UNDP

Background

UN 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.

Over the last decade, the Asia Pacific region has been especially exposed to increasingly severe and frequent natural hazards along with rising environmental and economic adverse effects of climate change. Given that the region is home to the largest number of people on the planet, including some of the poorest and most vulnerable, this poses several potential economic and humanitarian crises, and makes a focus on cross-sector resilience and risk reduction critical for this part of the world. Substantial evidence demonstrates that women’s lives and livelihoods – especially those facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination – are disproportionately affected by both natural hazards and the increasingly complex effects of climate change. Yet, women’s needs and voices remain largely ignored in finance, programmes, and planning around disaster risk reduction, with women similarly largely excluded from climate adaptation processes, with reduced access to finance, technology, and green jobs.

Addressing these issues, UN Women works on disaster risk reduction and climate resilience by focusing on ensuring that women are placed at the centre of efforts to mitigate disaster and climate change risks through innovative and gender-responsive programmatic approaches, through strengthening women’s knowledge and capacity particularly in contexts that are most vulnerable to natural hazards and impacts of climate change, by working with diverse government and civil society partners to support the inclusion of women as equal participants in risk reduction and resilience planning at local and national levels, and by empowering women as disaster risk reduction leaders within their communities.

The UN Women’s India Country Office under its Strategic Note 2023-27 has identified that women are adversely affected by the impact of climate change and disasters and hence focuses its work on strengthening institutions and governance through a gender lens in this important area.

Against this background, the national consultant is expected to support the UN Women India Country Office in developing a gender-responsive and socially inclusive resilience strategy to address the intersecting challenges of disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate change, and associated social and economic issues as appropriate for the Indian context. It is expected to include strategic integration of DRR and climate change interventions with those focused on livelihoods, economic empowerment, and gender-based violence, and involve coordination of various stakeholders across these areas, including women-led organizations, civil society stakeholders, and relevant government authorities.

The national consultant will contribute to UN Women’s triple mandate in disaster risk reduction by providing research, policy, and technical support, supporting with relevant inter-agency and inter-governmental processes and stakeholder partnerships, and leading efforts to translate UN Women's strategic plans into effective programmes and results within resilience building. The national consultant is expected to have basic awareness of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) and its gender and social inclusion aspects, UN Women’s work on women and resilience in different contexts such as UN Women’s disaster risk management global programme initiative titled Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) Programme, and an understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment within the development, disaster risk reduction and humanitarian nexus.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

Under direct reporting to the Deputy Country Representative and day to day supervision of the Country Programme Manager – Inter-Governmental Processes (IGP)], the national consultant is expected to plan, lead, and undertake the following scope of work:

Project / programme planning, support, and development:

• Identify strategic opportunities and roadmaps / frameworks for UN Women India CO to develop projects and programmes on Gender and DRR / Climate / Resilience.
• Design, plan, and develop new projects/ programmes in gender responsive disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness, post-disaster assessment and response, and post-disaster recovery planning, including knowledge, evaluation, training, and capacity building initiatives.
• Identify strategic opportunities and provide technical support to country teams for integrating DRR / climate / resilience components and practices into existing and upcoming projects and programmes.

Government partnerships:

Work closely with state/national government stakeholders to advance gender mainstreaming and gender responsiveness within policies/programmes related to DRR, climate resilience, and humanitarian action, including through the following key areas of work:

• Plan, coordinate, and implement training and technical support for national and state government partners to conduct gender-inclusive post-disaster needs assessment, including supporting & advocating for the development and institutionalisation of sex / age / disability disaggregated data in this regard.
• Review / research / support preparation of government policy documents, strategic briefs, and other documents related to DRR/ climate/ resilience as required.
• Support and advocate for institutionalisation of gender-inclusive participatory planning in DRR and post-disaster recovery planning, with a focus on women-led organisations / local women’s groups.

Civil society, funder, and inter-agency partnerships:

• Build and maintain alliances, networks, and strategic partnerships for the advancement of gender-responsive and socially inclusive disaster risk reduction, climate resilience, and disaster response/ humanitarian action work in the country, and with relevant actors within the UN Women Regional Office (Asia Pacific) and other country offices.
• Support CO for interagency coordination to advance gender-responsive approaches in the areas of disaster response and management, climate change, and other related areas as required.

Key Deliverables

Based on the detailed scope of work noted, the national consultant is expected to be responsible for the following key deliverables of this assignment:

• A strategy brief that highlights priorities and key potential areas of action for UN Women India within the DRR portfolio, indicates areas of convergence with other existing verticals, and is aligned with the Country Strategic Note, based on preliminary discussions and background research.
• Submitted no later than May 2024
• At least 2 assessments of gender and DRR based on field visits and primary data collection by the national consultant in states identified as potential sites for intervention by UN Women India. Outputs: This would result in an assessment report and a policy brief for each state, with clear identification of gaps, challenges, and opportunities related to gender and DRR.
• A training module and training program for state government officials on conducting the gender cross-cutting components of a Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and conducting PDNAs through a gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) lens, developed and planned in coordination with team leads within UN Women ICO, aligned with official UN Women gender-PDNA checklists, and implemented in collaboration with national and state officials within the area of disaster management.
• At least one large funding partnership initiated through meetings, discussions, concept notes, and project proposals around gender, DRR, and related areas of women’s resilience.
• At least 2 inter-agency partnerships initiated through meetings, discussions, and concept notes, around gender, DRR, and related areas of women’s resilience.
• At least 1 state partnership initiated on programmatic interventions related to women’s resilience to disasters / climate resilience, with associated components such as concept notes, program briefs, project proposals, and other documents.
• At least 2 project proposals in collaboration with other relevant verticals within UN Women India, toward ensuring the integration of DRR considerations within existing thematic areas/programmes, with both knowledge and operational collaboration with other programme teams as required.

Additional deliverables

In addition to the key deliverables, the national consultant is expected to undertake both routine and unanticipated responsibilities related to the scope of work outlined previously. Toward this, the national consultant is responsible for the following deliverables as and when required:

• In the event of a request by the National Disaster Management Authority (Government of India) for UN Women’s participation in a Post Disaster Needs Assessment, represent UN Women India in the process and undertake gender assessment, and/or support UN Women India to deploy an assessment expert to the field, including by supporting coordination with the UN Women Regional Office (Asia Pacific).
• Manage routine and periodic coordination and outreach with the Humanitarian / DRR / Climate Change unit at the UN Women Regional Office (Asia Pacific), including participating in workshops, webinars, and meetings as required.
• At the end of each monthly 20-day work period, the national consultant is expected to submit a detailed monthly report providing details on progress toward the deliverables, including brief reports summarizing external stakeholder discussions, and covering other key information as required.

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 expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Work in teams:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of diverse backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behaviour towards others.

Conflict Management:

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Functional Competencies:

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Focuses on impact and result for the partners and responds positively to feedback;
• Sound understanding of development issues and gender;
• Adheres to deadlines and follows up on time-bound issues;
• Maintains diplomacy, tact and strict confidentiality with internal and external partners and clients.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in gender, international relations, international development, humanitarian action, international development, or other social science fields is required.
• 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:

• Demonstrable technical understanding and at least 5 years of combined experience specifically across some or all the following areas: disaster risk reduction, climate change, ecological sustainability and livelihoods, women's livelihoods, and economic empowerment.
• Experience in design and implementation of development programmes and projects.
• Experience in policy analysis and strategic planning.
• Experience working with national and state governments.
• Previous experience with UN Women and engaging with diverse stakeholders, including civil society organisations and other UN agencies is an advantage.
• Experience working in the country is an advantage.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of Hindi or at least one Indian language is an asset.

Evaluation and Selection Criteria

Criteria for shortlisting of CVs will be based on the following assessment:

• Required Degree and Qualification.
• Expertise and Experience relevant to the assignment.
• Demonstrable experience on policy advocacy with the government and other stakeholders.

The evaluation process for selection of the candidate will be based on the following assessment:

• Writing Samples Assessment (20 points)
• Interview (80 points)

Please Note:

• For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
• Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.
• The consultant is expected to use their own computer equipment. The office will not provide any computer equipment for this assignment.
• This is a full-time assignment. The consultant is expected to disclose any outside activity and shall not be permitted to take up any outside work during this assignment.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality, and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

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