Foreign economic-aid-related services

Tender description

The UK will provide up to 19 750 000 GBP to transform the economic opportunities for women and girls in Nepal. DFID wishes to seek the services of a supplier to implement a multi-pronged, flexible and adaptive programme to identify, test and deliver solutions to the structural barriers that exclude women and girls from genuine economic empowerment, with a focus on growth sectors such as reconstruction, agriculture and forestry, energy, and tourism. It will include activities to strengthen the evidence-base on women's economic empowerment in Nepal, deliver market systems solutions to address specific barriers to women's economic empowerment, support the Government of Nepal's Women's Development programme to maximise its impact and outreach, and support a more enabling environment for women and girls by addressing social norms and supporting policy reform. The Nepal country office of the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) has launched a new programme to support the economic empowerment of women and girls — the Sabalaa Programme. The Programme will develop solutions to the structural barriers that prevent women and girls from engaging freely and productively in the economy. Sabalaa (meaning ‘powerful woman’) will adopt a multidimensional approach to Women's Economic Empowerment and address: 1. Issues of access: to resources, assets and opportunities for women and girls across Nepal to participate and benefit from economic opportunities across all sectors. 2. Issues of agency: to create an environment in which women are perceived, both by themselves and by others, as having full ownership over their income, assets and the economic opportunities available to them. The Programme Outcome is: Greater evidence and capacity on Women's Economic Empowerment driving improvements in programming and policy, with sustainable solutions to support women's economic empowerment identified, tested and adopted. The Programme Impact is: A more enabling environment for women and girls in which their economic potential is harnessed, resulting in more inclusive growth and poverty reduction. DFID has identified key constraints to Women's Economic Empowerment, outlined in Annex A. These constraints are closely interlinked and cut across a range of intervention areas, including (but not limited to) evidence building, policy reform, network-building, addressing sectoral and market constraints and supporting social and structural change. Sabalaa is a national programme, but will require strong local interventions. Geographic focus should be considered across all components. Nepal is currently undergoing a process of government restructuring which may impact on the implementing environment (particularly in the Reach component). Suppliers are expected to be aware of the ongoing reforms and be equipped to adapt accordingly. The following four interlinked components have been identified. However, bidders are encouraged to propose innovative ways of prioritising, sequencing and coordinating activities across the components to maximise the outreach and impact of the Programme. Component 1: Learn. The expected outcome of the learn component is to generate evidence and drive capacity building on women's economic empowerment in Nepal, to be used internally (across all programme activities) and externally (through wider dissemination and research uptake). Component 2: Deliver. The expected outcome for the deliver component is to increase the incomes of at least 20,000 women and girls by piloting market systems solutions to key barriers and constraints to women's economic empowerment. The programme will then scale up successful interventions and encourage their replication across a network of stakeholders, reaching at least an additional 20,000 women and girls. Suppliers are encouraged to review and stretch these ambitions. The aim of these interventions should be to increase the incomes of beneficiaries, achieve substantive economic equality for women and girls, and to demonstrate results across meaningful indicators related not just to economic capability but also to agency. Component 3: Reach. The expected outcome of the reach component is to support the Ministry of Women, children and Social Welfare's Women's Development Programme (WDP) so it can maximise its outreach and impact and drive positive transformative change for its members. Component 4: Transform. The expected outcome of the transform component is to support a more enabling environment for women and girls, so that they are able to freely make, act on and benefit from economic decisions.