SOW_Final.docx

Gender and Social Inclusion

STATEMENT OF WORK

A. Introduction

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a U.S. Government agency whose mission is to provide assistance that will support economic growth and poverty reduction in carefully selected countries that demonstrate a commitment to just and democratic governance, economic freedom, and investments in their citizenry. For more information on the MCC, please visit www.mcc.gov.

B. Scope

The Department of Compact Operations (DCO), Sector Operations Division (SO) is seeking a gender and social inclusion specialist to provide due diligence support within the Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) Practice Group.

The consultant reports to the Practice Lead/Senior Director for GSI, and will be supervised by GSI Directors or Associate Directors. He/she works as part of the GSI practice group to strengthen MCC’s ability to apply current thinking, approaches, strategies, tools and practices related to gender integration and social inclusion in large-scale international development programs.

C. Country

Any MCC eligible country

D. Tasks and Deliverables

Tasks:

Tasks under the purview of the consultant shall include but are not limited to:

· Contribute to social and gender analysis including the identification of socially excluded or disadvantaged groups within the countries selected for Threshold or Compact programs.

· Working closely with other members of the GSI team, other MCC colleagues and country counterparts, make recommendations on strategies and approaches to further the women’s economic empowerment and/or the inclusion of socially disadvantaged groups in compact/threshold program and project design.

· Advise and support GSI staff and work closely with country counterparts and other MCC colleagues during compact implementation through closeout in assigned MCC partner countries.

· Support MCC’s GSI practice group through drafting and review of technical papers, guidelines, and participating in meetings and workshops across MCC as requested.

Deliverables:

· Produce analyses of qualitative and quantitative data to understand economic and social inequalities, and how they impact poverty reduction and economic growth;

· Design activities to promote gender and social inclusion within select sectors of MCC work (including infrastructure, energy, land, education) to promote women’s economic empowerment and/or expand the ability of poorer segments of the populations to access the benefits of MCC programs.

· Integrate social inclusion and gender objectives in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) documents, including program and project logics.

· Draft GSI sections/inputs into MCC compact development documents

· Draft Terms of References (TORs) and deliverables for feasibility and design studies and contracts

· Review other sector procurement and add necessary language to ensure that gender and social inclusion issues are addressed as mandated by MCC’s Gender Policy.

· Provide technical support and assistance to build capacity of in-country counterpart, including assisting in the development of the Social and Gender Integration Plan

· Draft and review documents related to compact implementation, such as Terms of Reference, bidding documents, RFPs, work plans, budgets, reports, deliverables for sectoral work as well as Monitoring and Evaluation Plans, surveys, indicators and reports.

· Augment, through literature reviews, GSI knowledge base of how to effectively integrate gender and social inclusion issues into MCC sectors (transport, water, energy, land and education sectors).

· Identify ways to strengthen the collection, analysis and use of sex-disaggregated data to inform MCC project design, monitoring and evaluation.

· Organize events such as seminars and conferences.

F. Period and Place of Performance

All work shall be completed between the dates of the award through a four year period of performance.

The estimated level of effort is estimated at up to 1,900 hours per year for the first 2 years and 2,000 hours per year for the remaining 2 years for a total of 7,800 hours with an estimated 3 trips per year. MCC anticipates this level of effort but does not guarantee this level of effort as it may increase or decrease.

The consultant shall work from his/her home office and/or MCC headquarters or any MCC eligible country.

G. Time and Reporting

All formal communication with MCC, including reports, will be submitted to the Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COR), Program Manager (PM), and other designated MCC personnel. The COR/PM for this requirement will be identified via separate correspondence.

The COR/PM will have technical responsibility for monitoring the contractor’s performance. The COR/PM will review and evaluate the contractor’s performance, and also will coordinate any communications with relevant counterparts and other donor agencies and organizations.

Any changes in the terms of the ToR will be made in writing and approved by the Contracting Officer. No representation of the COR/PM shall serve as a basis for an alteration in the general scope of this ToR or of the terms and conditions of the ToR unless confirmed in writing by the Contracting Officer. The contractor must communicate with the Contracting Officer on all matters that pertain to the Contract terms. Proceeding with the work without proper contractual coverage could result in nonpayment for that work.

H. Evaluation Criteria

· Master’s Degree in sociology, anthropology, international development/affairs, economics, public policy or relevant field.

· Working knowledge of the literature on poverty reduction, gender equality and social inclusion in international development

· Demonstrated ability to access and analyze qualitative and quantitative data to understand economic and social inequalities, including those based on gender and knowledge of how such inequalities impact poverty reduction and economic growth.

· Demonstrated work experience in designing interventions to address gender equality or other social inequalities issues in the sectors in which MCC works, including in infrastructure, WASH, land, and/or human capital.

· Working proficiency in French or Spanish.