OFFICIAL USE

Care and Competitiveness:

Enhancing business performance and economic growth through addressing unpaid carework

  1. Background and Context

The unavailability, inaccessibility and declining quality of public services are major concerns in most countries – but are of particular urgency in countries undergoing transition toward market economies. In such situations, unavoidable care needs – of children, the aged and disabled – may be shifted from State responsibility back on to women (such as in some former Soviet states) or were never developed as part of social infrastructure in the first place (such as in some Southern and Eastern Mediterranean [“SEMED”] countries). In this way, unpaid care by women is treated as an infinite, cost-free alternative to provision of care services either by the public or private sector.

Unpaid care work has important implications for gender equality and economic growth. Care responsibilities are a key determinant of women’s low participation in the labour force and therefore a major contributing factor to gender gaps in employment. Provision of care services can unleash economic growth through increased labour force participation of women, expanded consumption in two-income households, and job creation in the care sector.

Unpaid care work also matters to employers in the private sector. Research shows that satisfied employees are more loyal and productive and that firms which invest in work-life balance and other working conditions enjoy better financial performance than those which don’t. A more diverse workforce also leads to innovation and enhances competitiveness by helping companies address better the needs of the market as that market is better represented.

The private sector can contribute to the agenda of recognising the value of care work by responding to the needs of workers in innovative ways. In that sense there is an opportunity for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD”, the “Bank”) to explore the role of the private sector as an employer of both men and women when they have care responsibilities.

1.1Operational Relevance for the Bank

The EBRD Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality 2016-2020 (the “SPGE”) mandatesthe Bank through its investments to strengthen women’s economic empowerment and equality of opportunity in the countries where the EBRD invests, as an important contributor to well-functioning market economies and inclusive transition.

Persisting gender inequalities constrain equality of opportunities both globally and in the Bank’s countries of operations (“CoOs”). As of 2015, women’s labour force participation rate was still lower than that of men in every CoO and women were significantly more likely than men to be unemployed (particularly when younger), face difficulty obtaining a loan or opening a bank account, be under-represented in corporate and public decision-making positions and face greater discrimination in economic and social life because of their gender.

One of the three specific objectives of the SPGE is to increase access to employment opportunities and skills for women and this will be achieved by contributing to the creation of an enabling environment that can address the constraints which gender inequality places on transition.Women’s employment opportunities during transition have been limited in some CoOs due to the reduction in the social services which previously enabled women to work, such as state funded and private nurseries, child-care and elderly care in both urban and rural areas.The SPGE recognised the importance of encouraging targeted support to raise women’s participation in the labour market through more gender-sensitive practices, for instance, by ensuring that child care or family care provisions are in place to allow women access to procurement programmes, trainings and meetings; and

“…the need of strengthening the institutional capacity of the private sector to integrate gender-responsive policies in the recruitment, training, promotion and retention of women. This might involve introducing innovative approaches such as flexible working schemes for both men and women and other best practices that aim to facilitate equal engagement in the workforce and an equal role at the household level such as supporting the introduction of paternity leave in order to retain women in the workforce and in turn foster equal care-giving responsibilities” (SPGE pp 28-30).

The Bank now wishes to engage a consultant (the “Consultant”) to carry out a study (the “Study”) on the ‘Care and Competitiveness: Enhancing business performance and economic growth through addressing unpaid carework’ (the “Assignment”).

The Assignment will help the EBRD to identify and promote best practices on the issue of care and to include these in the design of its investments. The EBRD will use the Study to support its clients in improving their Human Resources practices, inter alia, by looking into options of child care, family care, and work/life balance provisions, so as to allow women and men to access programmes, trainings and meetings, or the introduction of leave or shared leave in order to retain women in the workforce and in turn foster equal care-giving responsibilities.

In particular, the Study mayidentify ways of establishing and funding care solutions in industrial zones,ways in whichcorporates already implement innovative ways of responding to the needs for care provision, not only for child care, but also for elders, people living with disabilities, as well as efficient and sustainable policies, measures and mechanisms.

The Study will help to define the scope and variety of relationships between private and public bodies in relation to the delivery of care in support of women’s equal access to labour market opportunities through examples of good practice. Those good practices will help to understand how and why care can be “smart economics”/ economically effective for both public and private sector entities, and in partnership. Existing certification schemes on work-life balance could also be explored and illustrated.

  1. Objectives

The objective of the study is to find out the waysin which discrimination connected with women’s heavy and unequal unpaid care responsibilities intersect with private sector planning and operations, and what can be done to address these.

The Study will identify operationally relevant insights and recommendations for EBRD clients and host Governments to strengthen women’s access to labour market opportunities by addressing care capacity and provision.

To achieve the above, the study should develop a dualfocus on the:

  1. Enabling environment to facilitate private sector led care provision (ie., how can legislation facilitate or impede private sector engagement in care provision – theoretical discussion followed by examples of good practices in legislation and fiscal policy supporting care provision by the private sector)
  1. Impact and mitigation of women’s unpaid care work on the private sector (bulk of the study)

-In what ways does women’s unpaid work impact companies’ performance (explain mechanisms by which this happens, together with a brief case study for each mechanism)

-What are the conditions under which private sector actors recognise or ignore the significance of unpaid care

-By which measures (costs etc) does unpaid work impact companies’ performance (estimations developed via 6-8 case studies)

The EBRD holds a significant amount of statistical data on national economies and unpaid domestic work in selected CoOs, a list of legal frameworks and some case studies from the private sector in terms of care provisions in some of the selected countries.

  1. Scope of Work

The Consultantwill:

  • Read and assess the significant amount of statistical data held by EBRD on national economies and unpaid domestic work in selected CoOs; list of legal frameworks and some case studies from the private sector on Care provision; and, identify additional data to be collected and analysed to reach the objectives of this assignment
  • Propose a draft outline of the contents to be approved by EBRD Gender Team
  • Develop research tools and guidelines
  • Organize and coordinate field missions (if necessary)
  • Finalise an analytical, comparative study on the care economy, that will include:
  • Literature review of the care economy concept
  • Comparative reviewof the prevailing legal frameworks, social norms and customary rules as they relate to the issue of care inEgypt, Kazakhstan and Turkey plus up to three countries selected fromBulgaria, Kyrgyz Republic, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Tunisia, to be agreed with EBRD
  • Mapping of worldwide best practices, particularly in relation to private sector practices and corporate policies and selected field research
  • 5 Case studies preparation for best practices in companies (e.g., in Taiwan)
  • Estimation of the economic cost of the care economy in 3 selected EBRD CoOs (to be selected after the legal review is finalised in discussion with Operation leaders)
  • Description of relevant certification in terms of work-life balance (e.g. in Italy and Germany)
  • Specific recommendations for EBRD investments by sectorsrelevant to EBRD and where women are underrepresented: the consultant will provide a number of options with the different modalities of care provision relevant to EBRD’s mandate;
  • Country-level recommendations for policy dialogue in the selected EBRD CoOs
  • Professionally edit the knowledge product(s)in English
  • Prepare the layout, format and design of the knowledge product(s)to be professionally printed. The Bank’s Operation Leader (the “OL”) will review and sign off every stage of the layout and design before printing.
  • Print 200copies of the knowledge product(s), in colour, with pictures and binded (guidelines to be provided by the EBRD), if applicable
  • Develop a Briefing Pack with the concepts and topics from the full report outlined and their positive relation to business performance explained, available in English, Arabic, Russian and Turkish, as well as printed in 50 copies each, if applicable. The pack will be used for EBRD’s outreach and training purposes;
  • Present the Study at EBRD headquarters, and in selected Resident Offices (the ones relevant for the country studies)

Note, EBRD is interested in the practical application and amplification of the study results and recommendations. In their proposal, Consultant should consider whether a traditional report format is optimal for guiding private sector operations and supporting policy dialogue and feel free to propose propose alternative research deliverables, for example, proposals for policy briefs, data visualisations, theory of change papers, toolkits etc.

  1. Implementation Arrangements

The Consultant will report on all aspects of the Assignment to the Bank’s Operation Leader (the “OL”).

The Consultant will update the OL in writing on the progress of the Assignment on a fortnightly basis.

The Consultant will be responsible for the following logistical arrangements:

  • Organising all travel for their field trips;
  • Ensuring the Study is edited by a professional proof reader / sub-editor, and designed by a graphic designer; and
  • Having 200 copies of the knowledge product(s)printed and bound in accordance with the Bank’s requirements, if applicable.

The Consultant will include costings for the above in their budget for the Assignment during contract negotiations.

The consultant will further commit to ongoing shared-learning and dialogue between the Bank, the consultant and key stakeholders during the course of the TC, whereby practices and experiences are reviewed and discussed by relevant stakeholders in a timely fashion. This can be achieved through regular information exchange while taking advantage of more opportunities to work closely with the Bank and Stakeholders, for example by the development of research guidelines and protocol which:

  • Apply in a simple, comprehensible way and applicable to everyday operations and priorities of the Bank and its clients.
  • Can be monitored in terms of technical and operational progress in weekly/ monthly schedule
  • Prioritise tools created for better decision-making during research phase, based on the interpretation of results and analysis of information as it is uncovered.
  • Do not require major theoretical support but are of a practical nature and easy application instead.
  1. Deliverables

The Consultant will submit the following deliverables:

WP / Detailed description / Deliverables / Timing / Involved
1 / An inception report with an outline of the research methodology, including analysis and recommendation on existing EBRD Care Economy data, questionnaires for key informant interviews and focus group discussions, if any, analytical framework, and the report outline; As part of this work, the Consultant will determine whether a traditional report format is optimal for guiding private sector operations and supporting policy dialogue and may propose alternative research deliverables, for example, proposals for policy briefs, data visualisations, theory of change papers, toolkits etc / Work-plan, methodology, activity plan, schedule for the country missions and recommendations, updated as necessary from proposal; agreed knowledge product deliverables / Within 2 weeks of the Assignment start date / Core team
2. / Benchmark for the innovative private sector Best practices, possible sources for finding this information (company, sector, size, country, funding, solution, sustainability, awards, nr. Participants, impact…) also contacting key informants / Template and criteria to identify best practices
Guidelines to be drafted and presented to the OL (country profile template and interview guidelines) / Within 4 weeks of the Assignment start date / Core team and country experts
3. / Preliminary report/ materials that will include preliminary findings on the comparative legal review of the selected countries on the care economy, together with a comparative analysis of the time surveys in the same 6countries as well as 2-3 good international practices identified. Selection of three countries to develop the economic cost valuation. / Draft report/ materials with countries annexes / Within 12weeks of the Assignment start date / Country experts and part of the core-team will carry out the preliminary country profiles, compilation by the Core team
4. / Draft report/ materials that will include:
  • comparative legislation review
  • review of international best practices (of companies, countries, legislations, private sector and public sector)
  • economic valuation
  • general recommendations for EBRD investments
  • country-level recommendations for policy dialogue in selected countries
/ Draft final report/ materials, which will be peer-reviewed by the country experts, and also the editor will do the necessary linguistic adjustments and proof-reding. / Within 20weeks of the Assignment start date / Core team and country experts, the editor/proof-reader
5. / Draft final report/ knowledge product(s) of max. 75 pages in addition to annexes and including strategic recommendations. The report will be peer-reviewed internally by the Bank, relevant staff and experts. / Draft of the final report/ materials. / Within 22months of the Assignment start date / Core team, proof-reader and editor and graphic designer
6. / Final report/ knowledge product(s)to be sent to the Gender Team both in word and PDF formats.
The report will be professionally proofread, edited and professionally graphic designed.
Printed in 200copies. / Final draft of the final report. / Within 24months of the Assignment start date / Core team, proof-reader and graphic designer
7. / Delivering the 200copies tothe Bank premises / Final report/ materials, final Summary publication, Final internal report / Within 25months of the Assignment start date / Team leader
8. / On the basis of the final report, a briefing pack with the concepts and topics from the full report outlined and their positive relation tobusiness performance explained, will be prepared, professionally proofread, edited, laid out and available in English, Arabic, French, Russian and Turkish, as well as printed in 50 copies each. The pack will be used in the future for EBRD’soutreach and training purposes / Communication product (to be approved by the OL) / Within 26months of the Assignment start date / Core team, proofreader and graphic designer
9. / Presentation of the report’s findings in London HQ / Final report/ materials, final Summary publication, Final internal report, powerpoint / To be agreed by the Bank and the Consultants / Team leader and Senior economist

VIII.Consultant’s profile

The team shall comprise:

1)A team leader preferably with :

  • 10 years’ experience in coordinating researches/studies/surveyson gender and economics, research methodologies and planning
  • Sound skills in managing a diverse team of experts and providing tailored supervision and support to expertsin their individual tasks
  • Good problem-solving attitude
  • Ability to work under pressure and deliver tasks in tight deadlines
  • Experience in carrying out researches/studies on the EBRD’s CoOs.
  • Strong qualitative and quantitative research skills and good report writing skills, assuring quality of the final deliverables
  • Fluency in English.

2)A senior economist (preferably expert and/or national of one of the selected countries)preferably with:

  • 7-10 years’ experience in conducting time surveys and preparing methodologies to estimate the economic value of care work and its related value in terms of GDP loss;
  • 5years’ experience carrying out applied research on issues on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment;
  • Strong qualitative and quantitative research skills and good report writing skills;
  • Fluency in English;
  • Fluency in any of the national languages of EBRD’s CoOs will be valued (Arabic, French, Russian, Turkish).

3)Senior specialists preferably with:

  • 7-10 years of experience carrying out applied research on issues on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment
  • Good knowledge of the concept and application of care economy in the selected regions
  • Strong qualitative and quantitative research skills and good report writing skills
  • Fluency in English, in addition to fluency in at least one national languages of the selected countries, e.g. Arabic, French, Russian, Turkish.

Non-key experts include:

4) aprofessional editor with preferably 7-10 years’ experience proof reading and editing similar studies and knowledge of the private sector, labour and/or gender issues.