Myanmar/Burma: Gender Analysis Consultant

May 7, 2019 | Relief International
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Relief International specializes in relief and development programs that benefit people in acute distress. A registered non-profit in the US, UK, France and Belgium, our work targets those fragile countries or communities that suffer from recurrent man-made or natural crises that impede human development. The people that we serve live in seventeen countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia where the debilitating effects of political instability, forced displacement, and natural disasters are pervasive. Often, RI is the only organization providing healthcare, education, logistics, energy, capacity building, economic development, sanitation, and many other forms of assistance to these highly vulnerable communities. 

Position Summary:

Relief International has recently commenced a “Response Mechanism for Addressing Protracted Displacement in Rakhine State, Myebon and Mrauk U.” This is a new LIFT-funded project that inter alia will support durable solutions and the integration of the Muslim IDP camp into Myebon town. There are approximately 3,000 IDPs living in the camp, which is located about 300m from the town. The IDPs originate from the town, and are being provided permanent housing on the site of the IDP camp, under an initiative that is being led by the local authorities.

RI is seeking an international consultant to carry out a gender analysis relating to the process of IDP camp closure in Myebon town in terms of livelihoods opportunities. Due to access and acceptance issues, the international consultant should team up with a national consultant(s), who should be proposed by the international consultant.

Scope of Work:

The gender analysis will explore how livelihoods opportunities can help promote greater acceptance of gender diversity and gender equality within and between the Rakhine and Muslim populations in Myebon. It will consider differences in attitudes towards engagement in income-generating activities among women, men, adolescent girls and adolescent boys. It will also consider differences in opportunities for gender transformation through livelihoods work. The aim of the gender analysis is to inform future programming for the project.

Understanding “Gender" 

For the purpose of this analysis, gender should be understood as socially constructed behaviors, roles, expectations, attributes and opportunities associated with being a particular sex. Gender changes across time and location. Individual people can perform multiple genders depending on what they are doing, who they are with and how they are expected to behave. In any given location, there are often dominant forms of gender for males and females, and men and women are expected to conform to these forms. Genders are constructed through institutional power, cultural and social norms, family systems and individual internalization of ideas about gender that come from parents, teachers, peers, community leaders and the media. In most societies, constructions of gender results in an imbalance of power between men and women and gender inequality that negatively impacts the lives of women.

It is important this understanding of gender informs the gender analysis. This means ensuring data collection activities, analysis and recommendations for programming are designed and implemented in ways that can promote gender transformations that can in turn help ensure the success of the community integration for all Muslim IDPs and Rakhine community members. Dominant forms of gender that secure power for men over women are recognized to be contributors to conflict. In contrast, gender equality and the equal inclusion of women are recognized as necessary for peace. By ensuring the analysis is designed and carried out based on an understanding of gender as changeable, this analysis has the best chance of contributing to a peaceful transition for all persons affected by the cam closure and community integration. 

Consultancy Deliverables: 

Key Research Questions

  • What do women and men, girls and boys need to ensure equal opportunities to education and livelihood opportunities in their new community?
  • What opportunities are there for men and women to create and engage in new and sustainable income-generating activities?
  • How can livelihood opportunities promote sustainable economic empowerment opportunities for women?
  • How will livelihood opportunities help challenge gender roles, relationships and stereotypes that reinforce gender inequality?
  • How can girls and boys benefit equally from available training?
  • How can available training improve positive attitudes towards gender diversity and gender equality among girls and boys?
  • What professional leadership roles will be accessible to women?
  • What are the different models of engaging in income-generating activities that could benefit families?
  • How will livelihoods opportunities benefit marginalized groups and help challenge their marginalization?
  • What are the gender risks associated changes in gender roles, especially the economic empowerment of women?
  • How will gender transformative work within future livelihoods programmes be supported?

Tasks and Deliverables:

The international consultant will be supported by a national consultant(s) to undertake this work. The national consultants will be responsible for collecting data under the guidance of the international consultant and for providing any logistical support needed to complete the analysis.

The main responsibilities of the international consultant are to:

  • complete a desk review of relevant literature, including citing examples of successful gender-informed programmes for integrating IDPs into communities
  • designing a methodology for the analysis that is informed by feminist research practices
  • developing research tools for collecting data in local communities
  • providing training and support to the national consultants to collect data in local communities
  • conducting interviews with relevant stakeholders (especially INGOs and NGOs)
  • completing an analysis of the data
  • presenting the findings in a manner that ensures equal access to the knowledge and equal contributions to a review for this knowledge for all participants
  • workshopping the findings with key stakeholders to help develop a gender transformative mindset for future livelihoods programming
  • writing a succinct report including recommendations for how to ensure the findings are integrated into future livelihoods programming

The international consultant will also need to work closely with the consultants responsible for undertaking additional analyses linked to this project, to ensure gender is central to this work. The analyses are:

  • Conflict and Community Relations Analysis
  • Analysis of Public Services
  • Market Scans
  • Value Chain Analysis

Advice should include:

  • How to ensure data collection and stakeholder engagement activities are gender inclusive
  • How to ensure issues that specifically affect women and girls (e.g., safety, gender-based violence, reproductive health, restrictions on movement, lack of access to services and education) are factored into the analyses
  • How to ensure the design and implementation of the analyses can promote gender equality
  • Capacity building for the national consultants and the consultants responsible for completing these additional analyses should be considered in the design of the methodology.

Qualifications & requirements:

This position demands a dynamic individual with a demonstrated ability to achieve results in a demanding and fast paced environment. 

  • Master’s degree in gender studies or a relevant field
  • Minimum of five years professional experience in gender research
  • Extensive experience carrying out gender research in Myanmar, including Rakhine State
  • Experience carrying out gender research in Muslim communities
  • Excellent analytical and communication skills in English language
  • Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, stressful environment.