UN WOMEN Jobs - 67762- UN Women: Agriculture Expert (Open to Nepali Natio

UN Women: Agriculture Expert (Open to Nepali Nationals Only)

Publié pour le compte de

UN WOMEN

Lieu :

Home Based Assignment, NEPAL

Type de contrat :

Individual Contract

Date de commencement :

22-Aug-2016

Date limite de candidature :

11-Aug-16 (Minuit New York, États-Unis)

Niveau du poste :

National Consultant

Durée du contrat initial

3 months

Langues requises :

Anglais

Durée prévue de la mission :

Le PNUD s’engage à recruter un personnel divers en termes de genre, de nationalité et de culture. Nous encourageons de même les personnes issues des minorités ethniques, des communautés autochtones ou handicapées à postuler. Toutes les candidatures seront traitées dans la plus stricte confidentialité. Le PNUD ne tolère pas l’exploitation et / ou les atteintes sexuelles, ni aucune forme de harcèlement, y compris le harcèlement sexuel, et / ou toutes formes de discrimination. Tous/tes les candidats/tes selectectionnes /ées devront ainsi se soumettre à de rigoureuses vérifications relatives aux références fournies ainsi qu’à leurs antécédents.

Historique

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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 centre of all its efforts, 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 national priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with government, civil society and other relevant actors.

In Nepal, around 83 percent of the people live in rural areas. Agriculture forms the foundation of the economy, accounting for around a third of GDP and providing an income for three quarters of the population Women supply around 65 percent of labour in agricultural activities. However, they often lack access to and control over productive resources such as land, capitals and credits, and have more difficulty than men in gaining access to social protection. Their participation in decision-making remains low and they shoulder most of the unpaid care work in their households. All of them hampers their ability to unleash their full economic potential. Within this context, UN Women, FAO, IFAD and WFP have implemented a 5-year joint programme: “Accelerating Progress toward the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women”, Joint Programme (RWEE JP) in three selected districts of the Central Development Region (Sindhuli, Sarlahi and Rautahat) in Nepal with the overarching goal to secure rural women’s livelihoods and rights in the context of sustainable development in the following four outcome areas: 1) improved food and nutrition security; 2) increased income for sustainable livelihoods; 3) enhanced leadership and participation of rural women; and 4) facilitating gender responsive policy environments for the economic empowerment of rural women. The RWEE JP also aims to pilot the gender equality social inclusion (GESI) responsive implementation of the Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS) under the leadership of the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD).

One of the activities underlined in the 4th outcome of the RWEE JP is to support the MoAD in development and finalization of the GESI strategy, which is proposed in this ToR.

Justification:

Women are the most important agents in the enhancement of agricultural and rural development in Nepal. Yet they face greater constraints than their male counterparts in gaining access to public services, social protection, employment opportunities, information, innovations and local national markets and institutions, balancing unpaid care work, and taking up leadership positions. The intersection between gender, caste, ethnicity and spatial inequalities causes that Dalit, Janjati/Adivasi, Madhesi, and geographically isolated women face even greater hardship. It has been reported in a number of studies that there is need to conduct gender research and analysis in a wide range of policy areas to support in gender responsive policy formulation, implementation and social change in the country.

In order to rectify these challenges as well as uphold the Government of Nepal’s political commitment to prioritize gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) across sectors, the MoAD gave an emphasis of GESI integration throughout the development process of the ADS. One of the overarching objectives of the ADS is to transform Nepal’s agricultural sector more inclusive. While GESI provisions are more explicitly integrated into the ‘Governance’ pillar of the ADS, areas in need of further strengthening include recognition of the growing exodus of working age men on availability of agricultural labour, productivity and the increasing feminization of the agricultural sector in Nepal. Promotion of evidence-based GESI responsive policies and programming in the agriculture sector is particularly outlined under output 1.5 of the ADS.

In order to institutionalize GESI throughout the agricultural sector, the RWEE JP has been supporting the MoAD to draft the GESI strategy which will ensure a GESI perspective in planning, implementation and monitoring of the ADS activities. The first draft was shared with the MoAD in the first quarter of 2016, and, after the initial reviews and consultations, the MoAD requested UN Women to provide the further support to finalize the draft, reflecting comments and feedbacks provided by relevant departments of the MoAD, line ministries and other stakeholders. In this context, UN Women is seeking for two consultants—Agriculture Expert and GESI Expert to support the MoAD in finalization of the draft GESI strategy for the implementation of the ADS. The proposed assignment outlined in this ToR is for Agriculture Expert.

Objective:

The objectives of this assignment are to: (1) provide technical inputs and coordination support to reflect comments provided by the MoAD, line ministries and other stakeholders to the current draft GESI strategy, and (2) coordinate the organization of the final consultation workshop for finalization of the draft GESI strategy. Particularly, the Consultant/Agriculture Expert will focus on the strengthening of technical and thematic aspects of the draft strategy in relationship with the ADS.

Note:

Government of Nepal, Central Bureau of Statistics 2012. National Population and Housing Census 2011;
Government of Nepal, Ministry of Finance. 2012. Economic Survey Fiscal Year 2011/12;
FAO, 2011. The State of Food and Agriculture 2010-11: Women in Agriculture; Closing the Gender Gap for Development. Rome FAO;
Agriculture Development Strategy-Final Report, prepared for Government of Nepal, June 2013.

Devoirs et responsabilités

The main tasks and responsibilities of the Consultant/Agriculture Expert will be as follows:

Review of the draft GESI strategy:

Review the current draft of the GESI strategy and comments which were provided by the MoAD, line ministries and other stakeholders during the initial review and consultations;
Identify thematic points and aspects where further work is needed with the draft GESI strategy.

Consultation meetings with thematic experts:

In close consultation with the MoAD and UN Women, hold a series of meetings with thematic experts in the agriculture sector, particularly those which were identified as priorities in the ADS. Name of thematic experts will be provided by the MoAD.

Strengthening the current draft GESI strategy:

Incorporate inputs received from thematic experts in the draft GESI strategy. The Consultant shall work in close coordination with GESI Expert to ensure all comments are appropriately and sufficiently reflected in the draft strategy.

Consultation workshop:

Provide technical and coordination support to the MoAD and UN Women to organize a consultation workshop with a wider range of participants. The exact timing of the workshop will be confirmed by the MoAD and UN Women after the commencement of the contract. A list of invitees will be provided by the MoAD and UN Women. The Consultant/Agriculture Expert will also make a presentation at the workshop on the revised draft GESI strategy.

Finalization of the draft GESI strategy:

Revise the draft GESI strategy, reflecting inputs received from stakeholders during the consultation workshop;
Submit the final draft of the GESI strategy to the MoAD and UN Women.

Expected Deliverables:

Deliverable-1: Submission of the work plan and review of the draft GESI strategy;
Deliverable-2: Consultation meetings with the thematic experts and revision of the draft strategy; and
Deliverable-3: Final edited GESI strategy (English) after incorporating comments from the consultation workshop.

Methodology:

The Consultant is expected to conduct this assignment based on both primary and secondary sources of information. Under the primary source of information, he/she will hold interactions with the relevant officials at the MoAD, thematic experts among others. The secondary source will include the review of reports and other relevant materials.

Duration of Assignment and Duty Station:

The above deliverables should be completed by 31 October 2016. This is a home based assignment and no field visit is expected.

Contract Supervision:

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision and guidance by Programme Specialist/Unit Head of Economic Empowerment Unit, UN Women Nepal Country Office, in close consultation with Programme Officer for the day-to-day operations. The Consultant/ Agriculture Expert shall work closely with the GESI Expert who will be assigned to cover GESI aspects of the draft strategy.

Schedule of Payments:

Upon submission of deliverable-1 (10% of total contract amount);
Upon submission of deliverable-2 (50% of total contract amount); and
Upon submission of deliverable-3 (40% of total contract amount).

Compétences

Functional Competencies:

Proven ability to conduct research and desk reviews;
Proven ability to write quality research and desk review reports;
Ability to multi task, work on many concepts at once, and work in a team.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

Master’s degree in agriculture or any other related fields.

Experience:

Minimum 6 years of experience on agriculture related policy level work such as developing strategy plan, policy papers etc;
Proven knowledge and understanding on the ADS of the Government of Nepal;
Familiarity on GESI related issues , including women’s economic empowerment would be an asset;
Excellent communication skills and intercultural sensitivity;
Good knowledge of computer applications especially Microsoft Office applications such as word and excel together with good presentation skills.

Language:

Excellent command of written and oral English and Nepali.

How to Apply?

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents:

Expression of interest containing earliest starting date;
UN Women P11 form (blank form can be downloaded from: http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment/);
Samples of research / desk review reports conducted by the applicant; and
A separate page of lump-sum financial proposal including consultant fees, travel and other relevant costs.

Note: Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Please upload as one attachment of the documents as mentioned above online through this website. If it is not feasible to include all in one single document, the relevant research or working or policy papers (as mentioned above) can be send to separate email address jobs.np@unwomen.org.

Evaluation Criteria:

The candidates will be evaluated according to qualification and technical review.

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):

Criteria: Master’s degree in agriculture or any other related field (20%);
Criteria: 6 years of experience on agriculture related policy level work such as developing strategy plan, policy papers etc. (30%);
Criteria: Proven knowledge and understanding on the ADS of the Government of Nepal (30%);
Familiarity on GESI related issues, including women’s economic empowerment would be an asset (10%);
Excellent command on written English (10%);

Maximum total technical score amounts to 100 points. Only candidates who have passed over the mandatory criteria and have accumulated at least 70 points under the technical evaluation will be considered for financial review.

Technical Evaluation – documents based (70%).
Financial Evaluation (30%);

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30

S - Score received on financial evaluation; Fmin - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round; F - financial offer under the consideration.

Note:

In July 2010, the United nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.