International Consultancy: Costing of the gender gap in agricultural productivity and analysis of the factors driving the gender gap in Kenya

Background

Women Economic Empowerment is one of the key result areas under the UN Women Kenya Strategic Plan with a focus on Access to Government Procurement Opportunities, Agriculture and Extractive Industries value chains.? Kenya's vision to become a middle-income country with a sustained annual economic growth rate of at least 10 percent by 2030 is highly dependent on the transformation of its agricultural systems to make them more productive, resilient, and competitive in generating incomes under a changing climate. Yet, the agricultural systems are highly vulnerable to extreme weather events and climate variability which have led to a decline in crop and livestock production, loss of livelihoods, and as well the degradation of natural resources. Particularly, the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) are the most affected by the impacts of climate change accelerating the already existing vulnerabilities and poverty levels.

In agricultural systems, gender issues remain an unresolved challenge but also an untapped potential for ensuring gender-transformative development processes that target women and other marginalized members of the community. In line with its mandate to support member states, UN Women in Kenya is supporting the implementation of the “Big Four Agenda”, which includes Food and Nutrition Security, Manufacturing, Universal Health Coverage and Affordable Housing within the framework of United Nations Development Assistance Framework and Kenya Vision 2030.? UN Women proposes to promote an approach to agricultural transformation in a changing climate in the Kenya that ensures engendered responses to climate change and to resilience building.

Specifically, UN Women seeks to enhance the gender-sensitive adaptive capacity of women to climate change and strengthen their capacity to meaningfully engage in climate-smart agriculture. This is an approach that sustainably increases productivity, enhances resilience, reduces/removes greenhouse gas emissions, and enhances the achievement of national food security and development goals.

There is evidence that efforts to address the gender gap in agriculture in the context of a changing climate would result in tremendous multiple gains. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20–30 percent; raise the total agricultural output by 2.5–4 percent and reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12–17 percent. Further, closing the gender gap in climate-resilient agriculture could generate significant gains for the agriculture sector and society at large. Thus, increasing investments in women’s capacities to ensure more equitable access to assets and productive resources would strengthen women’s rights and coping potential with increased climate variability.

UN Women in Kenya flagship initiative on Climate Smart Agriculture is premised on the following theory of change that: if (1) climate smart agriculture and climate adaption are gendered responsive; if (2) women have access to climate-resilient livelihoods, productive assets, technologies, and skills, and this is supported by enabling social norms and practices; then; then (3) women and girls affected by climate change will play a leadership role and benefit from CSA and climate change adaptation (CCA) efforts; because (4) adaptive capacity to climate change will be enhanced and women's rights and needs will be at the center of climate-smart agriculture and climate adaption strategies and priorities.

In the efforts to strengthen ongoing work UN Women in Kenya will undertake a study on the cost of gender gap in agricultural productivity to provide specific evidence that reducing the gender gap plays a significant role in poverty reduction and improved nutritional outcomes.

Similar studies have been undertaken in Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia through a collaboration of UN Women, the joint United Nations Development Programme–United Nations Environment Programme Poverty-Environment Initiative (UNE/PEI ) and the World Bank.

The report provides a unique quantification of the costs in terms of lost growth opportunities and an estimate of what societies, economies, and communities would gain if the gender gap in agriculture is addressed. The findings of this report are striking and send a strong signal to policy makers in Africa as well as development partners that closing the gender gap is smart economics. Consider this: closing the gender gap in agricultural productivity could potentially lift as many as 238,000 people out of poverty in Malawi, 80,000 people in Tanzania, and 119,000 people in Uganda.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of this consultancy is to: carry out both quantitative and qualitative study by assessing the available data ?and estimate the cost of the gender gap in agricultural productivity and thereafter analyse the factors driving gender gap in Kenya. The consultant will propose any potential methodological modifications, adjustments or complementary research designs and analytical tools required in order to quantify and obtain estimates for the cost of the gender gap in agricultural productivity in Kenya. The consultant will substantiate the quantitative analysis of the cost of the gender gap analysis with in-country field work and expand the analysis to include a focus on climate smart agriculture and aspects of environmental sustainability.

Methodology:

The consultant will partly be home-based but will also require in-country missions.

1. The consultant will carry out a home-based review of existing nationally representative data sets and assess and analyse if the available data is sufficient to undertake a cost of the gender gap in agricultural productivity analysis;
2. Depending on the data availability, the consultant will suggest modifications, adjustments or complementary research designs and analytical tools to help in quantifying and obtaining estimates for the gender gap in agricultural productivity in the new counties;
3. The consultant will further carry out county level analysis in selected counties at the level of the community and household and apply qualitative and quantitative methodologies and thereby explore in further detail, additional factors that may explain the gender gap in agricultural productivity (that were not highlighted in the cost of gender gap study (e.g. access to land, women’s time poverty and unpaid care work). The emphasis here is to identify, describe and explain the socio-economic, institutional and policy constraints that influence the gender gap in agricultural productivity in Kenya;
4. Validate the county specific factors identified as driving the gender gap in agricultural productivity in step 1 and gain a better understanding of how they could be addressed in Kenya. To achieve this, a quantitative analysis of the determinants of access to factors of production by gender and how simulated policy instruments and options could affect these factors and their relationships could help in closing the gender gap in agricultural productivity;
5. Building on the field work and existing research develop a more accurate understanding of the women’s and men’s vulnerability to climatic variations and environmental degradation and how this links to gender gaps in the agriculture sector;
6. Identify in clear terms the links between usage of factors of production (land, fertilizer, seeds and labor) and gender gap productivity on one hand and between the adoption of CSA and gender gap on the other hand and how the combined effects of access to factors of production and adoption of CSA both affect the gender gap in productivity and environmental sustainability;
7. Determine how men’s and women’s constraints may differ in relation to climate-smart inputs and options;
8. From (f) and (g) infer whether the same factors that explain the gender productivity gap explains gender gaps in access to and adoption of CSA as indicated by studies. This step is likely to require econometric modelling;
9. Define if there is a link between women’s (lack of) ownership and / or access to land and adoption (lack of) of sustainable CSA approaches and the scope of this link;
10. Contextualize and amend the policy solutions highlighted in the 2015 Cost of the Gender Gap report and identify additional policy, programme and budgetary solutions to close the gender productivity and CSA gaps if relevant;
11. In relation to the overall agricultural productivity gap (if any) in Kenya, assess the impact of closing the gender gap in agricultural productivity on the overall agricultural productivity gap;
12. Cost the solutions proposed to address (a) to (g) and provide recommendations on the most cost effective and impactful solutions relevant for the country context as well as a broader approach to CSA at the sub-regional and regional level.

The detailed methodology will be developed by the consultant recruited to undertake the assignment.? For the qualitative analysis, the methodology is expected to draw from the study by C. Josht, 2014 (seasonal calendar, daily activity clocks, changing farming practices mapping, Venn diagrams, interviews) and World Bank et al., 2015 (classification of gender roles in community, IFPRI toolkit for analysing asses relations, participatory vulnerability assessments, gender action learning systems, FAO’s socio-economic and gender analysis) for gender, agriculture and climate analysis.

Key Deliverables:

The consultant will carry out a home-based review of existing nationally representative data sets and assess and analyse if the available data is sufficient to undertake a cost of the gender gap in agricultural productivity analysis. The consultant will substantiate the cost of the gender gap analysis with in-country field work and expand the analysis to include a focus on climate smart agriculture and aspects of environmental sustainability. The consultant will submit:-

• An inception report outlining proposed modifications, adjustments or complementary research designs and analytical tools to help in quantifying and obtaining estimates for the gender gap in agricultural productivity in countries were existing data differs from the type of data used in the 2015 analysis;
• Compilation of the data sets to be used for the cost of the gender gap in agricultural productivity analysis;
• Undertake more targeted country field level analysis of the factors driving the gender gap in agricultural productivity and the adoption of climate smart agriculture and based on the country analysis provide specific policy and programmatic recommendations (including the costing of the solutions) on how to narrow and ultimately close gender gaps in the agriculture sector, enhance climate resilience and ensure environmental sustainability;
• Draft study report covering point A-K outlined in the methodology section of these TOR to be submitted 21 working days after the conclusion of field missions in Kenya;
• Revised draft reports incorporating comments and feedback from UN Women;
• Final reports incorporating comments and feedback from the national workshops, UN Women etc.

The consultant will undertake the assignment in close coordination with the UN Women Kenya Country Office. In case of country missions, the UN Women Kenya Country Office will jointly facilitate the organization of meetings with relevant stakeholders and assist with access to country level data and reports and other logistical arrangements as required.

The outputs from this assignment will be owned by UN Women.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity;
• Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
• Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative;
• Work in teams: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication;
• Self-management and Emotional Intelligence: Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others;
• Conflict Management: Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution;
• Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge;
• Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies:

• Strong understanding of climate smart and environmentally sustainable agriculture and how it links to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• A demonstrated ability (through previous similar assignments) to analyze, compile and synthesize information in coherent and succinct formats;
• Strong understanding of gender and demonstrated experience in applying gender tools and conceptual frameworks;

• Demonstrated skills in statistical research and policy analysis and detailed knowledge of econometric and statistical tools applied in the context of agriculture, gender and climate analysis.

Required Skills and Experience

The consultant should present the following minimum requirements:

Education:

• Minimum a post graduate degree (master degree; PhD will be an asset) in a relevant social sciences field such as agricultural economics, economics, statistics or other related field.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years of professional experience in gender and agriculture;
• Strong knowledge of gender, climate and environment in the context of the assignment is required;
• Proven substantive relevant experience in working with large data sets or other applied research; first-hand experience with using the LSMS-ISA data set is a bonus;
• Previous experience with gender disaggregated data and decomposition analysis preferred, bonus for analyses of the agricultural sector;
• Previous experience in writing comprehensive reports aimed at an audience that included policy-makers;
• Strong understanding of gender and demonstrated experience in applying gender tools and conceptual frameworks;
• A demonstrated ability (through previous similar assignments) to analyze, compile and synthesize information in coherent and succinct formats;
• Previous experience in Africa preferred.

Language:

• Proficiency in written and spoken English.