UN WOMEN Jobs - 41575- Consultant - Design of a Gender Sensitive Manual i

Consultant - Design of a Gender Sensitive Manual in Agrobiodiversity

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

West Bank, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

20-Nov-2013

Application Deadline :

14-Nov-13 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

4 months

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

4 months

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

UN Women (UNW), grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) since its inception in 1997. UN Women oPt focuses its activities on one overarching goal, namely to support the implementation at the national level of existing international commitments to advance gender equality in line with the national priorities. In support of this goal and thoroughly taking into consideration the specificities of the oPt context, UN Women concentrates its efforts and interventions toward the realization of following strategic goals: Engendering governance, peace and security; Supporting women's economic security and rights; and Promoting women’s rights and protection against violence. In response to calls for increasing need to support women’s economic empowerment and political participation, UN Women will be implementing the programme Spring Forward (2012-2015) funded by the European Commission.

The regional Women’s economic and political empowerment programme (WEPE) “Spring Forward” provides a mechanism to advance the economic empowerment of women living in the Southern Mediterranean region, including Palestine, and to assist them to reposition themselves in the political and decision making spaces so that they may have greater influence in shaping the future of their countries in the on-going democratic transition while protecting their previous gains. The programme works at multiple levels to respond to the specific support needs at the regional and country level, building on local initiatives in priority countries with the recognition that sustainable change must be locally-owned and led.

The overall objective of the programme is to promote the access and effective participation of marginalized women in economic and public life, by addressing the barriers that have impeded the access and engagement of marginalized women in these areas. The programme will pursue the following specific objectives:

To empower women politically in order to assure women's active engagement in decision making spaces;
To empower women economically;
To enhance regional knowledge and experience-sharing on women's political and economic rights.

As part of UN Women strategy to enhance women’s economic empowerment, and to strengthen their skills in agriculture as one of the main productive sectors across Palestine, an expert in agrobiodiversity will be contracted to design a gender sensitive training manual on agrobiodiversity.

The training manual should cover an analysis of the situation of agrobiodiversity in the Palestinian environment, best practices, modern techniques, climate change, policies, regulations, laws and stakeholders. The training manual will serve as a reference to the public, especially to women’s centers, to improve their access to adequate business opportunities and overcome the obstacles facing women farmers, and to enable them to access relevant services and opportunities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the UN Women Special Representative and in close cooperation with “Spring Forward” Project Coordinator, the Consultant will undertake the following tasks, duties and responsibilities:

Design a gender sensitive training manual on agrobiodiversity:

The Consultant should set local definition of agrobiodiversity and conservation practices, taking into consideration the international standards for this field, including plant production and animal husbandry.
Assessment of beneficiary knowledge and skills in agrobiodiversity utilization and conservation through individual and group meetings (at least 8 locations in the West Bank and 3 locations in Gaza);
Review of existing publications, manuals and other material on agrobiodiversity and interviews with stakeholders working in the field (especially the Ministry of Agriculture) to make sure the manual reflects current needs in the field;
Design a gender sensitive training manual for Palestinian farmers on agrobiodiversity that includes some of the following main topics 1) For plant production: a.Site selection. b. Land and soil preparation. c. Design and installation of irrigation system. d. Selection of crops according to planting season. e. Agricultural practices; selection of crops, sowing, propagation, irrigation, fertilization, plant care, harvesting……etc.(with some common examples). f. Processing of products; preparation, drying, pickling, packaging, labeling, and marketing. 2) For animal husbandry: a. The importance of animal breeding at household level. b. Animal breeding and Apiculture (with common examples; sheep and goats, rabbits, chicken, beehives) including ; site selection, housing, selection of breeds and animals, feeding, health care, products and utilization,…..etc). 3) Key areas in agrobiodiversity utilization and management (cultural, economic and environmental) and its particular benefits to women farmers; 4) Palestinian policies, laws and regulations in the field; 5) Mapping of main service providers and stakeholders in the field; 6) Best practices and modern techniques in production, hygiene, food safety, marketing; 7) Illustrations of the above components with photos and other visual material of local environment and context. 8) Prepare simplified informative annexes to be used as training material for the trainees.
Consult with FAO, Ministry of Agriculture and UN Women on the contents of the training manual and incorporate the feedback into the final draft;
Provide a final draft of the training manual.

Time frame:

The assignment is expected to start on 15th of November 2013 and to be finalized by 15th of March 2014.

Key deliverables:

A detailed work plan of the consultancy assignment, including detailed methodology;
Needs assessment results;
Draft training manual in Arabic;
Final training manual in Arabic, and translation of the summary into English.

Competencies

Core values / guiding principles:

Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core competences:

Ethics and Values: Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity;
Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring: Initiative-taking; coaching and mentoring ability;
Working in Teams: Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
Communicating Information and Ideas: Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
Self-management and Emotional intelligence: Creating synergies through self-control.
Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements: Managing conflict;
Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of other.

Functional competencies:

Demonstrated experience in programme support;
Demonstrated strong coordination and facilitation skills;
Able to work in a the Palestinian environment;
Able to work under pressure and to deliver on time;
Results oriented, flexible and problem solving skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

University degree in agriculture, agrobiodiversity, environmental studies, or related fields. A Master’s degree in relevant field is an advantage.

Experience:

Significant relevant experience of a minimum of 5 years in agriculture, agrobiodiversity, environment or related fields;
Experience in designing at least two training manuals or similar training materials related to agrobiodiversity or relevant fields;
Experience in working with women farmers is an added value.

Language Requirements:

Fluency (both oral and written) in Arabic. Good knowledge of English is an advantage.

Application procedure:

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted to provide a detailed proposed methodology together with other required documents:

Concept note including methodology;
Sample of work (a previously designed training manual or similar);
Three references.