Deadline: 8-Apr-26
The UN Women South Africa Migration and Gender Equality Survey seeks qualified organizations to conduct a large-scale study on migrant women in Limpopo, Gauteng, and the Western Cape. The initiative focuses on generating high-quality, gender-responsive data to inform evidence-based policies and programs that protect and promote migrant women’s rights. Selected organizations will manage all aspects of survey implementation, from sampling and digital data collection to analysis-ready datasets.
Overview of the Migration and Gender Equality Survey
The UN Women South Africa survey is part of the Making Migration Safe for Women programme, aiming to strengthen migrant women’s protection and address gender-specific migration challenges. The survey will collect data from 1,200 migrant women across three provinces, train field-level data collectors to ensure data quality and accuracy, adapt and contextualize survey tools to the South African migration context, and implement a digital Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) system. This initiative collaborates closely with Statistics South Africa to ensure methodological rigor, ethical compliance, and policy relevance.
Key Responsibilities of the Selected Organization
The organization selected for this survey will:
- Develop Survey Framework – Refine questionnaires in collaboration with UN Women and Statistics South Africa, pre-test at least 50 questionnaires for validation, and design a sampling framework targeting households with migrant women.
- Recruit and Train Field Staff – Recruit female, multilingual interviewers fluent in English, Sesotho, SiSwati, Kiswahili, or Shona, conduct detailed training sessions, and document methodologies, materials, challenges, and recommendations.
- Data Collection Management – Conduct simultaneous field interviews across the three provinces, ensure ethical standards, safety, and confidentiality, and monitor fieldwork to maintain data quality and consistency.
- Data Processing and Reporting – Clean and organize raw datasets, submit both raw and processed data with detailed metadata, and document experiences and challenges influencing data interpretation.
Who is Eligible?
Eligible applicants must be a qualified research or non-profit organization with experience in large-scale surveys, demonstrate prior experience with gender-responsive research and migrant populations, have the capacity to manage multi-lingual field teams and digital data collection systems, and adhere to strict data protection, confidentiality, and informed consent standards. Ineligible applicants: Organizations that cannot meet the mandatory technical, ethical, or operational criteria will be disqualified.
Why It Matters
This survey addresses a critical gap in gender-disaggregated migration data in South Africa, enabling evidence-based policy development to improve migrant women’s safety and rights, identification of gender-specific migration challenges, enhanced programming for women’s empowerment, protection, and social inclusion, and strengthened capacity for data-driven decision-making at national and local levels.
How to Apply / How it Works
Step-by-Step Application Process: 1. Confirm Eligibility: Ensure the organization meets all technical and operational criteria. 2. Proposal Development: Include an implementation plan and timeline, sampling strategy and survey methodology, ethical and safety protocols, training plan for interviewers, and data management and reporting plan. 3. Submit Proposal: Follow UN Women submission guidelines precisely. 4. Pre-Testing: Conduct pre-test of survey tools for validation. 5. Field Deployment: Implement digital CAPI system and conduct interviews. 6. Data Cleaning and Submission: Provide raw and processed datasets with metadata. 7. Documentation: Deliver comprehensive reports on training, field experiences, and lessons learned.
Common Mistakes and Tips
Common Mistakes: Failing to document ethical and safety protocols, insufficient training or supervision of field staff, incomplete or poorly structured proposals, ignoring data management and metadata standards. Tips for Success: Include a clear, structured implementation plan, emphasize experience with migrant populations and gender-responsive research, demonstrate capacity for digital data collection, highlight risk mitigation strategies and ethical compliance, and provide detailed budgeting and reporting mechanisms.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. What is the scope of the survey? The survey will collect data from 1,200 migrant women across Limpopo, Gauteng, and the Western Cape. 2. Who manages the survey collaboration? The survey is conducted jointly by UN Women South Africa and Statistics South Africa. 3. What languages are required for field interviewers? Interviewers should be fluent in English, Sesotho, SiSwati, Kiswahili, or Shona. 4. What is the role of the selected organization? They will manage survey adaptation, training, digital data collection, field supervision, and submission of cleaned datasets with metadata. 5. Who owns the collected data? All data remains the property of UN Women South Africa and Statistics South Africa. 6. Are individuals or commercial entities eligible? No, only qualified research or non-profit organizations meeting the eligibility criteria may apply. 7. What ethical standards must be followed? Organizations must adhere to strict confidentiality, informed consent, and data protection protocols.
Conclusion
The UN Women South Africa Migration and Gender Equality Survey represents a high-impact opportunity to produce gender-responsive migration data in South Africa. By supporting policy and program development, this initiative strengthens migrant women’s rights, safety, and empowerment while fostering evidence-based decision-making.
For more information, visit UN Women.
