Terms of
Reference
Women’s
Economic Empowerment Study
“Enhancing
Women’s Rights Protection, Qualitative Participation and Freedom from Violence
in Rwanda 2017-2019”
1. Introduction
Despite the rise in
international efforts emerging to respond to concern of Women’s Economic
Empowerment (WEE) and women’s rights, there remains a significant economic gap
between women and men, both in terms
of their wealth and their power over
resources.
Economic empowerment
has been defined in several ways by various researchers and organisations. In
simple terms, economic empowerment combines the concepts of empowerment and
economic advancement. Conventional approaches to economic empowerment
concentrate on factors that help women succeed and advance in the economic
markets, however, Kvinna Till Kvinna argues that approaches must also recognise
that economic empowerment is intertwined with social and political empowerment
and must take into account the underlying social and cultural factors that
limit women’s ability to progress.
There are various
approaches that have been adopted to respond to WEE that fall into three broad
categories: (1) enabling institutional and legal frameworks that support WEE,
economic security and rights; (2) supporting women to secure decent work,
productivity and earnings through tools varying from provision of
micro-credits, land and loans to training to develop technical skills
development and financial literacy; (3) strengthening women’s agency and
challenging inequalities.
In any given
context, it is necessary to have WEE interventions that fall into all of the
above categories to deliver long term change in terms of WEE. Laws that
enshrine women’s rights to land, property, inheritance and safe labour are
vital, alongside decent work opportunities, and the effective challenging of
inequalities are all needed to enable WEE. Economic interventions alone, such
as micro finance, are not sufficient to economically empower women (though they
may increase women’s income) rather, a more integrated approach to programming
is required. WEE, gender based violence, political participation and
empowerment are interconnected processes and WEE development programmes must
enable women to increase their potential for political mobilisation.
2. About Kvinna Till Kvinna
The Kvinna till
Kvinna Foundation (hereafter Kvinna till Kvinna) has been strengthening women
in regions affected by war and conflict since 1993. Kvinna till Kvinna supports
over 100 partner organisations in 21 countries that work to empower women,
build women’s leadership and address gender based violence. The approach is
based on strong local ownership, long-term financial support, networking and
organisational development through dialogue and capacity development for
partner organisations.
Kvinna till Kvinna
works in the intersection of peace, human security and development and views
poverty as multi-dimensional and as a lack of entitlements due to unequal
structures in society. Transforming power relations is at the heart of women´s
empowerment. The support to partners is focusing on women´s active participation
in decision-making at different levels such as national and local governance
and in various arenas for instance advocacy and peace-building or on the
household level.
Kvinna till Kvinna
has been supporting partner organisations’ interventions in the area of Women’s
Economic Empowerment (WEE) for a number of years and is currently in the
process of systematising this work through a global analysis of the support
Kvinna till Kvinna has been conducting throughout the foundation to identify
interventions and best practices pertaining to WEE and develop recommendations
for strategic programming within this thematic area.
Kvinna till Kvinna
has opened an office in Rwanda in 2017 with support from the Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency to implement a three-year
programme entitled “Enhancing
Women’s Rights Protection, Qualitative Participation and Freedom from Violence
in Rwanda 2017-2019”. The expected outcomes are: (1) Improved
protection from gender-based violence with a specific focus on prevention; (2)
Enhanced women’s qualitative participation in political and economic
decision-making and conflict resolution; (3) Increased capacity of partner
organisations to operate effectively and sustainably.
3. The Assignment
Kvinna till Kvinna
seeks a consultant (or a team of consultants) to support the country programme
in the development of its programmatic work in the area of WEE with an in-depth
study mapping and analysing local, national, regional and international actors
conducting or supporting WEE interventions in Rwanda, highlighting lessons
learned and good practices to inform Kvinna till Kvinna supported interventions
in this thematic area.
The objective is to
provide Kvinna till Kvinna with the necessary information and recommendations
on what the added value of Kvinna till Kvinna would be in Rwanda in the area of
WEE, in light of Kvinna till Kvinna’s methodology, specific expertise and
holistic approach to WEE as interlinked with political participation and gender
based violence. Though the research should have a rigorous methodology, it
should have a programmatic focus rather than a strong academic approach.
4. Methodology
The study will use a
combination of primary and secondary sources and the use of case studies will
help situate the state of WEE interventions in Rwanda and inform programmatic
recommendations for Kvinna till Kvinna. The work shall be carried out in close
collaboration with Kvinna till Kvinna staff in Rwanda.
§ Desk study of
publications from reputable and diversified sources within academia, government
and civil society at large. The study will be informed by a recent report
conducted by Paperboat
consulting for Kvinna till Kvinna which provides a mapping of
previous Kvinna till Kvinna supported WEE interventions and learnings.
§ Interviews with
key local, national, regional and international stakeholders (e.g. local NGOs
and networks, international NGOs, national academia, government, bi- and multi-
lateral donors with WEE programmes) who conduct or support WEE interventions in
Rwanda in selected areas and focus groups discussions at community level… The
suggested structure of the field work should be presented in the proposal and
will be refined in discussion with Kvinna till Kvinna.
5. Deliverables
§ An inception
report detailing the proposed methodology as modified to include Kvinna till
Kvinna’s suggestions. The report should consider, inter alia, the themes of the
research; research tools (structure of FGDs, interview maps, background data
check-list); confidentiality and ethics; exact locations of field research; a
detailed workplan, as well as identification of who is involved.
§ A draft report not
exceeding 25 pages including any tables and graphs but excluding annexes, with
an executive summary of two-three pages. The report shall include (1) a mapping
of actors and interventions within WEE in Rwanda which identifies and
systematises lessons learned (2) an identification of gaps in the area of WEE
programming in Rwanda and recommendations for Kvinna till Kvinna´s
niche/operational programming.
§ A final report
incorporating comments from Kvinna till Kvinna and stakeholders.
§ A reporting
workshop in Kigali, Rwanda for Kvinna till Kvinna and partner organisations.
§ A presentation of
findings to key government stakeholders in Rwanda.
6. Time frame
The duration of the
assignment is an estimated total of maximum 31 working days between December
2017 and April 2018. A work plan should be discussed with Kvinna till Kvinna
within one week after signing of the contract. The draft report should be
available no later than 20st March 2018. The final documentation to
be submitted no later than 1st April 2018.
The research team
(max 3) should include at least one Rwandan researcher. In addition to
delivering the outputs described above one (1) consultant – lead or senior
consultant – will be responsible for the overall organisation of the work,
supervision and guidance of other consultants and final submission and quality
control of the report. The division of labour shall be presented in the tender.
1. Required skills and
competencies:
§ Knowledge of the
Women, Peace and Security agenda, gender and development, economics, and human
rights based approaches;
§ Documented
knowledge of Women’s Economic Empowerment within the Great Lakes Region of
Africa, preferably in Rwanda;
§ Experience of
working with civil society organisations and knowledge of development
programming.
§ Extensive experience
conducting research;
§ Excellent writing
skills (in English); other language skills are a strong asset (French,
Kinyarwanda);
§ Relevant
university degree, Minimum a BA degree in international development,
development studies, political science, international human rights law, gender,
etc.
§ Experience of
conducting inclusive and learner-centred capacity building.
2. Eligibility and Tender
Submission
Kvinna till Kvinna
seeks applications of interest from qualified consultant(s)/consultancy firms.
Interested parties should submit an application including a short cover letter
outlining their qualifications for this assignment, accompanied by a CV, two
(2) certificates of completion of previous assignments, proposed methodology
and a financial proposal. The financial proposal should include all costs,
including daily consultant fees inclusive of social security contributions, VAT
and any other taxes, if needed, travel and accommodation costs and any other
expenses related to the assignment.
Tenders must be sent
to Kvinna till Kvinna no later than November 30th, 2017
Kvinna till Kvinna
intends to sign a contract no later than December 15th 2017
Tenders should be
sent by email to julia.weiner.mercier@kvinnatillkvinna.se
Contracted
consultants cannot further subcontract the assignment. In cases where the
tender includes a team of consultants, their division of labour shall be
presented.
3. Contact
For any questions,
please contact Violet Kabarenzi, Programme Officer, violet.kabarenzi@kvinnatillkvinna.se
