Call for Experts: Gender and Climate Smart Agriculture

Apr 29, 2019 | United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
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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. In line with the UN Women Regional Architecture, the Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESARO) under the Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme recognizes the need to support women in agriculture to fully and equally participate in decision-making at all levels for the development of appropriate policy interventions; the deployment of more effective tools, technologies, infrastructure and institutions to implement measures to build resilience; and the achievement of sustainable resource management for resilient green value chains.

Investing in women’s economic empowerment sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth. Particularly in Africa, gender-responsive services, production resources, markets in agriculture, industry and trade would enhance economic empowerment of women and youth extensively. This is because women and youth make enormous contributions to economies, whether in businesses, on farms, as entrepreneurs or employees, or by doing unpaid care work at home and in the community.

In the agriculture sector, Women remain key players and make up almost 50 percent of the agricultural labor force in sub-Saharan Africa (FAO, 2011). They play a vital role in ensuring family food security. However, gender-based inequalities in access to and control of productive and financial resources inhibit their agricultural productivity and undermine their resilience and sustainability efforts, creating a substantial gender gap in agricultural productivity. There is evidence to show that 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). This implies that an integrated approach for addressing the factors driving the gender gap in agricultural productivity is necessary in order to support women’s access to CSA practices and approaches.

Agricultural policies in Africa, CSA strategies and investments need to clearly and explicitly consider differences in resource availability to men and women, and how this translates into gender gaps in agricultural productivity, environmental sustainability and community resilience to climate variability and variations. This is because with gender responsive CSA, we may be able to close the gender gap in agriculture. For instance, introducing gender-responsive technologies into farming, including not only access to improved seeds and, as already noted pesticides, herbicides and fungicides (which should be more environmentally-responsive), but also small-scale appropriate environmentally-responsive mechanization, will contribute to closing the gender gap in agriculture and lead to further multiplier effects such as increased productivity, increased incomes, reduced post-harvest loss. 

UN Women identified Climate Smart Agriculture as one of the Flagship Program Initiatives for its programming. It focuses on supporting women in agriculture to fully and equally participate in decision-making at all levels for the development of appropriate policy interventions; the deployment of more effective tools, technologies, infrastructure and institutions to implement measures to build resilience; and the achievement of sustainable resource management for resilient green value chains. 

Specifically, the UN Women Global Flagship Initiative on CSA is premised on the theory of change foreseeing that:

If (1) women farmers realize rights to land and secure land tenure; if (2) they have equal access to productive resources, services and technologies for sustainable farming; if (3) they attain the financial capacity to invest; and if (4) they participate fully in green value chains and markets; then (5) women farmers are economically empowered and resilient in a changing climate; because (6) the root causes and drivers of gender gaps in agriculture have been removed.

UN Women East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) is looking for gender and CSA experts in general for various research projects and studies that are undertaken in the course of the year and also to support capacity building of farmers, especially women farmers in CSA practices.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Objectives:

Experts will play an integral role in the contribution of the implementation of the activities on UN Women programming on CSA and will form a significant part of the organization’s capacity building team. Roster members selected for the assignment will work with UN Women Regional Office and Country Offices in East and Southern Africa region.

Key objectives of the work will include:

  • Conduct consultations with each country office on preferred areas of support in relation to their projects on CSA;
  • Study climate smart agriculture materials and climate smart agriculture manual developed by UN Women and provide technical support in designing, implementing or evaluating projects;
  • Develop a curriculum on Training of Trainers and teaching aids (including agenda, working methods and procedures, handouts and evaluation forms) which will be discussed and approved by the UN Women’s technical team;
  • Work with UN Women country office colleagues to provide technical trainings on climate smart agriculture to implementing partners;
  • Gather feedback on the trainings delivered to identify areas of continuous improvement and provide recommendations, based on the trainings carried out on some of the areas that require further training for maximum results.

Thematic Expertise Required:

  • Experience in planning, coordinating, monitoring of climate smart agriculture projects with a focus on gender issues;
  • Strong knowledge of gender dynamics, women’s rights, climate change and environmental issues;
  • Strong understanding of climate smart and environmentally sustainable agriculture and how it links to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
  • Technical competence in UN Women thematic areas and knowledge of the UN Women mandate;
  • Excellent communication skills, especially training and writing skills.

COMPETENCIES

Core Values/ Guiding Principles:

  • Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
  • Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work;
  • 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:

  • Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity;
  • Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
  • Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment;
  • Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations;
  • Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Functional Competencies:

  • In-depth knowledge of gender equality, women’s empowerment and Climate Smart Agriculture issues;
  • Demonstrated ability to produce clear training modules, reports and guidance with in-depth analysis and strategic recommendations in English in the relevant field;
  • Strong communication and interpersonal skills, ability to foster networks and partnerships;
  • Ability to complete complex assignments in a timely manner and delivery quality results.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Education:

  • An advanced degree (master’s degree; PhD will be an asset) in the field of agriculture, economics, social sciences, gender studies, development studies, or closely related field.

 Experience:

  • At least 10 years of experience in the development sector preferably in Gender and Climate Smart Agriculture;
  • Experience of working on gender equality and women’s empowerment and in programming on initiatives that address the issues affecting women and girls;
  • Strong understanding of policy and legal frameworks on gender equality, women’s empowerment and climate smart agriculture;
  • Good understanding of the initiatives that are working towards inclusion of women in climate smart agriculture;
  • Hands on experience in delivering training is an added advantage.

Language Requirements:

  • Proficiency in written and spoken English