International Consultant to ensure gender aspects mainstreaming in the NAP-2 Project activities and outputs.

Vacancy Number: Pr21/02171

Location:Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline: 04 Mar 2021, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Starting date: 15 Mar 2021
Reference to the project: Advancing Moldova's National Climate Change Adaptation Planning Project
Expected Duration of Assignment:March 2021 – November 2022, 70 working days
Submission Instructions:

Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Online" button, no later than the 4th  of March 2021.

Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: pavel.gavrilita@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.

Supporting Documents:
Procurement Notice
TERMS OF REFERENCE
OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR (IC) ASSIGNMENT
UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Contacts:

Mr. Pavel Gavrilita.

pavel.gavrilita@undp.org


Background

Climate change is already profoundly impacting the conditions for resource availability and agricultural activities. Over the last decade, the country has experienced several extreme events, such as droughts and major floods, along with the cumulative effects caused by increased mean temperature and the uneven distribution of precipitation throughout the year, which have had negative consequences on the country's economy, and its population wellbeing and health. Severe droughts are recurring more frequently, causing significant economic losses. The increasing scope and intensity of extreme events have also resulted in increased frequencies of high-risk situations. By 2050, an increase of 2–3ºC in the average temperature, an additional 32 days that exceed the current maximum temperature by 10%, and another 12 days with zero precipitation are projected.

The Government sees the National Adaptation Planning (NAP) process as key to achieving the adaptation objectives outlined in its 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Strategy of the Republic of Moldova and its 2020 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), as well as the continued mainstreaming of climate change considerations into its policies and budgeting processes. The proposed project supports the Republic of Moldova's Government in advancing the second cycle of its National Adaptation Planning process (known as NAP-2). The outcomes of the NAP-2 national adaptation planning processes are:

  • Outcome 1: To strengthen and operationalize the national steering mechanism for climate change adaptation (CCA);
  • Outcome 2: To improve the long-term capacity on planning and implementation of adaptation actions through CCA technologies;
  • Outcome 3: To improve the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation through the increased alignment of national development priorities in the priority sectors (forestry, health, energy, and transport).

The project will contribute to UNDAF, 2018-2022 outcome #3 (The people of Moldova, especially the most vulnerable, benefit from enhanced environmental governance, energy security, sustainable management of natural resources, climate, and disaster-resilient development). Additionally, the project will contribute to the UNDP Country Programme Output 3.3 (National and sub-national governments have improved capacities to integrate resilience to climate change and disasters into development plans and practices to reduce population's vulnerability). Other than that, the project will contribute to the National Development Strategy "Moldova 2030" by ensuring resilience to climate change by reducing risks related to climate change and by facilitating adaptation in six priority sectors - agriculture, water resources, health, forestry, energy, and transport.

The preliminary work under the first cycle of the NAP (known as NAP-1) supported developing a NAP as a process, conceptualizing and developing its elements, including the national steering mechanism, and laid down the groundwork towards long-term adaptation planning. Despite the progress, significant gaps remain in integrating climate change considerations into many of the national priority sectors' development policies and their associated budget priorities. National appropriations for CCA remain limited.

The NAP-2 goals will be achieved within two parallel implementation tracks. The first track implemented by UNDP expands and deepens the national approach developed under the NAP-1 and strengthens synergies both vertically, at different levels of the governance, and horizontally, between the sectors affected by climate change to reduce duplication of efforts, pool scarce resources for efficient use, and ensure a coherent and comprehensive approach to the integration of CCA responses into development planning. In contrast, the second track will focus on adaptation in the agriculture sector and will be concurrently implemented under FAO's auspices.

The National Designated Authority has coordinated with the UNDP and the FAO country offices to ensure the complementarity and congruency of the activities and exchange, as appropriate. By its very nature, the NAP-2 will facilitate the integration of CCA into existing strategies, policies, and programmes and establish a strong foundation for the integration of methods, tools, and information systems in day-to-day planning activities to inform decision-makers on the climate risks effectively and to enable the informed formulation of resilient projects and financing strategies.

On the other hand, it is well-known that climate change increases gender inequality, reduces women's ability to be financially independent, and has an overall negative impact on women's social and political rights, especially in economies heavily based on agriculture. In many cases, gender inequality means that women are more vulnerable to climate change's adverse effects. Women can (and do) play a critical role in response to climate change due to their local knowledge of and leadership in sustainable resource management or leading sustainable practices at the household and community level. Women's participation in the political class has resulted in more excellent responsiveness to citizens' needs, often increasing cooperation across party and ethnic lines and delivering more sustainable peace. At the local level, women's inclusion at the leadership level has led to improved climate-related projects and policies. On the contrary, if policies or projects are implemented without women's meaningful participation, it can increase existing inequalities and decrease effectiveness.

In this context, this assignment will contribute to enhancing the degree to which Project activities and outputs promote gender equality and equity and take into account differences in ways men and women perceive incentives linked to the climate change adaptation and how these perceptions can influence the achievement of the results specified in project objectives. For this purpose, the project will contract an international consultant to conduct an in-depth gender-disaggregated cross-sectorial analysis of the impact of climate change on vulnerable groups and to perform a gender gap analysis of sectorial policies and adaptation plans for five priority sectors and provide recommendations on mainstreaming gender considerations in national and sectorial CCA documents developed under NAP2 project. He/she will work closely with the respective national partners, including state institutions, local authorities, civil society, and international organizations.

Scope of work

Integrating gender dimensions into national climate changes policies, strategies, action plans, and projects or programmes has become critical for realizing Government commitments to respond to climate change impacts and vulnerabilities. The assignment's main objective is to provide comprehensive support and guidance to the project team and ensure that gender concerns will be brought to the forefront of the national adaptation process.

Summary of key functions:

The consultant will work in close cooperation with the Project pool of consultants and Team Leaders. Under the project manager's supervision, the consultant will conduct an in-depth gender-disaggregated cross-sectorial analysis of climate change's impact on vulnerable groups and integrate gender vulnerabilities into the national and sectorial CCA policies. All provided support, advice and recommendations should be in line with the GCF Gender Policy and Gender Action Plan 2020-2023[1], UNDP Gender Equality Strategy[2] and the National Strategy on Ensuring Equality between women and men (2017-2021) for the Republic of Moldova[3]. The specific tasks are presented below:

  • Develop a gender action plan for the whole period of the project implementation that will contain activities, targets, and relevant qualitative and quantitative indicators for progress monitoring. The Action Plan should be consistent with the UNFCCC and NAP gender mainstreaming guidelines;
  • Conduct together with national consultant an in-depth gender-disaggregated cross-sectorial analysis of the impact of climate change on vulnerable groups, with a specific focus on rural women;
  • Verify and advance consideration of gender aspects into the National CCA Program and its Action Plan;
  • Conduct together with the national consultant a gender gap analysis of sectorial policies and adaptation plans for five priority sectors to understand better where women and men are situated in climate change in the priority sectors, the barriers for women's empowerment, and the opportunities to strengthen the integration of gender equality into NAP planning and implementation processes;
  • Present the analysis findings within a consultation workshop, ensure their consultation with the main stakeholders, and update them according to the received recommendations.
  • Lead at least two consultation workshop on the findings of the cross-sectorial analysis of the impact of climate change on vulnerable groups and the results of gender gap analysis of sectorial policies and adaptation plans for five priority sectors to understand better where women and men are situated in climate change in the priority sectors;
  • Provide gender-related inputs to the NAP M&E framework and M&E indicators;
  • Ensure that key project activities and deliverables are gender-responsive.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualification:

  • University degree in social sciences, human rights, women/gender-related fields, or other fields relevant to the assignment.

Experience:

  • At least 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in human rights, women/gender-related fields, particularly in gender and climate change;
  • Proven professional experience in organizing and delivering thematic training on mainstreaming gender equality;
  • Proven experience in gender mainstreaming into the policy documents and conducting in-depth gender-disaggregated cross-sectorial analysis of the impact of climate change on vulnerable groups;
  • Extensive knowledge of the climate-related political framework, especially in climate change adaptation.

Competencies:

  • Demonstrates excellent organizational skills and a proven ability for multi-disciplinary analysis;
  • Familiarity with international sector-specific gender mainstreaming guidelines.

Language requirements:

  • Fluency in English is required for this assignment; knowledge of Romanian or Russian will be an advantage.

Documents to be included

Applicants shall submit the following required documents:

Offeror's Letter confirming Interest and Availability, including financial offer, according to Annex 2.

CV, including information about experience in similar assignments.

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

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

If an applicant is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the applicant must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

Financial proposal

Lump-sum contracts

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including fees, taxes, travel costs, accommodation costs, communication, and the number of anticipated working days).  

Travel

All envisaged travel costs (if applicable) must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging, and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.