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.
Through its programmes and projects, UN Women is providing technical assistance to national partners (governmental and non-governmental) 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. According to its mandate, UN Women works in five thematic areas, such as leadership and participation, women’s economic empowerment, ending violence against women, women peace and security and governance and national planning fully reflect accountability for gender equality commitments.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina UN Women works in three key strategic areas – Women’s Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence against Women and Gender Responsive Governance. In Women’s Economic Empowerment UN Women utilizes a two-pronged approach of influencing the major players and implementing targeted interventions aimed at influencing policies, programmes and funds relevant for women’s economic empowerment. As all fields in which UN Women is engaged with relevant institutions, segment of women’s economic empowerment requires a high level of coordination with all levels of government, across the country. UN Women’s key comparative advantage in this area of work is in the production of knowledge, programming and policy recommendations on key areas of women’s economic empowerment as well as piloting targeted support to policy makers, businesses, and key categories of women that need economic activation.
Over the current strategic period 2021 – 2025, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), UN Women will work to improve policy framework for job creation, including perspectives of care economy and entrepreneurship, and the implementation of existing policies through policy coherence between programmes for gender equality and promotion of women’s access to decent work. At the institutional level, UN Women aims to achieve effective targeting and inclusion of women (especially those most marginalized) in existing labor market measures and programmes based on the action-oriented research of the existing measures and piloting of the new targeted approaches to women’s economic empowerment. Building on previous investments in support of gender responsive policies and budgets, UN Women will support the development and resilience of women owned business and women entrepreneurs and improve the socio-economic position of rural women and their cooperatives, as well as work towards decreasing the burden of unpaid care work on women.
Women’s and girls’ disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care work is a key driver of gender inequality in both the labour market, the household and wider society. Research funded by UN Women “Baseline Study on Care Economy in BiH”[1] has found that women in BiH reported spending on average of 1.85 times more time on care activities compared to men. Employed women spend about 5.33 hours, more than twice as much time on care work than employed men. And women in rural areas spend slightly more of their time on unpaid care activities than those in urban areas (6.5 hours per day compared to 6.2 hours). Women report that care work and responsibilities are one of the main reasons they do not seek jobs and are also factors that impede job progression and further income generation. BiH has one of the highest portions of inactive women on the labour market in Europe, with the employment rate for women in BiH estimated at around 37%, compared to 53% for men.
The Baseline Study on Care Economy in BiH focused on 4 key aspects of care: housework, childcare, care for the elderly and care for people with disabilities (PwD). It is focused on the policies that will directly influence women and their care activities in these four main segments and proposed a set of policy recommendations, advocacy measures and care models that could be piloted on the local level.
Reflective of the above, UN Women is now seeking to recruit a national consultant in care economy and policy to assist the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of the FBiH in integrating the recommendations identified in the Baseline Study on Care Economy, by providing technical and legislative advice and piloting and implementing identified policy and programming measures as agreed with the Ministry and UN Women BiH CO.
The consultant will be reporting to the WEE Programme Coordinator and will be supported by the WEE Project Coordinator, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.
[1] Baseline Study on Care Economy – Overview of Key Denominators, Policy and Programming Options | Publications | UN Women – Europe and Central Asia
The overall objective of this consultancy is to support the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy in FBiH in further strengthening the policy and programming initiatives, to align them with UN Women’s Baseline Study on Care Economy and other relevant documents produced to support the socio-economic and legal framework development, based on the Ministry’s mandate.
The immediate objective of this consultancy is to support the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy in FBiH in the implementation of policy and programming recommendations related to childcare, care for Persons with Disabilities (PwD), care for the elderly and general housework, within the project “Translating the SDG Framework in Bosnia and Herzegovina into sustainable and inclusive growth”.
Based on the above-described objectives of the assignment, under the direct supervision of UN Women’s WEE Project Coordinator and overall supervision of UN Women’s WEE Programme Coordinator, the local consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks and responsibilities:
Deliverables
Deliverable | Number of working days | Expected completion time (due day) | Payment Schedule (optional) | |
1. The initial meetings with UN Women and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy organized.
Detailed annual work plan developed based on the Ministries’ mandate and UN Women support, to be co-approved by UN Women and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. Work plan and meeting minutes from the meetings sent and approved by UN Women. Timesheet and monthly progress report sent and approved by UN Women |
8 | 15 May 2024 | 31 May 2024 | |
2. Brief report (maximum 5 pages) identifying priority plans, actions, budget allocations, and other relevant items to be targeted within the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy to strengthen care economy policies. These priorities should be set according to the Ministry’s priorities and feasibility criteria, in line with UN Women’s recommendations identified in the Baseline Study.
Timesheet and monthly progress report sent and approved by UN Women |
8 | 15 June 024 | 30 June 2024 | |
3. Document providing an overview of the current steps favorable to the adoption or taken towards the development of a “gerentodomacice” model and a “multi-care center” model, and assessing concrete next steps needed from the Ministry to implement the models.
Timesheet and monthly progress report sent and approved by UN Women |
8 | 15 July 2024 | 31 July 2024 | |
4. Brief plan and time frame developed identifying relevant legal criteria and necessary legal and/or sub-legal acts to be adopted or amended for the implementation of the recommendations, taking into consideration the Ministry’s mandate.
Timesheet and monthly progress report sent and approved by UN Women |
7 | 15 August 2024 | ||
5. Trimester update of the work plan reviewed and co-approved by UN Women and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. |
1 | 16 August 2024 | 31 August 2024 | |
6. Based on the regular meetings held with partners from the Ministry, governmental and other stakeholders, prepare a proposal for the amendment of plans, actions, budget allocations, and other relevant items identified as priorities to strengthen the care economy, with a focus on the sustainability of actions.
Timesheet and monthly progress report sent and approved by UN Women |
8 | 15 September 2024 | 30 September 2024 | |
7. Report on the progress of the implementation of the care economy models, notably regarding their short- and long-term planning, budgeting, and implementation.
Timesheet and monthly progress report sent and approved by UN Women |
8 | 15 October 2024 | 31 October 2024 | |
8. Based on the regular meetings held with relevant stakeholders for the legislative process, prepare a progress report with priority legislative processes and methods for adoption.
Timesheet and monthly progress report sent and approved by UN Women |
7 | 15 November 2024 | ||
9. Trimester update of the work plan reviewed and co-approved by UN Women and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. |
1 | 16 November 2024 | 30 November 2024 | |
10. Brief progress report on the new or amended plans, actions, budget allocations, and other relevant items developed within the Ministry to strengthen the care economy.
Timesheet and monthly progress report sent and approved by UN Women |
8 | 15 December 2024 | 31 December 2024 | |
11. Progress report on the “gerentodomacice” and “multi-care center” pilots, and assessment of their impact and sustainability.
Timesheet and monthly progress report sent and approved by UN Women |
8 | 15 January 2025 | 31 January 2025 | |
12. Progress report on the state of legislative proposals initiated to strengthen the care economy.
Timesheet and monthly progress report sent and approved by UN Women |
8 | 15 February 2025 | 28 February 2025 | |
13. Final up to 10 pages report capturing the implementation of legislative, policy and programming options developed, to be submitted in English and in B/S/M, sent and approved by UN Women | 8 | 15 March 2025 | 31 March 2025 | |
Total | 88 |
All deliverables should be provided to the UN Women WEE Programme Coordinator and WEE Programme team in Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian. The final deliverable should be provided to UN Women in English and Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian.
Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel
This is a home-based consultancy. However, the consultant is expected to work at least 5 times a month from the Ministry’s premises in Sarajevo. If travel is required, the costs will be covered by UN Women.
Core Values:
Core Competencies:
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:
Knowledge Management and Learning
Leadership and Self-Management
Education and Certification:
• A first-level university degree in legal studies, social policy public policy, gender studies or a related field is required. SATISFACTORY/UNSATISFACTORY
• Master’s degree or equivalent in legal studies, social policy, public policy, gender studies or a related field is an asset. (10 pts)
Experience:
Languages:
How to apply: