Background:

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.

Care work, both paid and unpaid, is a cornerstone of societal well-being and economic development, yet it remains undervalued and inequitably distributed. Across Africa, the systemic undervaluation of care work perpetuates gender inequalities, impedes women’s economic opportunities, and limits progress toward achieving gender equality. In sub-Sharan Africa, women and girls bear a disproportionate responsibility performing nearly 70% of unpaid care work, averaging 3 to 4 times more hours on unpaid care activities than men[1]. In Tanzania women spend an average of 4.5 hours per day on unpaid care work, compared to 1.5 hours for men. In Kenya, the figures are even higher with women spending up to 5 times more time on unpaid care and domestic work than men[2]. Unpaid care work, if assigned a monetary value, would represent significant shares of the GDP in countries, specifically, 7.2% in Ethiopia, 7.9% in Tanzania, 13.9% in Senegal, and 8.8% in South Africa[3].

Despite this enormous value, and its significant contribution to socio-economic development, unpaid care remains largely overlooked in fiscal and economic planning. Underinvestment in care services has real costs including limited childcare facilities, inadequate social protection, and lack of essential infrastructure such as clean water and energy. These limited services disproportionately affect women’s ability to participate in the labour market, pursue educational opportunities or participate in leadership. In turn, this reduces productivity, limits human capital development and tax revenues, and constrains inclusive growth. In many African countries public investment in care services such as childcare and early childhood development is extremely low. Comparative analyses find government spending on pre-primary/ECD is typically under 0.2% of GDP and accounting for around 2% or less of education budgets, well below international targets[4]. 

Public sector investment in care services and care-supporting infrastructure is critical to reducing unpaid care work, creating decent jobs, and advancing inclusive growth. Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) enables governments to effectively address gender inequalities through policies, plans and budgets by integrating the needs and priorities of women and men, girls, and boys, including the most excluded. For instance, expanding childcare services in Senegal and Tanzania could generate over 900,000 and 7 million formal jobs, respectively⁵. Such investments would support the reduction and redistribution of care work disproportionately borne by women while fostering inclusive development and gender equality.

Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB) is critical for public financing of care services because it creates a framework for public resources to be allocated and spent to reduce, redistribute and recognize unpaid care work, thereby strengthening care infrastructure, expanding services, and advancing women’s economic empowerment. Recent GRB implementation in select Tanzanian local councils demonstrate emerging institutionalization at sub-national level, with concrete budget allocations for women’s economic empowerment and strengthened local capacity to integrate gender priorities into planning and expenditure decisions. With technical support from UN Women and partners, local government planners and officials in several districts both on Mainland and in Zanzibar received training and guidance to translate national GRB guidelines into local budgets, enhancing their ability to identify and fund gender-responsive interventions linked to women’s economic participation and basic services including access to water and childcare services[5].

These efforts, however, continue to face challenges due in part to a lack of systematic documentation, impact analysis, and harmonized monitoring frameworks that limit evidence on how GRB allocations translate into concrete care investments and measurable gender equality outcomes, thereby constraining accountability, policy learning, and sustained financing at scale.

Objective of the Consultancy

The objective of the consultancy is to collect and document primary data in Tanzania on how care priorities are integrated into gender-responsive planning, budgeting, and expenditure processes at national and sub-national levels. The consultant will produce high-quality case study for Tanzania that will feed into the regional analysis that will show actionable evidence and recommendations on how care priorities can be integrated into gender-responsive planning and budgeting processes in East and Southern Africa region. In this regard, the national consultant will work with the international consultant to include primary data from Tanzania to the regional comparative research.  

The consultant will report to the Deputy Country Representative of UN Women Tanzania and work closely with the Women’s Economic Empowerment Specialist at Regional and Country Office levels. The consultant will work closely as part of a team with an international consultant with complementary deliverables.

Description of Responsibilities /Scope of Work

Under the overall guidance of the Deputy Country Representative and Women’s Economic Empowerment specialist of UN Women Tanzania and working closely with the UN Women Women’s Economic Empowerment team and relevant teams at other UN Women Country Offices the consultant’s main duties and responsibilities are as follows. 

• Asses national, sectoral, and local government budgets of Tanzania to analyze integration of care priorities, focusing on care-related sectors (childcare, health, water, energy, social protection) one sector per country to identify the extent to which care priorities are integrated into planning, budgeting, and financing processes.     
• Analyze existing care strategies, plans and budgets to assess how care needs are identified, costed, and financed at different levels of government 
• Engage government ministries, LGAs, and civil society in Tanzania—particularly women’s rights and care-focused organizations—to capture perspectives and document innovations, good practices, accountability mechanisms, and gaps in care-related policy, budgeting, implementation, and monitoring from a gender equality perspective.
• Develop high-quality, country-level case study from Tanzania documenting how care priorities are integrated into planning, budgeting, and expenditure processes highlighting enabling factors, bottlenecks, lessons learned, and replicable models across countries
• Validate findings with key stakeholders and refine the report to ensure accuracy, relevance, and ownership.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy with local travel in Tanzania.

1. UN Women. (2021). The Care Agenda: A Regional Perspective for East and Southern Africa. Available at: https://africa.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2024-01/esa_care_framing_final_2b_3.pdf.
2. UN Women (2024) Kenya time-use survey and care assessment: Summary brief. New York: UN Women. Available at: https://data.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/documents/Publications/2024/Kenya_time-use_care-assessment_summarybrief.pdf
3. UN Women. (2021). Investing in free universal childcare in sub-Saharan Africa: A case for bold action to achieve sustainable development.
4. Harris, K., Ajayi, K. and Mainali, A. (n.d.). Childcare and Early Childhood Development Expenditures in Africa Comparative Policy Insights for Advancing Women’s Economic Empowerment. [online] Available at: https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/childcare-and-early-childhood-development-expenditures-africa-comparative-policy.pdf [Accessed 3 Nov. 2025].
5. United Nations Tanzania SDG Acceleration Fund (2024) Final narrative progress report – Support to UN Tanzania coordination on gender equality and women’s empowerment: reporting period November 2023 – March 2024. MPTF Office.

Deliverables 

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Comprehensive understanding of government budgeting processes, fiscal policy, and budget cycles.
• Understanding of care economy and care systems in East and Southern Africa region 
• Ability to integrate care economy and gender analysis into budget planning, execution, and monitoring.
• Ability to advocate for GRB within governmental systems, including securing buy-in from key stakeholders.
• Skilled in designing and delivering training programs for government officials on GRB concepts and methodologies.
• Competence in developing and implementing gender-sensitive indicators to track and assess the impact of public budgets on gender equality.

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree with 7 years of experience in international development, economics, political science, social science, gender/women studies, human rights, international relations or other social science fields is required. A PhD is an asset.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree
• A project/programme management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 7 years progressively responsible experience in designing and managing programmes and advocating for Gender Responsive Budgeting, ideally, with experience in Tanzania or in East and Southern Africa region. 
• Practical experience with national policy frameworks on gender equality, and how these influence budgeting and public expenditure
• Demonstrated experience in designing, implementing, or advising on gender-responsive budgeting initiatives in either national or sub-national contexts
• Experience in facilitating sessions on GRB for Government stakeholders
• Experience in working with the UN and UN Women is an asset

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Kiswahili is required.
• Knowledge of French or any other UN official language is an asset.

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.