Republic of Moldova

Gender Mainstreaming Consultant

Vacancy Number: Pr19/01841

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	22 May 2019, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	31 May 2019, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	03 Jun 2019
Reference to the project:
Expected Duration of Assignment:	May 2019 - May 2021
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted by email, no later than 22 May 2019. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: cristina.cotofana@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.
Supporting Documents: OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR (IC) ASSIGNMENT UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

Considering its economic structure and geographic features, Moldova is highly vulnerable to climate change and is exposed to disasters due to hydrometeorological phenomena and natural hazards.  While drought and floods are among top hydro-meteorological hazards caused by extreme weather and climate events, due to the current and projected abnormal high temperatures leading to water scarcity, the incidence of forest fires is increasingly posing a threat to natural ecosystems, the agricultural system and human settlements.

Such high exposure is due to the country’s dependence on rain-fed agricultural production which is tied to climate, making it the most vulnerable of all economic sectors. This is primarily due to the shortage of water for agricultural needs and limited resources and capacities to plan and put in place water storage facilities for irrigation needs in rural communities of Moldova, especially, since climate projections show larger rainfall events in the future, which could supply such facilities.

Climate scenarios also indicate the country is strongly trending towards becoming more arid. Unfortunately, rural communities experience a capacity deficit in terms of fire prevention, preparedness and timely response, mainly due to the liquidation of over 400 equipped and capacitated firefighting units. It resulted in increased response time and lower awareness of fire risks by the rural population, subsequently leading to considerable increase in loss of life, property and affected ecosystems. It is widely accepted that rural women are disproportionately affected by fires due to them being mostly engaged in cooking in unsafe cook stoves and collection of firewood in ecosystems that might be at high risk of fires.

Against this background, the project aims to increase resilience and adaptive capacities of rural communities to climate change and disasters through improved water storage infrastructures and disasters risk reduction measures. The project is supporting implementation of climate-smart water management solutions for agriculture, flood management, fire prevention and expansion of community-based rescue/firefighting teams in rural communities of Moldova with the purpose of reducing the exposure and vulnerability of the rural communities to climate change and disaster risks. The project will be implemented over a period of 36 months and the activities are clustered around 2 major outputs intended to produce impact in 5 districts of Moldova, in the Central (Hincesti, Criuleni and Ungheni districts) and Southern (Leova and Cantemir) regions.

The expected impact of the project is: improved resilience of rural communities’ livelihoods in the face of climate change

The overall project outcome is strengthened local policies, capacities and infrastructure, which enable climate and disaster resilient development at the community level.

Projects outputs are as follows:

Output 1 - Adaptation interventions in the water sector for agricultural purposes and flood management demonstrated and local climate change related policy frameworks in place in a selected number of districts.  

Output 2 - Community-level climate and disaster management capacities improved for risk reduction, prevention and timely response.

Under the 1^st output, 2 major activities will be implemented: 1.1. Mainstream climate change adaptation and disaster risk management priorities into local development planning frameworks with intention to widely involve various stakeholders ranging from the private sector to vulnerable groups (out of which 50% will be women) into policy development and decision-making over priorities that affect their well-being; and 1.2. Piloting of water storage infrastructures in 5 districts of the country to enhance adaptation to climate change in the water and agricultural sectors by providing grants to at least 15 farmers, including women, to put in place climate-smart water systems, such as, for instance, water storage basins. 

Under the 2nd output, 2 major activities will be implemented: 2.1 Establish community-based rescue and firefighting brigades in the most vulnerable and risk exposed districts of the country, which are considered an instrument for resilient community development that will cover a radius of up to 10-20 km and a maximum intervention time of 15 minutes; and 2.2 Conduct capacity development for climate and disaster response local teams and raise awareness towards building a culture of safer living in order to ensure that the performance of the climate and disaster response local teams in the target communities reaches its full capacity and that the local population have an enhanced understanding of the response patterns in case of disasters.

The benefits of the project will materialize through increased water availability for resilient livelihoods, reduced exposure to disaster and fire risks for 55 villages (approximately 58,714 people, including 39 300 women), where 990 households (2930 people) are identified as socially and economically vulnerable.

For the purpose of this project and the definition of the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (GIES), as vulnerable groups and individuals are defined people with diminished capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of a natural or man-made hazard. Those include: 1st Group – Persons who are alone and/or sick that are tied to bed and cared for by social assistants; 2nd Group – Poor families with many children and families without one or both parents; and, 3rd Group – Old persons with limited mobility.

Scope of work

The overall objective of the assignment is to ensure a gender responsive approach throughout the implementation of project activities to achieve better results in addressing gender equality barriers specifically related to: 1) Mainstreaming climate change adaptation and disaster risk management priorities into local development planning frameworks; 2) Piloting water storage infrastructures in 5 districts to enhance adaptation to climate change in the water and agriculture sectors; 3) Establishing community-based rescue and firefighting brigades in the most vulnerable and risk exposed districts of the country; and, 4) Building capacity of climate and disaster response local teams, and raise awareness towards building a culture of safer living.

The Individual Consultant will carry out gender analyses at different levels of project implementation and fact-based strategic guidance, mentoring and hands-on support for mainstreaming gender into the initiatives of the project.

The Consultant will work closely with the core project team, as well as with other project consultants involved in the preparation of the Environment Impact Assessment, Sustainability and Risk Management Plan, with those hired to mainstream climate change and disaster risks into local development planning and others supporting implementation of Output 2.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualifications:

• University degree in social sciences, human rights, psychology with expertise in gender studies and/or relevant areas.

Experience and knowledge:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience working on gender responsive programming in development programs/projects.
• At least 5 years of experience combining formal expertise on gender mainstreaming and gender equality with experience of applying these concretely to specific programmes, plans, policies and business processes.
• Strong skills in gender assessment and mainstreaming, policy development and analysis.
• At least 5 years of experience in conducting needs/capacity assessment and in providing gender training to various target groups.
• Ability to communicate ideas in a manner conducive to their practical application.
• Comfortable working as part of a team to add value to collective results.
• Experience of working and collaborating with the CPAs, LPAs and UN is an asset.

Competencies:

• Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of analytical documents.
• Capacity to build strong relationships with beneficiaries, to focus on impact and result and to respond positively to feedback.

Documents to be included

1. Proposal:

• Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work including experience in similar assignments;
• Providing a brief information on each of the above qualifications, item by item and a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work (if applicable);

2. Financial proposal (in USD), specifying a fee per day and total requested amount including all related costs, e.g. fees, per diems, travel costs, phone calls etc.;
3. CV with at least 3 names for a reference check;
4. Offeror’s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the individual contractor (IC) assignment.

Financial proposal

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 installments 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 will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including fees, taxes, travel costs, accommodation costs, communication, and number of anticipated working days).  

The financial proposal will specify the daily fee, travel expenses and per diems quoted in separate line items, and payments are made to the Individual Consultant based on the number of days worked.

 

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