Two National Consultants for Civil Society Capacity Development Programme on Gender-Responsive Climate Change Action and Disaster Risk Reduction

Background

UN Women (the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of 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.

In Turkey, in line with its global Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and Country Strategic Note (2022-2025), and the overall UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Turkey (UNSDCF) (2021-2025), UN Women works towards the overarching goal of “Women and girls including those at greatest risk of being left behind fully exercise their human rights, enjoy a life free from violence and discrimination, and lead, influence and benefit from sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development towards the advancement of gender equality in Turkey”. UN Women works in four thematic areas: (i) governance and participation in public life; (ii) women’s economic empowerment; (iii) ending violence against women and girls; and (iv) women, peace and security, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction. UN Women contributes to three UNSDCF outcomes: 1) Women and girls have improved and equal access to resources, opportunities, and rights, and enjoy a life without violence and discrimination; 2) By 2025, Persons under the Law on Foreigners and International Protection are supported towards self-reliance. 3) By 2025, governance systems are more transparent, accountable, inclusive and rightsbased with the participation of civil society, and quality of judicial services is improved.

Advancing gender equality in the context of climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR) is one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century. Women comprise 80% of those affected by climate displacements. They are 14 times more likely to lose their lives as a result of disasters. Gender often intersects with other factors like age, cultural background, economic status, or occupation, increasing an individual’s vulnerability to disasters. Women remain marginalized in climate change, environment and DRR policy and programmes, and in decision-making processes and implementation. Laws and policies related to natural resources and productive assets such as land, water, energy are not gender- responsive, and women comprise of third or less of the ministers across key sectors of energy, transport, utilities, environment. The UN Secretary General’s Report on the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action underlines that climate and environment policies and action are not sufficiently integrated with the efforts to advance gender equality and not enough attention is being paid to the gender-related drivers and impact of environmental and climate crises. Furthermore, UN Secretary-General’s Report on the priority theme of the 66th session on the Commission on the Status of Women in 2022 points out six priority areas where measures should be taken: Integrating gender perspectives into climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes; promoting the participation and leadership of women; expanding gender-responsive finance building the resilience of women; enhancing gender statistics and data disaggregated by sex; fostering a gender-responsive, just transition.

The urgent need to support women’s resilience to disasters and climate change and COVID-19 was recognized by UN Women. The Generation Equality Forum (GEF) organized by UN Women and the Governments of France and Mexico in 2021 identified ‘Feminist Action for Climate Justice’ as one of the selected themes of the Generation Equality Action Coalitions (ACs) to ensure climate action is gender-responsive and to improve women’s leadership and meaningful participation in climate action. Attention to gender equality is also growing in the legal frameworks and practical tools in the context of DRR. At the normative level, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Recommendation No.37 (2018) on the “gender related dimension of DRR” and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) for 2015-2030 both emphasize the importance of engaging women in disaster and climate risk reduction programmes.

The project ‘Strengthening Civil Society Capacities and Multi-stakeholder Partnerships to Advance Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Turkey – Strong Civic Space for Gender Equality’ implemented by UN Women Turkey between April 2021 and March 2024 with funding from the European Union aims to reduce gender inequalities by enhancing the ability of CSOs to be agents of transformative change towards gender equality and women’s rights. The specific objective of the project is “Women's rights groups, women-led CSOs and other relevant rights based CSOs, including those representing youth and groups facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination /marginalization, more effectively influence the gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda at the national and local levels.” One of the outputs of the project is that women’s rights/women-led CSOs and other relevant rights-based CSOs in Turkey have increased resources and capacities to advance the rights of women and girls in fields where gender gaps persist in line with Turkey’s national and international commitments and in consideration of Covid-19 impacts.

Turkey is a party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) since 2009. Turkey ratified the Paris Agreement in October 2021, thereby committed to achieve a net-zero balance in carbon emissions by 2053. Advancing and implementation of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes are crucial for the country as Turkey is prone to three main types of natural disaster: earthquakes, floods and landslides. The majority of the population (72 %) live in seismically active areas and earthquakes have caused two-thirds of total disaster losses over the last century, with 16 % due to landslides and 15 % due to floods (Asian Disaster Reduction Center, Turkey Country Report 2019).

Turkey’s 11th National Development Plan has a strong focus on “Livable Cities, Sustainable Environment” including environmental protection and disaster management, whereby there are untapped opportunities for strengthening women’s voice and participation in these areas, and for bringing together women’s CSOs and activists with their environment/climate-focused counterparts for mutual learning and joint advocacy. During the consultations convened by UN Women Turkey, women’s organizations voiced out their capacity development needs on climate change action, DRR and crisis response which is an emerging challenge for women’s organizations particularly amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Strengthening the knowledge, policy and advocacy capacity of the civil society is an effective way to break the cycle of gender inequalities in the context of climate change and DRR. UN Women will therefore design and implement a capacity development programme in the area of gender-responsive climate change action and DRR taking into account the newly emerging needs amid the Covid-19 pandemic, in the context of the aforementioned project.

In this context UN Women Turkey plans to hire two National Consultants to support the development and implementation of the capacity development programme in the area of gender-responsive climate change action and DRR. The two National Consultants will collaborate with each other, as well as with the International Consultant specialized in gender-responsive climate change action and DRR while carrying out this assignment. The two National Consultants and the International Consultant will collaborate as a team.

Duties and Responsibilities

Within the scope of the assignment, under the direct supervision of UN Women Programme Specialist and in close collaboration with the Programme Analyst and UN Women staff in Turkey, the two National Consultants will be responsible in undertaking the following tasks:

TASK I:

Develop and roll out a questionnaire for a brief online survey to identify the specific capacity development needs with regards to gender-responsive climate action and DRR. The online survey will target women’s CSOs, networks, platforms, grassroots organizations, relevant environmental/climate action/DRR CSOs and networks, platforms, as well as relevant youth CSOs and groups. The National Consultants will prepare, moderate and report on two focus group discussions (FGDs) with the same target group to substantiate and validate the findings of the online survey. The FGDs will be convened by UN Women with the substantive support of the two National Consultants, in collaboration with the International Consultant. The report on the two FGDs to be prepared by the National Consultants will feed into the overall report of the capacity development needs survey.

TASK II:

Develop a capacity development training programme on Gender-Responsive Climate Change Action and DRR that responds to the identified needs and potentials of women, youth, environmental/climate action/DRR CSOs, as well as other rights-based CSOs inclusive of civic networks and platforms. The training programme will be composed of modules on gender dimensions of climate change and DRR covering a range of sub-themes and gender equality instruments, based on the findings of the capacity development needs survey elaborated under Task I.

The modules shall indicatively cover:

Gender mainstreaming and gender analysis, including the gender dimension of data collection tools, collection of sex-disaggregated data,
International and national normative and policy framework for gender in climate change and DRR,
Women’s resilience to disasters, women’s role in preventing and mitigating disasters related to climate change, environmental degradation, women as agents of just transition,
Gender in adaptation/mitigation approaches and sectoral actions (e.g. agriculture, food security, energy),
Gender responsive preparedness and early warning systems and gender-sensitive disaster response,
Climate and DRR finance for gender-responsive action,
Gender responsive climate change action and DRR in the context of ending violence against women, women’s leadership, representation and participation in decision-making, etc.

The capacity development training programme is expected to be composed of at least five modules around the major themes. The training programme will be informed by UN Women Training Center’s relevant learning materials and will be contextualized to Turkey. The content of the training programme will be jointly developed by the two National Consultants. The training content will be finalized by the International Consultant. The National Consultants will also develop tools to assess the learning outcomes, such as pre- and post- training questionnaires and training evaluations.

The overall training programme will be prepared and submitted in English and will be translated to Turkish by UN Women.

TASK III:

Co-deliver/co-facilitate minimum five rounds of the capacity development training programme on Gender-Responsive Climate Change Action and DRR in the form of indicatively 3-day training workshops to be held in person or online in five provinces of Turkey (Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Ordu, Diyarbakir, tentatively). The two National Consultants will attend, co-deliver/co-facilitate all of the trainings in the five provinces in collaboration with the International Consultant, who will attend these trainings partially.

The trainings will be organized by UN Women in Turkish with simultaneous interpretation whenever required. The two National Consultants will prepare the training reports from each training based on the pre- and post-training surveys and other measurement tools to assess the learning outcomes.

TASK IV:

Conceptualize and co-facilitate three dialogue/joint advocacy/mutual learning sessions by bringing young women and men from Turkey and Europe, including women’s and environmental CSOs, networks/platforms, climate activists and grassroots organizations. Representatives of the Government of Turkey, as well as the local authorities may also be invited to these dialogues to enable and foster the stakeholders’ contribution to the decision and policy making processes. The dialogue sessions will be organized by UN Women, and will take place online or in person. The two National Consultants will prepare the outcome report which will be a public document. The outcome report will be finalized by the International Consultant.

TASK V:

Based on the lessons learned from the capacity development training programme on Gender-Responsive Climate Change Action and DRR, as well as the sessions stipulated under TASK IV, the two National Consultants will review, adjust, adapt the training content. The two National Consultants will also prepare a training facilitator’s manual covering the whole training programme. Both the training content and the training facilitator’s manual will be finalized by the International Consultant. The capacity development training programme on Gender-Responsive Climate Change Action and DRR as well as the training facilitator’s manual will jointly serve as a knowledge product to be published by UN Women, which will be subject to peer-review.

TASK VI:

Prepare the consolidated report covering the whole assignment including lessons learned, recommendations and analysis of the learning outcomes. The outline of the final assignment report will be agreed with UN Women in advance

Duration of the assignment is from 01 June 2022 to 30 November 2023. Each National Consultant is expected to dedicate approximately 6 working days per month on average for this assignment and to spend up to 100 working days on non-consecutive basis throughout the assignment.

Expected Deliverables and Payment Schedule:

The following table summarizes the main activities and expected deliverables against the targeted submission deadlines and indicative working days to be invested by the Consultant.

No

Deliverables

Target Deadline

Estimated number of working days

1

Report of the capacity development needs survey as elaborated under Task I.

July 2022

10

2

Draft modular capacity development training programme content and curriculum on Gender-Responsive Climate Change Action and DRR.

August 2022

15

3

Submit monthly timesheets and brief progress reports comprised of the substantive support provided under Tasks III and IV.

By the 29th of each month starting from

September 2022 to November 2023

55

4

Final modular capacity development training programme content and curriculum on Gender-Responsive Climate Change Action and DRR as well as the training facilitator’s manual, as per Task V.

October 2023

15

5

Final assignment report including lessons learned, recommendations and analysis of the learning outcomes, as per Task VI.

November 2023

5

Total Working Days: Up to 100 days

All deliverables shall be received and cleared by UN Women in Turkey. All reports shall be presented in English, in electronic version.

Note: The mentioned number of working days has been estimated as being sufficient/feasible for the envisaged volume of work to be completed successfully and is proposed as a guideline for the duration of assignment. It cannot and shall not be used as criteria for completion of work/assignment. The provision of envisaged deliverables approved by the UN Women in Turkey shall be the only criteria for the Consultant's work being completed and eligible for payment/s.

Payment Schedule:

The amount paid to the Consultant shall be gross and inclusive of all associated costs such as Travel, social security, pension and income tax etc. Payments will be made upon submission and approval of deliverables above and certification by the UN Women supervisor that the services have been satisfactorily completed.

The Consultant's payments will be carried out on the basis of the deliverables, monthly timesheets and reports presented (if applicable)_and approved by the supervisor, as stipulated in the deliverables chart above. Payment shall be affected only if deliverables, monthly timesheets and/or reports in this TOR are submitted to UN Women within the timeframes stipulated in the TOR and are approved by the supervisor. Without submission and approval of the deliverables, monthly timesheets and reports (if applicable), the Consultant shall not receive any payment even if s/he invests time for this assignment.

Mandatory Training Courses:

The Consultant shall complete all the mandatory and other required UN training courses and modules on time. The certificates shall be submitted to the supervisor.

Key Performance Indicators

Adherence to UN Women mandate, standards and rules.
Timely and quality delivery of the capacity development training programme on Gender-Responsive Climate Change Action and DRR and other tasks stipulated in this ToR.
Positive feedbacks from the participants of the capacity development training programme on Gender-Responsive Climate Change Action and DRR.

Competencies

Core Values:

Respect for Diversity
Integrity
Professionalism

Core Competencies:

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
Accountability
Creative Problem Solving
Effective Communication
Inclusive Collaboration
Stakeholder Engagement
Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

Awareness and sensitivity regarding gender Issues and intersectionality
Knowledge of climate and environmental issues
Creative Problem Solving
Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions, and present findings
Effective Communication
Inclusive Collaboration
Stakeholder Engagement

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

Master's Degree or equivalent in social sciences, gender studies, development studies, environmental studies or another related field. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

Minimum 3 years of progressive professional experience in the field gender equality and/or women's empowerment.
Minimum 2 years of experience in the field of environmental conservation, climate change or disaster risk reduction.
Experience in the capacity development of different stakeholders in the field of gender and climate change/disaster risk reduction in the form of training programmes and similar initiatives is a strong asset.
Previous professional experience with the United Nations, European Union, and/or international NGOs in the fields gender equality and/or women's empowerment environmental conservation, climate change or disaster risk reduction is an asset.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in written and spoken Turkish and English is required.