Local Consultant to support the gender sensitive criteria development of the Women Driving Resilience in Agriculture and Rural Areas project

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination and violence 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. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programs and services needed to implement these standards. UN Women’s mandate (GA resolution 64/289) is to lead, coordinate and promote accountability of the UN system to deliver on gender equality and the empowerment of women with the primary objective of enhancing country-level coherence, ensuring coordinated interventions and securing positive impacts on the lives of women and girls, including those living in rural areas.

For decades, the international conventions have acknowledged the critical contribution of women in agriculture and rural development. Reports on the role of women in rural areas converge on the fact that rural women are key agents for achieving the economic, social, and environmental changes required in the developing world. However, rural women`s rights and priorities remain insufficiently addressed in legal frameworks, national and local development policies, rural programmes, and investment strategies at all levels worldwide.

In BiH, rural women make up 28,6% of total population and 49.8% of the total rural population are women. About 20.5% of the female workforce in BiH is engaged in the agriculture sector and in 2016 around 18% of family farms were registered as being female headed, although this number has been gradually increasing (for instance in the Republika Srpska in 2017 this percentage was 22.7%). However, according to 2018 research published by the Sarajevo Economic Institute there is a deeply gendered division of labour with women being less engaged in processes that are higher along the value chains, such as dealing with marketing and are concentrated at levels that involve less decision-making about and control over income earned from agriculture. There is also a significant gap in land and property ownership in favor of men (for instance, in 2019 38.3% of land registry records indicated women as owners or co-owners. Additionally, women`s business ventures located in rural areas are less diverse and even smaller in size. The constraints that entrepreneurs face in doing business in BiH impact women to a greater degree due to underlying gender inequalities related to limited networking opportunities, gender roles, stereotypes, and discrimination in society at large.

To support women’s economic empowerment, rural women, agriculture, rural development, and agri-entrepreneurship, UN Women in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), started the project “Women Driving Resilience in Agriculture and Rural Areas”, supported by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). This Project aims at removing structural barriers, by introducing time and labor-saving technologies, innovative sources of financing, enabling women to be better prepared to cope with the challenges, improving their livelihoods and socio-economic position and the lives of their families in the rural areas. Addressing the structural barriers faced by women in agriculture and rural areas will require sustained engagement of all relevant stakeholders in BiH.

The project aims also at increasing the gender sensitivity of policies directed towards rural development and agriculture. It will focus on integrating gender responsive considerations into policy making and budgeting processes with the objectives to supporting women’s economic empowerment and including women and their needs in the processes of determining the priorities and steps for rural development. Also, it is important to examine the existing public subsidy mechanisms in agriculture which are currently not gender sensitive and do not recognize the need to engage more women into the formal economy. To address this, UN Women and FAO will develop gender sensitive criteria for pilot investments funded through the public subsidy mechanisms extended through the entity Ministries of Agriculture.

Under the “Women Driving Resilience in Agriculture and Rural Areas” project, UN Women is seeking for a local consultant to support UN Women and FAO to develop programs on increasing investments in agriculture assets, tools and technologies which can lead to better financial capacity of women agri-businesses, farmers and rural tourisms business owners.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objective of this consultancy is to contract a support development within the project “Women Driving Resilience in Agriculture and Rural Areas” on how to improve position of women in rural areas by developing better supporting conditions and access for existing public subsidy mechanisms at FBiH and RS.

IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE

The immediate objective of this consultancy is to develop the gender-sensitive funding criteria for the existing public subsidy mechanisms at FBiH and RS within the “Women Driving Resilience in Agriculture and Rural Areas” project.

Tasks and Responsibilities

Based on the above-described objectives of the assignment, under the direct supervision of UN Women WEE Programme Coordinator and in close collaboration with UN Women WEE programme team, and overall supervision of UN Women Programme Specialist, the local consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks and responsibilities:

Provide insight(s) into the support mechanisms in the field of agriculture and rural development implemented by the entity Ministries of Agriculture;
Provide insight(s) into the criteria for support in the field of agriculture and rural development implemented by entity Ministries of Agriculture and identify advantages and limitations for women holding farms and business owners;
Develop proposal for the gender-sensitive indicators for support mechanisms in the field of agriculture and rural development;
Propose methodology for measuring success of the indicators once the support mechanisms have been developed and implemented;
Facilitate discussions among the members of the Technical Working Groups of relevant Ministries and reach consensus among the members of both groups regarding the proposal of gender-sensitive criteria;
Organize one-day training for members of the Technical Working Groups of Ministries of Agriculture related to gender-sensitive indicators and present good practices from the region and globally for approximately 25 participants in Sarajevo;
Develop final proposal for the criteria for the pilot financing program of women-led investments in climate-smart agriculture technologies and off-farm diversification through the existing public subsidy mechanisms, with the proposed gender-sensitive criteria.

The local consultant will be expected to complete the below tasks within the indicative timeframe:

No.

Deliverables

Indicative number of consulting days

Due dates

1

Assessment of the existing support systems in the field of agriculture and rural development at the level of the RS and FBiH conducted and evaluation of the support criteria from the aspect of gender sensitivity executed. The document capturing the assessment and evaluation approved by UN Women.

2

20 August 2023

2

Draft proposal for gender sensitive criteria for pilot financing programme of women-led investments in climate-smart agriculture technologies and off-farm diversification through the existing public subsidy mechanisms. Draft document approved by UN Women.

2

25 August 2023

3

Based on the proposal, submit draft training materials designed and delivered for discussion for TWG and PMU, along with the proposed methodology for measuring further developments. Draft document approved by UN Women.

1

29 August 2023

4

Training on the topic of gender sensitive criteria in agriculture and rural development for the members of the TWG of both ministries organized and delivered. Training materials to be prepared and sent to and approved by UN Women.

3

15 September

5

Final proposal of gender sensitive criteria designed, submitted for review, and approved by UN Women

1

22 September 2023

6

Final report in English submitted to UN Women for review and approval

1

30 September 2023

10

The consultant should in the development of the deliverables allow time for deliverables to be reviewed and commented by UN Women before their finalization.

Any envisaged travel and accommodation costs should be indicated in the financial proposal and covered by the consultant.

Reporting

Under the direct supervision of the WEE Programme Coordinator the local expert will develop and deliver the above listed deliverables in accordance with the indicative timeframe. Payments will be processed based on approved deliverables and the schedule of payments outlined in the contract.

All deliverables of an acceptable standard and quality should be submitted to the UN Women and in English.

Competencies

Core Values/guiding principles:

Integrity - Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
Professionalism - Demonstrate professional competence and Consultant knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
Cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity - Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Additionally, the individual should have an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Planning & Organizing – Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks and makes allowances accordingly.
Organizational Awareness - Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
Teamwork - Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
Accountability – Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning

Shares knowledge and experience
Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills
Development and Operational Effectiveness
Demonstrates excellent written and oral communication skills. Communicates sensitively, effectively, and creatively across different constituencies
Demonstrates very good understanding of and experience in communications and outreach/advocacy
Ability to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported
Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems
Uses Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource

Leadership and Self-Management

Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure
Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women’s mandate
Identifies opportunities and builds strong partnerships with clients and partners

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Master`s degree in agricultural studies, gender studies, social sciences or other degrees relevant to the requirements of the TOR. A PhD in the areas listed above will be considered as an asset.

Experience:

Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in agricultural development, gender-based budgeting and/or advancing gender equality projects.
Previous experience in working with UN agencies will be considered an advantage.
At least two trainings organized in the area of women in agriculture, gender sensitive criteria, support for development of women in rural areas, or similar.

Language

Fluency in BCS and English is required. Candidates to provide certificate of English knowledge (minimum B2) or sample of a part of study conducted in English (one to two pages maximum)

Evaluation of applicants

UN Women applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualification of potential consultants as well as the financial proposals submitted in support of consultant applications. Candidate applications will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of applicant experience, qualifications and a financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

responsive/compliant/acceptable,
and having received the highest score out of technical and financial criteria defined below.

Based on a desk technical evaluation, only candidates receiving a minimum of 50 points in the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation.

Criteria:

Technical Evaluation (70%) – 70 points

Master`s degree in agricultural studies, gender studies, social sciences, or other degrees relevant to the requirements of the TOR. A PhD in similar areas will be considered as an asset. SATISFACTORY/UNSATISFACTORY
Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in advancing gender equality in agricultural development. 30pts
2 examples in developing expert analysis in advancing gender equality in agricultural development (list at least 2 examples). 20 pts
At least two trainings organized in the area of women in agriculture, gender sensitive criteria, support for development of women in rural areas, or similar. 20 pts
Fluency in BCS and English is required. Candidates to provide certificate of English knowledge (minimum B2) or sample of a part of study conducted in English (one to two pages maximum) SATISFACTORY/UNSATISFACTORY

Financial Evaluation (30%) – 30 points

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 30

S - score received on financial evaluation

Fmin - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round

F - financial offer under the consideration.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents:

Expression of interest and confirmation of immediate availability (cover letter)
Detailed financial proposal in BAM inclusive of all costs (which includes consultancy fees, travel expenses, accommodation etc.)
Completed UN Women Personal History (P11) form, that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment

Please note that incomplete applications will not be considered (all documents indicated above need to be uploaded).

Please note that any envisaged travel and accommodation costs should be covered by the consultant.

For any additional information, please contact unwomen.bih@unwomen.org

How to Submit the Application: To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)- http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment
Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), the Financial Proposal, and Expression of Interest into a single file; The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded
Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement)
Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click 'Submit Application'
Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above)
You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system