DAI, the implementer of the USAID’s Pakistan Regional Economic Integration Activity (PREIA), invites qualified offerors to submit proposals to “Develop Self-Learning Electronic (E) Module on Gender and Trade”.
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
The USAID funded Pakistan Regional Economic Integration Activity (PREIA) is a seven-year (September 1, 2015 – August 31, 2022) project with an overall aim to increase competitiveness of businesses in regional and international markets by strengthening Government of Pakistan’s (GoP) ability to develop and implement reforms of policies, laws and regulations and improved private sector and civil society’s engagement in policy making. PREIA also has an objective of promoting gender inclusive trade policy development and increasing participation of women in trade policy dialogue.
There is a growing recognition of the differences in impact of trade amongst men and women. Just as the structure of markets and institutions shapes the impact of trade and trade policies in any given country, embedded gender inequalities in a society influence the access to the opportunities and benefits of international trade for women. Women constitute nearly half of Pakistan’s population however their participation in economic activity has remained poor. The World Economic Forum (WEF) places Pakistan at 150 out of 153 countries in economic participation and opportunity on its global gender index report 2020.
The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) GoP is cognizant of the potential benefits that gender responsive trade policies can bring to Pakistani women owned businesses, improved participation of women in workforce and to the national economy. MoC’s commitment to institutionalizing gender mainstreaming in policy development is illustrated by its recent actions of including gender mainstreaming as a fundamental pillar of the upcoming Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2020-2025 and creation of a Consultative Committee on Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) under the National Electronic Commerce Council (NeCC) that is tasked with representing the economic interest of women entrepreneurs and providing policy inputs for gender mainstreaming of the national e-Commerce policy.
The USAID PREIA project in pursuance of its objective to strengthen the GoP ability to bring gender responsive policy reforms, aims to develop an electronic (e) module on “Gender and Trade” that will be placed at the Pakistan Institute of Trade and Development (PITAD). PITAD is an attached organization of the Ministry of Commerce that provides training to MoC’s newly inducted and existing officers on numerous aspects of international trade. PITAD organizes and conducts the Specialized Training Programme (STP) that is mandatory for newly inducted officers at the MoC. In 2020, USAID PREIA in collaboration with PITAD developed an eModule on Trade Data Analysis that is managed by PITAD. The eModule was designed to function as a self-learning tool and is currently being used to train officers of the Ministry and its attached departments. The eModule is hosted on CANVAS- online learning platform. USAID PREIA aims to host the eModule on Gender and Trade within the existing eModule on Trade Data Anaylsis.
OBJECTIVES
USAID PREIA is seeking services of a firm to develop a self-learning eModule on Gender and Trade;
A) The learning outcomes of the eModule should include but not limited to are as follows;
- Containing concepts of gender, gender roles & relations and their impact on distribution of factors production, inequality, equality and equity
- Elaborating the concept of gender mainstreaming and its application in policy development and implementation
- Encapsulating challenges faced by Pakistani women in participation in economic activity
- Developing understanding and analytical ability for assessing the impact of trade on gender inequalities and vice versa
- Sharing International Best Practices for applying gender lens to policy formulation and analysis
- Developing ability to analyze data for gender responsive trade policy formulation
B) Integrate the module on to an existing eModule on Trade Data Analysis hosted on CANVAS- online learning platform.
The RFP is attached above. Please follow the timeline mentioned in the RFP for queries and submission.