Procurement Notices

To apply, kindly read the procurement notice, and send the following documents to ic.jo@undp.org  no later than 12 June 2016.

1. CV
2. Applicant’s letter to UNDP/Confirmation of interest form
3. Technical proposal
4. Financial proposal

( Technical and financial proposals along with CV should be submitted, and without such will not be considered).  

Despite Jordan’s relative stability within the Middle East, it continues to face many challenges. Jordan suffers from natural-resource scarcity, weak infrastructure, and overstrained basic services. Jordan is currently one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, and lacks arable land and significant oil deposits. Furthermore, Jordan’s economy depends heavily on foreign aid and imports, and diaspora remittances and tourism constitute two of its main sources of foreign currency, with a total of 3.798JOD billion in remittances in 2015 and 5,810.9JOD million (23% of GDP) in 2014 from tourism. Finally, Jordan is threatened by external challenges such as regional conflicts and instability, as well as the growing global threat of violent extremism.

 The continuous influx of Syrian refugees since 2011 has exacerbated these circumstances. According to UNHCR, Jordan hosts the second largest population of refugees per capita globally, at around 87 refugees per 1,000 people. As of May 2016, there were more than 630,000 refugees registered with UNHCR, with more than 80% of refugees settled outside of refugee camps in urban areas such as Amman, Irbid, Mafraq, and Zarqa. The situation not only increases pressure on overburdened public infrastructure, but also raises rent prices and overcrowds the labor market, particularly the informal sector, as refugees have been recently allowed to work legally, since the eruption of the Syrian refugees crisis.

 These economic pressures tend to disproportionately affect already vulnerable populations, especially women. Compared to a national unemployment rate of 13.6% for Q4 2015, the female national unemployment rate rises to 23.0%, a 3.9% increase from Q4 2014. This number jumps to a staggering 73.3% for women with a bachelor’s degree or higher; meanwhile, women’s economic participation remains low at a 12.4%. For the Governorate of Zarqa, the female unemployment rate climbs even higher to 30.2%, while the female participation rate falls to 7.8%. The primary obstacles to economic participation women that have been noted in interviews in Zarqa and Mafraq are mainly lack of access to financial capital, lack of access to markets, and socio-cultural norms restricting women’s movement outside of the home.

 Jordan ranks 140 out of 145 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index of 2015 with respect to women's economic participation and opportunities, and is thereby Jordan is one of the lowest in the region. While there is no single explanation available for the limited participation of women in the workforce, several assessments suggest that the combination of restrictive legal frameworks and social norms has impacted negatively on women’s participation in the labour force (A 2013 Jordan Country Gender Assessment). As such, gender related bias exists in the economic structure of employment and production distorts women’s economic participation in the labour force. Women are also among the least resilient to shocks and stresses affecting their livelihood security, especially as these women-headed households even had limited income-earning opportunities before the crisis. In addition, these groups are lacking in confidence and sense of belonging to their communities, feel marginalized, and risk for the community stability.

 Those women who do participate in the economy are generally self-employed in the informal sector. After resale trade, they primarily work in home-based food production, including dairy products, pastries, breads, vinegars and pickles, mushrooms, and some handicrafts. Not only are these popular economic entry points for Jordanian women, with many unemployed Jordanian women expressing a desire to open businesses in these areas, but there has been a demonstrated consumer preference for homemade goods over store-bought ones, and many women sell all of the goods they produce, particularly cheeses and mushrooms. Given proper training, access to capital, and access to markets, then, many other women could potentially take advantage of this demand and enter the economic sphere.

 In response to this situation, UNDP Jordan has launched a programme titled “Mitigating the Impact of the Syrian Refugee Crisis through Support to Host Communities” signed between UNDP and the Government of Jordan in June 2013 to help the Government of Jordan in alleviating the impact of Syrian crisis and improving the standards of living for Jordanians, especially youth and women, in the host communities with a focus on the two governorates of Mafraq and Irbid, and currently expanding to Zarqa governorate. The programme encompasses six outputs:

1. Short-term employment opportunities created and economic recovery initiatives developed geared towards improvement of livelihoods and basic social services deliveries
2. Enhanced local economic development through skills-matching, MSMEs growth and capacity development;
3. Improved delivery of municipal and social services;
4. Develop State-society trust and social cohesion;
5. Enhancing community security and crime prevention and support to legal aid in Jordan; and
6. Technical support to coordination of host community concerns.

Responding to the second output, UNDP Jordan launches a project of “Farmers Market for Women’s Economic Empowerment Project” with the overall objective of “Supporting Immediate Livelihoods Creation for Marginalized Youth and Women in Poor Communities”. In preparation for implementing this project, the assignment aims to conduct a scoping mission to; i) map the potential actors and relevant governmental and non-governmental agencies relevant to the concept of farmers market in order to identify potential partners; ii) explore the feasibility of implementing the farmers market in Jordan; and iii) identify the feasible modality of farmer’s market targeting local farmers and women.