Background

Building adaptive capacity of women and girls to the impacts of climate change is one of the strategic priorities of UNDP. Over last four decades, UNDP Bangladesh has been working with the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) together with other development partners to implement GoB’s priorities in disaster and climate change risk management. UNDP is committed to support GoB in implementing its priority in adaptive capacity building.

The Government of Bangladesh is aimed at combating urgent and serious effects of climate change, and is moving towards low-emission and climate-resilient development.

The Government of Bangladesh intends to develop and design projects with impacts in climate change mitigation and adaptation, on the basis of following criteria:

• Impact potential of climate investment to the development investment;
• Paradigm shift potential of climate investment in transforming the development investment;
• Sustainable development potential of the climate investment;
• Responsive to the needs of primary, secondary and tertiary stakeholders;
• Strong alignment with country systems, planning, financing and policy priorities;
• Efficiency and effectiveness of the climate investment.

UNDP Bangladesh is working for last five years to support the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) in developing climate change related investment proposals. Among the issues being considered as subject for a project proposal is Women and Girl’s Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change.

The Context of the Project

Evidently women are more severely affected by climate change and natural disasters because of their social roles, discrimination and poverty. In rural Bangladesh they are especially vulnerable since they are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood (CDMP 2009). The core climate change vulnerabilities outlined below are assumed as gender neutral.

• Flood-risk hotspots in Bangladesh were identified by MoEF (2009) in Middle and Northern-Eastern part of Bangladesh. Recent severe floods occurred in 1988, 1998, 2004 and 2007. Floods in Bangladesh in 2007 occurred two times and lasted for a prolonged period causing 40% crop loss, outbreak of diarrheal diseases and severe food insecurity;
• Drought-risk hotspots in Bangladesh are mainly located in the Northern-West region which includes Rajshahi, Kurigram, Nilphamary, Rangpur and Dinajpur districts. The agricultural droughts are also increasing in Chuadanga, Jessore and Satkhira districts (MoEF, 2009). Both the extent and severity of drought has increased and the consequences are poverty, food insecurity and hunger;
• Cyclone-risk hotspots start from Bay of Bengal and damage crop, vegetation and lead to floods and storm surges. It includes the coastal districts located in the southern area of the country. Cyclones and tidal surges affected Bangladesh in 1991, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013;
• Salinity risk hotspots are located mainly in the coastal districts which have a vast network of rivers and a large number of islands. Salinity intrusion started from the lower-upper area of coastal region to nearest upholds.

The vulnerabilities of men and women to hazard exposures, impact on biodiversity and conservation of marine and coastal resources, impact on life, livelihood and wellbeing of inhabitants of the areas are different and dynamic in different climate change contexts. The degree of vulnerability of women and girls in relation to potable water, human health, water for cleaning purposes, agriculture and community forestry is also different in different climate change hotspots. Therefore, the vulnerabilities are not gender neutral and in Bangladesh due to gender inequality, climate change impact is felt more in the day to day lives of women and girls and is predicted to worsen in future with abrupt climate change scenario (GoB, 2008).

It is also observed that women and girls’ adaptive capacity to climate change is very low in Bangladesh and that makes them more vulnerable to climate change. Generally, adaptive capacity of women is meant to be ‘a set of capacities (human, social, financial/economic, physical, and institutional/legal) that enable women and girls’ individually and collectively within community to anticipate, cope with, resist or recover from, and reduce their susceptibility to climate-related hazards. Such adaptive capacity to climate change is also likely to help them in overcoming conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors or processes, as well as attitudes and behaviors in societies.

The Concept of the Project

The Government of Bangladesh (GoB), through the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA), has invested an average of USD120 million each year over the last five years in the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme (Government of Bangladesh 2015).  This programme aims to graduate vulnerable women from extreme poverty to higher income brackets - mainly by providing food, cash grants and livelihood skills (Government of Bangladesh 2015).  The VGD model is designed to help the beneficiaries use the food and cash support to develop small enterprises or other means of livelihood so that they can become self-reliant (Hossain 2007).

The programme has been generally successful, except in those areas subject to climate-induced disasters such as floods, cyclones, waterlogging, salinity intrusion and drought (Litu 2015). This is because women who have made economic progress are constantly being set back by shocks and stresses, which erode their assets and resources (Litu 2015).  MoWCA’s analyses have shown that they will not be able to attain their graduation objectives in these areas without effectively incorporating climatic risk into their model and providing additional financing to address the risks (Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies 2012).

To address this situation, GoB aims to mobilise additional resources to (1) provide additional skills and cash/asset transfer to the vulnerable women so that their livelihood options are resilient to the climate change shocks; (2) establish more effective early warning and response mechanisms, which are women friendly, but beneficial to all members of the community; and (3) provide better access to potable water supply to reducing the domestic burden of water collection which falls primarily on women and girls and can involve long journeys when local resources become contaminated by salinity after tidal surges or sea level rise in coastal areas or during droughts.

Therefore, the broader objective of the programme is to enhance adaptive capacity of 50,000 women and girls, and their 225,000 family members in areas most vulnerable to climate induced shocks by transforming the VGD into a climate inclusive resilience programme.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective:

• Disaster risk reduction: Ensure that vulnerable women and girls have access to early warning for floods, droughts and cyclones; and the ability to act on them to protect their own lives and assets as well as the lives and assets of their families and communities;
• Climate resilient livelihoods: Build capacity of targeted vulnerable women and girls with knowledge, technology, finance and skills on various suitable adaptive livelihoods;
• Water security: Increase women and girls’ available time for economic activities by ensuring that they have year-round access to reliable and safe water supplies that are resilient to climate change induced shocks and stresses;
• Empowerment: Build the capacity of women and girls to understand impacts of climate change on their lives and livelihoods, to contribute to local decision-making processes and to participate in adaptive actions;
• Institutional capacity: Build MoWCA’s capacity to influence gender sensitive climate change policies and programmes at national and local level.

Scope of Work

A Seven (7) member team is envisaged to be recruited by UNDP.  The Team Leader requires combined expertise including the following areas to carry out during the mission:

The team leader will carry out the following tasks:

Concept Note Development Phase

Become familiar with:

• Past and existing projects of GoB and UNDP focused on women, livelihoods, economic empowerment, social protection, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and other areas;
• GoB’s ongoing effort on social safety net programmes targeting women, existing proposed project concept and underlying assumptions and justifications;
• Government’s different schemes, projects, plans and policy for the development of women and girls;
• Existing development activities in Bangladesh addressing needs of women and girls; Vulnerable Group Development (VGD), Food for Work (FFW), One House One Farm, Extreme Poverty Programme (EPP), Employment Generation Programme for Poorest (EGPP), and others; and identify the gaps from adaptation point of view.
• Main stakeholders in the proposed project to check understanding and assumptions;
• Identify key activities and results, which will determine the proposed project’s technical feasibility (adaptation and mitigation) in reducing vulnerability of the women and girls in flood, drought and sea level rise contexts;
• Edit and fine-tune the draft pre-feasibility study report;
• Edit and fine-tune the concept note;
• Finalize project concept note incorporating feedbacks from review process.

Feasibility and Full Project Proposal Phase:

• Become familiar with proposed project concept and underlying assumptions and justifications and key stakeholders in the proposed project to check understanding and assumptions;
• Assemble and review available studies, reports and data on women and girl’s adaptive capacity to climate change;
• Conduct a baseline study in key aspects on adaptive capacity of women and girls identified in project concept note;
• Determine feasibility and crucial factors for the success and sustainability of the proposed project;
• Map and assess target beneficiary group’s needs very specifically and detail out the delivery mechanism of the project supplies to meet the specific needs that the project can address;
• Draft a work plan for the assignment including an overview of expected additional data to be collected during the assignment (e.g. for environmental/socioeconomic impact assessment);
• Make a technical assessment of potential environmental/socioeconomic impact of the project actions;
• Based on literature review, needs assessment and stakeholder consultations, develop several alternatives for building adaptive capacity of women and girls, which strongly add value for climate change adaptation, and are economically, socially, and environmentally feasible for Government of Bangladesh to transform the whole Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) Programme in Bangladesh;
• Develop a draft feasibility study report and draft project proposal;
• Assess risks related to project implementation and success;
• Make recommendations to GoB and UNDP Bangladesh on necessary adjustments to project concept to improve feasibility, sustainability and impact;
• Produce and submit final feasibility study report and project proposal;
• Present feasibility study findings to GoB and UNDP Bangladesh.

The team of consultants will be contractually accountable to UNDP and the issues related to process and deliverables (outputs) also needs to be endorsed by UNDP.

Deliverables:

• A pre-Feasibility Study (based on the existing one);
• A project concept note (based on the existing one);
• A final Feasibility Study Report;
• A final Project Proposal (as a team);

Timeframe and Deadline:

The assignment will be for a priod of total 45 working days from its commencement and shall be completed by 15 September 2015.

• A pre-Feasibility Study Report (based on the existing one) - 07 Days;
• A project concept note (based on the existing one) - 07 Days;
• A final Feasibility Study Report - 11 Days;
• A final Project Proposal - 20 Days;

Documents

The Consultants will prepare and submit the documents mentioned above at the end of the assignment. The format for Programme Document should be agreed at the beginning of the assignment and cleared by the task force. Further work, or revision of the documents, may be required if is considered that the report does not meet the TOR, there are errors of fact or the document is incomplete or not of an acceptable standard.

Supervision and Perfoemance Evaluation:

The team will work closely with the Committee formed by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and UNDP. The consultant/s will report directly to the Assistant Country Director, Climate Change, Environment and Disaster Cluster.

Inputs

UNDP will provide office space and transport for the consultant as required and also arrange meetings, consultations, and interviews and ensure access to key officials as mentioned in proposed methodology. DSA will be provided for travelling outside Dhaka (if required) as per rules of UNDP

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Professionalism:

• Flexibility to make ad-hoc changes as and when the need arises;
• Ability to perform under stress;
• Willingness to keep flexible working hours;
• Ability to engage with high ranking Government Officials and provide policy advisory support services;
• Good understanding of disaster management in South Asia / Bangladesh, including field experience;
• Full conceptual and practical understanding of activities, legal framework of the government.

Teamwork:

• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relations as a team member, in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect.

Communication:

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
• Excellent writing skills in the compilation of high level quality documents in English language.

Corporate Competencies:

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in Social Sciences (preferably in Economics/ Anthropology/ Sociology/ Gender Studies), Climate Change, Environmental Studies or most relevant fields;
• Strong academic and policy experience reflected in the form of peer reviewed articles, books and cited works;

Experience:

• At least 10 years’ of working experience in gender and climate change in particular and climate change adaptation in general;
• Strong project development and proposal writing skills for national scale programme;
• Substantial experience in policy and programme analysis involving using quantitative and qualitative methods;
• Working experience in government ministries/ departments and UN / international organizations;
• Should have knowledge on global good practices in adaptive capacity building for most vulnerable people and specifically for women and girls in least developed countries;
• Sound technical knowledge about approach and methodologies on social, environmental, economic analysis of project feasibility studies, livelihood security, water and sanitation, employment generation, social safety net, safe migration, public health, skills and other key areas of adaptive capacity;
• Demonstrated experience in undertaking similar feasibility studies in the region/Bangladesh.

Language:

• Excellent English writing and editing skills.

Payment to the consultant

The Consultant will be paid as per the following payment schedule based on the certification of the contract adsministrator

• 1st payment (10% of the Total Contract Amount) - Upon submission of Revised pre-Feasibility Study done by GoB and UNDP;
• 2nd payment (15% of the Total Contract Amount) - Upon submission of the Revised concept note concept note developed by GoB and UNDP;
• 3rd payment (35% of the Total Contract Amount) - Upon submission of A final Feasibility Study Report;
• Final Payment (40% of the Total Contract Amount) - Upon submission of the A final Project Proposal and  successful completion of the assignment.

Evaluation of the Candidates

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis: The candidates will be evaluated through Cumulative Analysis method. When using the weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% marks i.e. 49 marks in the Technical evaluation would be considered for Financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Criteria (Total 70 marks):

• Past experience in conducting feasibility studies in the developing countries/Bangladesh- at national scale - 25 marks;
• Past work in Climate change adaptation in South Asian/developing countries - 10 marks;
• Working experience in gender exclusively Women and Girls’ Adaptive Capacity in relation to climate change - 25 marks;
• Project development experience for UN agencies/ international organization / donor funded projects - 10 marks.

Financial Evaluation (Total 30 marks):

Financial proposals from all technically qualified candidates will be scored out 30 marks based on the formula provided below. The maximum marks (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal.

All other proposals will receive points according to the following formula:

• p = y (µ/z)

Where:

• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

Important note for Applicants:

Interested applicants are requested to submit their financial proposal along with the application. Please note that, application in this system allows to attach only one document. Interested candidates are requested to prepare their CV's and Financial Prioposal as one document and upload that single document (CV + Financial Proposal) while applying.

The template for Financial Proposal can be found in the below link:

http://www.bd.undp.org/content/dam/bangladesh/docs/Jobs/Interest%20and%20Submission%20of%20Financial%20Proposal-Template%20for%20Confirmation.docx

Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.