Background/Context

Since the early 1970s, national time use surveys have been conducted to assess lifestyle changes by examining time spent on leisure, transport, commuting, and comparing paid and unpaid work. These surveys gained prominence in developing and transition countries after the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women, focusing on measuring the gender gap in paid and unpaid work and exploring household output. Today, nearly 100 surveys from 65 countries are available for comparative analysis. Time use surveys provide critical insights into human behavior, especially in relation to work, domestic and care responsibilities, social interactions, and media consumption. They serve as sensitive indicators of social change and human development, offering detailed data on individuals’ daily activities, measured in minutes over a 24-hour period. This data helps to better understand the organization of social and economic life and the interplay between time distribution and societal realities.

Questions around paid and unpaid work have become central to discussions on care, which the ILO defines as “activities and relations involved in meeting the physical, psychological, and emotional needs of adults and children, young and old.” Care work has increasingly occupied a significant place in national policy agendas, addressing demographic changes, gender-based inequalities in the labor market, and socioeconomic shifts following the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, parental time, often divided into caregiving and recreational activities, reveals significant differences between fathers and mothers. Therefore, more specific inquiries into care—whether direct or indirect, paid or unpaid, formal or informal—are essential to address its under-recognition, undervaluation, and the lack of comprehensive data on the subject.

At both the conceptual and methodological levels, the absence of internationally agreed-upon statistical standards and corresponding measurement frameworks has hindered efforts to classify and measure care work comprehensively and meaningfully. This has led to a diverse range of practices among countries, international agencies, NGOs, and academic researchers, limiting the comparability of data across nations and reducing its effectiveness for tracking changes over time. Empirically, significant gaps persist in both the availability and usability of data, as care work spans various forms of paid and unpaid labor and is carried out across a wide range of economic units. In the downstream phase of the upcoming time use survey, the goal is to generate conclusive results that assess the relevance of implementing a more frequent care module within Moroccan households.

UN Women in Morocco, through its flagship program “Making Every Woman and Girl Count: Phase II,” aims to increase the policy use of gender statistics by fostering an environment conducive to the production and accessibility of gender data. This initiative supports Morocco’s upcoming National Time Use Survey, scheduled for 2025, to produce quality, comparable, and regular gender statistics that address national data gaps and fulfill policy and reporting commitments under the 2030 Agenda and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. In the past, the 1997 MTUS was limited to female household members with a 2800 women sample, while the 2011 MTUS targeted women with a larger sample of 8990 households and several methodological advances from the questionnaire and survey design up to result analysis.

Morocco utilizes an NCATUS classification system, tailored to the country’s specific cultural, social, and economic context, providing more relevant and accurate data for national use. While it follows the general principles of classifications like ICATUS, it is customized to reflect the unique time-use patterns within the country. A key challenge for this consultation will be the precise and methodological identification of certain group activities, given the difficulties in harmonizing classifications.

Given these developments, it is crucial that the methodological framework for the upcoming survey captures and documents best practices and lessons learned, particularly in gender-responsive survey design, comprehensive data collection, and inclusive questionnaires. The growing recognition of the care economy’s vital role in achieving broader economic and societal objectives has heightened the demand for statistics on care work, which are essential for policy development and monitoring. However, this demand has also exposed several key gaps and limitations in current data collection methods. Aligning with the ongoing evolution of survey methodologies is vital to minimize biases, adhere to international standards, and remain sensitive to national contexts.

The consultant will report to the Program Coordinator and will be supported by the Human Resources Focal Point, who will be the point of contact for contract and payment issues.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

• Carry out a benchmark on Time Use Surveys methodological design, along with a measure, map, and monitoring of the current situation on time used in care, notably through:
• Carry out a benchmark on the approaches to measuring the employment potential of the care economy: Focus on the care sector for the elderly, the disabled and children.
• Integrate care economy measurement approach into time-use surveys, particularly a focus on the grid of activities by sub-population, questions to be integrated into the questionnaire and associated measurement indicators.
• Produce a report on the economics of care, detailing the measurement approaches for each sub-population and the nomenclature used.
• Develop a set of questions to be included in the National Time Use Survey 2025 questionnaire, along with a range of measurement indicators.

Deliverables

Deliverable                                                                                                                        Expected completion time (due day) 

Deliverable 1: A detailed report on the international benchmark

for healthcare economics, measurement approaches by population category                           10/02/2025

Deliverable 2 : A proposal for questions module and care measurement indicators                 10/03/2025

Deliverable 3: 4 days training sessions to challenge the existing Time Use survey

questionnaire, and ensure effective knowledge transfer and sharing on how to

include care economy related questions                                                                                        21/04/2025

Timeline

The study will cover 40 working days.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy. As part of this assignment, there will be a 4day period in-person trainings in Rabat.

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Advanced Degree in social science, economics, statistics and demography, or equivalent

Experience:

• At least 10 years of experience in in conducting socio-demographic surveys is required
• Experience in conducting or/and analyzing and exploiting time-use surveys is required
• Experience in care economy related research is required
• Experience in gender sensitive analysis on qualitative and quantitative survey results is an asset.
• Knowledge of surveys and statistic operations of the HCP is an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of French is an asset.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Technical skills in the fields of development, economics or an equivalent field
• Commitment to continuous improvement
• Partnerships building
• Excellent skills in research and reporting
• Excellent analytical skills with strong drive for results and capacity to work independently.

Statements :

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.

Diversity and inclusion:

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Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements