Global Research Consultancy – Labor Rights Initiative

The American Bar Association (ABA) Center for Human Rights is the ABA’s focal entity for critical human rights concerns in the United States and around the world. The ABA Center for Human Rights (the Center) works to promote and protect human rights worldwide by mobilizing lawyers to defend threatened advocates, protect vulnerable communities, and hold governments accountable under law.

The Center’s Labor Rights Initiative is seeking a contracting organization, individual consultant, or a team of consultants (contractor) with experience in international labor rights, participatory research methodologies, and gender specific experience to support the Labor Rights Initiative’s work on advancing the role of women in the labor movement, including union leadership. The consultancy will be a 3-6 month commitment, beginning in November 2024.

The Labor Rights Initiative has begun a new project to work with unions and women-led research and legal organizations in Ecuador, Lesotho, and the Philippines to conduct worker-centered research into barriers to women’s representation in union leadership positions. The contracting organization or consultant will collaborate with the Initiative and the Initiative’s in-country partners to design a quantitative and qualitative research methodology that identifies contributing factors towards women’s underrepresentation in union membership and leadership. The research methodology will involve a combination of desk research, representative surveys, focus groups, and key informant interviews.

Required qualifications

• Prior experience with multi-country research initiatives involving worker and women’s rights.
• Knowledge and expertise regarding the application of participatory research methodologies.
• Experience and knowledge on labor rights issues, including freedom of association.
• Demonstrated awareness and sensitivity to gender equality and inclusivity in research or program implementation
• Legal proficiency in Spanish.
• Ability to independently draft written product according to ABA standards.

Desired qualifications

• Prior experience collaborating with labor unions and/or workers’ rights groups.
• Demonstrated expertise conducting legal research
• Experience or prior collaboration in Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and/or the Andean Region is ideal, with specific experience in Lesotho, Ecuador, or the Philippines highly desired.

Terms of Reference for Labor Union Research Consultancy

The American Bar Association Center for Human Rights (ABA CHR) together with partners is implementing a new program aimed at improving women’s representation in union leadership.

The first phase of the program is to conduct worker-centered research to better understand barriers to women’s participation in unions and representation in union leadership positions in Ecuador, Lesotho, and the Philippines.

In this context, ABA CHR is looking for contracting organizations, individual consultants, or a team of consultants (Contractor). The contractor will lead the process to co-design a quantitative and qualitative research methodology together with ABA CHR and local partners in Ecuador, Lesotho, and the Philippines that will assess existing level of participation and representation of women in unions and identify contributing factors towards women’s underrepresentation in union membership and leadership. In each country, the contractor will directly collaborate with a local women-led research organization, particularly in identifying key geographic districts, economic sectors, and stakeholders. The contractor will support the local organizations in the overall research design and, if needed, advise on implementation.

In collaboration with ABA CHR and the local partners, the contractor’s scope of work involves:

1. Desk research

The contractor will need to prepare an initial literature review on existing research relating to women’s participation in unions and union leadership and any strategies that have been attempted to increase their participation. The desk research will also involve country-specific criteria on relevant policies and regulations in Ecuador, Lesotho, and the Philippines on union formation and the right to freedom of association.

1. The research methodology

Depending on the contractor’s suggestions, the research methodology can involve a combination of desk research, representative surveys, focus groups, and key informant interviews. The contractor will need to define the precise combination as well as the methodology used for each aspect, such as survey questions, selection process etc. The contractor will also need to define the focus groups, including gender distribution and other identifying characteristics. The contractor, working with local partners, will also need to identify other key stakeholders, particularly government agencies and business executives, as well as any pre-existing formal sources of data and any relevant government initiatives.

1. Draft questionnaire

The contractor will prepare and draft the questionnaire(s) to implement the proposed research methodology. The previously identified contributing factors to the low representation of women in union leadership will likely form some of the following research areas: relevant regulations, institutional practices, gendered roles and responsibilities, cultural norms and beliefs, access to information and resources, intersectional discrimination and others. The research will also include identifying enabling factors for women’s increased participation in union leadership as well as women leaders’ ability to prioritize women’s rights issues within the union agendas. The questionnaire should incorporate input from the local partners and be responsive to specific conditions in all three countries. ABA CHR will provide input, review, and final approval for the questionnaire.

1. Implementation Preparation

The contractor will work with ABA CHR and the local partners to train the survey teams, pre-test the questionnaire, and ensure adaptation to local conditions.