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 centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
UN Women Albania is implementing its 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”. To achieve such a result, UN Women will focus on three outcomes, which mirror verbatim the areas of focus of the United Nations Albania:
1. Increased and more equitable investment in people to remove barriers and create opportunities for those at risk of exclusion.
2. Innovative and integrated policy solutions that accelerate sustainable, productive and inclusive development.
3. Gender-responsive governance that strengthens equality and non-discrimination.
In Albania, the tourism sector is a major and continuously growing contributor to the country’s economic development. In the first nine months of 2023 over 8 million tourists visited Albania, more than double the number in 2022. While no in-depth studies were conducted on women in tourism, in line with international trends women are widely employed in the sector, (including in agrotourism), many informally or as family workers. Women are also more impacted by security and safety both as employees as well as tourists. With the country aiming to become the next international tourist destination, there is no better time to strengthen gender mainstreaming in tourism. Global evidence shows that a high percentage of women workers in tourism does not necessarily translate in safe and decent jobs, adequate career opportunities, and equal wages. Promoting gender responsive tourism is therefore vital for achieving the country’s declared vision of “sustainable tourism” as part of its National Strategy on EU Integration and Sustainable Development 2022-2030.
In this context, the CO is piloting the initiative “Engender the consumption and offer of tourism services in Albania”.
The initiative will support the achievement of the SN outcome 2 ‘By 2026, all persons benefit from, and contribute to, innovative and integrated policy solutions that accelerate sustainable, productive and inclusive development, enhanced climate change adaptation and mitigation and transition to a green and blue economy’ and will focus on the following interventions:
The intervention will further provide sector specific gender mainstreaming guidance and technical assistance using previous UN Women interventions and tools related to gender mainstreaming in a EU accession context and contribute to better interface between institutions and businesses in the sector.
In this context, UN Women Albania is seeking to recruit a national consultant with a track record of expertise and experience in the tourism sector and promotion of women in tourism. The consultant will be expected to support UN Women in implementing a set of activities and will work closely with a senior national consultant on women economic empowerment, under the overall lead and guidance of an international expert on gender mainstreaming and tourism and will be supervised by the UN Women Project Coordinator.
Under the overall supervision of the Project Coordinator and under the technical lead of the International Expert on Gender, Mainstreaming and Tourism and in collaboration with the Senior National Consultant on Women Economic Empowerment, the consultant will be required to undertake the following tasks:
Deliverables
Tentative schedule
Inputs to the workplan for the consultancy assignment and the proposed intervention (English);
By mid-April 2024
Stakeholder mapping of relevant actors (formal and informal), collection of qualitative and quantitative data feeding the first mission of the international consultant in May 2024, and identification of target regions as per set criteria;
By end of April 2024
Contribution in implementation of activities as per prepared workplan; (one workshop, conducting key informant interviews, at least 2 focus groups with women in tourism in the selected region) and drafting of inputs from stakeholders;
By end of November 2024
Desk review of the existing evidence and information
considering the analysis axes set for the gender assessment.
By end of October 2024
Support to the data validation process with stakeholders and preparation of draft sections of the country assessment report as per task distribution plan;
By end of March 2025
Support to the review of the preliminary and final draft of the gender assessment and in implementation of activities (one training, presentation of report), as per prepared workplan;
By end of June 2025
Inputs to the draft National Strategy on Tourism and other relevant policy documents if needed, including a concept note for further resource mobilization;
By mid-September 2025
Activity and mission reports;
After each mission as per work plan
Final consultancy report (in English) describing the consultant’s completed deliverables, problems encountered while carrying out the consultancy and recommendations for future similar interventions.
By end of September 2025
Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel
This is a home-based consultancy, and the incumbent will be expected to liaise closely with UN Women Albania project team, including regular face-to face and online meetings with the projects’ team of consultants. As part of this assignment, there will be a minimum of 3 trips to the identified target areas/municipalities of the project.
Core Values:
Core Competencies:
Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values
FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:
Education and Certification:
Experience:
Languages:
Fluency in spoken and written English and Albanian is required.
V. How to Apply
Qualified and interested candidates are required to apply online and submit the following documents:
How to Submit the Application: To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:
Notes:
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.)
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