Sudan is a highly diversified country with opportunities to empower women and men economically in almost every state.  In 2014, the population of Sudan was estimated at 36.2 million based on the 2008 population census. The population of Sudan is growing very rapidly, with an average fertility rate of 5.5. The average household size is 6.4 persons.

After years of experiencing war in parts of the country and living under the weight of economic sanctions, Sudan is currently at an impressive political and economic turning point in history. The partial lifting of the Economic Sanctions announced in Jan 2017 with the possibility of full lifting in course of the year brightens hopes for more economic investments and activity. On-going efforts to implement recommendations of the National Dialogue’s roadmap to end the protracted conflicts and transit into sustainable development, strengthen hopes for more sustainable peace and stability that will be corner stones of prosperity of all Sudanese people. Development partners in the country are therefore beginning to build on this unique moment to support the government and people of Sudan in their efforts to fight poverty, build resilience, and move to sustainable development. This project is developed in this context, positioning women, especially those furthest behind as key drivers of change.

Despite persistent challenges, GEWE has witnessed progress in recent years, including more women in parliament at Federal and State levels and revision of laws on VAW. Currently the Human Rights Centre under MoSSD is undertaking review of national laws from gender perspective, with the view to initiate reforms. Though CEDAW is still to be signed and AU Protocol on women’s rights still to be ratified, there are indicators of government’s willingness to embrace dialogue on these. Presidential and legislative elections of April 2015 ushered in a new era for women’s representation in parliament, with an unprecedented 30 per cent representation of women in the National Assembly and 35 per cent women’s representation in State Councils. On 22 February 2015, the President of Sudan signed a bill amending several provisions of the Criminal Law, which included the controversial Article 149 on the definition of rape. The amendment also defines “sexual harassment” as a crime punishable with up to three years in prison.

Project Brief Overview

The overall goal of the project is to contribute to sustainable development, economic transformation, women empowerment and improved livelihoods in Sudan through women’s effective contribution to employment, job and income creation.

This project is developed to enhance women’s economic empowerment in the context of Sudan’s current efforts to end poverty, strengthen social cohesion, stability and build lasting peace, while bridging the Humanitarian-Development and Peace pillars. This first phase will build women’s capacity in agribusiness focusing on ‘baby food making, fish preservation, fish processing and fish net making’. These are areas that already have a comparative advantage, are culturally and economically dominated by women, accepted as their spaces, but up to date have received very minimal strategic attention and support.

UN Women’s unique approaches to Women Economic empowerment, tested in many countries in the region, will be leveraged to fast track project implementation. This will include enhancing access to skills and technology, supporting women to organize in cooperatives or networks, improving access to business development and finance, as well as access to markets. Baseline study will be conducted to assess where women are in the various value chains to determine entry points and opportunities to support them better. Women involved in the project will also be linked to relevant public and private institutions to help them access services and influence policy.

The project will reach out to empower urban, peri-urban and rural women and girls in the most vulnerable situations including women with disabilities, women survivors of GBV, women and girls in Refugee and IDP camps to become vibrant economic change agents. It sets out to reach at least 500 primary beneficiaries over 1 year. Its implementation will contribute to SDGs localization in Sudan ‘leaving no one behind’.

General Objective of the Project:

To contribute to sustainable development, economic transformation, women empowerment and improved livelihoods in Sudan through women’s effective contribution to employment, job and income creation

Specifically, the project sets out to:

1. Increase productivity of women small farm/business holders in food processing and support technology that reduces their physical burden of work.
2. Improve women’s access to finance and increase their capacity to invest in agribusiness, especially processing baby food and fish preservation and processing.
3. Promote women’s opportunities to move up the value chain in food and fish processing by building their business development skills.

Justification and Purpose of study:

This study falls under impact area 2 of the CO AWP 2017. It will provide base lines and basic information with entry points and recommendations. Moreover, this study will provide information about women’s capacity in agribusiness focusing on fish food processing options related to baby food making, fish preservation, fish processing and fish net making and will identify potential partners and alliances.

Study Location

The scoping study will be conducted in Red Sea State, namely in Port Sudan and Suakin localities.

The overall objective of this study: To provide key information, analysis and recommendation for UN Women to define a long-term strategy and framework for baby food processing and livelihood programme in Red Sea State in Sudan.

Under the guidance and supervision of the Women Economic Empowerment Analyst, and in close consultation with the Country Representative, the incumbent will perform the following duties:

1. Assess women’s capacity in agribusiness focusing on fish food processing options related to baby food making, fish preservation, fish processing and fish net making
2. Identify potential partners and alliance including government, private sectors and civil society organizations. Influencing component: How UN Women can lobby, advocate and influence policies, programmes and practices to leverage innovation and changes as well as create an enabling environment for programme implementation at all levels.
3. Identify fish food processing options related to baby food making, fish preservation, fish processing and fish net making their potential in terms of: improving food security, supporting economic growth, benefiting small holder and engaging women
4. Provide an analytical framework that provide knowledge and information related to economically value of agribusiness focusing on (fish food processing options related to baby food making, fish preservation, fish processing and fish net making production, marketing, inflow of manufacturing inputs and legal frameworks
5. Identify women in the various value chains to determine entry points and opportunities to support them better.
6. Provide information on upscaling women’s work in Baby food processing; Women’s value addition to the fishing industry to understand obstacles and possible facilitation
7. Identify and analyze key challenges and constraints faced by women in the fishing industry and find out potential solutions, interventions and strategies to overcome these barriers
8.  Identify and analyze influencing factors through which UN WOMEN can create evidence for local, national and regional influencing strategy and long-term livelihood strategy and framework
9. Analyze the country’s economic situation and trends, with a focus on livelihood and women.
10. Relevant donor and multilateral agency programmes and priorities;
11. Examples of changes in regulation or recent introduction of new practices and policies that was successful in the country.
12.  Other relevant private sector actors (investors, lenders, chambers).
13. Identify and analyses relevant public policies, government programmes and agencies involved with livelihoods, value chain, enterprise and private sector development and identify how UN Women can use these to influence for changes

Responsibility of the Consultant

• Developing a very clear methodology and
• execution plan of the assignment
• Reviewing relevant documents
• Collecting data from the field and stakeholders
• Analyzing and interpreting the data
• Preparing and submitting a preliminary report to UN Women for feedback
• Finalizing report

Key Deliverables The consultant is expected to produce an inception report, written in English, of a maximum length of 30 pages. A first draft will be presented for comments 4th April 2018. The final report will be finalized and submitted 11th April 2018, after being reviewed and agreed upon by UN Women.

The report should be organized in a structured way with the Executive Summary at the beginning followed by the Methodology and the main body of the report corresponding to the specific study objectives.

Proposed Report Structure

1. Executive Summary

 2. Methodology

3. Introduction

4. Observations and findings related to the objectives of the TOR

5. Additional observations and findings

6. Recommendations for UN Women regarding long term livelihood and women economic empowerment strategy and framework A presentation/debriefing report, highlighting initial findings, should be presented and submitted to the UN Women Country Office in Khartoum, Sudan

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
• Professionalism:
• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge or the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Core Values and Ethics:

• Demonstrate cultural sensitivity and ability to work in a multi-national environment
• Support the Organization’s corporate goals
• Comply with UN WOMEN rules, regulations and code of conduct
• Integrity

Teamwork:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Build effective client relationships and partnerships;
• Excellent interpersonal skills;
• Build and share knowledge;

Communicating and Information Sharing:

• Excellent oral and written skills;
• Listen actively and respond effectively

Functional Competencies:

• Strong research and analytical skills;
• Possess basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks.
• Strong analytical report writing skills.

Education:

• Master degree in in Development Studies, Economics, Science or relevant social sciences

Required Skills and Experience

• At least 7 years of proven in the field of research, planning, economic and social development, gender analysis and related fields;
• Experience in developing national gender policies, development strategies, policies and project documents,
• Organizational development and capacity building experience
• Knowledge of international/regional agreements and initiatives on gender 
•  Experience of relevant work in Sudan and/or countries with similar development contexts