| Overview : Overview : 1. Introduction
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.
UN Women partnered with BHP Foundation in 2018 to develop and pilot the Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning (SCE) program to fill the gap in support for young and adult women who have missed out on education to get a second chance to find pathways to economic empowerment. The partnership brings together Governments, the BHP Foundation and UN Women to drive equality of opportunity for marginalized people through innovation and specifically on the empowerment of women.
The SCE program is now in its fourth year of the innovative pilot Phase I, including a 12-month cost extension due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on program implementation, ending 30 June 2022. To date (September 2021 data), the total number of women enrolled was 72,894 out of the target 67,000 Table 1). The number of graduates has reached 28,031 women with 15,8461 starting to earn an income, mostly through self-employment/entrepreneurship.
In early 2020, UN Women commissioned an independent mid-term program evaluation2. The mid-term evaluation concluded that the SCE program is robust and appropriate in design including emerging data of impact. Both the mid-term evaluation and a test of the SCE program design against current research on innovation and scale up models3 confirm that SCE is a clear example of innovation for scale done right, highlighting its testing across multiple country contexts, in depth inception phase with needs assessment, strong partnership approach, and capacity building of Implementing Partners (IPs). Knowledge products to standardize the SCE model and a final program evaluation will complete the evidence-base by end June 2022.
UN Women is currently planning the design of a 5-year Phase II of the SCE program to transition the successful components of the program to sustainable scale by integration into institutional and policy frameworks in the initial pilot countries, mobilizing resources for scale up by other stakeholders including by governments, foundations, impact and institutional investors, as well as continuing to expand the use of the model geographically through new UN Women Country Offices adopting it into their wider women’s economic empowerment programs in both humanitarian and development contexts.
It is anticipated that the six pilot countries from Phase I will adopt a diverse range of financing approaches for delivering Phase II scaling-up and sustainability plans. One of the options that UN Women is looking at to transition the SCE program to sustainable scale, with support from BHP Foundation, is a pay-for-outcomes funding mechanism for Phase II of the SCE program. This is part of the exploration of different financing models to ensure scale up and sustainability of the program, in parallel to traditional grants and direct government adoption.
1 If including 10,000 nurses upskilled for COVID-19 emergency response, the number of graduates is 25,846.
2 https://gate.unwomen.org/Evaluation/Details?evaluationId=11474
3 UN Women has explored SCE program innovation and scale up design with Tinkr, a Norwegian Consulting Firm linked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Innovation Norway, which specializes in structured scientific approaches to creativity and innovation. According to Tinkr’s analysis, the SCE program is a clear example of innovation for scale done right.
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In its Strategic Plan (2022-25)
4, UN Women states its ambition to advance public-private partnerships and complement efforts to increase national-level financing with new and innovative financing approaches. In this context, a feasibility study for the SCE program was conducted in October-December 2021 to determine the potential for using an outcomes-based approach (OBA) as one of the ways to transition the SCE program to sustainable scale.
Outcomes-based approaches – also known as Pay-for-Performance or Payment-by-Results – tie funding to outcomes, rather than activities or inputs. At their core, outcomes-based contracts help to align incentives between governments, donors, service providers and, where needed, impact investors around a shared definition of success. Contracting for outcomes, rather than activities, gives service providers greater scope to adapt their delivery approach to maximise outcomes for programme participants. Outcomes-based approaches can also be attractive to governments and other Outcomes Funders (typically philanthropies and/or institutional donor agencies) as they help to ensure value for money by tying payments directly to results. Impact Bonds are a sub-set of outcomes-based contracts that involve investment, typically from impact investors, to provide upfront funding for the delivery of services, with repayments from Outcomes Funders based on the successful delivery of outcomes.
The feasibility study found that there is a compelling rationale to use an OBA to fund the tangible outcomes of the SCE program. This is based on the need to continue to promote operational flexibility for country programmes to tailor their activities to the needs of individual women; the opportunity to strengthen the evidence base connecting SCE activities with key outcomes for women; and the opportunity to attract new funders who may find payment for results a compelling way to ensure value for money. The role that UN Women would play in an OBA structure needs to be explored further as UN agencies are currently not able to hold repayable capital. The feasibility study therefore recommended a 2-phased approach to an OBA design process. First, a 6-month executable design period where UN Women, together with the service provider, would determine what roles it might play, starting with two countries. During this period, options for contracting structures and funding flows would need to be assessed as well as gauging interest and commitment from funders, investors, and government ahead of progressing to a possible 12-18 months Detailed Design and Contracting phase.
This Terms of Reference is for call of proposals for the 6-month Executable Design period, with more detailed methodology and scope outlined below. The purpose of this executable design phase is two-fold; 1) to explore a pay-for-outcomes funding mechanism as one financing option to bring the SCE program solutions for marginalized women to access education and employment to sustainable scale, and 2) to drive innovation in financing approaches for scaling UN Women program solutions to new countries with the SCE program as a model. |
