Historique

GENERAL BACKGROUND

Climate change, manifesting in the form of intensified cyclones, storm surges, and sea-level rise (SLR), is accelerating saltwater intrusion into the freshwater resources of the coastal belt of Bangladesh. Climate change-induced soil and water salinity is projected to adversely impact freshwater dependent agricultural livelihoods (leading to loss of productivity or livelihoods) as well as the availability and quality of drinking water in the vulnerable coastal communities. Among the vulnerable coastal communities, the women and socio-economically marginalized groups such as Indigenous groups are more vulnerable given their specific livelihood circumstances, their socio-political isolation perpetuated by unequal power dynamics, and related information asymmetry and constraint in decision making processes.

A large portion of the coastal population of Bangladesh is highly exposed to climate change impacts. Particularly, climate-induced increases in the salinity of soil and fresh water aquifers (through sea level rise and cyclone-driven salt water inundations) pose a significant threat to agriculture-based livelihoods. Both Khulna and Satkhira experience extreme and increasingly common weather phenomena such as tropical cyclones, storm surges, floods and droughts on regular basis. These events severely impact the agriculture sector, drinking water supply, homes and infrastructure in both districts, putting people’s lives, livelihoods and assets at risk. The vulnerability of coastal communities to these changes in their environment is shaped by the topography, by virtue of being low-lying and pervaded by river networks, due to pervasive poverty, and due to limited enabling environment to allow the shift towards alternative, climate change resilient livelihoods. Between 16 and 35 percent of people living in Khulna and Satkhira are extremely poor. Gender inequality prevails in these districts through various social and cultural norms that shape women’s day-to-day activities as well as their capacity to adapt to climate change. For example, women have less decision-making power within the household and the workplace, and are expected to manage the household and care for the family. Compounding these factors, climate change aggravates the burden of unpaid care work, creating a cycle, which undermines their climate change resilience.

The Project “Enhancing adaptive capacities of coastal communalities, especially women, to cope with climate change induced salinity” [Gender-responsive Coastal Adaptation (GCA)] funded by GCF/GOB/UNDP, is targeted to support an estimated 245,516 people directly from 56,264 households  including 579 Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Minority households (0.19% of the total households) and seeks to offer targeted support to women and adolescent girls in two coastal Districts - Khulna and Satkhira in Bangladesh, by-

a. Providing skills training and assets for a selected number of fisheries and agriculture-based climate-resilient livelihoods, and promote market linkages for these livelihoods options;

b. Providing potable water solutions for a selected number of most salinity-affected wards within the districts, not currently covered by other interventions, through Rainwater Harvesting System (RWHS) at the institutional, community and household levels and pond based system with filtration treatment technologies at the community level; and finally

c. Strengthening institutional capacity, knowledge and learning on the climate-risk informed management of livelihoods and drinking water security.

By improving the water security and livelihood options of women in the target districts, the Project aims for gender-responsive results regarding women’s access to resources and decision-making power and support women in taking the lead in building community adaptive capacity.

The project has already identified 8 livelihood options as gender responsive and climate change resilient livelihoods. These came from a long list of 38 livelihood options gained from community-level assessments and the assessment of the best practices in comparable settings down to 17 considering salinity and cyclone resilience and fresh water dependency, followed by a comprehensive screaming of those options with the different aspects of the livelihood options- (i) profitability and market potential/value chain access; (ii) gender responsiveness and transformation potential; (iii) socio-economic considerations and community acceptance; and (iv) environmental impacts.

Finally accepted 8 livelihood options are: (i) crab farming and trading (ii) crab nursery (iii) aqua-geoponics (iv) hydroponics (v) plan nursery (vi) sesame cultivation (vii) homestead gardening (viii) crab and fish feed processing. A total of 1017 groups (detail breakdown is provided in table 1) will be formed with 25 members in each group. These groups will be trained on 3 livelihood options out of eight and will be given input support for 3 production cycles for 2 selected livelihood options based on beneficiary preference.

Table 1: Upazila and livelihood wise breakdown of the project targeted beneficiaries –

The Ministry of Woman and Children’s Affairs (MoWCA) is leading this Project, with technical support on the livelihood component by Department of Women Affairs (DWA) and safe water provision interventions from the Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE), other GoB institutions like Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI), Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MoFL), Local Government Institutions (LGIs) as well as full participation of non-government organizations and community members, including marginalized groups in the intervention areas. Livelihood support for the project will be facilitated by Responsible Parties (NGOs) for all 5 Upazilas.

The project has envisioned to develop a gender-responsive adaptive livelihood planning toolkit with is expected to guide the project livelihood component (component 1), to ensuring equal distribution of project benefits among different socio-economic beneficiary groups, look at project interventions from gender lenses and perspective, help making livelihood and project interventions gender-responsive primarily and gender transformative in the long run.

The toolkit is expected to capture the local needs and priorities, prominent approaches like engaging men and boys, social-ecological model and relevant others of women empowerment and transformation. It should be aligned with GoB, GCF and UNDP’s standards, policies and guidelines and will integrate with other similar instrument such as Environmental and Social Safeguard Framework, and Indigenous People’s Plan. It should also consider GoB’s planning documents like Five 8th Five Year Plan, Perspective Plans, and Delta Plan. The toolkit should also incorporate the COVID 19 pandemic and its impact on the project participants, on the livelihood options, on the economics at different levels as well as into the designing of the toolkit.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The overall objective of this assignment is to develop a Gender Responsive Adaptive Livelihood Planning Toolkit for the GCA project to implement the project activities in order to mitigate potential risks and adverse impacts on women, beneficiary households, communities, and Indigenous Peoples/Ethnic Minorities in the project areas. It also intends to build the adaptive capacities of women in coastal communities of southwest Bangladesh and enable them to take up resilient, adaptive livelihoods in the face of climate-induced salinity.

 The specific objectives of the Toolkit/assignment are:

• To design gender-responsive climate change resilient livelihood Planning Toolkit for the project beneficiaries and communities;
• To identify the level of gender sensitivity/responsiveness, and the climate change adaptation of the existing and planned livelihood interventions of the beneficiary households and the value chain;
• To identify particular gender-responsive and climate adaptive needs of the beneficiaries and communities from the perspective of the project, suitability and sustainability;
• To help/facilitate coastal poor households and communities taking gender-responsive and climate risk informed livelihood decisions;
• To facilitate promotion of gender-responsive and climate adaptive Knowledge Attitude and Practices (KAP) into livelihood planning of project households and communities.

Devoirs et responsabilités

SCOPE OF WORK AND KEY TASKS

The consultant will be working under the leadership of Project Coordinator and on a day-to-day basis with GCA project’s Gender Specialist, Gender Empowerment Officer, Adaptive Livelihood Expert, Agriculturist ,Aqua-culturist and Market Development Officer. The scope of work and key tasks will include, but will not necessarily be limited to, the services described below-

3.1 Inception meeting:

Organize an inception meeting (Virtually or physically) with PMU and government counterparts to present the approach and methodology of developing the toolkit and clarify the tasks, deadlines and logistical sequences. The results of the meeting should be captured in the inception report, which shall be formally approved by PMU.

3.2 Desk review: Reviews the project and other relevant documents, policies and plans.

• UNDP Gender Action Plan
• GCF Gender Policy,
• UNDP Environment and Social Safeguard Framework,
• UNDP Gender Marker,
• GCA project document including result framework,
• Indigenous People’s Plan,
• UNDP Strategic Plan,
• Livelihood assessment report of the project,
• National Women Development Policy 2011 of Bangladesh government
• National Action Plan to Implement Women Development Policy 2011

3.3. Field study: The international consultant will design assessment tools in consultation with national consultant and will guide and orient her/him on conducting the assignment. In consultation with Project Team the consultant will develop and finalize the checklist and questionnaire. The field visit should be comprised with FGDs (minimum 20 events) and KIIs (minimum 10 events) with the selected groups and individual of Khulna and Satkhira district. Combination of women exclusive FGDs, men exclusive FGDs and missed group FGDs should be there while designing FGDs with different occupational groups, ethnic groups and age groups. International consultant will attend certain numbers of FGD and KII only for situation analysis or understanding, if possible. Mainly, conducting FGD and KII will be the responsibility of the National Consultant.

The livelihoods groups are dispersing across different geographical locations coastal regions but mostly homogeneous. So, to capture different context, vulnerability and needs of the beneficiaries of coastal livelihoods, a total 20 FGDs are proposed. However, women’s vulnerabilities and strength/opportunities are different for heterogenous groups of women and therefore the FGDs will be designed considering intersectionality. On the other hand, there are different stakeholders engaged in this project. Consultation with them will yield good information about local practices, knowledge and technologies, socio-cultural and technical obstacles. But, at the same time, the consultation would give participants/stakeholders a good feeling of participation and sense of ownership, which is good for the project. As a result, minimum 10 KIIs are proposed. KIIs should include DWA officials, Women Councilors, LGIs, Community leaders (preferably women), School Management Committees (SMCs), and potential farmers.

3.4 Identify of the loopholes/weak points and recommend mitigation measures:

Identify potential risks that are involved with livelihood activities through this toolkit and outlines potential strategies and address and overcome those risks and weakness. The consultant will look into the risk and mitigation measures identified and recommended in funding proposal and will crosscheck them for additional recommendations as per current context for gender-responsive adaptive livelihoods.

3.5 Drafting the toolkit:

The designing of the required toolkit is the major task of the international consultant. The toolkit should address the broad and specific objectives and if required would not be limited to the descriptions of the ToR to better address the purpose of the toolkit as well as the global and specific objectives of the project.

Particular needs, priorities and realities considering the gender gap should be reflected and addressed in developing the toolkit design. The toolkit will include ToT modules for the NGO staff and government officials.

The toolkit will address gender gaps identified during the assessment for each of the adaptive livelihoods and incorporate sessions/content in the toolkit required to address those gaps. Designing the toolkit is the major task of the international consultant. The following activities for drafting the toolkit are summarized below:

The toolkit will include modules on climate risks and impact scenarios related to various livelihoods, climate-risk informed livelihood planning, cost- benefit models, Programme design and management, and M&E approaches to assess adaptive capacities and impacts of livelihood programs. A ToT approach would build MoWCA, DWA, and LGIs capacities to develop and implement these toolkits.

3.6 Field validation of the toolkit:

A wide range of stakeholders would use this toolkit for different livelihood groups so; a field validation and necessary adjustment should be completed before finalization of the toolkit. The field validation must include women’s voices and practitioners working with rural women in creating livelihood opportunities. After approval of the final toolkit by Project Management Units (PMUs) it is required to translate into easy and understandable Bengali version and the National Consultant will take the lead in this regard. Minimum level of field test of the toolkit is preferred.

3.7 Define implementation process of the Toolkit

Describe full process of using the toolkit. Roles and responsibilities of different users/parties/stakeholders should also be clearly identified and described in the toolkit. Following are the different parties and stakeholders below, who will be involved in the application of the toolkit:

3.8 Detail out implementation plan of the toolkit, monitoring and evaluation, and budget:

The consultant will outline the implementation plan of the toolkit at the household and community level, monitoring and evaluation process of the toolkit with key indicators. It should clearly entail toolkit application steps, sequences, task of staff members and beneficiaries in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The toolkit will include a detail cost estimates for implementation at the field level. The budget for implementing the toolkit should be segregated by year.

3.9 Orientation of the staff on the Toolkit: One training event on the toolkit should be organized for the key staffs of the project. The content of orientation should include:

• Description of toolkit, methodology, techniques, application methods for clear understanding;
• Assessment of gender context and adaptation status of livelihood, result capturing, gender responsive approaches, analysing, mitigation and improvement criteria and techniques, monitoring and evaluation.

3.10 Document meeting records: The outcome and key findings of the meetings/FGD/KII/workshops/stakeholder consultations etc. will be documented and reflected in the inception and completion report as well as into the toolkit.

3.11 Final toolkit (both English and Bengali Version): The final toolkit be prepared addressing comments and suggestions received from PMU and government counterparts. It should be finally delivered in English and Bengali version in organized manner. International consultant will extend her/his support to the National consultant for conceptual clarifications while translating the toolkit into Bangla. Both hard and soft copies are required to deliver.

DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT, DUTY STATION AND EXPECTED PLACES OF TRAVEL

The consultant will be recruited for 40 working days spread over the period of 4.5 months, from the 1st week of May 2021 to 3rd week of September 2021. The working locations will be above-mentioned sub-districts of Satkhira and Khulna District for field visit and stakeholder interview, and Dhaka for other relevant tasks of the assignment. The consultant shall closely liaise with the PMU and KRO for the arrangement of missions and logistic arrangements.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

Following are the key deliverables of the assignment:

• Submission of inception report;
• Submission of field mission report including meeting records;
• Submission of draft Toolkit;
• Staff orientation on the Toolkit; and
• Submission of final Toolkit (English) in hard and soft copies.

COMMUNICATION CHANNEL AND PROGRESS CONTROLS

The consultant will work under direct supervision of the Project Coordinator and in close consultation with the Adaptive Livelihood Expert and Gender Specialist based in Dhaka and Gender Empowerment Officer and Market Development Officer based in Khulna Regional Office. Relevant UNDP Country Office Programme Manager and National Project Director (NPD) will be responsible for overall strategic guidance. The progress of the consultant will be monitored based on the timelines and milestones indicated in the inception report.

A national consultant will also work closely with the international consultant. National consultant will conduct the field activities- FGD, KII, meeting with stakeholders, documentation, translation into English and Bengali in consultation with the International Consultant. International Consultant will design the Toolkit with the support of National Consultant.

Compétences

a) Comprehensive knowledge on gender, climate change, adaptive livelihoods, coastal communities of Bangladesh or similar developing countries.

b) Excellent interpersonal skills to work in a team;

c) Ability to work independently and to deliver high quality toolkit/report with minimal supervision/feedback.

d) Demonstrated command over capturing gender issues, development of planning toolkits, writing professional reports/project documents in English in a timely manner with evidence by submission of sample reports.

e) Ability to work in coordination with national consultants

Qualifications et expériences requises

DEGREE OF EXPERTISE AND QUALIFICATIONS

Educational qualification of the proposed candidate:

Master’s or higher degree in economics, geography, development studies, anthropology, gender studies, sociology, agricultural economics,  or other closely related field of study

Required experience of the proposed candidate:

• Minimum 10 years of working experience in developing countries on gender responsive adaptive livelihoods, Participatory Tool Development Approaches, Resilience Approaches, graduation and or resilience approach, Gender Toolkit Development, and or adaptive Livelihood Toolkit Development.
• Experience of working with coastal communities is advantageous;
• Demonstrable experience in preparation of gender responsive adaptive livelihoods planning toolkit or similar exercises on donor-funded Projects will get advantages.
• Samples of similar toolkits/reputed journal publications are requested to attach with proposal as evidence

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF THE BEST OFFER

The criteria which shall serve as basis for evaluating offers will be:

Combined scoring method – where the qualifications and relevant work experience of individual consultant/organization will be weighted a maximum of 70% and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%.

Please note that the details of past works on similar assignment needs to be submitted with the proposal.

PAYMENT TERMS

Indicative timeline together with payment terms are reflected below:

AWARD OF CONTRACT

A formal agreement will be signed between the selected consultant and UNDP according to the applicable procurement policies of the GCA project.

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

Please indicate fee structure: All-inclusive lump-sum fee in the financial proposal.

Note: Payments will be made upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR and certification of acceptance by the PMU. The consultant must factor in all possible costs in the “All Inclusive Lump Sum Fee/Daily fee” financial proposal including consultancy and professional fee, DSA for field visits, honorarium, communication cost such as telephone/internet usage, printing cost, transportation, ad-hoc costs, stationery costs, and any other foreseeable costs in this exercise.

The cost for organizing scheduled meeting and training related to this assignment will be borne by UNDP. No costs other than what has been indicated in the financial proposal will be paid or reimbursed to the consultant.

UNDP will only pay for any unplanned travel outside of this TOR and Duty Station on actual basis and on submission of original bills/invoices and on prior agreement with UNDP officials.

RECOMMENDED PRESENTATION OF OFFER

Please submit the below preferred documents with the presentation of offer:

1. Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability;
2. UNDP Personal History Form (P11);
3. General Terms and Conditions of Hiring an IC
4. Technical proposal with clear outline and methodology of the task;
5. Financial proposal with breakdown of the cost items.

ANNEXURE

Annex A: UNDP’s Gender Action Plan and Gender Sensitive Communication

Annex B: GCF’s Gender Policy

Annex C: Environmental and Social Safeguard Framework

Annex D: UNDP Gender Marker

Annex E: Project Result Framework

Annex F: UNDP Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2021

Annex G: GCF’s Livelihoods Assessment Report

Annex H: Suggested outline of the assignment

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document

Document download link:

LINK-1) Personal History Form - https://www.bd.undp.org/content/dam/bangladesh/docs/Operatinos/Jobs/P11_Personal_history_form_latest%20version.doc

LINK-2) Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal -

https://www.bd.undp.org/content/dam/bangladesh/docs/Jobs/Interest%20and%20Submission%20of%20Financial%20Proposal-Template%20for%20Confirmation.docx