LOCAL CONSULTANT, SCOPING STUDY AND ASSISTANCE TO THE TEAM LEADER FOR PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT ON WOMEN’S RESILIENCE TO DISASTERS (WRD)

Contract

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Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Through its focus on prevention and disaster resilience, UN Women ensures that new and existing disaster risks are mitigated by putting women at the center of disaster risk reduction, by giving them a voice, empowering them as disaster risk reduction leaders and actors, and by building their disaster and climate resilience. Evidence proves that the majority of victims and those affected by disasters and climate change are women. Due to the gendered dimensions of disaster risk, women and girls face greater vulnerability and exposure to disasters, yet women remain largely ignored and their capacities, unleveraged in conventional disaster risk reduction processes. Women also remain largely excluded from climate mitigation, with reduced access to climate finance, sustainable energy technology and decision making.

UN Women promotes gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and climate action through technical and policy support, provision of gender expertise to climate change and disaster risk reduction mechanisms and processes, and by implementing programmes and projects for gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and climate action.

UN Women promotes gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and resilience building through technical and policy support, provision of gender expertise to disaster risk reduction mechanisms and processes, and by implementing global programmes and projects for gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and resilience building. The Global Programme on Women’s Disaster Resilience to Disasters (WRD) proposes a comprehensive package for women’s resilience to disasters that focuses on rendering prevention, preparedness, response systems, gender-responsive plans and tools and provides targeted action enabling women and girls to withstand natural hazards, recover fully from disasters and increase their resilience to future natural hazards.

This consultancy is expected to contribute on a short-term basis to gathering background information and assistance to the Team Leader for the purpose of developing a Women’s Resilience to Disasters proposal.

Under the overall supervision of the Team Leader and WEE Programme Officer, the Local Consultant will contribute to UN Women’s triple mandate in the area of disaster risk reduction and climate change, providing drafting, research, policy, and technical support to the Country Office for the purpose of developing a disaster risk reduction programme proposal. and field offices and contributing to interagency and intergovernmental processes. The consultant requires experience and understanding of gender equality, disaster risk reduction and climate change, including climate resilience. The work entails supporting the team leader in the development UN Women’s disaster risk management flagship programme initiative, entitled Women’s Resilience to Disasters Programme.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment:

1 - Undertake research and scoping mission to gather background information.

2 - Contribute with inputs for the development of the proposal on Enhancing Women’s Resilience to Disaster (WRD) in close cooperation with the Team Leader.

Scope of Work:

Locally based to complement the international consultant and assist in gathering local data and contextual information.

The Local Consultant will provide short-term technical support to develop a Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) Mozambique proposal. This includes research, knowledge management, advocacy, and technical support services. A collection of WRD programme material, including a Theory of Change/Action already exists. This serves as the basis for all WRD programme proposals worldwide. This material needs to be adapted to the specific context in Mozambique and well aligned with Government Priorities.

The post will be based at UN Women office in Maputo. However, due to COVID-19 containment measures the consultant is expected to work from home complemented by in-person presence at office as required, government and stakeholders’ events and data collection meetings (interviews and focus group discussions). Specific duties are described below:

Duties and responsibilities

1. Preparatory Work:

• Work with the Team Leader in preparing an inception report including methodology and timeline for the assignment.
• Gather the information to understand and identify GEWE issues, challenges and trends in humanitarian affairs that will shape and affect the WRD Mozambique Proposal.
• Review political, economic, social, climate and legal frameworks that could affect the achievement of the WRD Mozambique Proposal.
• Undertake a desk review of key policy documents, legal frameworks and international standards on Disaster Risk-Reduction, gender equality commitments and Mozambique government priorities and;

• Perform consultations with relevant stakeholders on Disaster-Risk Reduction and gender equality.

  2. Drafting the proposal document on Enhancing Mozambique Women´s Resilience to Disasters

• Provide inputs to the Team Leader in drafting the full-fledged proposal on Enhancing Women’s Resilience to Disasters (including results chain and theory of change).

Deliverables

1. Research and technical support work to the Team Leader.
2. Research and scoping study undertaken on best practices and success stories on women’s agency and leadership in DRR in Mozambique.

Work Schedule:

Nº

Activities/Deliverable

Estimated time

1

Inception report including methodological aspects and timeline

5 Days after signature of the contract; by 20th May 2021

2

Scoping study report with background and contextual information on Mozambican Women’s Resilience to Disaster, challenges, gaps, opportunities for synergies and niche for UN Women’s Intervention

10 working days, by 15th June 2021

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement and
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Good understanding of national context including the humanitarian affairs; disaster risk reduction, resilience, and the gender equality situation;
• Strong analytical skills on gender and humanitarian actions;
• Strong communications skills in spoken and written English.
• Strong drafting skills and ability to produce a variety of reports and knowledge products for different audiences and purposes;
• High level of proficiency in computer systems, internet navigation and various applications including research databases and data analysis software;
• Knowledge and experience of website development and design and online knowledge tools is an asset;
• Strong commitment to knowledge-sharing within a multicultural environment and; Capacity to deliver the intended services

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in gender studies, humanitarian affairs, disaster risk reduction (DRR), development economics, resilience and/or any relevant field directly related to gender and disaster resilience. First university degree with complementary 3 years of experience will be accepted in lieu of Masters.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of professional experience in disaster risk reduction or development contexts.
• Knowledge of disaster risk reduction and climate resilience priorities and programming in Mozambique or Sub-Saharan Africa is required.
• Demonstrated knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment is an advantage, Specifically, applied to enhancing women’s resilience in resettlement centers and host communities.
• Experience with Results-Based Management and Theory of Change approaches.
• Demonstrated proposal writing skills following human rights-based approach, gender equality and the “Leave No One Behind” Principles.
• Previous experience with UN Women and the UN System in Mozambique is an advantage.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Portuguese (written and spoken) is required.

UNWOMEN is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.