Equal Opportunities, Employment and Skills (EBRD)

Nordic Consulting Group, as lead in consortium with Oxford Policy Management (OPM), has a Gender Advisory Service (GAS) framework contract with the European Bank for Development and Reconstruction (EBRD). 

The bank works in Lot 2 Access to Employment and Skills with its clients to provide recommendations aimed at improving human resources (HR) policies and practices, both from an equal opportunities and a commercially focused perspective.

The two EBRD programmes “Family Friendly Working” and “Work-Life Balance” seek to secure professional advice and services to improve the bank’s clients’ human resources policies and practices in line with international best practice. This is generally done by ‘Equal Opportunity Audits’.

Lot 3, where OPM is lead and Nordic Consulting Group is partner, is about women’s Access to Services promoting and analysing women’s ability to engage economically. The focus is predominantly on the EBRD’s infrastructure projects. Services such as urban transport, provision of water and management of solid waste impact upon men’s and women’s lives differently but often inadequate attention is paid to how such services could be designed and implemented to better meet the needs and priorities of both men and women.