International Consultant for Conducting a Comprehensive Food and Livelihood System Assessment in the Southwest Bangladesh

Background

Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in food production over the last three decades through improved crop yield[1]. However, due to the rising trend in population growth, ensuring food security for everyone still remains a key challenge in the country[2]. Nearly one-third (31%) of the children under 5 years’ age have been experiencing severe food insecurity. Although, the country has improved a number of health and development indicators but maternal under-nutrition rate is still high in the country[3] [4]. A comparative study on harvest seasons and food security reports more than half (56.5%) of the households are food insecure in Bangladesh[5]. A recent study on household level food security status in the southern region reveals that only one-third (32%) of the participants are food secured. Half (51%) of them are moderately food secured whereas nearly one-fifth (17%) of the respondents were extremely food insecure[6]. Overall, a significant number of people in Bangladesh are threatened by food insecurity.

Bangladesh is one of the most climate vulnerable countries of the world due to its geographical settings. Climate change-induced rapid and slow onset disasters (i.e., erratic rainfall, flooding, heat wave, drought, cold wave, cyclones, etc.) and alteration in land and water phenomena (sea-level rise and salinity intrusion) have negative affected lives and livelihoods of the Bangladeshi people. More specifically, the climatic stressors such as changes in weather patterns, frequency and intensity of disasters have continually reduced productive capacity of agricultural lands and negatively influencing the food system and causing distress to food security in the country[1]. Food security and livelihoods of people living in Southwest Bangladesh are currently more vulnerable compared to other regions due to climate change-induced erratic rainfall, salinity intrusion, cyclones and storm surges[2].

The country’s agriculture system is highly water and energy intensive. For instance, rice, the staple crop, covers nearly four-fifth (79%) of the net cultivated area of Bangladesh. Almost two-third (62%) of rice farmers depend on groundwater for irrigation purposes while nearly one-third (31.9%) of them rely on electricity and two-third (66.6%) of them use diesel for irrigation pumps. Extensive use of groundwater and electricity have adverse environmental impacts including aquifer depletion, increased salinity intrusion and carbon emissions[3]. Use of pesticides and fertilizers have had a detrimental impact on the environment. The environmental impacts from agricultural sector are similar in all regions including Southern Bangladesh.

Fisheries is another major source of livelihoods for the communities living in the Southwest region. Shrimp farming is one of the key livelihoods s under fisheries sub-sector for households in Southwestern region. Collection of shrimp post larvae has a negative impact on the flora and fauna of the region[4]. Moreover, shrimp farming poses a threat to adjacent agricultural lands through salt water intrusion. Soil and water pollution due to the use of poor quality feed also puts a significant stress on the environment[5].

Food system, food security, environment and climate change are interlinked. Overuse of environmental inputs (i.e. water, soil etc.) and pollutants for food production hinder environmental sustainability. Deforestation and fossil fuel based energy consumption for food production exacerbate the changes in climate. Climatic stressors negatively affect food production and distribution process leading to food and livelihood insecurity and vulnerability of people, households and ecosystems. Transformation towards a nature-positive and resilient food system is essential in Southwest Bangladesh to mitigate environment and climate change impacts and ensure food and livelihood security.

A nature positive and resilient food system have several benefits to restore health of degraded ecosystems. They replenish soil fertility, maintain soil water and promote healthy soil flora and fauna while encouraging storage of soil carbon. Production systems that promote resilient food systems also encourage crop system diversification, soil-water conservation and nutrient recycling which are important components of degraded ecosystems of southwest Bangladesh. However, before transformative actions towards sustainable food systems, an analysis of challenges and gaps in existing food systems and barriers that hinder a conducive enabling governance and policy environment is necessary to enable design, plan, implement and promote adoption of nature-positive practices. In this process effective stakeholder engagement initiatives are useful to raise awareness and empowerment on the part of policy makers, producers, supporting function players and consumers.

Purpose of this assignment

The United Nations (UNheld a Food Systems Summit this year as part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Secretary General’s Statement of Action and a compendium of solution clusters aim to support food systems transformation and offer more than 2000 game-changing solutions for accelerated action. A number of emerging coalitions of action were launched as part of the Summit process. The key outcomes of the summit are to raise awareness of food systems' centrality into the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and pursue the urgency of transforming food systems; engage stakeholders around a common understanding of the food system framework as a platform for united action to achieve the SDGs; recognize the necessity for inclusiveness and innovation in food systems governance and action; Persuade and empower stakeholders who will play a key role in food systems transformation; and catalyze and proliferate strong action for food systems transformation by the communities from local to global levels. In this context, UN agencies are making concerted efforts to mainstream this approach into their development agendas.

Considering the action tracks of the UN Food Systems Summit, FAO and UNDP have partnered to take collaborative initiatives in Bangladesh. This partnership aims to support a restructuring of the food system to reduce the negative impacts on the environment, enhance resilience of the system and secure food and livelihoods of the communities living in Southwest Bangladesh. In this context, the FAO and the UNDP will conduct the comprehensive food system analysis and organize workshops/dialogues to engage multi-level stakeholders in the food system transformation process. As part of these initiatives, UNDP Bangladesh is seeking the services of a consultant to conduct a comprehensive food and livelihood system assessment in Southwest Bangladesh under UNDP’s SIDA Programme on Environment and Climate Change.

Objective of the assignment

The main objective of this consultancy service is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the food system that exists in Southwest Bangladesh from the perspectives of food and livelihood security, gender, environment and climate change. Following are the key objectives of this assignment –

1.Identify existing gaps, key issues and persistent challenges to food systems in Southwest Bangladesh from the perspectives of food and livelihood security, gender, environment and climate change perspectives through a secondary literature review

2.Develop a food systems analysis framework through gender-inclusive and participatory approach and design study tools

3.Prioritize emerging needs and gaps and mitigation measures based on the food and livelihood security, gender, environment and climate change perspective

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities (Scope of Work):

The consultant will be responsible for conducting the literature review, design the study framework and tools, check data quality, clean data, analyze both qualitative and quantitative data and write the assessment report. However, the FAO and the UNDP staff will collect the data at regional level. Scope of this consultancy service are as follows –

Objective 1

Conduct brainstorming sessions with the FAO and the UNDP staffs to refine the review questions
Undertake a secondary literature review
Write a literature review report

Objective 2

Development of a food system analysis framework and tools to conduct the comprehensive food system analysis
Development of a methodology that includes respondents, sampling strategy and data collection techniques etc.
Conducting a pre-test to refine the tools that will be used by the FAO and the UNDP staff for data collection

Objective 3

Conducting a training on data collection for the FAO and the UNDP staff
Checking the quality of data during data collection phase and cleaning the data once the data collection is done
Development of data analysis and visualization methodology including brief description of patterns, trends and variables to be investigated
Analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data that will collected by the FAO and the UNDP staffs.
Development of a draft report on comprehensive food system analysis in Southwest Bangladesh from the perspectives of food and livelihood security, gender, resilience, climate change and environment.
Finalization of the report by incorporating the feedback and comments from the stakeholders, FAO and UNDP staffs

Supervision, methodology and duty station of work

The consultant will report directly to the Climate Change Specialist, UNDP Dhaka.

Duration of the assignment

The duty station will be home and field based. Consultant also needs to participate in number of virtual and in-person meetings with the FAO and the UNDP staffs

30 (Thirty) workdays (25 Days Home-based and 5 Days in Mission in the study areas in Bangladesh) over a period of 02 months from 22 November 2021 - 21 January 2022.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies

Communication;
Speaks and writes clearly and effectively both in English;
Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately;
Asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication;
Tailors language, tone, style, and format to match the audience;
Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Teamwork

Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals;
Solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others;
Places team agenda before personal agenda;
Builds consensus for task purpose and direction with team members;
Supports and acts in accordance with final group decisions, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position;
Shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.

Knowledge Management and Learning

Shares knowledge and experience;
Encourages office staff to share knowledge and contribute to UNDP Practice Areas;
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Requirement of Educational Qualification and Experience:

Minimum Master’s degree in Food and Nutrition/Agriculture/ Social Science/ Environment/ Disaster Management/ Development studies/Public Policy or any discipline that is relevant to this study.
Minimum 5 years of work experience in the areas of agriculture, environment and climate change
Proven experience of conducting at least 03 assessments that focus on low carbon, climate resilient, gender responsive, and nutrition sensitive food system.
Experienced in conducting studies for UN agencies/International NGOs/ Government institutions
Excellent analytical and conceptual skills
Excellent report writing skills in English.