Researcher/ Expert – Barriers Facing Women In The Labour Market In Lebanon Study

Job Vacancy

Post Title:                  Researcher/ Expert – Barriers Facing Women in the Labour Market in Lebanon Study
 
Reference to the project:    Promoting women entrepreneurs in the Middle East
 
Duration:                    2 months and half   (from beginning of April 2013 till the mid of June 2013)
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Association Najdeh is a Lebanese civil NGO was founded in 1978 and registered in the Ministry of the Interior under No. 0169 / Ed, working in the camps and Palestinian communities and specifically targeted Palestinian Women Refugees and male Refugees in Lebanon. The Association aims through its various programs to empower Palestinian Refugee Women in Lebanon at various levels including: economic, social, psychological, etc...
 
Project Context:
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon do not have social and civil rights, and have very limited access to the government's public health or educational facilities and no access to public social services. Treated as foreigners due to their statelessness, Palestinian refugees are denied the right to work in legal, medical & engineering professions, and are required to obtain permits to work in many other professions. This has led to a high rate of unemployment and higher rates of poverty amongst the refugee population. Only 16% of Palestinian women in Lebanon work, according to Najdeh’s extensive survey, with half engaged in technical crafts/ IT/ trade jobs.
 
 
Association Najdeh works with Christian Aid and the Young Women’s Christian Association  (YWCA) in occupied Palestinian territory  on a joint project aimed at adressing gender inequality in the labour market, and supporting women entrepreneurs in the Middle East to realise their social and economic rights. We are working to show that the future can be brighter by supporting evidence-based research into the barriers women entrepreneurs face and then by providing women with capacities to overcome these barriers including vocational and technical training, career-counselling, confronting restrictive societal norms and advocating for laws that allow Palestinian refugees and women to become successful in business. 
 
By providing training and opportunities to women to become economically active, whilst at the same time challenging societal and legal barriers, our partnership with Christian Aid and the YWCA provides women in Lebanon and Palestine with the chance to make a living and become economically active.
 
Overall Goal: Address Gender Inequality in the Labor Market and tackle dynamics that further marginalize women in pursuit of social and economic empowerment.
 
Objective one: Evidence-based research about barriers facing women in the labour market is produced to help in advocating for confronting restrictive societal norms and expanding women access to job market
 
Objective two: A number of Marginalized Palestinian Women in Palestinian camps in Lebanon have acquired the professional skills to become entrepreneurs or employees in job market and enhanced their economical and social situations through Vocational training, career counselling and employment.
 
 
Objectives of the study:
-       looking at the impact of the restrictions to Palestinians in Lebanon by focussing in particular on the economic and social barriers to employment for Palestinian women in order to advocate for improved rights and access to employment.
-       Enabling the development of advocacy strategy on rights to female participation in the labour force by bringing together the evidence includingattitudes and other barriers to understand what policy and practice responses need to be enacted.
-       Providing recommendations on reducing these barriers.
-       Organizing workshops to discuss the outcomes of the research and confronting restrictive laws to reduce barriers for women’s economic participation in job market.
 
Methodology of the study: The study should use:
- Qualitative and quantitative approaches,
- In depth interviews,
- Focus group discussions,
 
Target Groups

major stakeholders:

Labour market businesses and companies
NGOs working/offering services to vulnerable women, especially VT courses and economic services.
UNRWA Employment Offices
Employment agencies

direct beneficiaries:

                      i.        200 working and non- working women who graduated from VT courses in Association Najdeh from different areas (South, Beirut, Beqaa and Tripoli).

Deliverables
 
Deliverables must coherently outline the evidence for conclusions and recommendations, and they will include:
a)    Approach and methodology of the study
b)    Draft of the study: the report should be in English and consist of:

Introduction / literature Review
Executive summary: of key findings, recommendations and lessons learned.
Table of contents
findings
Conclusions
Recommendations
Appendices
Presentation workshops on the key findings
Draft and Final Report: draft of the study will be provided and discussed internally with Najdeh and the researcher. Then, the final Report will be provided to Najdeh in one electronic and one hard copy. 
Report language is English with executive summary in Arabic.

 
Skills and Experience:

Strong social research, analytical and writing skills
Strong command of statistical methods and tools
Knowledge of the Lebanese context and the situation of Palestine refugees
Good experience in conducting qualitative and quantitative research
Excellent oral and written communication skills
Written and spoken fluency in Arabic
Written and spoken fluency in English

 
 
Deadline: 1st of April 2013
Please send us your CV