UNDP Jobs - 79460- International Consultant on promoting clean and af

International Consultant on promoting clean and affordable energy to empower women and girls in Kazakhstan and in Central Asia

Location :

home-based, with 2 Missions to Kazkhstan

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

16-Jul-2018

Application Deadline :

28-Jun-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English Russian

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set up a framework of interrelated and interdependent goals. Gender equality and women’s empowerment is a goal in itself – SDG 5 – and an enabler and accelerator for all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls will provide women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, gender balance representation in political and economic decision-making processes, equal access to and control over resources, including energy. Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all – SDG 7 – can only be accomplished if women’s and men’s needs are addressed equally. All of this requires that policy is designed; strategies are developed and actions are implemented with the participation of and for the equal benefits of women and men.

Women as direct consumers of energy – both in the households and as entrepreneurs – can benefit from advanced solutions to energy services in urban and rural areas. Though energy scarcity is a problem for women and men, in particular in some regions in Kazakhstan, it impacts women and men in a different way and to a different degree.

The study under this assignment will focus on how to promote clean and affordable energy to empower women and girls through (a) mapping gender gaps in women’s participation in energy related decision making and in the energy sector, including planning; (b)analyzing the differences in access to energy resources and use of energy services by women and men in rural and urban settings, and (c) developing gender-responsive policy recommendations to ensure gender equality in access to sustainable energy, in participation in decision-making and management of the energy and related sectors, and in opportunities for jobs and career development. The work under this assignment will, therefore, contribute to both SDG 7 and SDG 5 and will account for the interlinkages between these two goals.

Why it is needed in Kazakhstan? While, in general, energy access does not seem to be a problem in Kazakhstan, in some rural and remote areas in the country still there is no access to an electricity grid; efficient energy service due to aging infrastructure is also an issue there. In many of these disadvantaged areas, women constitute the majority. The problems with distribution of heating and water supply are especially characterized for the urban areas as well an increase in tariffs coupled with poor maintenance. These shortcomings increase the unpaid workload of women. Improving the infrastructure will not only better their housing conditions, but will increase their time for productive activities. Women would also benefit from gender-sensitive urban planning, for example, from available sufficient lighting in the streets and buildings’ common facilities, safety of transport stops, separate toilets in public places, and accessibility for baby carriages and wheelchairs. Regular consultations with women during the project development will help achieve these benefits.

The proposed national study will target access to clean and affordable energy and energy services solutions for rural applications and their implication for women in Kazakhstan. The energy services include the provision of electricity, heat and hot water, as well as energy saving services. It will strengthen the knowledge and capacities of targeted partners in addressing the gender inequalities that are at the core of any energy project, policy or process and ultimately lead to more gender-responsive sustainable and renewable energy solutions and approaches.

For more details, please see the Terms of References.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective:

- To enhance the knowledge of Government officials and other stakeholders in Kazakhstan on the differentiated use and needs of energy services by women and men in rural and urban areas;

- To support Government officials in Kazakhstan to develop a gender-responsive framework for promoting clean and affordable energy;

- To improve coordination and collaboration among respective government institutions and agencies, civil society, academia and other stakeholders to empower women in the energy sector;

- To increase women’s opportunities to participate in the energy decision-making.

Scope of works:

1) To draft a questionnaire in order to gather qualitative and quantitative information;

2) To collect data on educational preferences of women (preferred areas of studies) in order to promote energy sector.

3) To calculate the gender composition of university students enrolled in energy-related majors (including electricity and heat, renewable energy, energy conservation). The aim is to give recommendations on how to ensure gender proportions when teaching in higher education institutions for these majors.

4) To identify women involvement in the energy related decision-making and the opportunities for career growth: ministerial level, agencies, institutional level, regional structures.

5) To determine the existence of incentives promoting participation on women in the energy sector.

6) To identify differences in the access, needs and use of energy services by women and men in various rural and industrial areas (determine areas).

7) To assess energy scarcity (in the chosen region and to evaluate the norms of energy supply and provide an assessment on this regard for the selected region. To what degree energy scarcity impacts men and women?

8) To collect data on the use of traditional fuel sources such as firewood for domestic use in order to assess energy efficiency in the chosen region

9) To collect sex-disaggregated data from official statistics

10) To determine different roles, attitudes and perception in households (by conducting a poll/questionnaire)

a. To calculate the percentage of women in rural communities who devote their time to carry out basic tasks because of the lack of energy services in order to point out the graveness of the issue.

11) To provide an analysis of the collected information revealing the perception, attitudes and energy services needs of women and men in selected areas

12) To analyze the current policies on gender equality in Kazakhstan and to draft new solutions covering gaps in addressing gender equality problem

13) To present the results of the study during the workshop organized by UNDP, UNECE and other stakeholders

*For more details please see the Terms of References

Competencies

- Full IT literacy;

- Ability to operate with on-line web-based applications

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

- Master’s degree (or equivalent) in a social sciences, economics or other development-related fields

Experience:

- As minimum 5 years of proven working experience in the field of gender related activities\projects;

- Experience with training and facilitation;

- Working experience in Europe and CIS region;

- Practical experience in drafting public policies, strategies or concepts relevant to thematic area;

Skills:

- Knowledge of relevant tools and understanding the links between the sustainable development, energy efficiency, social and gender issues;

- Knowledge of the content and methodology of conducting the gender analysis with stakeholders participation;

- Knowledge and/or hands-on experience with the statistical or data-analysis software are an asset

- Fluency in spoken and written English and Russian

Application Procedure:

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;

2. Personal CV or UNDP P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone

number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;

3. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;

4. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template

5. Other documents confirming the work experience, knowledge and skills (qualification improvement certificates\diplomas, awards,

etc.) with total size no more than 1 M.

Important Note!

Please refer to http://www.kz.undp.org/content/kazakhstan/en/home/operations/procurement/ic-contracts/international-consultant-on-promoting-clean-and-affordable-energ.html to download the Terms of References, Procurement Notice & Financial Proposal.

For more details or in case of questions please contact ainur.amirkhanova@undp.org copying meruyert.bolyssayeva@undp.org