UN Women: Senior Experts on Women’s Economic Empowerment and Local Economic Development, Tirane, Albania, Consultant Retainer

Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. 

While Albania has made significant progress in promoting gender equality, women continue to face barriers in fully enjoying their human rights, being less likely to participate in the formal labour market, and negatively affected by persisting gender stereotypes and harmful social norms which contribute to their persistent marginalization, especially in rural areas

Women play an important role in agriculture and rural development in Albania, making up 40% of the agriculture workforce (INSTAT, 2022), although in most cases invisible and informal. Male gender roles in agriculture are predominantly associated with tasks that involve control over agricultural assets and implements, mobility, decision-making and access to market; whereas female gender roles are associated with manual work, including pre-harvest and post-harvest activities, food processing, quality control, and household tasks. Furthermore, women’s access to technical and financial resources and information through agricultural extension service remains very limited, and women represent only 10 % of all beneficiaries of extension services (FAO, 2016). Women are rarely members of, or represented in, formal associations or committees. Their limited access to transportation in rural areas has direct implications for their access to health and social services, education, employment and participation in decision making, making them dependent on male relatives and putting them further at risk of marginalization. This is especially alarming with the persistence of patriarchal attitudes in rural areas, which often results in GBV. UN Women in Albania has supported the Government and relevant institution to address these challenges in the past, including through targeted interventions promoting women’s economic empowerment in rural areas. 

Women are also strongly discriminated compared to men in term of access to property, while existing legislation guarantees women’s property rights and co-ownership, the implementation of the legislation has been too often hindered by discriminatory cultural and social attitudes, practices at the institutional and community levels, and women’s lack of knowledge of their rights. This has affected women’s inheritance rights as well as entitlements.

To address these challenges, UN Women with the support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and funding from the Directorate General for Development Cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is implementing the project “Empower Women for Rural Development in Northern Albania”, aiming to improve the empowerment of women in Northern Albania and promote their role as active contributors to sustainable rural development.

Overall, the project will contribute to the realization of SDG targets 2.3, 5.a, 8.3. The intervention is aligned with the EU Gender Action Plan III, The National Strategy for Gender Equality (NSGE) 2021-2030, the National Strategy for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, and responds to the CEDAW Concluding Observations for Albania (2023). The CEDAW Committee highlights that rural women in Albania continue to face challenges in terms of accessing justice, receive adequate information and support services in cases of violence, accessing health and education, suffering from gender stereotypes and harmful practices such as child marriage and honor killings, limited access to the labor market and limited participation in decision-making processes  . The EU report (2024) also highlights that women living in rural and remote areas face limited access to primary healthcare and to sexual and reproductive healthcare services.

Additionally, this intervention contributes to UN Women Albania Strategic Note (SN) 2022-2026 which aims to ensure that “All Women and girls enjoy and exercise their human rights in a gender equal society and meaningfully contribute to Albania’s sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development and EU integration”, and the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework of Albania 2022-2026, specifically outcomes 4 on Gender Responsive Governance and outcome 2 on Sustainable, resilient and green economic growth and resource management. The Senior Experts will be engaged and will contribute to the implementation of the Output 2.2 of the project: Rural women and stakeholders have capacities, tools and resources to leverage the value chains (VC) that benefit their employment opportunities, income, food security, nutrition standards and economic stability. The consultants will work both individually and in cooperation with other local and/or international consultants engaged by the office for relevant assignments. 

The project comprises two main components, one of which focuses on enhancing income and employment opportunities for rural communities and women in Northern rural areas. This is achieved through the analysis of value chains using a gender-sensitive approach, the promotion of Good Agricultural Practices, and building the capacity of municipal staff to implement gender-sensitive value chain methodologies. Furthermore, it supports women entrepreneurs by strengthening their businesses through mentoring, marketing training, and implementing interventions informed by the value chain analysis. By providing rural women and stakeholders with the necessary capacities, tools, and resources, the project enables them to leverage value chains that improve employment opportunities, income, food security, nutrition standards, and overall economic stability.

In this context, UN Women Albania is seeking to recruit Senior Experts on Women’s Economic Empowerment and Local Economic Development to provide expert guidance and expertise in designing and implementing activities related to women’s economic empowerment (WEE), to UN Women and its partners at local and national level, with a focus on rural economy and location-specific value chains. The Senior Experts will work in the project’s target municipalities (Shkodër, Bulqizë, Malësi e Madhe, Dibër), assisting and mentoring partners in implementing Gender-Sensitive Value Chains, offering expert advice to the project team, and collaborating with other consultants involved in the project.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

Under the overall supervision of the Project Management Specialist and in coordination with the Technical Project Analyst, the national consultants will serve as senior experts, contributing to the development and implementation of technical approaches and interventions aimed at achieving the project’s results and deliverables related to Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) and Local Economic Development (LED). The Senior Experts will undertake assignments, which may include but are not limited to the following, some of which may require collaboration with other consultants: 

• Provide technical advice and expert guidance in designing and implementing interventions focused on women’s economic empowerment (WEE), with a particular emphasis on rural women.
• Contribute to the implementation and mentoring of targeted interventions informed by Gender Sensitive Value Chains Analysis (GSVCA) findings, aimed at advancing women economic empowerment and local economic development. 
• Provide technical expertise, including trainings, capacity building interventions and mentoring for the implementation of Gender-Sensitive Value Chains (GSVC) in the project’s target municipalities: Shkodër, Bulqizë, Malësi e Madhe, and Dibër, as part of relevant programmatic interventions.
• Conduct missions and consultations with partners and stakeholders as needed and provide capacity-building support for WEE-related programmatic interventions for partners.
• Strengthen the capacity of local actors, including municipal staff, on gender-sensitive value chain approaches and their implementation, through tailored training and capacity-building initiatives.   
• Facilitate and advise on engagement with private sector partners in the identified value chains, as needed, to support activities that promote women's economic empowerment and sustainable economic growth in rural areas.
• Facilitate activities that enable women entrepreneurs’ participation in local, national, and international exchanges, including fairs and best-practice sharing events, to enhance visibility and market opportunities, providing expert guidance and fostering growth. 
• Provide technical guidance and capacity-building activities for women farmers on sustainable production, food security, nutritious food consumption based on GSVCA findings.
• Offer expert advice to women entrepreneurs in agriculture and start-ups, including those engaged in green economy and climate-friendly initiatives, through tailored mentoring and technical guidance.
• Contribute to development of analysis, inputs, briefs, progress summaries, knowledge products, communication material for presentations, reports, events, publications, articles and similar products, as requested by UN Women.
• Participate in meetings, workshops, round tables, and study visits on relevant topics, as requested by UN Women.
• Maintain organized records, including meeting minutes, deliverables, and documentation of all work conducted, ensuring full accountability for results achieved under this consultancy.
• Provide periodic reports and timesheets (in English) detailing the assignments undertaken, activity implementation, possible challenges encountered, and other reports requested by UN Women.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy. As part of this assignment, there will be missions to target municipalities of the project.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent knowledge on women’s economic empowerment and local development, including gender-sensitive value chains in the context of rural economic development.
• Knowledge and familiarity on rural economic development in Albania.
• Strong ability to interact effectively with various partners and stakeholders, with focus on local level authorities and local communities. 
• Proven ability to work within limited time constraints in the preparation of high-quality deliverables.
• Ability to work independently.
• Good computer skills in Windows environment, knowledge of internet communications and command of MS Office applications (Word, Excel, Power Point).
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (both oral and written);
• Strong organizational and time management skills;
• Strong analytical skills and team building skills;

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree in economics, business administration, marketing, rural development, food and agriculture and/or related fields is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience: 

• At least 15 years of progressively responsible work experience in local economic development and economic empowerment interventions, and/or rural development.
• Proven experience in leading gender-sensitive value chain development, designing targeted interventions, and mentoring women entrepreneurs and rural women, to ensure their inclusion in economic development initiatives.
• Demonstrated expertise in providing technical advice and support for women's economic empowerment (WEE) interventions, with a particular emphasis on rural women.
• Proven experience in engaging with national and local stakeholders, women's groups, cooperatives and women clusters, and the private sector, with a strong emphasis on capacity development and networking to facilitate sustainable economic growth.
• Proficient in providing capacity-building initiatives to beneficiaries, organizations, local actors and municipal staff through targeted training programs on gender-sensitive value chain approaches and economic development. 
• Previous experience or familiarity with the UN system or international organizations is considered an advantage.

Languages:

Fluency in English and Albanian is required.

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.