Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality and 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.

Sri Lanka has embarked on a journey towards economic recovery and reform in the aftermath of grave economic crisis, grapples with the legacies of multiple and prolonged armed conflict, and prepares to ensure the systematic monitoring of and reporting on Sri Lanka’s commitments towards the achievement of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is in this context, that UN Women undertakes the development of a Country Gender Equality Profile (CGEP), which is a global flagship initiative of UN Women. The CGEP will act as a tool to provide a timely and effective understanding of the current operating context in relation to gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) to national and international partners. [1]

By providing an in-depth analysis, the CGEP will enhance the understanding of differences in the conditions, needs, participation rates, access to resources and development, control of assets, decision-making powers, etc. between girls/women, boys/men and gender and sexual minorities in their assigned gender roles. The CGEP will also generate an understanding of the root causes of these disparities through an intersectional lens, highlighting the range of issues impacting the various communities of women and girls in Sri Lanka. It is important to understand these differences in each country to ensure that actions funded by the Government of Sri Lanka and its development partners tackle gender inequalities and discrimination where needed and benefit equally girls, women, boys, men and gender and sexual minorities.

Gender identity should also not be a barrier to benefiting from national and international development actions. The CGEP exercise is thus aimed at informing policy and programme development in line with the Government of Sri Lanka’s priorities on GEWE, as most recently stated in the National Policy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2023 – 2033), and supported by the National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security [2023 – 2027]. It will also aim to inform and strengthen future policies and development priorities of Sri Lanka’s new government.

Framed under the Government of Sri Lanka’s international, regional and national commitments to GEWE, Sri Lanka’s CGEP will provide an in-depth, national and sub-national level analysis of the status of women, men and gender and sexual minorities, based on existing statistical and qualitative data and research as well as primary qualitative data. UN Women’s Programme Presence in Sri Lanka will consult with the Ministry of Women, Child Affairs, and Social Empowerment (MWCASE), the Department of National Planning (DNP), the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS), relevant line ministries, civil society, UN agencies, and international development partners to strengthen national understanding and data analysis and management on the advancement of international, regional, national and sub-national commitments towards GEWE through the development of a CGEP and thereby contribute to monitoring progress towards achieving gender-related SDG indicators.

Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of developing a CGEP for Sri Lanka is to provide an understanding of persisting gender inequality in Sri Lanka and its causes, how it intersects with other inequalities, how it impacts the realization of human rights and access to benefits of development efforts as well as an understanding of the national and sub-national governments’ commitment and capacity to work on GEWE issues. The CGEP should provide qualitative information, sex-age disaggregated data, and analysis on the gender situation in the identified sectors to contribute to policy dialogues and facilitate the development of gender-sensitive development strategies. Through the analysis of data and research the CGEP will also aim an overview of progress on the advancement of international, regional and national commitments towards GEWE; and to act as a primary source of information for evidence-driven advocacy to advance the gains and overcome the bottlenecks to realizing GEWE at sub-national and national levels.

Using a gender equality lens, aligning with the SDG gender indicators and contributing to informing the government’s development priorities as well as the United Nations’ Common Country Analysis and Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) (2023 – 2027) for Sri Lanka, a number of key focus areas are to be identified by the team of consultants. Focus areas of the CGEP could for example include: i) Poverty (SDG 1), ii) Hunger (SDG 2), iii) Health (SDG 3), iv) Education (SDG 4), v) GEWE (SDG 5), vi) Decent Work (SDG 8), vii) Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), viii) Access to Justice and Conflict Legacy (SDG 16), with cross-cutting issues of ix) discriminatory social norms, x) harmful practices, xi) youth engagement and xii) inclusion (SDG 10). The final list of thematic focus areas is to be confirmed by the consultants, in close coordination with the UN Women focal points and the UN CGEP Technical Advisory Group.

In this sense, to identify at least one objective to contribute to each thematic priority, the CGEP should at a minimum meet the following criteria:

• Use key qualitative and quantitative data (primary and secondary) on the situation of women and girls, men and boys, and gender and sexual minorities – which will also provide the baseline for future measurement and provide an interpretation; Identify key barriers to achieving GEWE (including discriminatory social norms, legislative framework, institutional capacity, political will, etc.).
• Identify key actors with mandate and resources to act for GEWE (national and sub-national government actors, I/NGOs, civil society, international development partners, etc.);
• Map knowledge / information gaps (e.g. sex-age-gender-disability disaggregated statistical information) and identify relevant knowledge and statistical gaps;
• Provide a clear assessment of where development partners can add value for achieving country objectives on GEWE (as part of national development priorities);
• Identify realistic objectives / opportunities for policy and political dialogue;
• Develop clear tangible suggestions for the integration of GEWE in the areas of intervention (e.g., sectors of concentration, thematic areas), including from a programmatic perspective;

Guiding Principles

• International Norms and Standards: Sri Lanka’s CGEP must be framed against the key intergovernmental norms and standards on GEWE, including as outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs, CEDAW, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) and the outcome documents of its reviews as well as recent national reviews, the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the Istanbul Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011–2020, relevant UN Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security (such as Resolution 1325 and 1820), agreed conclusions of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) as well as other significant commitments to GEWE made in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Quito Declaration on the New Urban Agenda, the Global Digital Compact, the Pact for the Future, preparations for the Fourth Financing for Development Agenda, and other recent intergovernmental outcomes.
• National Ownership and National Capacities: Sri Lanka’s CGEP should contribute to strengthening of national capacities and systems for implementing and monitoring the advancement of international, regional, national and sub-national commitments on GEWE. As such, national ownership and/or engagement is required for the development of the CGEP.
• UN Partnership and Coordination: In direct response to the UN General Assembly Resolution on the repositioning of the UN Development systems (A/RES/72/279), UN Women and its partner UN Agencies commit to working together to “ensuring greater availability and use of disaggregated data for sustainable development”. In developing the CGEP, all efforts should be made to ensure that it is developed either in partnership or in close coordination with members of the UN Country Team in Sri Lanka. Further, findings of the CGEP should be disseminated among UN agencies to inform a coherent approach to GEWE across the UN system in Sri Lanka.
• Inclusion and representation of civil society and those groups at greatest risk of ‘being left behind’: Sri Lanka’s CGEP is to be developed in an inclusive manner, ensuring participation of civil society and GEWE advocates at all levels. In particular, the representation of excluded and marginalised groups most at risk to being left behind must be ensured.
• Evidence-driven advocacy: Sri Lanka’s CGEP will be developed to strengthen national capacities to monitor implementation of the country’s commitments to GEWE and to inform evidence-driven advocacy to effect change for women and girls, as well as gender and sexual minorities. The CGEP development should be accompanied by a strategy for how its content, findings and recommendations will be utilised to effect change, contributing to the Sri Lankan government’s national development priorities and policies, and the implementation of the UNSDCF 2023 – 2027 and the SDGs.
• Partnerships: The CGEP process should contribute to the strengthening of partnerships among key national and sub-national stakeholders working in the area of GEWE. Key stakeholders include, among others, the Ministry of Women, Child Affairs, and Social Empowerment=, the Department of National Planning, the Department of Census and Statistics, ministries responsible for SDG action and monitoring and key thematic areas; international development partners, including UN agencies, civil society and academia, all of whom have committed to strengthening action and monitoring of SDG implementation.

Towards this, UN Women Sri Lanka is recruiting a Lead Researcher, as part of a two-member team of consultants – composed of a Lead Researcher and a Researcher, to develop this Country Gender Equality Profile for Sri Lanka. The Lead Researcher shall lead the process and will be responsible for conducting the analysis – including strong statistical analysis, and developing conclusions and recommendations, with the input and support of the Researcher, and the guidance of UN Women and the Technical Advisory Group. For this purpose, the Lead Researcher will be required to provide technical guidance and lead fieldwork, meetings, and interviews, gather data (together with the Researcher) and lead subsequent analysis, lead the drafting of the report and related presentations, and ensure overall quality assurance and the incorporation of all feedback provided by UN Women and the Technical Advisory Group.

The consultant will report to the Head of Office – UN Women Sri Lanka, and will be supported by the Research Coordinator, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

[1] For reference, please see the Country Gender Equality Profile Vietnam 2021 < https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2021/10/country-gender-equality-profile-viet-nam-2021>

Duties and Responsibilities

Key Activities

1. Formation of a Technical Advisory Group: A Technical Advisory Group (TAG) will be formed to govern and provide overall guidance of the assignment, to support overall quality assurance and to validate process and findings of the CGEP. The TAG will include representatives a range of stakeholders including representatives from government, the UN, and independent experts from civil society, to be finalised in consultation with the UN Women focal points for the CGEP.

2. Contextual Mapping: With support from UN Women Sri Lanka, and in close collaboration with the TAG and other relevant stakeholders to map:

i. Ongoing or planned analytical reports/reporting processes which may benefit from or overlap with the CGEP;

ii. Possible data sources for the CGEP to draw from, and the data gaps which the CGEP may be able to fill, by, for example, working with key ministries and institutions (such as, the Department of Census and Statistics) to process and re-process existing raw data, or to make important gender datasets publicly available;

iii. Legislative parameters which may impact the data captured in the CGEP process from being recognised as official national data;

iv. The realities of the national SDG implementation and monitoring process and how the development of the CGEP will directly link to and/or bolster the plans within this official process.

3. Data Collection, Analysis and Validation: Sri Lanka’s CGEP will be grounded in evidence-based research generated through participatory methods. The process of data collection, analysis and validation will include analysis of available literature, sectoral and thematic assessments and reports, thematic and sectoral consultations with relevant national and sub-national stakeholders, and validation exercises with the TAG. The following are the requirements regarding the data collection, analysis and validation process:

i. The team will first deliver an Inception Report including the methodology, focus areas for the CGEP with broad analysis and mapping of sources, a detailed work plan and timeline, and a final draft Table of Content for the CGEP;

ii. The desk review will result in a document presenting* quantitative and qualitative information and data necessary for the core sections of the GEWE analysis. Relevant recommendations and strategies emerging for the desk review that have not yet been addressed by recent policies (especially if generated by recent studies) may be compiled in a preliminary finding analysis;

iii. Continuing the data collection, a relevant selection of stakeholders will be consulted through focus group discussions and individual interviews, especially engaging representatives from excluded groups;

iv. Sri Lanka’s CGEP will explore root causes of bottlenecks around advancement of GEWE and international norms and standards. The focus and nature of the qualitative analysis is to be driven by national needs and contexts and must include an emphasis on gender discriminatory social norms and harmful practices. The qualitative analysis must also include a focus on intersectionality and multiple discriminations;

v. The findings are expected to be validated through a validation exercise with the TAG.

4. CGEP Drafting: Sri Lanka’s CGEP, in its final form, will be an analytical and operative document based on qualitative and quantitative documentary review and fresh field research and analysis. It will present a nuanced qualitative analysis of Sri Lanka’s situation and challenges on realizing GEWE and will produce recommendations on how to address existing challenges. The CGEP should incorporate the following elements:

i. A methodological note that explains the methodology concisely. Under this, a section on data quality issues should be included, and recommendations made for where and how quality of data can be improved. The note should also include all instruments used such as interview guides, focus group guides, list of documents and institutions/ persons involved in the analysis, agenda of the meetings (if applicable) as annexes;

ii. In-depth analysis of the economic, political and social situation and challenges in Sri Lanka particularly in light of post-conflict political transitions and crises, providing the context against which to analyse GEWE issues, framed against the international norms, standards and commitments;

iii. Prevailing policies at both the macro and sectoral level that impact on GEWE, for example on labour markets and job creation; social protection and services; rural development and infrastructure; electoral systems or reform; ending violence in the private and public spheres, etc.;

iv. Specific analysis of laws and policies aimed at addressing different aspects of GEWE, how they are being implemented, any blockages or bottlenecks encountered, and how these may differ for those groups most at risk of being left behind;

v. Specific analysis of gender discriminatory social norms, harmful practices and other exclusionary practices that hinder the advancement of GEWE;

vi. Analysis of GEWE context and progress in each of Sri Lanka’s nine provinces, with targeted recommendations for each (based on availability of data);

vii. Political economic analysis of government and other key stakeholders working on GEWE and how they are involved in shaping policies, including MWCASE, relevant sectoral ministries, key actors in civil society, organisations and networks working for women’s rights and the rights of gender and sexual minorities, development partners, trade unions, academia, media, and the private sector, etc.;

viii. Findings and recommendations which target national policy reform, implementation and behaviour change, which should be guided by the 2017 Concluding Observations of the CEDAW Committee and recent UPR recommendations.

ix. In total, the main document will be no longer than 150 pages, excluding annexes (including reports from primary data collection exercises).

10. Drafting of a Country Gender Equality Brief: After the finalisation of the CGEP, the Consultants will consolidate the findings, analysis and recommendations of the CGEP into a Country Gender Equality Brief. The Brief should be accessible and tangible for target audiences including national and sub-national government representatives, civil society, and international development partners to leverage the use of data for advocacy, information and communication.

Deliverables

Under the direct supervision of the Head of Office – UN Women Sri Lanka, the Lead Researcher will be responsible for the following (with the support of the Researcher):

1. Prepare and finalise the Inception Report, including the methodology, CGEP structure, and workplan for the development of the CGEP, integrating the recommendations of the Technical Advisory Committee
2. Conceptualise, prepare and finalise the Desk Report on analysis of existing data as well as Data Collection tools to supplement this and address existing gaps and recent shifts.
3. Lead consultations with key stakeholders (including interviews or focus group discussions, as required), lead the analysis of data collected, and prepare and present the initial findings report for validation.
4. Lead the analysis, drafting and finalization of the Gender Equality Profile – incorporating findings from the desk research and from the data collection, and develop a set of conclusions and recommendations based on the analysis.
5. Develop a briefing note based on the Gender Equality Profile, to be used for policy advocacy and to inform more targeted gender responsive programming.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

The consultancy is home-based with some travel within Sri Lanka to conduct focus group discussions, key informant interviews etc. For all travel, the cost of most economic and direct travel must be pre-approved by the Head of Office of UN Women Sri Lanka and will be reimbursed following UN Women travel guidelines. Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) and travel costs in compliance with UN Women Travel Guidelines will be reimbursed to the consultant at actual amount upon submission of receipts and travel stubs.

Duration of Assignment and Reporting

The assignment must be completed and cleared by UN Women by 31 March 2025. The final draft of the CGEP report must be submitted by 19 March 2025 for approval, without compromise in the quality and consistency of the study results and methodology. The first draft of the report must be shared with UN Women by 12 February for review and quality assurance before finalization.

Careful planning in relation to time and budget is crucial to the success of the study and all contingencies must be considered, including accessibility of field locations, expenses of travel, cost, and logistics. The assignment will take place in Sri Lanka for a foreseen duration of 5 months. An initial briefing and final debriefing meeting will be held with UN Women Sri Lanka at the beginning and at the end of the mission. The assignment focal points in UN Women Sri Lanka will provide quality assurance to the two consultants throughout the entire process of developing the CGEP. UN Women and the consultants will meet every month (or more frequently if required) to review and discuss progress of the assignment, including possible requirements for re-prioritization or improvements required.

Ethics

The consultant should have both personal and professional integrity and ensure that the rights of individuals involved in the study are respected. The consultant must act with cultural sensitivity and pay attention to protocols, codes and recommendations that may be relevant. As part of the Inception Report, the Lead Researcher will develop a specific protocol for the conduct of the study and data collection.

All data collected through the evaluation is property of UN Women, and must be provided to the organization, if requested, in a word format. In addition, UN Women information security policy on protecting the integrity and confidentiality of data must be adhered to.[1] If any wrongdoing is uncovered, the UN Women Legal Framework for addressing non-compliance with UN conduct must be followed

[1] UN Women, Information security policy;

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/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to design and coordinate complex research involving primary and secondary data, and integrating feedback from research stakeholders.
• Ability to formulate substantive and intersectional analysis on gender equality and women’s empowerment, based on statistical data.
• Ability to draft high-quality policy-oriented research reports.
• Ability to administer administrative processes and transactions;
• Ability to perform work of confidential nature and work with established timelines;
• Ability to create, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats, using appropriate IT functionality.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

Support Functions:

• A Master’s degree or equivalent in a relevant field (development studies, gender studies, social sciences, or equivalent).
• A research-based Doctorate in a relevant field would be an asset.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience conducting research studies in the field of development, gender equality, and women’s empowerment, reflecting experience in both quantitative and qualitative research is required;
• Specific experience and expertise in gender analysis, gender mainstreaming, and women’s empowerment is required.
• Extensive experience working on national gender policies and research in Sri Lanka is required.
• Experience conducting research in other countries in the Global South is an asset.
• Expertise on international/ regional agreements and initiatives (UN, CEDAW, Beijing Platform For Action, etc.) as well as Sri Lankan policies, laws, and frameworks on GEWE is required.
• Demonstrated experience in collaborating with a research team is required.

Languages:

• Fluent in English and one of the national languages (Sinhala or Tamil), with excellent writing skills.

Evaluation Criteria

Applications will be evaluated based on a desk review of submitted applications including review of publicly available research studies or reports relevant to this assignment.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidate.