Rapid Country Assessment (RCA) of the Impact of the Ukraine Crisis on Food, Energy and Finance in Eswatini

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

Eswatini is a lower middle-income country with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of $US 3.410 in 2020 and a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.611 in 2019 (ranks out 130 of 189). The country is characterized by strong income inequalities with a GINI index of 0.546 in 2014. In 2017, 58.9% of the population live below the international poverty line. (this is more pronounced in rural area with about 70% affected persons) the country has a Gender Inequality Index of 0.567 (ranks out 143rd out of 162 countries). Unemployment, stood at 33.3% in 2021; of concern is the unemployment rate of 59.1% for the population 20-24 years. ( 2021)

The Kingdom of Eswatini faces multiple crises and their consequences, including climate induced natural disasters (El Niño drought in 2015/16 and Tropical Storm Eloise in 2021), COVID-19, civil unrest in 2021, and rising costs of commodities related to the conflict in Ukraine. All these have exacerbated existing vulnerabilities and deepened poverty. As the country struggles to recover from the destabilizing effects of these crises, the consequences of the Ukraine crisis, including rising fuel prices, will further create additional vulnerabilities and make it more difficult for the country to achieve its SDGs.

Overall Project Goals

In June 2022, Eswatini obtained resources from the SDGs Fund for the implementation of a project aimed at creating an evidence-based and shared understanding of the current and potential impacts of the current global crises of food, energy and finance; assessing the potential interaction of the food, energy and finance nexus with existing vulnerabilities and analysing the implications for Eswatini, in order to serve as a basis for accelerated national preparedness and tangible response plan.

The project will have 3 phases namely:

• A Rapid Country Assessment (RCA) on the food, energy, and finance crises their relevance and interaction with existing risks and vulnerabilities in Eswatini;
• Guided by the Rapid Analysis, national stakeholders including development partners, prioritise an inventory of short, medium, and long-term gender sensitive
• interventions for food-energy-finance crisis which builds on existing programmes for deployment by Government; and
• Implementation of selected short-term impactful integrated gender responsive interventions addressing the food-energy-finance nexus.

Assessment (RCA) on the impacts of the food, energy, and finance crisis, generated by Ukraine war, on Eswatini’s economy and formulate recommendations, (including social protection measures) and institutional mechanisms targeting vulnerable groups.

The RCA will lead to:

• A better Understanding of the impact of global food, energy, and finance crisis on achievement of SDGs, particularly SDGs 2, 3, 5,7 and 8, with focussing on vulnerable populations;
• Analysis and synthesis of the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on food availability, affordability, access, and stability for vulnerable groups (including persons with disabilities, migrants) building on the Eswatini’s VAC assessment and other assessments such as Food System Assessment conducted by FAO and EU and the outcomes of the FSS dialogue;
• Review of national capacities and institutional mechanisms to target the vulnerable yet unreachable or excluded from the mainstream in responding to emergencies to protect vulnerable groups in the context of food, energy, and finance crisis;
• Identification of entry points for short and long-term sustainable options for effective response (policy and interventions);
• Prioritization of relevant international finance mechanisms including debt swap for nature, climate finance, carbon markets et;
• Documentation of needs, data gaps and define appropriate institutional arrangements to monitor national capacities in response to crises, especially in relation with social protection;
• Recommendation of appropriate national economy-wide social protection institutional mechanisms and targeting systems/processes to respond to ongoing food security crisis, by drawing on international best practices.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant is required to undertake the following tasks:

1. Desk review: Document review of relevant documentation and data including : Eswatini’s VAC assessment, Food System Assessment, UNDP policy brief on impact of Ukraine crisis and others
2. Stakeholder consultations: The consultant will conduct key informant and stakeholder consultations with:
3. Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic and Development Planning, Deputy Prime Minister Office (DPMO), National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), NAMBOARD, and other relevant institutions
4. Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy, ESERA
5. Private sector and civil society organizations (Eswatini Sugar Association, Business Eswatini, ESNAU, EHA, SEDCO; SWAFCU, ).
6. Development Partners (DP) involved in food security, energy, and finance issues (UN agencies, World Bank, African Development Bank, CFI, ESEPARC, European Union). Focus groups meetings with representatives of vulnerable groups (youth, women, persons with disabilities).
7. A survey of public perceptions of impacts on households and businesses, ensuring representativeness in terms of age, gender, social class, and geographical location.
8. Analysis and Report writing: The consultant is expected to undertake a comprehensive analysis of data and information gathered with the view of drafting the RCA report and a policy brief.
9. Facilitate validation of results: The consultant will facilitate the validation exercise involving all stakeholders to review the report and suggest amendments where necessary to enhance the report and policy brief.
10. Produce and submit a final RCA report based on feedback received from the validation exercise.

Deliverables:

• Inception Report containing a comprehensive and time bound work plan, identifying stakeholders to be engaged and detailed methodology (including the description of the tools to be used and checklists/guides for semi-structured interview) and annotated outline of the RCA (to be submitted within one week of signing the contract).
• Draft Rapid Assessment Report and Policy brief: Relevant information from document review and findings of the stakeholder consultations will be used to draft the Rapid Assessment Report and a policy brief of not more than 5 pages which is expected to be completed within four (4) weeks from the date of signing the contract.
• Validation meeting report
• Final Rapid Assessment Report and Policy brief

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• Has excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize relevant findings for the preparation of quality and analytical reports.
• Has demonstrated knowledge and experience in assessing socio-economic impacts.
• Demonstrated maturity and confidence in dealing with official of national government and economic institutions.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver on short timelines.
• Excellent spoken and presentation skills in the English language.

Corporate and Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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 favouritism.
• Communication – Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.
• Planning & Organizing – Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks and makes allowances accordingly.
• Organizational Awareness – Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
• Teamwork – Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Accountability – Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree in Economics, Development Studies, Environmental Management, Energy/Agricultural Economics, or any other closely relevant field.

Experience:

• A minimum of ten (10) years relevant professional experience in the area of socio-economic analysis.
• Proven experience in operational research
• Proven experience in formulation and implementation of policy recommendations, in line with population living conditions.
• Experience in analysis and design of emergency response programme issues can be an advantage.
• Knowledge of Eswatini economic landscape.

Language Requirement:

• Proficiency in written and spoken English and SiSwati.

How to Apply:

Interested and qualified candidates should submit;

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;Letter of Confirmation of Interest template
2. Personal CV or P11, (P11 form); indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.

Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).

Incomplete applications will be excluded from further consideration.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

• Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and experiences will be weighted a max. of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%.