International Care Consultant: Addressing women’s unpaid care work in Tanzania

Background

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality, and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) 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 in the implementation of existing international and national commitments to women’s rights and gender equality, facilitates exchange of good practices, and advocates for women’s rights and gender equality in all areas of life. UN Women’s global strategic plan (2022-2026) has identified care economy transformation as a priority area with a focus on strengthening policy frameworks and increasing public and private sector investment in the care economy.

Because of its importance in achieving gender equality, SDG 5.4 calls for action beyond merely increasing the visibility of unpaid work as a policy issue to also include policies to alleviate the care burden and divide it between women and men, families and public/market services in a more balance and equitable manner and providing better and more visible employment to care workers (decent work).

Despite some progress in increasing the presence of women in public life, their participation in the labor market is still low, and globally the labor force participation rate for women is just over 50% compared to 80% for men (World Bank, 2022). One of the factors influencing women and girls low labour force participation rate is the unequal share in unpaid care work exacerbated by the failure of States to recognize, reduce and redistribute the domestic and care work. Globally, women spend 2.6 times more on unpaid care and domestic work than their male counterparts. On average, in Tanzania women spend 4.4 hours per day on unpaid care and domestic work, while men only spend 1.4 hours per day.

To address women’s disproportionate share of care responsibilities, under the Generation Equality the URT committed on specific commitments incorporating the contribution of unpaid care and domestic work into GDP, expanding coverage and provision of social protection, as well as increasing investment in physical and social infrastructures such as access to clean water, clean energy and childcare centers.

To support the Government of Tanzania’s commitment to transform the care economy, among others, UN Women Tanzania is implementing a 4-years project entitled “Strengthening women’s and girls’ meaningful participation, leadership, and economic rights at the local levels (WLER). The project is implemented in Singida, Arusha, Mtwara, Dar es salaam, Coastal and Lindi regions with financial support from the Government of Finland. The project aims at enhancing women’s economic rights by addressing women and girls’ unpaid care work, working closely with the Government and other key stakeholders at the local level. Furthermore, UN Women is implementing a joint programme on Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment, where among others UN Women interventions aims at reducing the gender gap in agriculture productivity for women farmers through addressing the unpaid care work responsibilities.

Building on this, UN Women seeks the services of an international expert to support efforts towards addressing women’s unpaid care and domestic work in Tanzania. The international consultant will work closely with one national consultant to be hired through a separate contract by UN Women. The two consultants will work as a team, with the international consultant as the lead responsible for overall quality assurance.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the UN Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Programme Specialist, the international consultant will undertake the following tasks and deliverables in collaboration with, the Prime Minister’s office, Ministry of Gender for Tanzania Mainland, Ministry of Gender Zanzibar, relevant government MDAs and selected local government Authorities.

Overall Objective:

The overall objective of this assignment is to assess and identify opportunities to engender the care policy framework and care giving services at the national and local level in Tanzania.

Specific Activities:

Submission of Inception Report including an outline of the approach, tools to be deployed and stakeholder engagement processes, and a work plan
Desk Review of policies pertaining to unpaid care and domestic in Tanzania (Mainland and Zanzibar)
Field visit to care facilities and conduct interviews and focus group discussions with beneficiaries including policy makers, households, service providers at the central and local levels
First Draft report of Gender Analysis from field findings, existing care policies and regulatory frameworks , interventions in various care sectors and defining gap or opportunities for gender responsive care strategies in Tanzania
Validation meeting based on first draft report and UN Women comments
Final Draft report of Gender Analysis from field findings, existing care policies and regulatory frameworks , interventions in various care sectors and defining gap or opportunities for gender responsive care strategies in Tanzania
Develop two policy briefs with recommendations on opportunities and approaches to address the 5Rs of care in the formal and informal sector at the central and local government level in Tanzania
Dissemination/Presentation of the findings and recommendations to the Ministry of Gender (Mainland, Zanzibar) PMO, PORALG, UN Agencies, CSOs and Private Sectors in a 1- day workshop.

Duration of assignment

The consultancy is based on the above deliverable spread over a three - month period.

Key Activity

Deliverable

Installment Payments

Submission of Inception Report including an outline of the approach, tools to be deployed and stakeholder engagement processes, and a work plan

Draft inception report Within 15 days upon signature of the contract with an outline of the methodological approach and a detailed workplan with specific timelines for each deliverable and payment schedule

10% upon approval

Desk Review of policies pertaining to unpaid care and domestic in Tanzania (Mainland and Zanzibar)

Desk Review report with separate chapters for Mainland and Zanzibar

Field visit to care facilities and conduct interviews and focus group discussions with beneficiaries including policy makers, households, service providers at the central and local levels

Report of the gender related observations from visits to care facilities

20% upon approval of the final gender analysis report of care sectors and policies in Tanzania

First Draft report of Gender Analysis from field findings, existing care policies and regulatory frameworks , interventions in various care sectors and defining gap or opportunities for gender responsive care strategies in Tanzania

First draft report

Validation meeting based on first draft report and UN Women comments

First draft validated report

Final Draft report of Gender Analysis from field findings, existing care policies and regulatory frameworks , interventions in various care sectors and defining gap or opportunities for gender responsive care strategies in Tanzania

Final Gender Analysis report of care sectors and policies in Tanzania

30 % upon approval of the final gender analysis report of care sectors and policies in Tanzania

Develop two policy briefs with recommendations on opportunities and approaches to address the 5Rs of care in the formal and informal sector at the central and local government level in Tanzania

Two policy briefs with recommendations on opportunities and approaches to address the 5Rs of unpaid care and domestic work, including the formal and informal sector at the central and local government level

20% upon approval of the policy briefs

Dissemination/Presentation of the findings and recommendations to the Ministry of Gender (Mainland, Zanzibar,) PMO, PORALG, UN Agencies, CSOs and Private Sectors in a 1- day workshop.

Policy brief presentation and submission of final reports

20% upon submission of final reports and policy briefs

Competencies

Core Competencies:

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
Accountability;
Creative Problem Solving;
Effective Communication.
Inclusive Collaboration.
Stakeholder Engagement.
Leading by Example.
Ability to establish, build, and sustain effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client’s perspective and how to anticipate client needs and address them promptly.
Works effectively as a team member, demonstrating emotional intelligence and good judgment.

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

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

-At least a master’s degree in, economics, development studies, and/or gender studies;

-A PhD is considered as an asset.

Experience:

-A minimum of 7 years of demonstrated professional experience in economic research;

-Previous experience in conducting analysis on the care sectors;

-Experience in conducting gender analysis in different areas and preferably in the area of women’s economic empowerment and unpaid care work;

-Excellent technical/quantitative skills;

-Experience in designing policy recommendations in the areas of public investment, employment, fiscal policy, etc;

-Experience in job/s requiring the ability to absorb, analyze and systematize a large amount of complex information within tight deadlines;

-Previous experience working with international organizations;

-Substantive knowledge and understanding of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment issues in the care sectors;

-Excellent analytical, writing, advocacy, presentation, and communications skills are required;

-Work experience in Tanzania is an asset;

-Excellent oral presentation and writing skills.

Language Requirements:

-Excellent command of English, both written and spoken is required. Fluency in Swahili is an asset.