Historique

The Inclusive Globalization Cluster of the Poverty Group (PG) of the Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) in collaboration with the Gender Team, through its IP, Trade and Biodiversity project proposes to conduct a study titled Implications of Intellectual Property Rights on gender roles in farming practices: Case studies from Africa. This study shall be the first knowledge product under the Impact Issues component of the project.

Farming practices in most developing countries rely on informal exchange of knowledge and seed-sharing for ensuring food security and maintenance of agricultural biodiversity. The World Trade Organization’s intellectual property agreement (TRIPS) and other bilateral and regional trade agreements may impact these practices by introducing monopolistic and exclusive rights regimes into the area of plants and plant varieties. In this context, among the major groups affected by these changes brought forth in the multilateral and regional trade arena are women farmers. For example, TRIPS or strong patent type protection for plant varieties and genetic resources affects women’s reproductive health, agriculture, food security and traditional knowledge in health care and medicines. They produce 50% of all the food in the world and rural women tend to use the forest as a source for a wide variety of plants and plant products to supplement the basic diet, especially during food shortages. Privatization of biological resources directly affects women, who lack resources to purchase them and are left relying on shrinking and increasingly degraded common property resources. As a result, creating gender specific safeguards with respect to plant rights will result not only in greater security for women, but will also ensure maintenance of agricultural biodiversity and continued food security.

In addition to the producing this main study, the consultant shall also provide inputs on a Food Security Analysis currently being undertaken as an addendum to the study. This addendum uses a methodology to analyze implications of changes in women farmer roles over food security. The changes in roles and responsibilities due to Intellectual Property impacts shall be the key finding to the main study, the implications these changes may possibly have over food security is an added input to the study. The addendum methodology is currently being finalized and this aspect shall only involve liaising with the addendum author for a period of not more than 5 working days.

 The project will produce two case studies in the African region that examine and analyze the following:

• Establishing gender concentrated practices in areas related to biodiversity- farming (collection and management of seeds); traditional knowledge (custodians and practitioners);
• Practical impacts of international Intellectual Property rules on these specific gender oriented practices; and
• Existing mechanisms, if any, to safeguard affected groups from the said impacts.
• The consultant may research on communities from any two of the following countries in the African region: Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Kenya or Nigeria.

While the starting point must be the intellectual property rights perspectives, the study must essentially be gender centric. The aim of the study is not only to highlight the interface between gender and intellectual property rights but also serve as a short guide using the case studies to establish the implications of intellectual property rights over their roles

Devoirs et responsabilités

Duties
The Consultant will undertake the following duties:

1. Prepare and submit a detailed concept paper using the said TOR and personal expertise that shall form the background to the final study. The concept paper shall identify among other issues the two communities that shall form the basis of the final case studies. The concept paper must be submitted along with the application.
2. In addition to understanding and being an expert in issues of intellectual property rights and biodiversity, the consultant must be willing to do some ground work on identifying and interacting with two indigenous farming communities where gender has played a centric role and shall involve gender experts’ comments and analysis into the final study and must prepare a scoping study to establish the same.
3. The consultant shall follow a three step/level methodology towards establishing the final study:

• Ground/grass root level work- where the consultant elaborates on two community groups (that which have been identified in the concept note) from two different regions of Africa (the list of countries given above may be used as a guide) where gender plays a centric role, this means necessarily women farmers, seed managers, collection and management of plant varieties- these functions must be conducted by women. This identification and further discussions with the communities will be made in consultation with the project managers in UNDP. The consultant must then establish the IPR-biodiversity interface at this level. (Community level)
• Comments from regional/national gender experts and evidence based analyses- on whether national and regional intellectual property and trade priorities have affected/will affect the empowered roles that gender has played in their communities. (National/Regional level)
• Recommendations on what must be done at various levels so that the gender roles are not disrupted and continue to be empowered (within existing roles as seed managers etc), for e.g. recommendations could be at various levels- National/Regional frameworks, Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), upcoming Access and Benefit Sharing regime (ABS) regime, national and regional free trade agreements. This level must concentrate on only recommendations and not on the multilateral interface between IPR and gender. (Multilateral level).

4.     The consultant shall liaise with the Food Security Addendum author to provide inputs from the African communities’ perspective. 
 
Duration

Forty (40) working days

Payment

The payment shall be made in the following manner:
 
First tranche of 50% on satisfactory submission and completion of the three levels of work and submission of first draft of the study; and
Second and final tranche of 50% on satisfactory submission of the final version of the study after having incorporated comments and inputs from both internal (UNDP) and external experts through a peer review process.
 
Travel

Where the consultant is expected to travel to participate in scoping missions and meetings, travel-related expenses will be reimbursed by UNDP, based on the current practice and UNDP rates.

Reporting

The consultant shall liaise with the Inclusive Globalization Cluster of the Poverty Group and the Gender Team for any queries and assistance on a day-to-day basis. The consultant is expected to incorporate comments and suggestions from the cluster and other reviewers on the documents to be submitted.

Compétences

• Strong intellectual property and biodiversity policy analysis skills from a human development perspective. Knowledge on gender perspectives is a must.
• Strong local language speaking skills in order to interact with communities.
• Previous experience in producing or facilitating intellectual property and biodiversity related knowledge products and services
• Strong and proven verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to work independently and manage competing priorities

Qualifications et expériences requises

• Advanced university degree (Masters or equivalent) in economics, international economics/law, with at least 5 years experience on trade/IP issues;
• Understanding and experience on trade/IP issues, including in the regional context, especially applicable to the African region, as well as familiarity with intellectual property, biodiversity, (including issues surrounding recent aspects and changes in the CBD, ABS and FTA discussions) and development challenges faced by individual African economies; and
• Understanding of gender perspectives and roles in intellectual property and biodiversity related practices- mainly farming and management of seeds.