching event on WEPs, ii) establishment of the WEPs Platform and iii) in the implementation of WEPs in different sectors of the national economy. The work will be carried out in Chisinau, Moldova.

Scope of work

Empowerment Specialist will provide support in i) organizing the launching event on WEPs, ii) establishment of the WEPs Platform and iii) in the implementation of WEPs in different sectors of the national economy. The work will be carried out in Chisinau, Moldova.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex: Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

Education:

• Advanced degree in gender equality, human rights, law or any other related science;

Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience at international level in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility, human rights or gender equality;
• At least 3 years of experience in labour rights and women’s economic empowerment issues;
• At least 2 years of experience in providing advisory services to private sector companies.
• At least 2 years proven experience in working with international organizations (successful experience in working with UN agencies is an asset).

Language skills:

• Fluency in written and oral English are required;
• Working knowledge of one or more additional languages relevant for Moldova, including Romanian, Russian would be an asset.

NOTE: The successful candidate shall be required to complete the two Safety & Security Courses (BSIF II & ASIF), with details to be provided by UN Women upon contracting.

Documents to be included

Interested candidates are invited to submit their online applications by 10 November 2019 with the following documents.

• Duly filled Personal History Form P11 and the CV, including records on past experience in similar projects/ assignments and specific outputs obtained;
• Letter of Intent to include a brief overview about which of your previous experiences makes you the most suitable candidate for the advertised position;

• Financial proposal – specifying a total lump sum amount for the task specified in Terms of References. 

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of the lump sum amount. Please see TOR Annex I: Price Proposal Guideline and Template and Price Proposal Submission Form.

 

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