TERMS OF REFERENCE Title

International Consultant: Research on Protections for Myanmar Domestic Workers Migrating to Thailand and Singapore, UN Women, Myanmar

Purpose

To undertake research on Protections for Myanmar Domestic Workers Migrating to Thailand and Singapore

Location

Contract Duration

A combination of: Homebased, travel to Singapore, Thailand, Yangon, Myanmar and some travel to other states and regions as required by hiring unit 1st February 2017 to 31st March 2017

Contract Supervisor

Head UN Women, Myanmar

Application Deadline

24th January 2017

I.

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. The UN Women Office in Myanmar focusses on Governance, Peace and Security, Ending Violence against Women and Access to Justice and Women’s Economic Empowerment. An important component of UN Women’s work in the realm of Economic Empowerment is protection of rights and enhancing the security of women migrant workers, as Myanmar is increasingly seeing women migrating independently as part of their livelihood strategy. The bulk of low skilled women migrant workers however migrate into the unprotected informal, construction, agriculture, manufacturing and service sector, e.g. domestic work where they suffer gross human rights violations. To that end, UN Women has been engaging with the Union Ministry of Labor, Population and Immigration, civil society organizations, recruiting agencies and international organizations on mainstreaming gender equality and women’s rights provisions into the draft Overseas Employment Act, the National Plan on migration, the code of conduct for recruiting agencies, social mobilization of women migrant workers and the development of Information, education and communication materials and campaigns for safe migration. Against this background, the Union Ministry of Labor, Population and Immigration, Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar has requested UN Women to support it technically and finally on a research study on protections for migrant domestic workers from Myanmar to Thailand and Singapore. UN Women ROAP in partnership with ILO, has commissioned a Policy Paper on Protective Bans. This paper addresses the impact of protective umbrella bans and policy restrictions in ASEAN on women migrant domestic workers. It studies the corridors of Myanmar-Singapore and Cambodia-Malaysia which

have a high movement of women migrant domestic workers. The current upcoming research study by UN Women Myanmar will build on the finding of this position paper.

Against this background, UN Women, Myanmar seeks to hire an International Consultant to undertake this research study. II. Objective of Recruitment To undertake a research study and produce a high quality publication with policy recommendations and actions to improve the lives of migrant domestic workers. III. Roles and Responsibilities The Consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Head of UN Women, Myanmar and in close consultation with UN Women International/national personnel and staff in Myanmar and the Regional Program Manager on Migration, Bangkok to achieve the following deliverables. 



 

Produce a high quality publication on Impact of protections for migrant domestic workers from Myanmar to Thailand and Singapore. The publication will include an in-depth analysis of country specific data on the conditions of migrant domestic workers at all stages of the migration process, a review of a slew of policies in Myanmar, Thailand and Singapore governing conditions of exit and entry, conditions of work and stay, conditions of return and reintegration, analysis of bilateral agreements and policy recommendations. Most importantly the publication would have a high degree of national ownership. Design the Study and produce a detailed inception report related to the following: introduction highlighting trends on migration for domestic work, especially to Thailand and Singapore, the purpose of the study; the methodology (using both qualitative and quantitative approaches); a review of the most recent literature and highlight where this study makes an advance; the basis for women’s migration as domestic workers; conditions of women migrant domestic workers (pre departure, in-transit, on Site, on return; the gender dimensions of Myanmar government policies and practice governing women’s outmigration for work, return and resettlement, including government to government tie ups; policies and practices related to recruiting agencies; impacts of these policies on migrant domestic workers; the gender dimensions of government policies in Thailand and Singapore governing conditions of entry and stay, worker rights, social protection; policies and practice related to recruiting agencies; impacts of these policies on migrant domestic workers; policy recommendations to countries of origin and destination to protect Myanmar migrant domestic workers. Undertake field interviews/visits as required by the Hiring Unit in close partnership with Ministry of Labor, Population and Immigration, Government of Myanmar and UN Women staff. Produce the Study and Incorporate feedback from Ministry of Labor, Population and Immigration, Government of Myanmar and UN Women. Format and Style 

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35-40 pages of data, analysis and policy recommendations on protections for migrant domestic workers from Myanmar to Thailand and Singapore, not including table of contents, acknowledgements, preface, acronyms, bibliography, annexes, etc. Style: Calibri, Font size: 11

IV. Key Expected Outputs and Time lines Activities

Outputs/Deliverables

Prepare the Inception Report for the proposed Inception Report study that will include sections on:

Time lines 15th February 2017

1. literature review 2. details of the proposed research methodology 3. detailed work plan for data collection and development of research tools 4. mapping of stakeholders and policy makers for the purposes of data collection and to advocate findings and policy recommendation 5. development of research tools

Incorporate Feedback on Inception Report from Reference Group(virtual) Finalize of the Inception report (feedback will be provided by partners and reference group)

Revised Inception Reports with incorporated comments from Reference Group (virtual) and partners

20th February 2017

Undertake field interviews/visits as required in Collected Data from field 8th March 2017 close partnership with Government of Myanmar visits in Thailand, and UN Women staff Singapore and Myanmar Develop evidence-based analytical study report Draft evidence-based 18th March 2017 including literature review, synthesised results analytical study report and findings from data collection and desk analysis and policy recommendations Incorporate feedback on the final report by peer Revised report with 24th March 2017 reviewers/reference group incorporated feedbacks from peer review and reference group Conduct validation workshop with MOLIP and  other national partners and stakeholders and incorporate feedback from validation sessions, reference group, peer reviews and develop a revised final version of the research study 

Concept note, 27th March 2017 programme agenda, list of participant for the Validation workshop Feedback, comments, recommendations from validation workshop

Finalize full analytical report and develop a Final Report and Summary 31st March 2017 summary version of the report Report Launch of the Final Report

Concept note, launch 1st May 2017 agenda, and press release

V. Duration of the assignment and duty station: The consultant is expected to start with home-based work and then undertake field interviews/visits to Singapore, Thailand, Yangon, as required by the hiring unit, in close collaboration with the Government of Myanmar and UN Women between 15 February 2017 – 10 March 2017. UN Women will cover most economic and most direct airfare from consultant’s home country to these sites. Domestic travel will be arranged and paid by UN Women. VI. Payment Schedule Payment will be made in three installments upon receipt of the deliverables as above timelines and prior to the payment of the installment, the deliverables, related reports will be reviewed and approved by UN Women within one week of submission. Reimbursement of travel expenses will be made upon submission of airfare receipts, and travel stubs to UN Women. VII. Performance Evaluation Consultant’s performance will be evaluated by Head of UN Women Myanmar in close consultation with the Government of Myanmar, Regional Program Manager Migration on: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy and quality of the product delivered. VIII. Required Qualifications Education 

Master’s degree or equivalent in gender studies, migration, labour or development related disciplines or other social science fields.

Experience  Minimum 5 years of relevant work experience in the area of migrant labour, especially women migrant domestic workers, with demonstrable experience in:  data gathering, analytical work and knowledge generation  Policy review, policy advocacy and reform Language and other skills  Excellent command of English (oral and written), other UN languages an asset.  Work on and knowledge of gender issues in Myanmar is an asset IX. Evaluation Applications will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis.  

Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%] Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated. Technical qualification evaluation criteria: The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria: Technical Evaluation Criteria A) Education

Obtainable Score 20 %

Technical Evaluation Criteria

Obtainable Score

B) Experience and skills

50 %

C) Language and other skills

30 %

Total Obtainable Score

100 %

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview. Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:   

Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated. The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100. The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

X. How to apply Interested candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to [email protected] with –cc to [email protected], not later than 24th January 2017, COB. Submission package includes:    

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Updated CV Personal History Form (P11) Letter of Interest containing the statement on candidate’s experience in the field of recruitment Financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount breaking down a daily professional fee and international travel expenses (from the country of origin to Yangon Myanmar and back), visa and other travel related costs. Writing sample on gender and migration

All applications must include (as an attachment) the CV and the financial proposal. Applications without financial proposal will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. Please note that only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.