Summary
[ GHANA JOBS Local Consultancy ]WUSC is a leading Canadian international development organization that works with and through its southern partners to promote sustainable development. Founded in 1957 and currently working in 22 countries worldwide with an annual budget of approximately $45 million dollars, WUSC’s mission is to foster human development and global understanding through education and training. Our internationally recognized programs support youth, women and other marginalized populations, focusing on three thematic areas of education, employment and empowerment. Globally, WUSC works with a network of higher education institutions, civil society organizations, private sector partners, professionals, students, volunteers, faculty and community leaders that can be leveraged to support our work.
Salary range:GHS, Job type: Contractor/Consultant, Location:Accra , Agency:World University Service of Canada …. Application close date:Expires Jun 19, 2020
GHANA JOBS Local Consultancy
Job Description
TERMS OF REFERENCE, LOCAL CONSULTANCY TO CONDUCT A GENDER ANALYSIS – GHANA
WORK PACKAGE: Gender Analysis Study
LOCATION: Ghana
APPLICATION DEADLINE: June 19, 2020
EXPECTED START DATE: June 25 , 2020
Innovation in Non-traditional Vocational Education and Skills Training (INVEST)
The INVEST programme for women in Ghana is a 5-year collaborative initiative (2020-2025) that will build sustainable pathways to enhanced economic empowerment, well-being and inclusive growth for 5,000 urban poor young women in Accra, Kumasi, and Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana. This CAD$8.5 million project will test and scale innovative, sustainable models to improve the enabling environment, reduce gender-specific barriers to women’s economic participation, and enhance access to decent work for marginalized women in high-growth, non-traditional sectors. Using an inclusive market systems (IMS) approach, the project will INVEST in women, institutions and the labour market system of high-growth sectors to achieve transformative change that is sustainable and scalable. A wide array of stakeholders on both the supply and demand sides of the labour market will be engaged throughout the project cycle. This integrated, holistic approach will contribute to reducing the multiple dimensions of poverty experienced by urban poor young women. Key aspects include: supporting women’s full participation in economic decision-making and leadership, promoting women’s equal access to finance, improving technical and vocational education and training (TVET) for women, motivating industry to hire, retain and promote women, and improving the ability of women to participate and exercise their rights in the workforce.
Urban poor young women in Ghana face several dimensions of poverty concurrently. These include limited access to education beyond the primary level and a lack of gender parity at all levels of education. They face political and social exclusion, contributing to their low representation and participation in decision-making structures. Women are daily exposed to the risk of personal insecurity at their places of work, including harmful practices such as sexual harassment, early and forced marriage, sexual and gender-based violence and maternal mortality. These all constitute not only infringements on their human rights, but also to their access to decent work.
Through the INVEST project, WUSC is responding to some of these constraints by facilitating the access of young women to decent and productive work, within non-traditional and high growth sectors in Ghana. The INVEST project takes a gender-responsive market systems approach to skills development to promote access to decent work. This entails examining and acting upon the root causes of gender and social norms that negatively affects women’s economic empowerment as well as the labour market demand / supply constraints within the Ghanaian society that intensify these negative impacts. Working for scale and sustainability of interventions, the INVEST project will collaborate with a wide range of actors, including training providers, employers and social groups to sustainably improve labour market outcomes for young women in Ghana.
NATURE AND SCOPE
1. The Assignment
As part of the inception phase of activities for the INVEST project, WUSC wishes to hire an individual consultant to conduct a gender analysis focusing on the vocational training landscape within three regions in Ghana – Accra, Kumasi and Sekondi-Takoradi. The purpose of the gender analysis is to inform the INVEST project planning and the development of its gender strategy. The gender analysis will provide important insights into socio-economic considerations needed by the project to ensure that youth and urban poor young women in particular, benefit from project interventions. The study should therefore seek to explore some of the root causes of gender and social norms that negatively affect women’s economic empowerment as well as the labour market constraints that intensify gender inequalities in women’s access to decent and productive work (formal and informal).
2. Objectives
The gender analysis will provide criticalinsights to inform the design of INVEST project interventions, thereby contributing to the achievement of the following objectives:
Improving public and industry attitudes towards women’s economic participation in high-growth and non-traditional sectors
Increasing access among women to gender responsive financial products for market-relevant skills training – with a focus on financial products that support skills training.
Strengthening the capacity of training providers to offer quality, gender-sensitive and market-relevant skills training for women
Improving the motivation of industry to hire, retain and promote women in the workplace
Improving the ability of women to exercise their rights in the workplace – current barriers and opportunities
Improving the ability of women to participate in the workforce (both formal and informal)
Several questions have been developed to provide guidance on the type of information that the project is interested in analyzing (see the Annex), and these questions are structured around the six objective areas. The questions will help to reveal information on some of the underlying gender dynamics that inform the choices, opportunities and constraints of poor urban young women in regards to accessing non-traditional trades. It will also reveal relevant gendered insights into the structures offering services and job opportunities that they need.
The analysis should be conducted through a “COVID-19 lens”, taking into consideration the different dynamics introduced by the COVID-19 crisis. The project will be using a market systems development approach, focusing on influencing the systems that can potentially trigger huge gains for girls’ access to decent work. In this respect, the study should be informed by a market systems thinking, taking into consideration the context and systems in which labour market exchanges occur within the target regions.
Finally, with INVEST being a Global Affairs Canada (GAC) funded project, due consideration needs to be given for alignment with the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) of Canada, when conducting the gender analysis.
3. Analysis Framework
The consultant is invited to use a gender analysis framework that will facilitate the gathering of evidence on the context (opportunities / constraints) for young women’s access to productive work. Constraints for instance, can be those emanating from their own lives, from that of their families (general entourage / relations who have some influence over the lives of young women) or the more structural barriers within the labour market that affect the opportunities of these women.
To facilitate this, a range of questions have been developed as mentioned above, to provide guidance on the type of information the study should capture. These questions are only indicative, further refinement will be explored collaboratively with the consultant during the inception report process. The questions in the Annex have been organised under different categories using the CARE framework for women’s empowerment.In collaboration with the WUSC team during the inception reporting phase, opportunities for the incorporation of the FIAP objectives will be further explored to ensure alignment with the Policy. However, regardless of the type of framework or approach that the consultancy proposes, what is most critical is that the results of the study furnishes the project with relevant data that can inform activity planning, thereby helping to meet the above mentioned objectives.
4. Respondent segments
4.1. Demand Side
As mentioned above, the project has a target of 5000 beneficiaries for the five year duration. At least 80% of those to be reached will be young women between the ages of 18-35 and the project will target urban poor young women in Accra, Kumasi and Sekondi-Takoradi. However, the program does recognise that, poor populations do not all have an equal weighting, that there are different levels of poverty and marginalisation within each context,1 with each level having a unique set of barriers that differentiates it from the next level. It is therefore imperative that the consultant takes into consideration class / status differences within the target populations in the study area, to ensure that the analysis is reflective of these differences. Focus will also need to be directed towards observable differences between the youth across the three regions.
4.2. Supply side
The INVEST project will work with institutional partners to identify opportunities that can be accessible to the target beneficiary groups. These supply side actors constitute a critical part of the project and their perceptions with respect to women’s opportunities in non-traditional trades needs to be obtained. These include TVET institutions, some civil society organisations, government institutions, private businesses and financial institutions. In this respect, the consultant will engage with these actors to understand the gendered dimensions to attracting and retaining young women, either as students, employees, clients (business or student loans) and apprentices / interns. The gender analysis will explore the general and unique gender related constraints and opportunities of these actors with respect to women’s access to non traditional and productive work in the TVET sector.
4.3. Influencers
Demand / supply side influencers represent categories of people and institutions within target regions that have a critical role to play in influencing the choices of young women with respect to their educational and professional aspirations. These include those within the young woman’s entourage such as family members, community leaders, local community role models and other similar actors. On the more macro level, these could include advocacy institutions striving for a range of reforms with potential transformational impact on the employment rights of young women among others. The study is expected to further identify and validate key influencers over the lives of young women, how they exercise influence and why their influence is successful. The gender analysis will look into the influential role of these actors, to understand the underlying factors that inform their actions, and how these can be leveraged for meeting project outcomes.
5. Specific Tasks
Develop a detailed inception report and work plan in close consultation with designated INVEST staff and key partners. The inception report will clarify and refine the overall approach, methodology and timing for the study.
Develop guidelines on the gender analysis design, implementation, analysis and communication.
Develop the gender analysis information and data collection tools
Participate in an inception meeting with WUSC and key stakeholders (to be organized by WUSC).
Collect quantitative and qualitative data, including reviews of secondary information, focus groups and key informant interviews.
Prepare reports as documented in deliverables below.
Prepare recommendations to WUSC, and participating institutions with a focus on their relevance for interventions that will be rolled out in a COVID-19 context.
Revise reports and recommendations following feedback from WUSC and partners.
6. Level of effort & Deliverables
Inception Meeting
Submission of detailed work plan, draft inception report and data collection tools
Submission of final version of inception report which incorporates WUSC comments
Submission of draft gender analysis report including methodology, findings, and recommendations
Submission of final gender analysis report including methodology, findings, and recommendations
A Power-point summary of the gender analysis report
7.Timelines
The contract period is for 22 days (including travel time) between 25 June 2020 and 07 August 2020. Estimated contributions expected in working days will be determined in consultation with the selected candidate. The candidate will have to put in place all the necessary actions to launch the gender analysis within the following schedule:
ANNEX
Required Skills or Experience
Candidate Qualifications
The Gender Specialist should have at least 10 years of professional experience and a demonstrated track record of conducting gender analysis for TVET and women’s economic empowerment projects.
The Gender Specialist should hold a graduate degree in the social sciences, gender studies, development studies or a related field.
Strong research and report writing skills are essential for this consultancy
Knowledge of inclusive market systems approach and an understanding of the labour market dynamics or trends for Ghana’s TVET sector will be an asset.
GHANA JOBS Local Consultancy GHANA JOBS Local Consultancy GHANA JOBS Local Consultancy
How To Apply
Applications
Interested parties are encouraged to submit an application package including a technical and financial offer to the following email address: wuscghanaoffice@wusc.ca
WUSC’s activities seek to balance inequities and create sustainable development around the globe; the work ethic of our staff, volunteers, consultants, representatives and partners shall correspond to the values and mission of the organization. WUSC promotes responsibility, respect, honesty, and professional excellence and we will not tolerate harassment, coercion and sexual exploitation and abuse of any form.
Only electronic proposals will be accepted.
The deadline for the submission of applications is the 19 June 2020 at the close of business (GMT).