UN Women Call for Proposals: Plans to contract CSOs registered in India

Deadline: 02-Aug-2024

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) India Country Office plans to contract an organization (Civil Society Organizations, registered in India) or to develop a well-designed publication on scalable global, regional and national care economy models.

The key objective of this assignment is to identify substantive, high impact and potentially scalable care models; and provide practical recommendations for a progressive, inclusive, and robust care economy, derived from the analysis of field and policy landscape.

Funding Information

• The budget range for this proposal should be 20,00,000- 25,00,000 (Twenty to twenty-five Lakhs) only.

Timeframe

• 8 months starting 20th September 2024 to 19th May 2025 and final designed document to be delivered no later than 1st March 2025.
• The project will be implemented in 7 months and the last month is for financial and programmatic reporting.

Required Services/Results/Deliverables

• The selected agency will work in consultation with UN Women India in delivering high quality outputs under the assignment. Key components of the assignment will include the following:
  • Desk research on Literature capturing
    • Prepare an annotated bibliography of literature on care work ecosystem with a focus on India. Use available research resources, including existing UN Women studies, to create literature review examining key gaps, challenges, and critical linkages with women’s economic and political participation, women’s safety, security and gender based (structural) violence, and women’s health, nutrition and well-being. Explore opportunities for enhancing women’s roles and participation in the global economy.
    • Examine the policy landscape and provide recommendations for policymakers to regulate, incentivize, and facilitate the private sector’s role and investment in care provision. Explore strategies to incentivize investments in care.
  • Identifying substantive and potentially scalable care initiatives and models at the National, regional and global level:
    • Global – At least 5 models led by public, private and civil society organisations
    • Regional (South Asia) – At least 5 models led by public, private or civil society organisations
    • Country level (India) – At least 5 models led by public, private or civil society organisations
    • There exist models which are supported by government, run by CSOs, and entrepreneurial models and employer supported care models at the workplace including those funded by private sector. The case studies/models should explain the operating principles, reach and impact on the worker and the user availing the services and potential for adaptation and scale up. They should highlight strengths, gaps, learning and specific recommendations for government, private sector and civil society organisations focusing on enhancing decent work conditions, effective implementation of labour laws, reducing care burden and other relevant areas apart from opportunities for convergence and scale up. These case-studies will include care of children, elderly, and care for persons with disability. The case studies will document different kinds of care provisioning including community-based models.
    • Literature on care models is available in the global and regional level, including UN Women publications and repositories like the Care Economy Knowledge Hub. For the India specific models, primary research will have to be conducted as required. The India models should be costed models which look at the investments (financial, human resources etc.), training and monitoring and evaluation adopted.
  • Conduct a survey to understand the role of CSR spending on care economy- including but not limited to infrastructure, skilling of workers, provisioning of care delivery services, entrepreneurial ventures etc. Through key informant interviews with CSR leads (like United Way) and company representatives, develop recommendations on leveraging private sector investments including CSR allocation in care from the findings of the survey.
  • A well-designed publication including deliverables mentioned in points A and B for an international audience including multilateral agencies (such as the UN, World Bank, ADB, etc.), national and state governments, policy think-tanks, academia, civil society organisations and other diverse stakeholders (To be shared in high-resolution soft version).
  • Stakeholder consultation to disseminate the publication/document in consultation with UN Women ICO.

Competencies

• Technical Competencies 
  • The organisation should have at least five years of experience in conducting large scale primary and secondary research on issues of gender equality, women’s empowerment, public finance management, and/or gender responsive governance in India and at the state level.
  • It is desirable that the agency has experience in analysing public finance, government schemes and programmes on gender-responsiveness in India. The agency should have demonstrated experience of publishing policy briefs, research studies and policy recommendations on key policy areas around gender equality and women’s rights.
  • Must have substantive experience of working with central and state governments, UN agencies as well as other national, regional, and multilateral development agencies.
  • Capacity to deliver expected results in current context (governance and management competencies, and financial and administrative competency).
  • Relevance of the mandate and the role of the organization to implement expected results and to contribute to the sustainability of said results.
  • Legally registered (active registration status) with necessary documents in place
• Team Composition, Qualifications and Requirements 
  • The selected agency should have a team composition as described below:
  • The working team will include a Lead Researcher and up to 2 Research Associates, including the following experience and skills:
    • Requirements for the Lead Researcher:
      • Advanced university degree in Social Sciences, Gender Studies, Labour Studies, Economics, Statistics, Development Policy, or a related relevant field with proven competencies in Research Methodology (including quantitative component). PhD degree would be considered as an asset.
    • Experience
      • At least 10 years of experience in research and developing policy papers focusing on gender equality, women’s economic empowerment, social inclusion, gender responsive budgeting, women’s unpaid care work, labour reforms and other public policy issues.
      • Previous experience in leading similar research and documentation projects with proven skills in project management and financial management is highly desirable;
      • Should have experience of working with UN agencies or other international organizations;
      • Adequately published work in relevant areas available in public domain
    • Requirements for Research Associate (up to 2)
      • Social Sciences, Gender Studies, Labour Studies, Economics, Statistics, Development Policy, or a related relevant field with proven competencies in Research Methodology (including quantitative component). Certificate/diploma in Research Methodology or an M.Phil. degree would be considered as an asset.
    • Experience
      • At least 4 years of experience working in research and documentation focusing on gender equality, inclusive public policy and women’s economic justice related issues;
      • Demonstrable experience in writing research reports or policy and budget briefs.

Ineligible 

• The following are not eligible to apply to this Call for Proposals:
  • The applicant does not have legal status in India.
  • The applicant is on the Consolidated UN Security Council Sanctions list.
  • The applicant is being investigated for fraud, corruption, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or other wrongdoing.
  • The applicant is a government agency or institution, UN agency

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