International Alert is in discussion with TradeMark East Africa to carry out a baseline study for its Women in Trade programme and is seeking applications for a consultant to lead the field research in Kenya.
This Women in Trade programme aims to contribute to the greater inclusion of women in trade as one of the pathways to increased business competitiveness and increased trade in the East African Community (EAC) region and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It aims to do this through two key objectives:
Objective (i): Increase trade value and incomes of women traders by addressing the constraints faced by women as they gradually transition to formal trade and ensure that they trade gainfully; and
Objective (ii): Increase the number of women participating in trade through the elimination of the barriers of entry to trade for women across the EAC.
The baseline study will use a mixed-method methodology, combining desk-based research, field surveys, focus group discussions and key informant interviews, to produce a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative assessment for the programme.
This methodology combines ‘hard’ data relating to trade volumes and trends, and political and economic policy and institutional infrastructure that is in place, with perceptions and socio-cultural data that influences, for example, the way in which women traders use the policy tools that are available to them to maximise their trade. As such, the methodology will provide a holistic picture of the barriers and opportunities for women to play a greater role in trade across the key locations where the programme will be implemented.
The analytical framework for the study will:
gather quantitative and qualitative data against the programme logframe
provide an in-depth analysis of the political, socio-economic, policy/institutional and environmental context in which the programme is being implemented
test the results chain and theory of change of the project
The Research Team Lead will supervise a team of data collectors to gather economic, socio-cultural, environmental and policy data at key border crossing points in Kenya, feed into the design of appropriate data collection tools and make these relevant to the context, and feed into the analysis of the baseline assessment report.
Note, the above include some of the requirements for the job. For the full requirements, please read the Terms of Reference.
