UN WOMEN Jobs - 49573- Mapping of Rural Womens Organizations

Mapping of Rural Womens Organizations

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Maputo with Travel to 3 Provinces to be Selected, MOZAMBIQUE

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

21-Sep-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

Portuguese

Expected Duration of Assignment :

40 working days

UNDP 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. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The population of Mozambique is estimated to be 24 million of inhabitants and women represent 53%;
Mozambique is typically an agrarian country where 70% of its populations lives in rural areas and is involved in subsistence farming;
Women account for 87% of this universe (INE, 2013);
Despite their prominent role in agriculture and food production, the status and conditions of rural women remain low due to the weak access to productive resources, services, markets, and agency in the making of rural development and agricultural policies;
Rural women face enormous challenges with regard to access and control of vital resources to full attainment of their citizenship rights;
In Mozambique and in the rest of the world, women’s position as duty bearers stands outparticularly as subsistence farmers to meet the household needs;
Their participation in decision making as a right on its own and as a way to ensure equitable access of resources is far from being reached despite efforts such as establishment of minimum quotas of women participation in the consultative bodies at local levels in 2005;
For instance despite being main workforce, women account for only 11% of the total number of public extension workers, 25% of the land owners holding official user rights (DUAT), and 13% of the beneficiaries of extension services (MINAG);
According to MuGeDe 76% of women are excluded from rural finance programs however, they have higher access to informal credit schemes;
To address such challenges, it was recently established the Movement of Mozambican Rural Women’s Organizations-MMMR;
The movement has the potential to play a strategic role in raising attention to issues that affect rural women and in promoting the recognition of their role as key contributors to the socio-economic, political and cultural development;
One of the priorities identified by the Movement is to build a systematized and updated knowledge on Rural Women’s Organizations, their capacities of interventions to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment and the challenges they face;
This is considered fundamental to enable the Movement to fully play its role of representing the voices of rural women in the dialogue for adoption of public policies which are commensurate with their contribution to the development of the country;
In this regard, UN WOMEN in partnership with MuGeDe (Association Women Gender and Development) intend to support Rural Women’s Movement through a Mapping of existing rural women’s organizations in Mozambique;
MUGEDE (2014), Relatório da 1a Reunião Nacional do Movimento Moçambicano das Mulheres Rurais.

The application package consists of the following items:

CV;
Cover letter explaining why candidate considers her/himself the most suitable for the work (max 250 words);
Proposal of methodology (maximum 500 words);
Proposed fee per day with an indication if the rate is negotiable.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective of the consultancy is to conduct a mapping of the existing Rural Women’s Organizations in all provinces of Mozambique;
Besides the fact that it will provide access to systematized information, that is fundamental for strengthening of Rural Women’s Organizations, the mapping will contribute for higher visibility of their work;
The Consultant will work under oversight of Programme Specialist and with support from UN WOMEN officer for Economic Empowerment and from MuGeDe.

The consultant will be responsible for:

Map the existing Rural women’s Organizations operating in the areas of production and/or transformation or services (agriculture, livestock, agro-processing, tourism, craft, fisheries and alike) in all provinces and districts, type of activities or services that they provide, their legal status, capacities (technical and financial), funding sources, main challenges in the development of their activities, organizational structures including existence or not of democratic practices as well as identify and document best practices, success stories or innovations for dissemination;
Identify the main challenges and recommend possible strategies to strengthen institutional capacity of Rural Women’s Organizations with the aim of improving their capacity of intervention to improve the socio-economic, political and cultural status of women;
Produce a Report of the Mapping including an electronic list of women’s organizations, with indication of location, field of activities and contacts;
Conduct a restrict workshop with a Reference Group (including the board of Movement of Rural Women’s organizations) for discussion and validation of the mapping results;
Contribute to the presentation of Mapping Report and final results during an open workshop;
The assignments will be undertaken through a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches which will include:
Collection of data and information from various sources including databases of network of organizations and Government institutions in Maputo and other Provinces, as well as reports, directories among others;
Collection of information through primary sources including field work in Maputo city and three provinces to be identified, based in the representativeness of the universe of existing organizations;
The consultant will be based in Maputo and as part of the application should present a methodology for collection of reliable data in 11 provinces at distance.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards (human rights, peace, understanding between peoples and nations, tolerance, integrity, respect, results orientation (UNWOMEN core ethics) impartiality;
Display comfort working with politically sensitive situations;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

Professionalism:

Conscientious and efficient in meeting deadlines, observing deadlines and achieving results;
Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail;
Responds to communications by email and skype on a timely basis.

Communication:

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills required for effective collaboration with government counterparts, UNWOMEN and various other stakeholders;
Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed;
Excellent writing, editing, and oral communication skills.

Teamwork:

Works collaboratively with colleagues/organizations to achieve organizational goals;
Solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise;
Places team agenda before personal agenda.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Post Graduate degree (Masters) in development studies, economics, social science, rural development and other related fields related with sociology.

Experience:

A minimum of 5 years of progressive experience of work with rural organizations;
Solid knowledge on the status of women’s rights, legislation and policies in the field of gender as well as on the existing gender equality machinery in Mozambique;
Demonstrated capacity to conduct similar activities (mapping, development of directories, databases);
Sound understanding of the associative and community movement as well as social and cultural reality of Mozambique in particular traditional norms linked to gender;
Demonstrated ability to plan and undertake research, collect and analyse data within a given timeframe.

Languages

Fluency in Portuguese both spoken and written;
Fluency in local languages is desirable.