Background

UN Women, 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.

The physical impacts of climate change and natural hazards are compounding structural inequalities and socioeconomic vulnerabilities since gender equality and human rights are not given enough consideration required for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and in disaster risk, recovery and response within the Caribbean Region.

Women and men typically prepare for, respond to and recover from in various ways to hazard impacts. The EnGenDER project will support CC, DRR and environmental management interventions in the 9 Caribbean countries by leveraging sector-level entry points (e.g. NAPs and NAMAs), specifically supporting implementation and/or upscaling of countries’ priority actions. This project will support the analysis and prioritization of the needs of the most vulnerable with respect to climate change adaptation and mitigation in priority sectors, including increasing their resilience in key livelihood sectors. It will also improve institutional capacities for delivering services effectively for the most vulnerable to accelerate post-disaster recovery and mitigate risk. By using a multi-disciplinary and integrated approach, the project also aims to contribute to the achievement of several SDGs (2, 5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16).

Appreciating that the 9 participating Caribbean countries are at different stages of removing barriers to gender quality and integrating gender-based analysis into climate change, as well as recovery, this project aims to ensure that climate change and disaster risk reduction actions are better informed by an analysis of gender inequalities, and decisions are taken to ensure that inequalities are alleviated rather than exacerbated and that minimum standards are being met in doing so. 

Therefore, EnGenDER seeks to further integrate gender equality and human-rights based approaches into disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate change (CC) adaptation and environmental management frameworks and interventions to identify and address the gaps to ensure equal access to DRR and climate change and environment solutions for men, women, boys and girls.

A budget is the most comprehensive statement of a government’s social and economic plans and priorities. In fact, Gender responsive budgeting (GRB), is a strategy to achieve gender equality, by ensuring that interventions required to eliminate inequalities between women and men and boys and girls are adequately financed. Therefore, GRB enhances the oversight and accountability role that governments have on national planning and budgeting processes as it relates to achieving sustainable climate change adaptation and disaster risk resilience.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective of the Assignment

The aim of this Consultancy is to develop a guidance strategy document for gender responsive budgets that can be applied across 13 priority sectors, namely, Agriculture (Crops, Fisheries and Livestock), Resilient Infrastructure and Housing, Finance, Protected Areas, Water, Coastal Communities, Health, Social Protection, Employment, Disaster Management, Transport, Energy and Forestry.

A monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) framework for tracking gender-responsive climate change action  will also be established  for supporting and tracking gender-responsive climate change and DRR actions, with associated capacity building for users across sectors, and a sustainability plan.

Scope of Work and Deliverables

The Gender Responsive Budgeting Expert shall deliver the following results:

• An Inception Report outlining approach and workplan detailing activities, timelines, resources and costs.
• A preliminary assessment of the current financing and cost requirements required by Governments at the national level in the outlined priority sectors.
• A Guidance document for Gender Responsive Budgeting in the 13 sectors outlined (maximum 150 pages).
• A one-day Training on the application of the guidance strategies to the sectors.

Reporting Requirements

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision of the UN Women MCO-Caribbean Representative, with direct reporting to UN Women Programme Officer – Humanitarian, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Resilience.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity;
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:

http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf.

Functional Competencies:

• Strong gender responsive budgeting, climate change costing analysis, monitoring and evaluation, social research and analytical skills.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills including the conveying complex concepts and recommendations, in a clear and persuasive style tailored to match different audiences.
• Ability to interact independently as part of a team.
• Ability to multi-task and operate effectively in stressful situations.

Required Skills and Experience

The Consultant should meet the following criteria:

Experience:

• At least five years’ experience working on gender responsive budgeting is required.
• At least three years’ experience undertaking economic and climate change forecasting and modelling is required.
• At least five years’ experience working on gender equality and/or human rights is required.
• At least three years’ experience working within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is an asset but not required.

Languages:

• Fluency in written and oral English is required.

Education:

The Consultant should meet the following criteria:

• Post-Graduate Degree in any of the following areas: Gender, Climate Change Finance, Economics, Econometrics, Public Policy, Social Policy.

Location and Duration

• The Consultancy will be home based.
• The Consultant will be engaged for a maximum of 35 working days during the period 1 November – 31 December 2020.

Remuneration

• The Consultancy fee will be negotiated before contracting. Each payment will be based on a predefined and formal agreement between UN Women and the consultant and will be disbursed based on satisfactory completion of agreed deliverables.

Hardware, Software and Communication:

• The Consultant must be equipped with a fully functional laptop, which must run at least Windows 7. The consultant must be reasonably accessible by email and telephone (preferably mobile). The use of reliable, internet-based (Skype or equivalent) is required.

References:

• Minimum of three client references that include the name of the contact person, title and contact information.

Other:

• Interviews may be conducted with the shortlisted applicants.
• The consultant contracted will be required to sign a statement of confidentiality and freedom from any conflict of interest with potential future contractors with respect to the TORs and work that they will be delivering.
• The consultant should submit, along with his/her application, the curriculum vitae of team members.

 Note:

Submissions to UNDP Jobs are limited to a maximum of 10 MB, virus-free or corrupted contents to avoid rejection, and no more than 1 email transmission.  

All applications must be submitted through UNDP jobs.  Please do not send applications to UN Women staff as they will not be accepted.