National Consultant (Feminist Economist) – 1 position

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. In Nepal, UN Women with an overarching five-year Strategic Note (SN) 2023 – 2027 aims to support the national stakeholders in advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in line with internationally agreed normative standards that contributes to four outcome areas of the UNSDCF 2023 – 2027. Under the Outcome 1- Sustainable, Resilient and Inclusive Economic Transformation, NCO seeks to build capacities of duty bearers and right holders to advance women’s economic security rights. This includes engaging the government and private sector actors to formulate and implement gender-responsive policy measures in the evolving national context; and, enhancing skills of women, girls and LGBTIQ+ persons, especially from excluded groups to access decent work/income generation and sustainable livelihoods opportunities.  

Furthermore, the experience from COVID 19 showed that the crises have differential impact on women and excluded groups and consequently NCO had an opportunity to adapt its programmatic interventions to respond to the evolving context. Building on this experience of need to respond to differential needs of women and considering the fact that the lack of gender-responsive policies have always failed to take into account different policy outcome for women and excluded groups, NCO seeks to streamline its efforts by engaging deeper in macro-economic policies from feminist perspective for broader impact.

Thus, to enhance its efforts, UN Women Nepal is seeking to engage a National Consultant (Feminist Macro-economist) on a retainer basis to support the Country Office’s programming. In close collaboration with programme teams, the Consultant will be responsible to analyze relevant policies, national data and trends, and provide analytical advisory services and technical inputs to UN Women Nepal Country Office on development issues and policies, particularly on macro-economic and sectoral policies including unpaid care work to enhance the strategic impact of UN Women’s interventions in line with the four outcomes in the strategic note and United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the programme officer (WEE), and in close coordination with programme team, the National Consultant will provide technical support and strategic guidance on gender responsive macroeconomic and sectoral policies including a focus on unpaid work including care. The detailed scope of work and responsibilities of the assignment are as follows:

High quality technical inputs to UN Women Nepal’s programmes on macro-economic and sectoral  policies.

UN Women Nepal seeks policy related technical and advisory services, focusing on gender-responsive macroeconomic and sectoral policies. Key areas include;

• Equitable fiscal pacts and progressive taxation including gender responsive public finance management.
• Care economy including assessment of paid and unpaid care work.  
• Gender responsive sectoral policies, particularly on MSMEs, Agriculture, Infrastructure, eco-tourism, energy, and other relevant sectors as evident.
• Gender responsive financial inclusion.
• Gender responsive procurement
• Gather and analyze relevant gender disaggregated data from a feminist economics perspective to help UN Women Nepal develop/influence gender-responsive macroeconomic and sectoral policies in line with the priority identified under 16th periodic plan and LDC graduation smooth transition strategies.

Evidence-based policy advisory and public advocacy support to and capacity development of the Government counterparts, civil society, development partners and other relevant stakeholders

In continuing NCO’s strategy to incorporate voices of the stakeholder, dialogues and consultation meetings to inform policy decisions, the consultant is expected to;

• Convene different stakeholders including government counterparts, feminist economists, civil-society networks, women’s rights organizations and development partners for knowledge building and public advocacy on emerging issues related to gender responsive macroeconomic policy and sectoral policies.

• Technical and coordination support to assist in high-level policy dialogues on gender responsive macro-economic and sectoral policies, women’s economic empowerment and care economy.

• Provide advisory support and technical/substantive inputs to develop policy briefs, design advocacy tools and build capacity for government officials, elected representatives, civil society partners and/or development partners in Nepal with regards to gender responsive macroeconomic and sectoral policies including care and on other related issues related to UN Women’ programmes.

Expected deliverables

1. Policy research studies/analytical reports/policy briefs/knowledge products on gender-responsive macroeconomic policies and sectoral policies, including unpaid care work, gender-responsive public finance management including fiscal pacts and taxation and gender financing, costing assessments to inform the implementation strategy of 16th periodic plan, LDC smooth transition strategy and relevant sectoral policies.

1. Evidence of technical inputs, reviews, substantive analysis and strategic advice to enhance programmatic approaches from a feminist perspective. This includes reviewing programme/project documents, draft reports, and thematic papers with a focus on gender and inclusion, particularly analyzing new census data and other secondary data related to women’s economic empowerment.

1. Evidence of facilitating thematic dialogues, multi-stakeholder consultations, and expert group meetings to discuss macro-economic and sectoral policies and programme related to NCO programmes from a feminist perspective to bring voices of women and excluded groups.

1. Evidence of designing and conducting capacity-building initiatives, such as trainings and workshops pertaining to care and gender and macro-economics, for UN Women staff, government officials, elected representatives, civil society partners, and development partners in Nepal. These initiatives will focus on macroeconomic policies and tools, including unpaid work and care coverage costing gaps, to support NCO’s work.

Inputs

• UN Women will provide reference materials and facilitate coordination with key stakeholders.
• The consultant is expected to work remotely. UN Women can give access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents during the assignment, if required.
• The consultant will be required to provide their own local communications such as SIM cards and mobile phone.
• It is the Consultant’s responsibility to arrange private insurance.
• It is mandatory for the consultant to participate in a UN security briefing and to follow UN security rules and guidance.
• The Consultant will be required to provide a Statement of Good Health, endorsed by a certified Medical Practitioner.

Duration of the assignment and duty station   

This is a home-based assignment for 2 years with possibility of one year extension (15 Aug 2024- 14 Aug 2026) on retainer basis (as and when required) with a maximum of 80 working days spread across  2 years initially and additional 50 days in case of one year extensions . The assignment may also include field missions outside of Kathmandu and participation in meetings and consultations in Kathmandu.

UN Women will not be committed to purchasing any minimum quantity of the Services, and purchases will be made only if there is an actual requirement upon the issuance of a Purchase Order based on this retainer contract. UN Women shall not be liable for any cost in the event that no purchases are made under this retainer contract.

Schedule of payments

Payment will be made on the basis of quality of the work actually delivered upon certification of satisfactory performance by the supervisor. A work plan for the service delivery will be discussed and reconfirmed upon the signing of a contract. The contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communications, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered.

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:  

Required Skills and Experience

• Masters degree in Economics, Gender and Development Studies, Political Science, Economics, Social Science, or any other related field of studies.
• A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in working on gender and macroeconomics.
• Proven Expertise on feminist economics, particularly care costing and equitable fiscal pacts.
• Previous experience working with different levels of government, civil society and development partners.  Experience working with the UN system is a considerable asset.  
• Fluency in written and oral English is required
• Ability to handle documents and the information contained therein with strictest confidentiality is a non-negotiable requirement.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION. 

You will be able to upload only one attachment. Please combine your all documents into one single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form and request dcouemnts will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

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

• Expression of interest explaining why you are interested to this position and what relevant skills and experiences you bring.
• UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded:    )
• A sample of original writing produced within the last three months where the applicant is the lead author

Every applicant should apply online by the VA closing date.

Evaluation criteria

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):

• Master’s degree in Economics, Gender and Development Studies, Political Science, Social Science, or any other related field of studies. (10 points)
• A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in working with gender equality and women’s empowerment. (20 points)
• Proven expertise in the area of feminist economics (20 points)
• Previous experience working with different levels of government, civil society and development partners.  Experience working with the UN system is a considerable asset. (20 points)
• Writing sample. (30 points)

The maximum score that the candidate can achieve for this consultancy is 100. Candidates who receive a score higher than 70 will be techinical qualified for this position.
Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.