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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
In Mozambique, this role is exercised in the context of the overall support provided by the UN system under the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2017-2020. UN Women’s Strategic Note for Mozambique covering the period 2017-2020 focuses on providing financial and technical support to the Government of Mozambique across four thematic areas: women’s economic empowerment (WEE), women’s leadership and participation, institutional strengthening around gender mainstreaming and gender responsive budgeting, women peace and security, as well as combating, preventing and responding to violence against women and girls.
Land is key to a life with dignity and a basis for entitlements which can ensure an adequate standard of living and economic independence and, therefore, personal empowerment. In 2014, UN Women, with the support of the Belgium Government, initiated the implementation of a four-year programme on Expanding Women’s Role in and benefit from agricultural production and natural resource management as strategy for socio-economic empowerment towards improved food security and climate change resilience in Mozambique.
The project was designed to mitigate the negative impact of adverse climatic change on the livelihoods of women in six districts of Gaza Province in terms of food insecurity and of further deepening the persisting gender inequalities. The project aims to facilitate relevant and effective strategies to support women’s economic empowerment and use this as an entry point for promoting transformation of gender relations in the provincial level as well as national level.
The work towards transforming gender relations, on one side, is expected to take place through awareness raising, advocacy and support to women participate in decision making at the household and community level. On the other side, it encompasses engagement with gatekeepers of the local socio-cultural norms – community and opinions leaders – to create an enabling environment for women to exercise their rights to access to and control of resources.
Women’s access to, use of and control over land and other productive resources are essential to ensuring their right to equality and to an adequate standard of living. These resources help to ensure that women are able to provide for their day-to-day needs and those of their families, and to weather some of life most difficult challenges. Gender inequality when it comes to access and control of land and other productive resources is intimately relatedly to women´s poverty and exclusion. Barriers that prevent women´s access, control and use of land and other productive assets or resources have largely to inadequate legal standards and/or ineffective implementation at national/local levels, as well as discriminatory cultural attitudes and practices at the institutional and community levels.
The assessment is driven by the theory of change that if barriers to women’s access to land are removed; and if an enabling legislative framework, supported by strong technical capacities are in place, then women’s land tenure security will increase; because discrimination against women to own, control and use land is removed. There is a positive correlation between ensuring women´s rights to land and other productive assets and improved household welfare, as well as enhanced enjoyment of a broad range of rights for women. This holds true in both rural and urban areas. As a consequence, women acquire more power and autonomy in their families and communities, as well as in their economic and political relationships. In addition, for rural women sure land rights improves their confidence and security. By diminishing the threat of force eviction or poverty, direct and secure land rights boost women´s bargaining power in the house and improve their levels of public participation.
In the context of HIV, women’s rights to inheritance and property are “a crucial factor in reducing women’s vulnerability to violence and HIV, as well as empowering women to cope with the social and economic impact of the epidemic at the household level.” Similarly, positive effects have been reported in connection with domestic violence, with research showing that women’s ownership of property is associated with lower levels of both physical and psychological violence. Evidence also suggests that countries where women lack landownership rights or access to credit have on average 60 per cent and 85 per cent more malnourished children, respectively.
Important progress has been made in legal protection. For example, over the past few decades, many countries have reformed their constitutions and national laws to guarantee women’s equal property and inheritance rights. UN Women global assessments indicates that at least 115 countries specifically recognize women’s property rights on equal terms with men, including Mozambique. In fact, Mozambique is often referred to as having one of the most progressive and gender sensitive land titles legal framework in Southern Africa. The Consultant will collaborate and take stock of the work of the Mozambican Land Consultative Forum and the Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development (MITADER) led Land Tenure Security Programme (Programa Terra Segura).
The study is aligned with the UN Women Africa Strategy (2018 - 2021) that intends to ensure that “No Woman and Girl is left Behind” as Africa implements and strives to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – particularly Goal 5: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. Allowing UN Women to coordinate its actions in achievement of the Africa’s Agenda 2063 Goals and Aspirations striving for “An Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children.” The study contributes to achieve the Strategy’s Output 2.1. on Women’s Access to Land and Productive Resources for Climate-Resilient Agriculture
[1] FAO, “Closing the gender gap in agriculture”, 2011
Duties and Responsibilities
The study aims to shed light on the current status on formal and informal (statutory and customary) frameworks to improve women’s land rights and tenure security in Mozambique and serve as an advocacy tool for ongoing land policy reform.
The study will allow the updating of key indicators such as: (i) Share of women among agricultural land owners by age and location; (ii) Legal framework includes special measures to guarantee women’s equal rights to land ownership and control; (iii) Existence of gender sensitive land inheritance practices in the communities.
Specifically, the consultant is expected to explore how Mozambique has evolved over the past 20 years on the following elements that enable equal access to land:
1.1. Social, customary and political barriers to women’s equal land rights and access (assess root causes; engagement/advocacy with communities, traditional and religious leaders, CSOs, women’s machinery and governments; increase in public awareness).
1.2. Gender-biased statutory and customary land tenure frameworks, laws, policies (gender-based assessment of land and property rights and laws, South-South learning and technical assistance, advocacy with political and customary authorities, communities).
1.3. Capacity of land registry institutions to improve systems and ease access (strengthen land mapping and registration systems; increase women’s access to civil documents and application procedures).
Guiding normative frameworks include Mozambican Land Law and its regulations; Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique (CRM); UN Women Flagship Programming Initiative; UN Women Africa Strategy (2018 - 2021); CEDAW (article 14); Beijing Platform for Action; SDGs; CSW56; UNFCCC & UNCCD gender provisions.
Present an Inception Report
- Draw a road map and detailed action plan for the entire consultancy and research (including a timeframe).
- The study methodology will be developed by the consultant and presented for approval to UN Women. The methodology should use a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods that are appropriate to address the main study questions and account for complexity of gender relations and to ensure participatory and inclusive processes that are culturally appropriate. These methods should be responsive to human rights and gender equality principles and facilitate the engagement of key stakeholders. Measures will be taken to ensure the quality, reliability and validity of data and data collection tools. Limitations with respect to the sample (representativeness) should be stated clearly.
- Conduct a desk review of existing literature on the subject on global and local context.
- The inception report should identify possible members that will compose the study reference group.
Draft a Report on the Gender Gap in the Access to Land in Mozambique
Plan and coordinate all the activities for the primary data collection. Determine which provinces will the research be conducted (at least one province per region) and identify which specific districts will the focus per province.
Data collection to follow participatory methodologies putting women and girls at the center of all analysis;
- Primary data collection should be undertaken through observations, site visit, individual key informant interviews and focal group discussions with representatives of relevant government institutions (duty bearers), development partners, beneficiaries (right holders) and key community players (community leaders, opinion makers) and civil society organizations seeking to address gender equality and human rights issues. The consultant will develop a sampling frame (area and population represented, rationale for selection, mechanics of selection, and limitations of the sample) and specify how it will address the diversity of stakeholders in the intervention.
- Produce the report on findings with the supervision of UN Women in a timely manner.
Facilitate a Validation Seminar
Prepare the presentation of findings and take note of all the recommendations made by the validation committee composed of key players in the land subsector sector (MITADER, MGCAS, MMMR, Forum Mulher, Centro Terra Viva, Observatório do Meio Rural, etc.).
A long side with UN Women and partners, incorporate all the strong recommendations identified during the validation workshop into the final study report.
Present the Study Main Findings at a National Event
Upon request conduct a presentation of the main findings in a national event.
Competencies
Corporate Competences and Ethics
Demonstrate integrity, values and ethics in accordance to UN Women norms
Promote the vision, mission and strategic objectives of UN Women
Show respect regardless the race/colour, sex, religion, nationality and age as well as be sensible to cultural adaptation capacity
Consultant are expected to have personal and professional integrity and abided by the UN Code
Functional Competences
Knowledge of legislation, programme and public policies on gender, women’s economic empowerment, and women’s rights in general in Mozambique
Demonstrated experience in gender and economics related research
Leadership and skills to work with autonomy and initiative
Strong Advocacy skills
- Excellent knowledge of gender equality and women's empowerment in country
- Strong knowledge of UN system
Managing knowledge and learning
Promote knowledge sharing and a learning culture;
Team working; and
Strong communication skills, oral and written in Portuguese and English; knowledge of local languages is an asset.
Ethical Code of Conduct
Independence: Consultant shall ensure that independence of judgment is maintained, and that evaluation findings and recommendations are independently presented.
Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.
Impartiality: Consultant shall operate in an impartial and unbiased manner and give a balanced presentation of strengths and weaknesses of the policy, program, project or organizational unit being evaluated.
Conflict of Interest: Consultant are required to disclose in writing any past experience, which may give rise to a potential conflict of interest, and to deal honestly in resolving any conflict of interest which may arise.
Honesty and Integrity: Consultant shall show honesty and integrity in their own behaviour, negotiating honestly the evaluation costs, tasks, limitations, scope of results likely to be obtained, while accurately presenting their procedures, data and findings and highlighting any limitations or uncertainties of interpretation within the evaluation.
Competence: Consultant shall accurately represent their level of skills and knowledge and work only within the limits of their professional training and abilities in evaluation, declining assignments for which they do not have the skills and experience to complete successfully.
Accountability: Consultant are accountable for the completion of the agreed evaluation deliverables within the 30-day timeframe and budget agreed, while operating in a cost-effective manner.
Obligations to Participants: Consultant shall respect and protect the rights and welfare of human subjects and communities, in accordance with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights conventions. Consultant shall respect differences in culture, local customs, religious beliefs and practices, personal interaction, gender roles, disability, age and ethnicity, while using evaluation instruments appropriate to the cultural setting. Consultant shall ensure prospective participants are treated as autonomous agents, free to choose whether to participate in the evaluation, while ensuring that the relatively powerless are represented.
Confidentiality: Consultant shall respect people’s right to provide information in confidence and make participants aware of the scope and limits of confidentiality, while ensuring that sensitive information cannot be traced to its source.
Avoidance of Harm: Consultant shall act to minimize risks and harms to, and burdens on, those participating in the evaluation, without compromising the integrity of the evaluation findings.
Accuracy, Completeness and Reliability: Consultant have an obligation to ensure that evaluation reports and presentations are accurate, complete and reliable. Consultant shall explicitly justify judgments, findings and conclusions and show their underlying rationale, so that stakeholders are in a position to assess them.
Transparency: Consultant shall clearly communicate to stakeholders the purpose of the evaluation, the criteria applied and the intended use of findings. Consultant shall ensure that stakeholders have a say in shaping the evaluation and shall ensure that all documentation is readily available to and understood by stakeholders.
Omissions and wrongdoing: Where consultant finds evidence of wrong-doing or unethical conduct, they are obliged to report it to the proper oversight authority.
The evaluator will have the final judgment on the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation report, and the evaluator must be protected from pressures to change information in the report. If the evaluator identifies issues of wrongdoing, fraud or other unethical conduct, UN Women procedures must be followed, and confidentiality be maintained. The UN Women Legal Framework for Addressing Non-Compliance with UN Standards of Conduct defines misconduct and the mechanisms within UN Women for reporting and investigating it.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
Post-Graduate degree (Masters) in rural development, development studies, economics, sociology, gender studies, agronomy and related fields;
Experience:
- Solid knowledge on the status of women’s rights, women’s economic empowerment, legislation and policies in the field of gender as well as on the existing gender equality machinery in Mozambique;
- Strong understanding of gender, gender equality issues and its intersections with poverty, HIV, economy, etc.;
- Solid knowledge of gender equality issues and experience in conducting gender related research;
- Understanding of extractive industry sector and its value chains;
- Demonstrated ability and experience to plan and undertake research, collect and analyse data within a given timeframe;
- Demonstrated ability to write research reports.
Language Requirements:
Fluency in Portuguese and English both spoken and written. Fluency in the local languages spoken in Mozambique is desirable.
All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
Good to Know:
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.