National Consultant – Gender responsive COVID-19 Response for Women Migrants in Samut Sakhon Province

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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific leads and coordinates the efforts of the United Nations system to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the region.

Thailand is recognized as a key destination for labour migration in the Mekong region and is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking, including trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour. The country’s relative prosperity in terms of better economy, health services and social protection attracts migrants who flee conditions of poverty and political repression in neighbouring Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia without official documentation to improve their lives and the well-being of their families. Samut Sakhon is among the largest seafood processing industrial areas in Thailand and resided by around 400,000 migrant workers who are mostly from Myanmar. Women migrant workers are employed in fisheries and fisheries processing sector by peeling prawns at fishing piers or peeling and packing frozen seafood products in factories.

The impact of COVID-19 could reverse the limited progress that has been made on gender equality and women’s rights. The pandemic is having devastating social and economic consequences for women and girls. This includes unemployment, increased unpaid care work, limited access to services such as education and health and increased risks of gender-based violence. Although COVID-19 is non-discriminatory, vulnerable groups tend to suffer the most from its impact. The vulnerable groups including migrants, ethnic minority and people with disabilities are likely to be employed in informal sectors with limited access to support, information and labour and social protections. Migrants are facing with challenges and barrier to access services and welfare and limited access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Migrants also face with financial constraints from job loss or reduced working hours as a result of business as part of COVID-19 preventive measures. In response to COVID-19, UN Women supported the distribution of PPE and information on vaccination, information on health related and GBV.

UN Women Thailand is part of The United Nations Network on Migration in Thailand with the aim to enable effective, system-wide support to the Royal Thai Government (RTG) in the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). The Network prioritizes the rights and wellbeing of migrants and their communities of destination, origin, and transit. Through the Network, key migration issues can be addressed using a common UN system approach that would add value to interventions, maximize resources and result in targeted and tangible achievements. In 2020, the Network focused its efforts largely on responding to the impacts of COVID-19, working to ensure the inclusion of migrants in overall efforts to mitigate and respond to the effects of the pandemic in the country. In addition, UN Women and International Labour Organisation (ILO) have been in collaboration in implementing the European Union’s supported project entitled “Safe and Fair: Realizing women migrant workers’ rights and opportunities in the ASEAN region” (2018-2022). Safe and Fair delivers technical assistance and support with the overall objective of making labour migration safe and fair for all women in the ASEAN region.

In this connection, UN Women is seeking to expand its efforts in ensuring migrants inclusive services in response to COVID-19, applying a gender-responsive approach through strengthened coordination among government agencies, CSOs and host and migrant communities and innovations that can effectively reach out and address the needs of migrants as well as service providers in Thailand

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of Country Programme Coordinator for Thailand of UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

Coordinate relevant service providers on COVID-19 response including government agencies, CSOs, host and migrant communities in Samut Sakhon to ensure services are gender responsive and migrants inclusive.
Monitor and document the COVID-19 response in Samut Sakhon to identify best practices and model, applying a gender-responsive approach.
Provide recommendations on future interventions and programming on migration and gender responsive and migrants inclusive emergency response for UN Women Thailand.

Expected deliverables and timelines

Tasks and Deliverables

Target Dates

Workplan, methodologies and list of stakeholders

6 September 2021

Draft report on COVID-19 response models, applying a gender-responsive approach in Samut Sakhon

1 October 2021

Report of the COVID-19 response documenting best practices, lessons learned and recommendations on future interventions and programming on migration and gender responsive and migrants inclusive emergency response for UN Women Thailand

1 December 2021

Supervision
The consultant will be supervised by Country Programme Coordinator for Thailand, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific who will be responsible for the quality assurance of the deliverables.

Schedule of Payments
Payment in full upon final submission and satisfactory deliverables submitted.

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

Functional Competencies:

Excellent analytical skills
Strong networking skills
Strong inter-personal skills, communicate effectively with staff at all levels of the organization
Ability to work in a highly pressured environment

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree in Political Science, International Relations, Women Studies, Social Science or other gender and development fields. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

Minimum 5 years of relevant work experience with technical knowledge and expertise on thematic areas of Migration, Anti-Human Trafficking, GBV, Women’s Economic Empowerment and/or gender equality.
Familiarity with the Thai national context is considered as an asset.
Experience in liaising and coordinating with national counterparts, local authorities and civil society organizations.
Experience working with the UN Agencies or other international organizations is advantageous.

Language requirement and report writing skills:

Proficiency in Thai.
Proven experience in report writing and technical consultancy on Migration, Anti-Human Trafficking, GBV, Women’s Economic Empowerment and/or gender equality.