Inclusive DRR Expert - International Consultant

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Job Title: Inclusive DRR Expert

Type of contract: Short-Term Consultancy (or When Actually Employed)

Duration: 8 months

Duty Station: Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic (remote work as negotiable) Vacancy Number 747106

Date of Publication: 04/05/2023

Deadline of Application: 14/05/2023

BACKGROUND:

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic agreed to increase collaboration in 2023 – 2027, further aligning WFP’s support to the national social and civil protection measures. This is especially critical in times when the country is facing the negative impact of several global crises, and when more frequent and severe climate-related shocks affect well-being and prosperity, impeding the access to a nutritious diet especially for the most vulnerable. WFP and the Kyrgyz Government will be jointly implementing the WFP’s Country Strategic Plan (2023-27 EN|RU) that includes 4 Strategic Outcomes:

1. ACCESS TO INCOME OPPORTUNITIES AND HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT

WFP and the Kyrgyz Government will strengthen the capacity of 500 thousand food-insecure households to improve their productivity, incomes, livelihoods and nutrition practices. Complementing the Government’s ’social contract’ and public works efforts, WFP will provide food-insecure families with food or cash when participating in the rehabilitation of pivotal community assets (bridges, dams, reservoirs, drinking water pipelines etc.) or in structured curricula to gain knowledge and skills (e.g. agro-forestry, agro-processing) to improve their employability. WFP will also strengthen the capacity of institutions with improved assessment, targeting and monitoring methodologies to better reach the most vulnerable with inclusive social measures and contribute to related digitalization initiatives.

2. SUPPORT TO VULNERABLE PEOPLE IN CRISIS AFFECTED AREAS

In the event of a large-scale emergency, WFP and the Kyrgyz Government along with other humanitarian partners will cooperate to provide unconditional food assistance to vulnerable populations in crisis-affected areas to meet their critical food needs, enabling their early recovery. This activity will be implemented upon activation of the disaster response coordination unit and national disaster response mechanisms.

3. RESILIENCE OF VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES AND THE FOOD SYSTEM

WFP and the Kyrgyz Government will assist more than 400 thousand vulnerable people in communities prone to hazards and climate change risks to enable them to be financially resilient when affected by disasters and other shocks. Communities will benefit from gender transformative approaches with rehabilitated assets and knowledge that help them to protect, improve and adapt their livelihoods to climate variability. Process and systems improvement in early warning and anticipatory action as well as, financing permitting, investment in warehousing infrastructure will improve food systems and Government capacity.

4. HEALTHY MEALS TO CHILDREN AT SCHOOLS

WFP will continue working with the Kyrgyz Government in optimising the National School Meals Programme so that pre-school and schoolchildren aged 3 –12 can receive hot, diverse and nutritious meals at schools (soups, porridges, salads, fresh pastries, vitamin-rich drinks etc.) to improve their micronutrient intake. WFP aims to equip another 300 schools with fortified wheat flour, modern kitchen equipment and training on the school meals organization. WFP and the Government will strengthen technical and financial capacities of schools and involved institutions and pilot innovative solutions to enhance sustainability. Schoolchildren and their caregivers will continue to benefit from activities and trainings related to healthy eating and hygiene.

Climate change is a major threat to food security the world over. In Kyrgyz Republic, the alterations in precipitation patterns have already led to an increase in the short-run crop failures and long-run production declines. Heat stress may result in large-scale losses of livestock due to increased mortality and decreased reproduction rates. Hotter summers and an increase of extreme weather events are leading to reduced capacities of the livestock producing farmers in terms of fodder production. The increased intensity and frequency of weather-related events (i.e., floods, droughts, heatwaves and windstorms) are likely to lead to even more significant production losses, with broader economic implications. In the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which includes parts of Eastern Europe and Asia, climate adaption is interlocked within the geopolitical interests of countries dependent on fuel mining, thereby a far more challenging element to implement.

WFP's project with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) "Climate services and diversification of climate sensitive livelihoods to empower food insecure and vulnerable communities in the Kyrgyz Republic", implemented under Strategic Outcome 3, aims to reduce vulnerabilities to climate change and increase the adaptive capacity and resilience of rural communities. This is done by providing support to the Kyrgyz Hydromet (KHM) to produce reliable climate services products and support the end-users to access, understand, and act upon this information in a timely manner.

Other activities within this project include promoting climate change adaptation actions at the community level, generating and providing critical knowledge, awareness, and best practices to inform broad-based capacity building and improved decision making. Under WFP's GCF project, 102,000 direct (20,400 households) and 700,000 indirect beneficiaries will be reached, between Batken, Osh and Naryn provinces through implementation of the following three inter-linked components:

• Climate services to support vulnerable rural communities to plan for and manage climate risks and increased weather variability.
• Climate-smart livelihood strengthening and diversification to increase the adaptive capacity of vulnerable groups and build community resilience; and
• Capacity and policy support to enhance climate action using a multi-sectoral approach.

Additionally, WFP in Kyrgyz Republic has secured a multi-year multi-million contribution from the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development (SDC) to support the new CSP in order to strengthen and upscale Disaster Risk Management (DRM) activities of vulnerable communities by supporting informed, coherent, gender- and nutritious- sensitive local adaptation, enabling the environment for risk financing and build-back-better mechanisms to climate-proof the food systems and guarantee food security.

There is a need to ensure a robust and sustainable mechanism for gender mainstreaming into policies is in place. This includes supporting government entities in using gender-sensitive approaches in their activities related to Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), with action plans and policies for ensuring equal opportunities and gender equality.

To illustrate, within the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the following recommendations were provided by the treaty body:

• Take steps to accord greater visibility, increased capacity and authority to all the components of the national machinery for the advancement of women by upgrading its status, clarifying its mandate and ensuring the provision of sufficient and sustainable budgetary allocations and adequate staff with the technical capacity necessary to fully enable it to implement programmes and projects on gender equality and the advancement of women;
• Develop a gender mainstreaming strategy that includes gender-responsive budgeting and which can be applied in the formulation of all policies and programmes to address various aspects of women’s lives.

Climate change and gender equality have become issues of common concern globally, nonetheless there is a differentiated impact and as a result strategies required to secure adequate coping capacities and resilience building for men and women. The potential of women in promoting climate change mitigation and adaptation has not been fully realized. Although many studies around the world have shown that climate affects people of different genders differently, including the most recent rapid assessment conducted in partnership with UN Women and Agha Khan Development Network (AKDN) the vulnerability mapping was developed, however there is lack of clear vision and approach on how to interpret the outcomes of the mapping into the set of meaningful intervention on the national and local levels. There are, furthermore, aspects of the research which provide the basis and foundations for further work to happen. Below is a list of areas the Strategic Outcome 3 team could build on and design projects and opportunities for further funding (either through existing channels or via funding streams not yet identified).

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

To support WFP in Kyrgyz Republic to secure evidence-based development of national and local development strategies, in particular those related to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and DRM.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under the supervision of the Outcome Manager for Strategic Outcome 3 and in close collaboration with the Head of Programme, Programme Policy Officer (Gender) and the national Programme and RAM staff, the Consultant will take the role of an internal advisor and undertake the following tasks:

• Use the findings of the report, plus the vulnerability mapping document to better understand the needs of citizens at a national level.
• Policy workshop(s) – Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) & others to understand how to include marginalised communities within disaster and emergency policy. This will build on the initial presentation on inclusive DRR which was given in November 2022.
• Development of an inclusive policy brief. This will form a suite of documents including guidance and a step-by-step guide on how to include marginalized groups in disaster and emergency policy specific to the countries and regions of focus. This would use the UNW documents as a base and then build using standard policy process and frameworks within WFP and line ministry and other relevant entities, with consideration of marginalized groups as a core component.
• In support of WFP stakeholder mapping activities, compile a directory of organisations working in-country (both domestic and international) to understand who is working with those marginalised groups.
• Reach out and build partnerships/ working relationships with grassroots organisations and community-focused organisations that are focused on marginalised groups.
• Drive stakeholder engagement, using the directory, and in collaboration with Outcome Manager and Programme colleagues, explore the potential to develop a working group with marginalized groups at the center of their considerations. The working group is envisioned to be formed of organizations and community-based groups focusing their activities on the agreed marginalized groups and allow sharing of knowledge, capacity-strengthening to ensure a coordinated approach.
• Facilitate definition and creation of a more inclusive focused strategy between local level actors and those within central government. Build on the networks already established and designated that are relevant to the strategy to consider inclusive/gender-transformative discussion and action. This could be in the form of specific quarterly meetings/ workshops on the topic, with consideration during these sessions being specifically around how marginalised groups within the community are coping with/ learning from current climate or disaster focused issues.
• Explore in more detail the issues raised in the UN Women case studies and the vulnerability mapping, with specific focus being given to increasing the capacity and knowledge of local communities already interviewed. This would start with a focus on those examples where there is little to no experience of adaptation measures (for eg. Lack of irrigation water, Air pollution or Land and pasture degradation). This work would be carried out through training and engagement with the affected communities et cetera in collaboration with partner organisations.
• Develop or customize a robust gender-sensitive methodology that can be replicated in different areas and can influence the nature of bottom-up approaches to measuring climate change vulnerability in the country. The proposed research methodology will need to employ an intersectionality lens for data collection and analysis. As such, information on age, location, ethnicity, disability status, marital status and other identifying characteristics will need to be collected to build a contextualized and nuanced understanding of vulnerability for different groups of women and men in specific areas in Kyrgyz Republic.
• Develop the capacity building modules on inclusive DRR and disaster preparedness for WFP Kyrgyz Republic team and MES as well as other relevant stakeholders on national and local levels. Followed by the actual capacity development sessions during the in-country missions.
• Provide guidance on GCF project Gender Action Plan implementation and in particular advice on gender sensitive climate services development, review on gender sensitivity of climate risk profiles.
• Facilitate the elaboration and assure quality of donor reports and conceptual notes/proposals for the potential funding.
• Conceptual support for the DRM coordination platform (MES think-tank) that shall serve as a knowledge and data hub on vulnerabilities, exposure, coping capacities for wide range of stakeholders.

DELIVERABLES:

• Inception report detailing a work plan.
• Comprehensive training module along with the relevant additional educational materials.
• Support plan for resource mobilization to attract and retain investments to activities implemented under Strategic Outcome 3.
• Customized robust gender-sensitive methodology that can be replicated in different areas and can influence the nature of bottom-up approaches to measuring climate change vulnerability in the country.
• Directory of organizations working in-country relevant for DRR and CCA activities for partnerships and joint programming and strategic and operational collaboration (both domestic and international).
• Finalized concept for MES Data Hub for further review and submission to Ministry.
• Key policy recommendations drafted for submission to Government by WFP management to enable gender-sensitive DRM and facilitate women’s empowerment through national policies and action plans.
• Final report and knowledge management package enabling WFP Kyrgyz Republic to assume handover of deliverables for further development and implementation, submitted to and approved by WFP management.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

Advanced University Degree with experience in one or more of the following disciplines: Social Science, Economics, Environmental Sciences, International Development, Rural Development, Communications, or relevant field.

Experience:

• At least 8 years of professional experience in international development,

  • At least 6 years of experience in designing, evaluating or implementing DRR/CCA projects
  • Experience working in Central Asian or CIS region is an asset;
  • Proven experience in Formulating documents related Gender Equality and Women Empowerment area;
  • Familiarity with both WFP traditional FFA/FFT and social protection offerings desirable.

  Knowledge & Skills:

  Strong analytical skills, report writing skills and communication capacity (both written and oral) are essential. Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of DRR, climate change, gender equality, conflict sensitivity and sustainable development. Excellent inter-personal communication and team-working skills. Effective planning and time-management skills in mass communications, marketing, or event management. Commitment to quality and timely results.

  Languages:

  English (fluent/mother tongue), knowledge of Russian is an asset.

  All WFP Employees are expected to demonstrate the competencies and standards of behaviour aligned with our core values and defined in the WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK, namely:

Leading by example with integrity,

Driving results and delivering on commitments,

Fostering inclusive and collaborative teamwork,

Applying strategic thinking,

Building and maintaining sustainable partnerships.

HOW TO APPLY

To be considered, interested candidates are invited to apply via (https://www.wfp.org/careers/job-openings). Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.

Request for Disability related Reasonable Accommodations:

It is important to WFP to create an accessible and inclusive workplace for everyone. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the selection and hiring process, please direct your request and inquiries to the Diversity and Inclusion team on: [email protected]*, cc’ing* [email protected]*. A member of the reasonable accommodation team will contact you to confidentially discuss your needs.*

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