Consultancy: Identify Priority Issues and Actions Necessary for Strengthening the Role of Women in Conservation of Aquatic Biodiversity and Environmental Management in Africa
Jul 17, 2022
|
African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources
View Original
The African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), a specialized technical office of the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (DARBE) of the African Union Commission (AUC), is mandated to support and coordinate the utilization of livestock, fisheries, aquaculture and wildlife as resources for both human wellbeing and economic development in the Member States of the African Union.
AU-IBAR, with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), is implementing a project on “Conserving Aquatic Biodiversity in African Blue Economy’, for three year’s period. The overall objective of the project is to enhance the policy environment, regulatory frameworks and institutional capacities of AU member states and regional economic communities to sustainably utilize and conserve aquatic biodiversity and ecosystems. The specific objectives of the project are as follows:
- Ratify and/or align relevant international/regional instruments related to blue economy themes (with specific reference to protecting and conserving biodiversity)
- Optimizing conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity while minimizing conflicts among blue economy sub-themes
- Strengthening measures for mitigating the negative impacts of coastal and marine tourism, oil, gas, deep sea mining and climate change on aquatic biodiversity and environment.
- Strengthening gender inclusivity in aquatic biodiversity conservation and environmental management.
To enhance implementation of Objective 4, AU-IIBAR seeks an individual consultant to facilitate actions towards the development of a continental strategy necessary for strengthening the role of women in conservation of aquatic biodiversity and environmental management in Africa.
Rationale
The increasing threat to resources sustainability in African aquatic environments, stemming from overexploitation of aquatic organisms for food and income, necessitates actions to strengthen capacity of AU member states and regional institutions for protection and sustainable exploitation of living resources within their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs).
The livelihoods of women who control as much as 60-80% of the world’s food production, are highly threatened by the trends of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem loss. This is exacerbated by the impacts of climate change – contributing to the vicious cycle of poverty in communities, especially in fisheries and aquaculture, touristic locations. Women thus need to be equally and actively involved in processes to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity. They however face disproportionate impacts from gender-blind conservation measures. There is therefore the need for change at every level to improve the participation of women and girls in biodiversity conservation processes. The project as part of its objectives, seeks empower women as agents of change and frontrunners, to build new pathways or accelerate transition to sustainability.
Objective
The overall objective of this consultancy is to prepare a background document on priority issues and actions necessary for strengthening the role of women in conservation of aquatic biodiversity and environmental management, towards the development of a continental strategy for inclusion of gender in aquatic biodiversity and environmental management.
Tasks
- Liaise with the relevant persons at AU-IBAR for adequate briefing and clarification of tasks;
- Prepare inception report within 5 days of signature to the contract outlining an approach and methodology for the assignment, detailed work plan, timelines with deliverables, proposed locations for visit and comments on the Terms of Reference if any (in brief);
- Identify and document the roles of women in conservation of aquatic biodiversity and environmental management in AU Member States;
- Identify and document the main challenges and best practices with regards to the role of women in conservation of aquatic biodiversity and environmental management for AU Member States;
- Identify and document priority issues and actions necessary for strengthening the role of women in conservation of aquatic biodiversity and environmental management;
- Develop guidelines for a continental strategy on the empowerment and effective engagement of women in aquatic biodiversity conservation and environmental management programmes;
- Provide recommendations for the design and mechanism for providing technical support by project to selected African Union member states, to develop all-inclusive and deliberate biodiversity strategies for women’s empowerment and role in conservation of aquatic biodiversity and conservational management.;
- Identify and Map ongoing environmental based-NGOs focusing on conserving biodiversity and environment protection in Africa
- Facilitate consultation workshop for validation of the identified priority issues and actions for enhancing the role of women in biodiversity and environmental management.
- Develop a comprehensive report at the end of the assignment.
For full details on this consultancy, such as qualifications, deliverables, and evaluation criteria, please see link provided.