National Consultant on financial management for rural women

Background

UN Women, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women has been created to accelerate up the process of meeting the needs of women and girls across the world. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programs and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide. UN Women is at the forefront of the global drive to remove gender barriers and end discrimination, because we believe in a world of justice and human rights for everyone.

With the purpose to build economic resilience of women left behind the project plans to conduct a number of trainings, which include capacity building and advocacy works on financial management/education. The experience of UN Women shows that many migrants and their family members do not have financial skills for keeping track of their expenses and income while running of their businesses. Mostly, financial knowledge is lower among women than men. It is also lower in villages and small towns, among those with children at home, those on a low income and those who do not have an education beyond secondary school. The findings of OECD survey[1] on financial literacy and financial inclusion in CIS countries (2018) also revealed that financial literacy is low in Tajikistan, especially among women than men. For improving of financial literacy among women from migrant families, it is necessary to conduct capacity building not only women but also for NGO representatives or partners to cascade their knowledge among project beneficiaries.

Over the last five years, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Tajikistan has focused on supporting national social protection and safety nets, nutrition, climate change adaptation, resilience-building and disasters risk reduction, whilst aligning to national priorities and in synergy with the action of other partners in an inclusive manner that leaves no one behind.

According to the United Nations common country analysis (CCA), institutional mechanisms for gender equality remain weak and underfunded. Women are faced with pervasive gender stereotypes resulting in low participation in the non-agricultural labour force (27 percent), low secondary and tertiary education enrolment rates (31 percent) and high rates of gender-based violence (26 percent).Tajikistan scored 314 on the United Nations Development Programme Gender Inequality Index.

Considering that Gender Equality is at the core of its humanitarian and development work, WFP and UN Women in Tajikistan will mobilize professional expertise and resources to promote better gender transformative practices, enhance the role of women and girls in resource management, application of participatory gender-and nutrition Social and Behavior Change Communication (CBCC) methodologies.

UN Women in Tajikistan intends to hire a National Consultant to develop and/or adapt training module on financial management and conduct trainings in targeted areas.

Goal and objectives:

The overall goal and objectives of the proposed consultancy is to (i) develop and/or adapt training materials/module on financial management/education; (ii) conduct one-day trainings in 11 target areas of 3 Districts (Khatlon, Rasht, GBAO) of Tajikistan for rural women and explore the topic (iii) provide detailed narrative report with recommendations.

[1] OECD (2018),OECD (2018), Levels of financial literacy in Eurasia https://www.oecd.org/financial/education/globalpartnerships/cis/financial-literacy-cis-countries-survey-EN.pdf

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the UN Women Project Manager, the Consultant will perform the following tasks, that include but are not limited to the following:

1. Develop & provide consultancy plan on implementing process to UN Women Project Manager.
2. Adapt/update existing training module/handout on financial literacy.
3. Conduct one-day basic trainings on financial management/education for 10-11 groups of women (approximately 200 women) in 11 target areas of 3 Districts (Khatlon, Rasht, GBAO) of Tajikistan with regard to improve the financial skills of women on family budgetfinance, ability to manage household funds, determine family income expenses, and income while running of their businesses.
4. Conduct pre- and post- training evaluation and submit to the UN Women Project Manager.
5. Present the results to UN Women and WFP and provide detailed narrative 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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Good knowledge of technical area;
• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to details;
• Analytical, research and training facilitation skills;
• Experience in report writing.

Technical competencies:

• Experience working under minimum supervision and tight deadlines;
• Computer literate (being able to use MS Windows, office applications, Internet search);
• Proven track record and experience in gender-related work.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University (Bachelors) degree in economics or related field, education, gender or social development, human rights, law, humanitarian sciences, social studies, etc.

Working Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of experience as a trainer on financial management, economic, marketing and policy research analyses with focus on gender equality, migration, political science, social sciences, or related field;
• Experience in developing educational/training tools, modules, training methodology and/or provision of interactive training to women audience. Examples of previously provided training(s) should be listed in the P-11.
• Prior experience in the work environment of an international agency, NGOs, UN, or international institutions.

Knowledge of languages:

• Proficient knowledge of Tajik and Russian languages, English language is an asset.

Application Process

The application should include:

• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page);
• Personal History Form (P-11 form) – including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded by following link: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc a signed [scanned] copy should be submitted.

Candidates should have the ability to quickly produce degree certificates and medical certification (of good health) should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post.