Recovery Rediscovery Redesign

Summary:

Vacancy No: BANGKOK/2009/01

Position title: Chief Technical Adviser (CTA) Women's Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality (WEDGE) 
Grade: P.4 
Contract type: Fixed-term appointment 
Duration of contract: One year (with possibility of renewal) 
Deadline for application: 3 March 2009 
Organization unit: SRO-Bangkok
Duty Station: Bangkok, Thailand

For questions related to this post, please contact: Mr Bill Salter, SRO-Bangkok, salter@ilo.org.

The following are eligible to apply:

• Internal candidates in accordance with paragraphs 15 and 16 of Annex I of the Staff Regulations.
• External candidates.

The ILO values diversity among its staff. We welcome applications from qualified women and men, including those with disabilities. 
Conditions of employment are described in Appendix II. 
The Office is a non-smoking environment.

Introduction:

The rapid growth of the micro, small and medium enterprise sector makes a key contribution to the creation of productive employment, the reduction of poverty and the prevention of human trafficking and labour exploitation in countries of East Asia. However, small-scale private sector development continues to be hindered by a number of constraints. These include low competitiveness and low market shares which prevent micro- and small-scale entrepreneurs to realize their entrepreneurial potential and earn decent incomes, and slow progress in the implementation of MSE policies and legislation which are conducive to local economic development and small enterprise growth, and inclusive of the poor. This is exacerbated by the low degree of self organization of the working poor, lack of support in the legal and regulatory environment and little dialogue among local authorities and the business community. MSE service providers, in general, are often weak and starting small-scale entrepreneurs have difficulty in accessing markets, business training and counselling, capital, information, technology, relevant skills training and product design. These problems are most pronounced for women from disadvantaged populations groups in rural and urban areas given the extent of entrenched gender stereotypes in the region which result in discrimination and exploitation of girls and women.

There is an urgent need to improve financial literacy, basic business management skills and the understanding of markets, and create awareness on higher labour productivity and decent work in the MSE sector. This is particular the case for women entrepreneurs from the poorer segments of the population in rural communities and the urban informal economy. There is a critical need to make economic development and enterprise development more inclusive and provide decent jobs and services for women and men in poverty.

The ILO contributes to the development of the MSE sector in East Asian countries by supporting governmental and non-governmental agencies, and the private sector in addressing these constraints with an integrated approach to local economic and small enterprise development based on ILO principles and values, recognizing that Decent Work for both women and men is a necessary element in improving competitiveness and productivity for all enterprises. The provision of integrated services for employment promotion and enterprise development with an explicit gender dimension is a crucial part of the Decent Work Country Programmes (DWCP) which have been developed with the constituents over the past years in the subregion under the auspices of the Women's Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality (WEDGE) project funded by the Government of Ireland. The overriding aim of the third phase of WEDGE in East Asia is to (i) expand the capacity of local partners to promote and implement sustainable gender and entrepreneurship development strategies; and (ii) embed WEDGE lessons and good practices in national and provincial policies and practices in participating countries, including the mainstreaming of gender and enterprise development in relevant ILO programmes The project mainly covers Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam and provides support services to other countries in East Asia upon request.

Description of Duties:

The CTA manages the WEDGE project in East Asia and provides technical guidance and support to ILO technical cooperation projects and regular activities geared at creating more and better opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment and income and prevent human trafficking and labour exploitation through enterprise development among population groups in poverty in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam, utilizing a three-pronged approach geared at:

• Capacity building of the ILO constituents, private sector organizations and other partner organizations which assist female and male entrepreneurs to improve their micro-businesses through training on gender and entrepreneurship and support to small business associations
• Enabling the partner organizations to develop and implement demonstration projects consisting of gender-responsive entrepreneurial development services, including association building and facilitating access to micro-finance among populations groups in poverty at the local levels, and
• Influencing policy development on gender equality and entrepreneurship management and practices through media documentation and sharing of sustainable good practices both at the national, provincial and local levels.

The WEDGE CTA reports to the Director of the SRO-Bangkok and receives technical guidance from the SRO Specialist on Gender and other Specialists as relevant. Technical backstopping from ILO Geneva is provided by the WED Specialist in ILO SEED Geneva.

Specific duties include:

• 1. Operational management of the Project Women's Enterprise Development and Gender equality (WEDGE) including technical guidance and supervision of WEDGE National Project Coordinators (NPCs) and Finance and Administration Assistants (FAAs) in the region, as well as international and national consultants to ensure successful and timely delivery of the Project's objectives and outputs with special emphasis on achieving sustainability of WEDGE initiatives in the policies and programmes of national and provincial partners and beneficiaries.
• 2. Provide technical support for integrating equality and entrepreneurship development in ILO supported programmes and projects related to enterprise and job creation, micro-finance, local economic development, action against human trafficking and child labour and support to people with disabilities within the DWCP context.
• 3. Provide technical guidance to participatory planning processes and action research resulting in the design and implementation of sustainable gender-sensitive enterprise development strategies at the local, provincial and national levels.
• 4. Provide capacity building and technical guidance to direct recipients in the provinces including both local government departments, local institutions and small enterprises as well as other relevant stakeholders for the successful implementation of local gender and entrepreneurship development strategies.
• 5. Development of training methodologies and materials for the various target groups within the technical areas of policy and enabling business environments, including gender and entrepreneurship development, and association building and guide the development of locally appropriate manuals and training materials on these topics.
• 6. Assist in the design of appropriate research and impact assessment methodologies related to sustainable poverty reduction, prevention of human trafficking and local economic development, including knowledge development and dissemination on good practices for integrated gender and enterprise development approaches.
• 7. Undertake technical advisory missions and conduct training seminars, workshops and meetings with national and provincial partners.
• 8. Draft and provide technical inputs to projects' progress review and final reports and technical reports upon request from the concerned ILO Geneva units (SEED-WEDGE in ILO Geneva or the field Directors covered by SRO-Bangkok.
• 9. Other relevant tasks as requested by the ILO.

Required Qualifications:

Education

• Advanced university degree in international development studies, business management, economics, social science or a related discipline.

Experience

• At least 3-5 years of international experience related to gender and entrepreneurship development, including subjects such as local economic development, business development services, association building and policy and enabling business environment.
• Experience in institution building with government bodies and other stakeholders at different institutional levels in the context of developing economies in relation to gender equality and business promotion and/or action against human trafficking and/or support to vulnerable target groups such as indigenous people and people with disabilities in East Asia;
• Familiarity with the ILO and its work with tri-partite partners;
• Fluency in spoken and written English are required.

Competencies:

• The ability to work effectively in an international setting and undertake independent technical and advisory missions;
• capacity to provide first-line technical advice in the area of specialisation including through the facilitation of workshops and seminars;
• ability to provide policy advice to governments and the ability to conceptualise and design interventions and activities in the specialised technical field;
• proven ability to develop training materials, capability to co-ordinate the work of international and national consultants and general service staff;
• ability to prepare reports and publications of a high quality, technically sound with conclusions leading to informed activities and ability to carry out and supervise research, project formulation, implementation and evaluation.

Additional Information:

** The post is subject to ILO conditions of service and salary scale at P4 level. The contract will be for 12 months with possibility of extension, depending on the availability of funds and job performance.** 

To Apply:

All applicants are encouraged to apply online as soon as possible after the vacancy has been posted and well before the deadline stated in the vacancy announcement.

Online applications are strongly encouraged to enable ILO to store your profile in a permanent database. Please visit ILO's e-Recruitment website at: https://erecruit.ilo.org. The system provides instructions for online application procedures. 

Deadline for application: 3 March 2009.

APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED DIRECTLY IF SELECTED FOR WRITTEN TEST. 
APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED DIRECTLY IF SELECTED FOR AN INTERVIEW. 
Applications from women and from nationals of non - and under - represented member States are particularly encouraged.
Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to ILO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual. 
Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted. 

For more information, please visit: https://erecruit.ilo.org/public/hrd-cl-vac-view.asp?jobinfo_uid_c=21032&vaclng=en