Jobs at UNDP International Consultant to Conduct Analysis on the Factors Driving the Gender Gap in Consultancy Agricultural Productivity in Tanzania

Location : Dar es Salaam with travel to selected Districts, TANZANIA

Application Deadline : 28-Apr-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Time left : 6d 12h 37m

Type of Contract : Individual Contract

Post Level : International Consultant

Languages Required : English

Starting Date :
(date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 02-May-2017

Duration of Initial Contract : The assignment will comprise 40 person days

Expected Duration of Assignment : The assignment will comprise 40 person days

Background

Agriculture continues to be the backbone of the economies of most countries in Africa. The sector employs a substantive proportion of the population and is crucial to achieving food security and poverty reduction objectives. Empirical

evidence shows that women represent over half of the agricultural labor force in Sub-Saharan Africa (UNEP, UN Women, PBSO and UNDP, 2013) and women’s substantive contribution to agriculture and their vital role in ensuring family food security have been widely documented.

However, gender-based inequalities in access to and control of productive and financial resources inhibit agricultural productivity and undermine resilience and sustainability efforts (UN Women, UNEP-UNDP-PEI, World Bank, 2015; UNEP, UN Women et al, 2013). This is because women’s role in agriculture is largely taken for granted. Hence the gender gap in the agriculture sector as well as the multiple benefits (economic, poverty reduction, food security and other welfare related gains) of closing the gender gap are still not well understood and therefore not fully or comprehensively integrated into the “how” of policy and programme implementation.

The agricultural sector is further challenged by re-occurring stresses and shocks caused by environmental degradation, natural resource depletion and climatic variations that impact productivity for both men and women farmers. However, due to the gender gaps in the sector, these adverse environmental and climatic variations disproportionately increase the challenges faced by women and other marginalized farmers. The gender gap in agriculture affects how men and women access, participate, adopt and benefit from climate smart agriculture (CSA) (Jost, 2014). Studies have found that the ‘typical constraints on women’s (and often men’s) uptake of CSA practices and their exposure to climate risks are similar and often identical to the factors explaining the gender gap in agricultural productivity outlined above (World Bank et al., 2015).

This implies that an integrated approach for addressing the factors behind the gender gap in productivity would also contribute to enhance women’s access, adoption and benefit from CSA. Conversely, as women are key players in the agricultural sector, CSA strategies are unlikely to be effective, let alone equitable or transformative, without active attention to gender (Bernier et al. 2015 in World Bank et al. 2015).

In Tanzania, the new National Five Years Development Plan II (2016/17-2020/21) identifies the challenge of lower yields per hectare in agriculture on land worked by women compared with that on land worked by men, and highlights the need for sustainable land use planning and reforms as well as improved access to finance and technology for women and youth. More knowledge on the factors driving this gap in agricultural productivity will help inform the envisaged reforms, contributing to women’s greater access and ownership rights to land and the achievement of Government objectives under the new development plan.

The joint UNDP-UN Environment Poverty Environment Initiative anchored in the UNDAP II focuses on enhancing national and districts (LGAs) capacities to mainstream and implement environmental sustainability, poverty reduction, gender equality, and climate change issues into development planning and budgeting frameworks and mechanisms in Tanzania. To provide specific evidence of the links between women’s empowerment, sustainable agricultural production and economic growth, UN Women Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESARO), the UNDP-UN Environment Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) Africa, and the World Bank in 2015 undertook a joint study 'Costing the Gender Gap in Agricultural Productivity in Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda’. The report provides a unique quantification of the costs in terms of lost growth opportunities and an estimate of what societies, economies and communities would gain were the gender gaps in agricultural productivity to be addressed. The findings of the report are striking and send a strong signal that closing the gender gap in agriculture is also smart economics.

It is against this background that UNDP-UN Environment through the PEI programme seeks to recruit an international and a national consultant to conduct an analysis on the factors driving the gender gap in agricultural productivity in Tanzania and explore the impacts of gender gaps in agriculture and how these might influence unsustainable agriculture, environmental degradation and poverty. The study should also explore and quantify the link and impact of CSA on the gender gap productivity and suggest strategies and tools that could help in closing the gender gap in productivity through the adoption of CSA practices by the women farmers. Such empirical analysis would further contribute to close the knowledge gap with regards to CSA and gender (UNEP, 2016; World Bank et al., 2015); and strengthen the evidence to support cost-effective context-based policy decisions to promote CSA that benefit both men and women (Vermeulen, 2015). The study will build on the findings of the 2015 study, but will in contrast to the previous study include extensive field level analysis.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultants will substantiate and domesticate the findings and recommendations of 2015 cost of the gender gap analysis with in-country field work and expand the analysis to include a focus on climate smart agriculture and aspects of environmental sustainability which will help address some of the limitations of the 2015 report.

The consultant will in particular:

Undertake more targeted country field level analysis of the factors driving the gender gap in agricultural productivity and the adoption of climate smart agriculture;
Based on the country analysis provide specific policy and programmatic recommendations (including the costing of the solutions) on how to narrow and ultimately close gender gaps in the agriculture sector, enhance climate resilience and ensure environmental sustainability in the agricultural sector.

The consultant will undertake the assignment in close coordination with the PEI country team, who will provide technical inputs and assist with access to relevant data and reports as well as field sites.

Competencies

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
Excellent report writing and editing skills
Excellent analytical and reporting skills
Fully computer literate
Ability to work under minimum supervision to meet short deadlines.
Commitment and drive to achieve challenging goals, and problem solving attitude.
Ability to identify client needs and deliver them promptly and accurately.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Minimum a Master degree in a relevant social sciences field such as agricultural economics, economics, statistics, sociology or other related field;

Experience:

Minimum 10 years of professional experience in conducting socio-economic analysis in the area of gender and climate smart and environmentally sustainable agriculture, preferably from East Africa;
Experience conducting similar studies in different developing country contexts;
Demonstrated skills in statistical research and policy analysis and detailed knowledge of econometric and statistical tools applied in the context of agriculture, gender and climate analysis;
Previous experience with gender disaggregated data and decomposition analysis, preferable of the agricultural sector;
Strong understanding of gender and demonstrated experience in applying gender tools andconceptual frameworks;
Proven substantive relevant experience in working with large data sets or other applied research;
Strong understanding of climate smart and environmentally sustainable agriculture and how it links to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
A demonstrated ability (through previous similar assignments) to analyse, compile and synthesize information in coherent and succinct formats;
Previous experience in writing comprehensive reports aimed at an audience that included policy-makers;
Proficiency in written and spoken English.

Language requirements:

Proficiency in written and spoken English.

How to Submit Proposals:

Proposals should be submitted to icprocurement.tz@undp.org e-mail address not later than not later than Friday, 28 April 2017;
Applications with no financial offer or missing P11 form and CV or the required documents for the technical evaluation will not be considered for evaluation;
All necessary information for this post (TOR, Deliverables, Target dates, etc. are presented in the ICPN) therefore applicant must download it from the following link: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=37088&view=admin
Each email should be less than 8MB; emails over this size will not be received to the above mentioned account;
Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to the e-mail address tenders.tz@undp.org.