By 
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.
Women in East and Southern Africa represent the most deprived group of the population in spite of their paramount social and economic role. They have limited access to, and control over critical resources, as a result of social, cultural and economic norms. UN Women’s programmatic work to support women’s economic empowerment in the region is centered around three pillars: (i) Improving women’s access to climate resilient agricultural value chains; (ii) Promoting and strengthening women entrepreneurship; and (ii) Enhancing women’s income security and social protection.
COVID 19 hit East and Southern Africa at the beginning of the second quarter of 2020. The pandemic has exacerbated existing gender inequalities in economic opportunities across East and Southern Africa where most people earn their livelihoods through the informal economy. The shock triggered by COVID-19 came at time when the region’s economy was already plagued by rising income inequality, financial fragility and mounting debt, and limited fiscal space by Governments. The socio-economic impact of the pandemic affected women disproportionally in the region as a result of their overrepresentation among very small businesses, and informal and vulnerable workers. The lockdown measures have also increased the unpaid care burden of the region or rates of Gender Based Violence against women’s and girls.
To respond to the crisis, Governments across the region are spending significant resources to provide immediate support measures and to boost economic recovery through ‘fiscal stimulus’ packages. It is important to ensure that adopted economic stimulus and recovery package are gender responsive and address equity gaps. UN Women has developed a range of policy tools to support Governments in identifying and addressing the gender impacts of the pandemic, including one on “How to Assess and Engender Fiscal Stimulus Packages to Respond to the Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19”.
?In Uganda, UN Women Country Office in conjunction with other agencies [UN Women, UNDP, FAO, UNCDF, UNICEF, RCO, ILO, WFP, IOM and UNHCR] undertook a rapid analysis of the socio-economic effect of the COVID 19 pandemic in Uganda. The report that was produced in June 2020, provided a unique attempt to assess the potential implications of the COVID-19 response on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), recommending caution where elements of the response could result in SDG regression. It also examined the efficacy of social protection measures for mitigating the impacts of the pandemic, highlighting interventions that could achieve maximum impact. It extensively assessed the structure of Uganda’s private sector ecosystem and the potential implications of the pandemic for businesses including tourism and manufacturing. Not least, articulation was made on select sectors that have immediate bearing on the entire population, providing entry points to enable the country to keep the most vulnerable and marginalised in view. The policy recommendations were made in line with the Uganda’s National Development Plan III (NDP III) considering COVID-19.
The report further highlighted that at the macro level the economy was projected to decline from the pre- pandemic estimate of 6% to 0.8%, the government revenue was reduced due to reduction in exports, lower tourist spending, decrease in public revenue due to reduction in taxes and lower remittances thus affecting government revenue. ???The report specifically analyzed the impact of COVID 19 pandemic on the informal sector particularly focusing on the market and street vendors’ businesses and general economic welfare. The report ??revealed that for the women in the informal sector, there was total disruption in trade as movement was restricted this reduced the incomes, capital, and the general welfare. There was also reported increase in Gender Based Violence. One of the recommendations proposed the report was to establish a restart stimulus fund specifically supporting the women in the informal sector to address their peculiar concerns. Although government and the private sector have established stimulus response mechanisms to address the effect of the COVID 19 pandemic, a more focused gender analysis is required to have a holistic picture of the response mechanism. This will inform policy and programming to specifically address the needs for the women in a more focused and sustainable manner.
It is in light of the above that UN Women, with support from the Government of Korea, launched a regional flagship programme “Engendering Fiscal Stimulus Packages and Recovery Efforts Adopted in Response to the COVID-19 Health and Economic crises” to support Governments in East and Southern Africa in engendering fiscal stimulus packages through direct advice and technical assistance, as well as advocacy and policy dialogue.? UN Women is seeking to engage the services of a national consultant to serve as project coordinator and expert for the implementation of the project in Uganda.
With guidance from the Head of Programmes/Deputy Country Representative within the Country, the National Consultant will report to the Uganda Country Office WEE Specialist. He/she will be responsible for implementing the programme “Engendering Fiscal Stimulus Packages and Recovery Efforts” which includes coordinating relationships with national partners and stakeholders, monitoring, and reporting, and managing the finances, in line with the scope of work below. He/she will work under the overall guidance and support of the Regional Programme Coordinator, Gender and Economics in the Regional Office.
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