National Consultant to Analyze and Adapt International Care Models for Strengthening Gender-Responsive Care Services in Georgia

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. UN Women in Georgia supports state and non-state partners towards the achievement of substantive gender equality in Georgia. In line with national and international commitments, UN Women works on the levels of policies and legislation, institutions and grassroots, in order to achieve transformative results for increased gender equality and greater protection of the rights of women and girls.
 

The economic empowerment of women (WEE) – to succeed and advance economically and to make and act on economic decisions – is a prerequisite for realizing gender equality and empowering women in all areas of life. It is also a cornerstone for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. Unpaid care work has recently been established as a policy target in the global development agenda, as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UN General Assembly 2015). Under SDG 5 on gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls, one of the six targets (SDG 5.4) calls for “recognition of unpaid care work through the provision Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment: Recognizing and Investing in the Care Economy 10 of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility”. Furthermore, the global framework for action by the UN Secretary-General, Our Common Agenda calls on Member States to prioritize the care economy as a strategy to achieve two key objectives: (1) advancing women’s economic inclusion by reducing unpaid care work, thus tackling gender inequality and accelerating progress toward SDG 5, and (2) creating decent jobs by expanding formal care services, supporting productive employment, and advancing SDG 8.
 

There is widespread consensus in research and policy evaluations of gender inequalities that women’s disproportionate shouldering of unpaid care work constitutes a root cause of their economic and social disempowerment. The huge gender gaps in unpaid care work time translate into parallel gaps in paid work time and systematically generate gender inequalities in the form of a multitude of market outcomes, including the gender employment gap, horizontal and vertical gender jobs segregation, the gender earnings and wealth gap as well as gender gaps in political representation and decision-making. 
 

Care work encompasses both paid and unpaid dimensions (for example, childcare workers, pre-school and schoolteachers, health-care professionals and long-term care workers provide care services on a paid basis), but the majority of care work is performed on an unpaid basis at home. The increasing availability of time-use data from around the world statistically reinforces a well-known reality of the unpaid care economy: Women shoulder a disproportionate share of this responsibility. Furthermore, the data reveal the vast number of hours required to sustain the care economy and highlight the significant gender gap. 
 

In Georgia, the recent Time Use Survey (TUS) indicates that the unpaid care work responsibilities, including domestic chores, caregiving, and community work, fall disproportionately on women. Women spend five times more time on unpaid domestic and care work than men. This gender ratio is highest in other urban areas at 5.1, compared to 4.6 in Tbilisi and 4.5 in rural areas. This disparity is reflected in women’s economic inactivity rate. In 2023, women’s labour force participation rate was just 43.1%, showing a significant 22 percentage point gap compared to men’s participation rate of 65.1 %. A substantial majority of women, 56.9%, were economically inactive, meaning they were neither employed nor actively seeking jobs. Notably, this trend has remained consistent over the years, and data from the past years. Contributing factors to women's economic inactivity, alongside the unequal distribution of domestic and care responsibilities, include limited access to public care services. Global studies have demonstrated a clear link between unpaid care work, gender equality, and women’s economic empowerment. As a result, the issue of women’s unpaid care work has recently gained increased attention, while the provision of care services can speed up economic growth through increased women’s labour force participation, improved revenue, expanded consumption and livelihood options; and job creation in the care sector and non-care sectors, thereby, benefitting families, communities, and country’s economy at large. 
 

To address the disproportionate share of care responsibilities shouldered by women in Georgia and provide a strategic response to national and local authorities, UN Women Country Office Georgia seeks to engage a national consultant to explore and adapt innovative approaches to care service delivery. These include models such as the Care Blocks and the Octopus Model, both of which promote integrated, community-based care systems. Care Blocks are neighbourhood-level hubs that provide a range of care services, such as childcare, eldercare, and support for persons with disabilities, in one accessible and coordinated space. By centralizing these services within communities, Care Blocks aim to reduce the time and physical burden of caregiving, promote formal employment in the care sector, and enable women to pursue education, training, or employment opportunities.   The Octopus Model of care refers to a multisectoral, decentralized care system coordinated across different government levels and service providers, ensuring that care needs are met holistically and responsively. The model emphasizes linkages between public services, private actors, and community-based organizations to offer flexible, equitable, and user-centred care options. 
 

The initiative aims to produce a strategic paper, which includes a desk review, qualitative key informant interviews , and offers actionable, locally relevant policy and programmatic recommendations to strengthen Georgia’s care infrastructure, reduce and redistribute unpaid care work, and support the development of inclusive, gender-responsive, and sustainable care models.
This initiative will directly support the development and implementation of care-related policies and interventions that promote women’s economic empowerment and strengthen institutional capacities, in alignment with the priorities of the TransformCare Results Framework and SIDA SPF III indicators. The consultancy will be co-funded through UN Women’s global TransformCare initiative under the CARE Technical Assistance mechanism and co-financed by the UN Women Georgia Country Office through the Women’s Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus (WEESC) Project, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).
 

The consultant will report to the WEESC Programme Analyst and WEESC Project Analyst and will be supported by the WEESC Project Assistant, who will serve as the primary contact for contractual and payment matters.
 

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work
The national consultant will be responsible for:  
1.    Desk Review of International Care Models
-    Conduct an in-depth desk review of the Octopus Model and Care Blocks to examine their conceptual foundations, implementation modalities, governance structures, financing mechanisms, and documented outcomes.
2.    Key Informant Interviews with UN Women and Partners
-    Hold structured interviews with UN Women country and regional offices and key stakeholders involved in the designing and implementing the Care Blocks and Octopus models.
-    Extract lessons learned, good practices, implementation challenges, and recommendations for adaptation to Georgian context.
3.     Analysis of Georgia’s Care Ecosystem and Essential Service Delivery for Women
-    Map and analyze the current care infrastructure in Georgia, including available public and private care services, regulatory and financing frameworks.
-    Highlight service gaps and areas for strategic investment, using relevant data such as the Time Use Survey.
4.    Analysis of the adaptation and translation of the Care Blocks and Octopus models to the Georgian context, outlining key opportunities, challenges, and context-specific recommendations for implementation
-    Adapt the two models to Georgia’s context, considering local governance structures, service delivery capacities, and cultural and gender norms.
-    Propose a feasible implementation roadmap, including entry points for piloting, institutional coordination mechanisms, and monitoring indicators.
-    Address how the models can support the recognition, reduction, and redistribution of unpaid care work.
5.     Stakeholder Engagement and Validation
-    Conduct at least one consultation or validation session with key national and local stakeholders
-    Integrate feedback to ensure relevance, ownership, and sustainability of proposed models.
6.    Strategic Paper with Policy and Programmatic Recommendations
-    Deliver a concise, action-oriented strategic paper outlining the adapted models, key findings, and targeted recommendations for strengthening Georgia’s care infrastructure.
-    Include implementation scenarios, institutional roles, and considerations for governance and financing.
7.      Final Report and Presentation
-    Submit a consolidated final report summarizing all activities.
-    Prepare and deliver a presentation of the strategic paper to UN Women and key partners.
 

Deliverables: 

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel
This is a home-based consultancy, however, travel might also be required outside Tbilisi.
 

Competencies :

Core Values:

Core Competencies:

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

Functional Competencies:

•     Technical credibility in delivering training
•     Excellent presentation/public speaking skills
•     Partnerships building
•     Negotiation
•     IT literacy 

Required Qualifications:

Education and Certification:
•     Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Gender/Women’s studies, or a related field is required
•     A first-level university degree in combination with seven (7) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Experience:
•     At least 5 years in case of Master’s or 7 years (Bachelor’s degree) of professional experience in policy analysis, or advisory work in the areas of social protection, care economy, or gender equality.
•     Sound understanding of care systems and gender-responsive public services, with an understanding of intersectionality and systems-based approaches.
•     Proven track record of analytical writing, including strategic papers or policy recommendations.
•     Familiarity with Georgia’s social policy landscape and national data sources.
•     Prior experience in conducting tasks similar to the ones outlined in this ToR with UN/EU agencies in Georgia will be considered a distinct advantage
Languages:
•     Fluency in English and Georgian is required.

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.

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