Consultancy Services to devise a National Strategy and Costed Action Plan for Women Entrepreneurship Development in Mauritius

Background

The Government of the Republic of Mauritius is signatory to a number of International and Regional Human Rights Instruments that speak to women’s economic empowerment. These include, inter alia, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

The ambition of achieving the SDGs cannot be attained without putting women at the centre of Government’s actions. The 2030 Agenda elaborates on the criticality of women’s economic empowerment through a number of SDGs, particularly SDG 5(a) in terms of women’s equal rights to economic resources; SDG 5(b) that focuses on enhancing the use of enabling technologies, in particular, ICT, to promote women’s empowerment; and SDG 8 on economic growth.

Women entrepreneurs are, not a homogenous group, and groups of women entrepreneurs with less power and voice are often overlooked when engaged in micro enterprises or home based income generating activities.

Women entrepreneurs operating micro and small businesses in the informal economy make a strong contribution to the economic well-being of the family and communities. As they remain outside, the scope of Small Medium Enterprise development policies and programmes, their chances of developing lucrative businesses remain slim. On the other hand, the number of women engaged in trade remains limited. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI)  Mauritian entrepreneurs are seemingly better than their sub-Saharan African counterparts but still lag behind the world average..
 

 Objective of the Assignment

The MGEFW is seeking to retain the services of a National Consultant to organise, lead and carry out consultations (including relevant Ministries, the private sector, financial and training institutions, women entrepreneurs including those registered with the NWEC; and relevant organisations involved in Women Entrepreneurship Development to gather inputs that would form the basis for holding of the national consultations to devise a National Strategy and costed Action Plan for Women Entrepreneurship Development in Mauritius.

Duration

This assignment is for duration of 45 working days.

Submission of Application

Applications should be sent through  email : procurement.mu@undp.org on or before Thursday 28th April 2022 - 16:00 hours Mauritius time (GMT+4)

 Annexes
Annex A - Letter of confirmation of interest and availability and Submission of financial proposal
Annex B - Model Contact IC
Annex C - UNDP GCC IC
Annex D - P11
Terms of Reference