Consultant to Conduct a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Analysis

**Advancing Growth Innovation and Leadership for Enterprises in Vietnam (AGILE) Project**

**Consultant to Conduct a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Analysis**

**Terms of Reference**

**Vietnam**

**Location**: Vietnam

**Duration of Contract**: 30 days

**Reports to**:Project Director - with technical assistance from the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Advisor

**Expected Start Date**: June 20, 2025 - August 15, 2025

**Background**

World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a leading Canadian international development organization that focuses on three programmatic areas: economic opportunities, Education, and Empowerment. Our vision is a world where every young person thrives and belongs. Our mission is to catalyze change by improving education and economic opportunities for young people. We support all young people, with a focus on women and people affected by displacement. Our organizational values are rooted in a commitment to collaboration and partnership, learning and adaptability, courageous leadership, youth voice and agency, and inclusion for all.

WUSC currently works in over 25 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Latin America, with an annual budget of approximately CAD 50 million. Globally, we partner with a network of higher education institutions, civil society organizations, private sector partners, professionals, students, volunteers, faculty, and community leaders who help us achieve our mission.

**Description of the Advancing Growth Innovation and Leadership for Enterprises (AGILE) Project in Vietnam**

The Advancing Growth, Innovation, and Leadership for Enterprises (AGILE) project in Vietnam is designed to enhance the resilience of vulnerable populations, particularly women, to climate change. The project focuses on driving systemic change by strengthening support for climate enterprises (CEs), particularly those led by, employing, or addressing the climate adaptation needs of women. This will be achieved by facilitating increased investment in gender-responsive climate adaptation solutions and fostering the growth of CEs at the growth stage.

Inequality affects various individuals and groups differently, particularly at the intersection of gender equality, climate change, and women’s entrepreneurship. Despite Vietnam’s projected attainment of upper-middle-income status by 2035, the country ranked 83rd out of 146 countries in the 2022 Global Gender Gap Index. Women play substantial roles in key economic sectors such as agriculture, aquaculture, services, and manufacturing, yet they bear disproportionate impacts of Vietnam’s extreme climate vulnerability. Discriminatory gender norms exacerbate this inequity by limiting women’s access to essential resources, opportunities, technology, and decision-making platforms. For instance, although women constitute 70% of the agricultural workforce, their control over land and assets remains limited, significantly impeding their adaptive capacities (FAO, 2018).

The AGILE project aims to close this gap by improving women’s access to capital, particularly through venture capital (VC), which offers better terms than traditional finance. Women-led businesses, although often more efficient and reliable, struggle to secure venture capital (VC) funding due to gender biases in male-dominated investment spaces. AGILE advocates for gender-lens investing and supports VC actors in assessing and advancing gender equity through their portfolios.

Consultations with VCs and women entrepreneurs revealed persistent challenges: entrenched gender norms, limited access to technical education, and the triple burden of unpaid care and work responsibilities. These barriers hinder women’s participation in climate tech sectors and access to ecosystem support, which is often not gender-responsive.

AGILE will aim to address systemic barriers by:
Embedding gender equality into all project activities;
Building investor capacity for gender-lens investing;
Supporting local actors like WISE to serve as gender translators;
Delivering tailored acceleration programs with childcare and flexible modalities;
Partnering with women’s support organizations to improve women’s access to capital and leadership in climate adaptation.

This approach aligns with AGILE’s broader goal of fostering a more inclusive, equitable, and climate-resilient entrepreneurial ecosystem in Vietnam.

**Scope of Assignment**

As part of the AGILE project’s inception phase, WUSC seeks a consultant to conduct a comprehensive, intersectional Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Analysis focused on CEs in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and Coastal regions. Importantly, the GESI Analysis will be an integrated analysis with strong ties to Gender Sensitive Ecosystem Mapping and Climate Vulnerability Assessment.

The GESI Analysis will incorporate both primary and secondary data to ensure a comprehensive understanding of gender dynamics in Vietnam. It will also aim to ident