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.

The UN Women MCO-Caribbean covers 22 countries and territories in the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean. Strides towards gender equality in the countries covered by the MCO have resulted in gains for women and girls in the Caribbean, relating primarily to high education rates and increases in employment rates. However critical gaps and inequalities remain which are further exploited during hazards like COVID-19 and other environmental hazards.

As part of its strategic focus, UN Women MCO-Caribbean is working towards supporting a more resilient and competitive business ecosystems, particularly among MSMEs owned by women and marginalized groups. Women’s entrepreneurism remains disproportionately low in the region with evidence suggesting only 8% (approximately 228,000 persons) of the total employed Caribbean population are self-employed women. Women entrepreneurs are also disproportionately operating micro enterprises with no, or few, employees, in low growth sectors, utilising little technology and innovation. This is a result of underlying factors such as gender norms and disproportionate unpaid care burdens resting on women, which leads to women’s limited access to capital, barriers to accessing business support services and training as well as business networks. This cumulatively can create obstacles and disincentives to entrepreneurism particular to women entrepreneurs. As a result, Latin America and the Caribbean is the region with the second highest failure rate of women-owned businesses.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns worsened this situation, disproportionately impacting women, forcing many MSMEs into precarity and further limiting capital flows.

To support women’s economic resilience in the Eastern Caribbean, UN Women, in association with UNFPA, is implementing the Build Back Equal Programme funded by Global Affairs Canada in Grenada, Dominica, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. This project is taking a comprehensive approach to addressing the barriers women face to economic empowerment and providing increased sustainable opportunities for women’s economic growth. Women’s livelihoods will be made more resilient through increased access to reliable financing and technical assistance to ensure they have the business skills to operate and grow their businesses through environmentally friendly, climate and shock resilient innovation.

To align with existing strategies and initiatives, UN Women is seeking to hire a service provider to conduct a gender audit of OECS Commissions’, Regional Institutions’, and national support to women-owned MSME’s in the four countries, as well as identify and assess the existing business support services for women-owned MSMEs.

Duties and Responsibilities

The service provider is expected to deliver the following results:

Develop a Workplan and Inception report

• Integrating existing reports on financial mechanisms and needs assessments of women-owned MSMEs in the OECS, develop a complementary methodology, which uses participatory processes and will enhance interaction and co-creation between actors.

Gender review of existing services of the OECS Commission/Secretariat’s, regional institutions’ and national government’s support to MSMEs in Saint Lucia, Grenada, Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as existing business support services for MSME provided by non-governmental institutions (private sector, CSO, academia etc).

• Desk-review and mapping of existing business support services for MSME’s provided by non-governmental institutions. Includes services targeted towards existing female business owners as well as unemployed women aspiring to open a business.
• Participatory gender audit/analysis of business support/entrepreneurship development provided by OECS Commission/Secretariat’s, regional institutions’ and the governments of Saint Lucia, Grenada, Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with a focus on gender-responsive services, technical assistance, and skills development. The gender audit will be conducted with local partners and with key stakeholders, and will include services (both in-person and digital) targeted towards business female owners, or unemployed women exploring entrepreneurship as a livelihood opportunity.
• Identification of gaps between existing support services for women-owned MSMEs, as well as unemployed women’s needs.
• Develop recommendations and entry-ways to strengthen gender-responsiveness of existing services, as well as opportunities to strengthen these (taking into consideration the application of WEPs for BSOs).

Draft a comprehensive report including recommendations for future programming and collaborations; (database and report of no more than 25 pages).

• Overview of existing support services at regional and national levels from public and non-governmental service providers (database which can be used for the development of an online Repository/Platform or Community of Practice)
• Recommendations to UN Women on potential partnerships to develop needs-based MSME technical support services.
• Recommendations and entry-points for business support organizations and entrepreneurship ecosystem actors to strengthen gender-responsiveness of existing services (taking into consideration the application of WEPs or BSO).
• Recommendations on developing an online/digital tool (i.e. Repository/Platform or CoP for MSMEs) in the Caribbean.

Final report on achieved results and recommendations on the way forward for future projects.

Deliverables

• Prepare Inception report and Workplan
• Conduct Gender review of existing business support services at regional and national levels from public and non-governmental service providers in Saint Lucia, Grenada, Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Prepare and submit draft report on findings including recommendations for future programming
• Prepare and submit final report

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:

• Good knowledge of project management;
• Strong analytical and communication skills
• Excellent written and oral communications skills, including conveying complex concepts and recommendations in a clear style.
• Ability to create and maintain networks and partnerships
• Ability to manage information and disseminate in a user-friendly format;
• Knowledge of the UN system and working experience in developing countries specifically in video production is desirable;

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Advanced University degree in Business, Economics, Development Studies, Gender studies or related fields is desirable.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two (2) years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.

Experience:

• At least 3 years of experience designing and conducting research projects is required.
• At least 5 years’ experience working on issues related to women’s empowerment and gender equality is required.
• Experience designing and conducting research projects with a focus on business development for women entrepreneurship is desirable.
• Experience in coordinating projects with multiple team members is desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in written and oral English is required.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

• This is a home-based consultancy. Minimum travel may be required. Travel costs will be covered by UN Women.
• The consultant will be engaged for a maximum of 20 working days during the period 1 November 2024 to 28 February 2025

Remuneration

• The consultancy fee will be negotiated before contracting. Each payment will be based on a predefined and formal agreement between UN Women and the consultant and will be disbursed based on satisfactory completion of agreed deliverables.
• The remuneration for this contract type is an all-inclusive fee, the organization will not be liable for additional cost or benefits. Hence, it is the responsibility of the consultant to take out adequate medical insurance for the duration of the contract and it is recommendable that the policy includes coverage for COVID-19 related illness. The medical coverage should be international when the contract requires missions or international assignment.
• If selected for this consultancy, proof of medical coverage should be presented within the first two months of the contract.

Hardware, Software, And Communication

• The consultant must be equipped with a fully functional laptop, which must run at least Windows 7. The consultants must be reasonably accessible by email and telephone (preferably mobile). The use of reliable, internet-based (Skype or equivalent) is required.

Other:

Submissions to UNDP Jobs are limited to a maximum of 10 MB, virus-free or corrupted contents to avoid rejection, and no more than 1 email transmission. All applications must be submitted through UNDP jobs. Please do not send applications to UN Women staff as they will not be accepted.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)