Individual Consultant:A BASELINE STUDY ON MICRO-ENTREPRENEURS AND CO-OPERATIVES IN THE SELECTED VILLAGES IN THE OKAVANGO DELTA, BOTSWANA (примерный перевод: Индивидуальный консультант: БАЗОВОЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ НА МИКРО-ПРЕДПРИНИМАТЕЛЯХ И СОТРУДНИКАХ В ОТДЕЛЬНЫХ ДЕРЕВНЯХ В ОКАВАНГО ДЕЛЬТА, БОЦВАНА) (Ботсвана - Тендер #3010235)

A BASELINE STUDY ON MICRO-ENTREPRENEURS AND CO-OPERATIVES IN THE SELECTED VILLAGES IN THE OKAVANGO DELTA, BOTSWANA

UN Women is grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. UN Women work entails the elimination of discrimination against women and girls and promotion of equality between women and men. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the efforts of the United Nations System to ensure that commitments on gender equality translate into action. To accomplish this mandate, UN Women partners with Government, Private Sector and Non-Governmental Organizations to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment.

In pursuit of its mandate, UN Women has partnered with the De Beers Group in a programme aimed at enhancing the capacity of female micro-entrepreneurs and co-operatives in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. For Botswana, the Project will be operating in the selected areas in the Okavango Delta through training on business and life skills. A programme of support called Acceleration of Women Micro-Entrepreneurs (AWOME) has been developed to be implemented from 2018 to 2020.

In the first step to implement the AWOME Programme, UN Women is seeking the services of a consultant to conduct a baseline study on micro-entrepreneurs and co-operatives in the selected villages in the Okavango Delta where AWOME Programme will be implemented in Botswana. The selected villages have the highest levels of poverty and women are bearing the greatest brunt of due to the gender inequalities. The Baseline Study is an action research that will reveal the nature and capacity needs of micro-entrepreneurs and co-operatives among other critical indicators that will inform the implementation of AWOME in the selected villages.

1.Objective of the Baseline Study

The purpose of this assignment is to conduct a Baseline Study that interrogates the circumstances and the capacity of the existing micro-entrepreneurs and the potential for establishing enterprises and co-operatives in the villages where the programme will be implemented. The study should also investigate whether there are co-operatives in these villages, the nature and capacity of the co-operatives (if they exist) how best the establishment/growth of co-operatives can be facilitated to enable the women to pool resources for their economic advancement. The baseline study will entail garnering crucial in-depth information that will provide data on programme baselines, the capacity needs of the entrepreneurs and the emerging opportunities and resources that can be harnessed to empower the micro-entrepreneurs and facilitate the growth/or establishment of co-operatives.

Specifically, the baseline study will aim to;

Scout the existing informal businesses (individual micro-entrepreneurs) that are predominantly women-owned, unpack the capacity needs of the entrepreneurs in those businesses as well as the potential and pathways to growing their businesses.

Establish whether there are co-operatives in the villages, and if yes, the existing capacity of the co-operatives as well as capacity gaps.if there are co-operatives, investigate the following parameters;

level of active involvement of women in the cooperatives,

purpose of the existence of the cooperatives

Their present level of socio-economic activities and their capacity needs.

The nature and magnitude of the economic activities that the co-operatives are involved in.

Understand entrepreneurs’ perception of their capacity and potential for economic advancement and what limits them from maximizing their potential for higher socio-economic returns.

In the context of the economic opportunities in the area, review the existing regulatory and support environment to determine how regulations contribute to or hinder the economic advancement of female micro-entrepreneurs.

Shed light on obstacles, besides regulations, that prevent entrepreneurs in the targeted villages from accessing opportunities presented by government.

Establish the social challenges that are predominant in the area such as Gender Based Violence and HIV and AIDS and highlight their main drivers.

Make recommendations on specific interventions that can help women entrepreneurs to grow and make tangible contribution to the economy through job creation and growth of income.

The research will need to contextualize the macro, meso and micro environment of the entrepreneurs.