UNDP Jobs - 75699- Individual Consultant - Gender and REDD+ Specialis

Individual Consultant - Gender and REDD+ Specialist

Location :

Home-based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

02-Jan-2018

Application Deadline :

24-Nov-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

one year

Languages Required :

English French Spanish

Expected Duration of Assignment :

150 work days over 1 year

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 UN-REDD Programme is the United Nations Collaborative Initiative on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) in developing countries. The Programme was launched in September 2008 to assist developing countries to prepare and implement national REDD+ strategies, and builds on the convening power and expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Programme is currently supporting nationally-led REDD+ initiatives in developing countries spanning Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. In addition to activities taking place at the country level, the UN-REDD Programme brings together technical teams from around the world to help develop analyses, new knowledge and guidelines on REDD+ issues.

In the 2016-2020 UN-REDD Strategic Framework, gender is placed as one of the four crucial cross-cutting themes. In addition to this, the UN-REDD Programme also promotes gender equality as part of its commitments to international agreements, and recognizes the effectiveness and sustainability of mainstreaming gender into REDD+ interventions. The Cancun Agreements made several references to gender and women, of which among others highlights “…gender equality and the effective participation of women and indigenous peoples are important for effective action on all aspects of climate change” (7/CP16). With multiple references to gender and/or women throughout the Cancun Agreements, gender is explicitly linked to vulnerability, equality and effective participation. Following this, the UNFCCC 17th Conference of the Parties (COP-17) in Durban reinforced, in various decisions, the necessity to take into account gender considerations. Efforts to improve women's participation and inform more effective climate change policy that addresses the needs of women and men equally was also further promoted through the Gender Decision (23/CP.18), which was decided upon by Parties to the UNFCCC at COP 18 in Doha.

Gender equality is a human right set forth in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), as well as addressed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). The rationale for including gender considerations in REDD+ policy, planning and implementation is predicated on the human rights-based approach to development. Besides the normative reasoning, mainstreaming gender into REDD+ can increase efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of a project. Despite this, there remains an ongoing need to integrate a gender perspective in a more comprehensive way within REDD+ support to countries. To help address this gap, the Programme, in early 2017, released a new action-oriented Methodological Brief on Gender. Based on the Programme’s lessons and experiences, this tool helps to support UN-REDD partner countries and REDD+ stakeholders in mainstreaming gender along the policy cycle for REDD+.

To further support such efforts and its gender mainstreaming efforts under the UN-REDD Programme and within its REDD+ support, UNDP is seeking to retain the services of a Gender and REDD+ Specialist.

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant will report to the Senior Policy Advisor, UNDP REDD+ Team. In addition, she/he will be expected to liaise, collaborate and work with the UNDP REDD+ Team and Sustainable Development Cluster, REDD+ stakeholders, as well as UN-REDD colleagues at global, regional and national levels and within UNEP and FAO.

Duties and Responsibilities

This assignment aims to help ensure that the work undertaken by UNDP as it relates to the UN-REDD Programme and REDD+ finance successfully and fully incorporates a gender perspective and promotes women’s empowerment. To assist UN-REDD partner countries, and global, regional and national teams supporting such efforts, in mainstreaming gender into the design, implementation and monitoring of REDD+ action, it is expected that the consultant will provide technical support across the following five core gender work streams of the UN-REDD Programme:

Stream 1 - Gender-responsive assessments and gender-specific analyses
Stream 2 - Awareness raising and capacity building on gender
Stream 3 - Gender-responsive participation
Stream 4 - Gender-responsive planning and monitoring
Stream 5 - Knowledge management on gender

This support will entail:

Promoting and supporting the Programme’s and UNDP’s national level activities in integrating gender equality and women’s empowerment principles into national REDD+ processes;
Providing global and regional support and guidance on tools, new knowledge, monitoring and reporting on gender and REDD+; and
Supporting all the technical issues and teams of the UN-REDD Programme in incorporating a gender perspective into their work, engagement, activities and reporting.

Expected Deliverables and Outputs

The consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables as they relate to UNDP’s work under the UN-REDD Programme and with REDD+ finance.

Deliverable 1: Support the Programme’s and UNDP’s national level activities in integrating gender equality and women’s empowerment principles into national REDD+ action. This will include:

Providing substantive advice and technical inputs to national-level UN-REDD staff, governments and other relevant REDD+ stakeholders on integrating gender equality and women’s empowerment concepts into Programme and UNDP supported REDD+ efforts, including but not limited to the design and implementation of REDD+ national strategies, as well as in REDD+ policies and measures, finance, programming documents, concept notes, budgets, monitoring, reporting, terms of references, etc.
Work closely with partner countries to identify concrete opportunities and provide recommendations to strengthen the gender responsiveness of UN-REDD technical support at the country level, as well as provide support to implement such recommendations and activities. To facilitate South-South learning exchanges, synergies and linkages with other country-level programmes will be promoted and pursued.
Support specific requests by country offices or regional centers on integrating a gender perspective into nationally-led REDD+ action.
Proactively work with UN-REDD partner countries to identify new opportunities for integrating gender-responsive activities within their REDD+ work and associated activities.

Deliverable 2: Provide global, regional and national support to UNDP under its work with the UN-REDD Programme and REDD+ finance on tools, reporting and capacity building on gender and REDD+. This will include:

Research and analyze information, good practices and lessons learned gathered from diverse sources on gender and REDD+, climate change and natural resource and sustainable management of forests issues. Work to integrate this information into Programme efforts on gender and REDD+ as well as effectively disseminate across the Programme to make it readily accessible across regions and within partner countries.
Provide thorough analysis and support on monitoring and reporting activities, including on indicators, to ensure effective reporting on gender as well as the integration of a gender perspective in reporting and monitoring efforts across Programme activities. To facilitate this output, the consultant will also actively collaborate with the gender focal points of UNEP and FAO, to ensure the reporting processes on gender under the Programme are effectively undertaken and consistently conducted across all 3 UN-REDD agencies.
Assist in the preparation and implementation of capacity development tools and materials on gender equality and advise on the how to integrate a gender dimension into existing REDD+ training manuals and capacity building efforts.
Undertake capacity development and outreach activities on gender and REDD+, on an as needed basis, with Programme global, regional and national staff, partner countries and relevant REDD+ stakeholders.

Deliverable 3: Support the technical areas of the UN-REDD Programme in incorporating gender considerations into their work, engagement, activities and reporting. This will include:

Provide substantive technical input and recommendations to help further promote the integration of a gender perspective into the various other key technical work areas of the Programme and reflect current good practices on such processes. Ensure this work is consistent with the Programme’s guidance on gender mainstreaming.
Work closely with the staff working within other technical areas of the Programme to identify opportunities and synergies for collaboration.
Assist in identification of opportunities for cooperation and potential contributions with UN-REDD Programme partner agencies to provide a holistic approach in gender mainstreaming efforts in the Programme’s technical working areas. In this process, promote information exchange and identify synergies on gender mainstreaming activities.

Competencies

Excellent English written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesise project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of quality project reports.
Ability to understand new terminology and concepts easily and to synthesise information from different sources into a coherent project document.
Good oral communication skills and conflict resolution competency to manage inter-group dynamics and mediate conflicting interests of varied actors.
Maturity and confidence in dealing with members of international, regional and national institutions
Displays sensitivity and adaptability to different cultures, genders, religions, races, nationalities and age groups.
Skill in achieving results through persuading, influencing and working with others.
Good team player, self starter, has ability to work under minimum supervision and maintain good relationships.
Ability to manage multiple tasks, work under pressure and tight deadlines.
Ability to accommodate additional demands on short notice.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: Masters degree in Gender, Development, Environment, or related field

Experience:

At least 5 years of experience in environment, development, gender or other relevant field is required
Excellent knowledge of gender issues as they relate to natural resource management and sustainable development is required
Experience in mainstreaming gender into policies, programmes and processes is required
Demonstrated knowledge of forest management issues is strongly desired
Demonstrated familiarity with REDD+ is strongly desired
Understanding of UNDP programming and programme/project management procedures is a strong asset (understanding of these processes and procedures in other UN Agencies would be an advantage)
Prior experience coordinating development initiatives with a range of multilateral, bilateral, and civil society partners an advantage, and
Experience drafting UN reports, presentations, and other products is an asset

Evaluation Method: Combined weighted scoring (technical/financial: 70/30)