National Consultant on gender analysis and mainstreaming

Ukraine

Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
Location: Ukraine
Grade: Consultancy - National Consultant - Locally recruited Contractors Agreement
Occupational Groups:
- Women's Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
Closing Date: Closed

Background

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Negotiation ID: UNDP-UKR-00115,1

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GEF Policies on Gender Mainstreaming and Gender Equality

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has long recognized gender equality as a cross-cutting priority that is integral to the GEF’s ability to achieve global environmental benefits. It has made, together with GEF Agencies, significant progress on gender mainstreaming over the past years. This progress has been guided by several GEF policies and strategies, such as the Policy on Gender Mainstreaming (GEF, 2012a); GEF 2020 Strategy (GEF, 2015b); and the Gender Equality Action Plan (GEF, 2014), GEF Policy on Gender Equality (GEF, 2017c). The latest policy approved by GEF Council in November 2017 marks GEF’s increased ambition to shift from a gender-aware, “do no harm” approach to a gender-responsive, “do good” approach to ensure gender equality and promote women’s empowerment across its operations.

As such, the GEF Policy on Gender Equality seeks to ensure equal opportunities for women and men to participate in, contribute to and benefit from GEF-financed activities. The GEF recognizes that gender equality is an important goal in the context of the projects that it finances because it advances both the GEF’s goals for attaining global environmental benefits and the goal of gender equity and social inclusion.

For GEF programs/projects that already are at implementation stage, it is recommended to look into opportunities to integrate gender, primarily through gender analysis, and to identify if and how mainstreaming gender in the project is still feasible (as the GEF acknowledges that project results can often be superior when gender considerations are integrated into the design and implementation of projects, where relevant).

Background on the project

Northern Ukraine has approximately 3 million ha of wet peat soils, many of which have been drained for agriculture; approximately 1 million ha remain in a natural state. This landscape is a mosaic of steppe forests, wetlands, and river valleys, which sustain rich but threatened ecosystems. Livelihoods are agriculture-based, with livestock farming a key part of the economy. Although the drained peatlands briefly provided rich agriculture lands, over a short time the drained peatlands have become degraded, as mineralization and peat fires take a continuous toll, while emitting GHGs. The water table across the region continues to subside, which causes forest die-offs. Peat fires also have a significant negative impact on human health and local economies. Land use is not optimized, so agriculture continues to encroach on high value ecosystems. However, increased grazing and hay cutting could be beneficial in some abandoned lands in order to maintain biodiverse open peat meadows that are being overgrown by woody vegetation. Underlying drivers of this situation are limited local and national capacity and coordination in land use planning, limited technical knowledge for agriculture on wet peatlands (paludiculture), limited capital access and investment in sustainable agriculture, limited and deteriorating water management infrastructure, and livestock value chains that currently do not sufficiently incentivize sustainable livestock production in peatlands.

The project will catalyze a transition across the landscape to sustainable livestock farming in peatlands, while restoring key areas for maintenance of ecosystem services to support both vibrant livestock agriculture and biodiversity. This will be achieved through i) implementation of Integrated Land Use Plans (ILUPs); ii) promotion of sustainable livestock production practices and value chains, including a multi-stakeholder sustainable livestock platform; iii) conservation and restoration of natural habitats; and iv) coordination, learning, information dissemination, and knowledge management. Planned project results include more than 9,000 direct beneficiaries; improved status of biodiversity including 18 globally significant species; 150,000 ha under improved agriculture; 40,000 ha of land restored; 240,000 ha of high value peatlands and steppe forest ecosystems conserved; and increased knowledge and understanding of sustainable livestock practices in wet peat soils.

The analysis on gender-related issues is now required during the project implementation phase, including sector-specific analysis and further assessment of gender opportunities that can be leveraged, when relevant, for the benefit of certain stakeholder groups and/or local communities. Against this background, to ensure that gender is mainstreamed, the project will engage a gender consultant to perform gender analysis of the sector of agriculture and conservation, suggest actionable recommendations on gender mainstreaming and facilitate their pilot implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Main objectives of the assignment

While gender mainstreaming is viewed as a recognized tool or approach to attain the global environmental benefits the GEF-funded projects are linked to, the objectives of the assignment are to 1) perform gender analysis of the UNDP-GEF Project described in the Section 1.2. of this ToR to reveal connections between gender relations and the environmental problem to be solved under this project (GHG emissions reduction), and 2) provide recommendations that should lead to the development of additional gender-related actions, including gender-related project components, outputs, activities or indicators, where deemed feasible (as the degree of relevance of gender dimensions varies depending on the GEF focal area).

DESCRIPTION OF TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES (Scope of the Assignment)

Within the framework of this assignment, the project will hire a gender consultant to analyze, review and develop technical and policy-relevant materials, including methodologies and tools to integrate gender equality considerations into the project strategy and activities:

Gender analysis:

Conduct gender analysis of the project document, identify avenues for gender mainstreaming in the project;
Analyze international and national experience of integrating gender approaches to the agriculture and conservation sectors;
Contribute to conducting interviews with experts and practitioners in the sector of agriculture and conservation sectors to develop hypotheses for primary data collection of gender considerations of agriculture and conservation sectors (min. 15 interviews in total). The list of experts and practitioners may be provided upon request;
Analyze gender considerations of sustainable agriculture and conservation within the context of decentralization reform and amalgamation of communities;
Contribute to developing the concept note and the questionnaire for the sociological survey to learn experience and perception of Ukrainians on sustainable agriculture and conservation (e.g., are these mostly men or women to make decisions on sustainable agriculture and conservation; are these mostly men or women to take care of sustainable agriculture and conservation; what are the arguments for men or women to favor sustainable agriculture and conservation; how are male and female experts in this field perceived by the community, etc.);
Analyze the findings of surveys to identify common patterns and gender discrepancies in sustainable agriculture and conservation;
Take part in presentation of the summary of analysis at the expert workshop to prove/validate findings and solicit feedback;
Provide the analytical report on gender considerations of sustainable agriculture and conservation (in English, up to 20 MS Word pages in total, Calibri, font 11);

Recommendations on gender mainstreaming:

Frame the outputs/expected results of gender mainstreaming in the project;
Suggest practical ways to ensure balanced (at least 30/70) participation of women and men in project activities;
Suggest actionable recommendations to increase female representation among experts and decision-makers in the sector of sustainable agriculture and conservation;
Mainstream gender into the monitoring and evaluation framework of the project – develop gender-specific indicators to measure project performance, provide recommendations on sex-disaggregation of project data;
Provide specific recommendations on reflecting gender perspectives in the strategy and interventions on sustainable agriculture and conservation;
Prepare presentation of recommendations for raising gender awareness among the stakeholders of the project, may be engaged in the project events to sensitize the stakeholders to gender aspects of sustainable agriculture and conservation (to be identified with the project team).

DELIEVERABLES AND SCHEDULE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

#	Key activities/deliverables	Estimated number of working days	Deadline
1	DELIVERABLE 1 Project Document is analysed to introduce gender mainstreaming within the project implementation; International and national experience of gender mainstreaming in the sector of sustainable agriculture and conservation is reviewed and analysed through interviews with experts and practitioners in the sector of sustainable agriculture and conservation. The results of completed tasks, as described above, should be presented in the analytical summary on gender considerations of sustainable agriculture and conservation (in English, up to 10 MS Word pages in total, Calibri, font 11).	40 days	8 weeks after signing the contract
2	DELIVERABLE 2 Set of specific recommendations on gender mainstreaming provided including: On ensuring balanced (at least 30/70) participation of women and men in project activities; On increasing female representation among experts and decision-makers in the sector of sustainable agriculture and conservation; On gender-specific indicators to measure project performance and sex-disaggregated project data collection; On reflecting gender perspectives in the strategy and interventions on sustainable agriculture and conservation; The recommendations should explain the benefits of gender mainstreaming for all relevant stakeholders. Presentation of recommendations for raising gender awareness among the stakeholders of the project is prepared. The results of completed tasks should be presented in the analytical report on gender considerations of sustainable agriculture and conservation produced (in English, up to 40 MS Word pages in total, Calibri, font 11).	20 days	12 weeks after signing the contract
	TOTAL	60 days	12 weeks/ 3 months

MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS

At UNDP side the contract implementation will be coordinated and supervised by the UNDP-GEF Project Manager. The Consultant will be responsible to obtain his/her clearance of any drafted document before its finalization. Upon request from the immediate supervisor under this assignment, the Consultant shall revise or correct any drafted document and address the supervisor’s comments, if any.

The documents shall be provided both in written (if required) and electronic format (MS Word) in English.

The Consultant will be responsible for the delivery, content, quality and accuracy of documents prepared under this assignment.

Any copyrights and other kinds of intellectual property emerging in the course of contract implementation and produced by the Consultant under the contract shall be retained by UNDP.

Payment Schedule

Payment under this assignment will be made in two instalments as follows:

1. 50% of Total Contract Amount upon completion and acceptance of Deliverable 1 - Analytical summary on gender considerations of sustainable agriculture and conservation;

2. 50% of Total Contract Amount upon completion and acceptance of Deliverable 2 - Set of specific recommendations on gender mainstreaming provided. Presentation of recommendations is prepared and analytical report is provided.

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional competencies:

Ability to analyze policy documents and make constructive policy suggestions;
Strong interpersonal skills, communication and diplomatic skills, ability to work in a team;
Capacity building skills and flexibility depending on the public;
Demonstration of commitment to the Project’s mission, vision and values;
Good writing and reporting skills;
Good presentation skills;
Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations, and to meet tight deadlines.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Specialist/ Master’s degree in gender studies, social studies, political or philosophy studies, environment or energy, international relations or closely related area.

Experience:

At least 5 years of practical working experience in gender mainstreaming, women’s empowerment and/or sustainable development, or practical working experience in sociology research surveys;
Proven experience carrying out participatory gender equality analysis, collecting and formulating gender responsive indicators and sex-disaggregated data, and developing gender action plans (to be proved with provided samples of individually elaborated materials) and/or proven experience in conducting qualitative research, focus groups, interviews for data collection and formulating responsive indicators and developing action plans (to be proved with provided samples of individually elaborated materials);
Experience working in the development projects, with international partners and national stakeholders.

Languages:

Fluency in Ukrainian and English (fluency in English to be proved with CV records, samples of elaborated materials relevant to the assignment, and/or validation interview).

Consultant is also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org

EVALUATION OF APPLICANTS

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight: 70%

* Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula: 30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.

Evaluation Criteria:

Criteria A: Education – 15 points max

At least Specialist/ Master’s degree in gender studies, social studies, political studies, environment or energy, international relations or closely related area - 15 points max {15 pts – PhD in relevant field; 13 pts – Master’s degree/ Specialist in the relevant field};

Criteria B: Work Experience – 40 points max

At least 5 years of practical working experience in gender mainstreaming, women’s empowerment and/or sustainable development, or practical working experience in sociology research surveys – 20 points max {20 pts – 8 years and more; 15 pts – 6-7 years; 10 pts – 5 years}
Proven experience of carrying out participatory gender equality analysis, collecting and formulating gender responsive indicators and sex-disaggregated data, and developing gender action plans and/or proven experience in conducting qualitative research, focus groups, interviews for data collection and formulating responsive indicators and developing action plans (to be proved with provided samples of individually elaborated materials) – 10 points max {10 pts – 3 samples and more; 8 pts – 2 samples; 7 pts – 1 sample};
Experience of working in the development projects, with international partners and national stakeholders – 10 points max {10 pts – 5 years and more; 9 pts – 4-3 years; 8 pts – 2 years};

Criteria C: Language Skills – 15 points max

Language Skills (fluency in English to be proved with CV records, samples of elaborated materials relevant to the assignment, and/or validation interview) – 15 points max {15 pts – fluency in Ukrainian and English; 11 pts – fluency in Ukrainian and not lower than the fundamental level of knowledge of English}.

Lump sum contract

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount per number of anticipated working days.