Deadline: 10-Mar-25
UN Women is seeking proposals to enable women’s access to decent and safe employment opportunities in STEM, digital and clean energy sectors with a focus on the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
UN Women seeks the services of a civil society organization working with women and girls from marginalized backgrounds, from technical/vocational institutes, to strengthen their access to employability skills and employment opportunities in high growth potential sector.
Result Areas
- The project envisions following result areas:
- Outcomes
- To enhance the enabling environment for economic and social rights for women and girls in all their diversity in India
- Young women are upskilled to access decent employment, apprenticeship, or higher education opportunities in STEM fields
- Outcomes
Funding Information
- Estimated Budget: Within the range of Min INR 1,20,00,000/-. – Max 1,50,00,000 (for 3 years)
Timeframe
- Timeline:
- Gujarat: May 2025 – March 2026
- Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra: May 2025 – June 2027
Description of Services
- Sustained engagement with existing 12 tribal districts in Madhya Pradesh that were a part of phase 1.
- Key activities include:
- Strengthening Capacity Building: Train ITI faculty as Master Trainers on the WeSTEM curriculum, covering gender training, career counselling, STEM, and employability skills. These trainers will cascade the learnings to young women and girls, amplifying the impact at the grassroots level.
- Enhanced Digital Access: Facilitate the enrolment of girl students onto UN Women’s Equilearn platform, offering free online courses focused on employability and gender training.
- Facilitating Career Opportunities: Establish linkages for job and internship placements through job fairs, bootcamps, and direct engagement with local employers, ensuring a smoother transition for women from training to employment.
- Modernizing ITI Infrastructure: Collaborate with potential employers and foundations to upgrade the infrastructure of women’s ITIs, creating an enabling environment for effective skill development.
- Fostering Digital Networking: Enable girl students to join platforms like LinkedIn for mentorship, networking, and career development, equipping them with tools for professional growth through UN Women’s ongoing intervention with LinkedIn.
- Key activities include:
- Strategic Expansion in 17 new districts in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (Gujarat- Surat, Ahmedabad, Bharuch, Vadodara and Kutch; Madhya Pradesh: Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior and Rewa; Maharashtra: Aurangabad, Nagpur, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Nasik and Osmanabad)
- Building on the successes of the program’s foundational phase, this component focuses on scaling up activities to 18 additional districts mentioned above. Key activities include:
- Mobilizing women for enrollment in project activities: Work with faculty in enrolling women and girls from ITI and polytechnics in project activities, conducting at least 20 mobilization sessions across three states.
- Comprehensive Training Programs: Deliver in-class and online training sessions to equip women and girls from ITIs and polytechnics with employability and entrepreneurial skills, complemented by access to UN Women’s Equilearn platform for self-paced learning. – A minimum of 40 training sessions will be delivered.
- Industry Exposure: Organize exposure visits for women and girls to facilitate their participation in STEM, digital and clean energy sectors, with a minimum of 20 industry visits.
- Faculty Development: Extend the Master Trainer program to ITI faculty in above districts, focusing on gender sensitization and the WeSTEM curriculum to foster a supportive ecosystem for women learners. – A minimum of 10 ITI faculty training sessions will be conducted.
- Digital Engagement and Mentorship: Facilitate the onboarding of women learners onto digital platforms such as LinkedIn, enhancing their access to networking, mentorship, and career guidance opportunities.
- Building on the successes of the program’s foundational phase, this component focuses on scaling up activities to 18 additional districts mentioned above. Key activities include:
Geographic Location
- Gujarat: 5 Districts: Surat, Ahmedabad, Bharuch, Kutch and Vadodra.
- Madhya Pradesh: 18 Districts: Mandla, Balaghat, Dhindori, Alirajpur, Barwani, Betul, Burhanpur, Jhabua, Khandwa, Khargone, Chindwara, Seoni, Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior and Rewa.
- Maharashtra: 6 Districts: Aurangabad, Nagpur, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Nasik and Osmanabad.
Target Group
- 12000 women and girls enrolled in predominantly STEM courses in government ITIs and polytechnics, in above mentioned districts
- Faculty members from government ITIs, polytechnics in above districts
- Parents and community members in above districts
Competencies
- Technical/functional competencies required
- The organization must have a minimum 5 years of experience in facilitating and managing large scale skills development and placement projects.
- Relevant experience and significant expertise on the issue of women’s skilling, employment, and entrepreneurship
- Demonstrable experience of designing, conducting, and monitoring of trainings/ capacity building workshops on skill/vocational training and placement initiatives, particularly in STEM, digital, and clean energy sectors from gender perspective.
- Demonstrable experience of developing skill training modules, particularly in STEM, digital, and clean energy sectors
- Demonstrable experience of working with private sector companies on women’s employment and leadership.
- Strong network and partnerships with private sector companies for women’s employment, apprenticeships, and internships.
- Familiarity with state-level policies and programs supporting women’s skilling and employment.
- Ability to conduct awareness sessions for parents, faculty, and communities on women’s participation in STEM careers.
- Other competencies, which while not mandatory, can be an asset for the performance of services
- Substantial experience of working with Central Ministries, State Department and Corporate/Foundation for implementing large scale skill development and placement programs across the country.
- Experience of working with Government Educational Institutions.
- Qualifications of Key Personnel:
- Team leader
- The team lead should have minimum 10 years of experience in promoting entrepreneurship, skill development and placement projects, across multi sectors.
- An advanced university degree in a relevant field
- Expertise in issues of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment
- Significant knowledge and experience of approaches on vocational education, skill trainings and placements as well as entrepreneurship
- knowledge of mainstreaming gender equality into policies/programming/development.
- Experience of working with private sector companies
- Facilitation skills, particularly designing and developing skill training modules and delivering the same
- Team leader
- Team members
- Team members must have a minimum of 5 years of experience in promoting entrepreneurship, skill development and placement projects, across multi sectors
- An advanced university degree in a relevant field
- Experience in issues of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment
- Facilitation skills, particularly designing and developing skill training modules and delivering the same
- Excellent documentation and communication skills.
For more information, visit UN Women.