/ Terms of Reference
Special Service Agreement (SSA)

GENDER/ GBV AND CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION CONSULTANT

Context

With a population close to 48 million, Colombia is an upper middle-income country with a per capita gross national product of US $7.948 and a sustained average economic growth of 3.8 percent in the last five years. The country faces the following challenges: relatively high rates of poverty and inequality (32.7 percent of the population living below the poverty line), an armed conflict that has displaced 11.2 percent of the population, and an ongoing peace process amid hostilities with the main guerrilla groups.

In the past 28 years, 5.3 million persons have been displaced according to official figures from the victim’s registry system. Thousands more remain outside the system because of delays, rejections and victims’ fear of reporting their situation. OCHA monitoring in 2013 reported 103 mass-displacement events affecting 29,697 people and 270,059 people impacted by confinement. About 65 percent of the displaced are under 25 years of age, 52.4 percent are women and 11 percent belong to an ethnic minority (9 percent Afro Colombian and 2 percent indigenous). Over 45 percent of displaced households are headed by women.

While the majority of events that lead to displacements happen in rural areas, slums in cities and small towns and villages receive the bulk of the displaced population. According to recent analyses, the people affected by conflict are facing a serious protection crisis. The challenges are acute in communities whose productive systems and traditional livelihoods and access to public services have been disturbed by conflict.

Women have been disproportionally affected by the conflict. Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is widespread in Colombia and directly linked to the conflict. An independent study carried out at a national level found that 17.58 percent of women residing in areas affected by conflict were victims of sexual violence. An alarming 82.15 percent of women did not report the incidents mainly due to lack of effective protection protocols and rare punishment to perpetrators, creating obstacles for post-violence care and access to justice.

According to the European Commission for Latin America, poverty is almost 5 points higher in women in comparison to men. Women in Colombia work an average of 48.6 hours per week, out of which only 19.5 are paid. About 30,4 percent of women do not receive any income in urban areas, in rural areas the percentage increases to 41. Unemployment in women is 14.5 percent while in men it is 8.2 percent.

Background

WFP has been working in Colombia since 1969 and has experience supporting the government with development and humanitarian assistance. WFP is the UN organization with the largest humanitarian operation in the country, reaching over 285,000 victims of the armed conflict a year. Within the framework of cooperation signed with the government in 2015, WFP currently implements Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) 200708, which aims to address food insecurity among highly vulnerable households affected by displacement and victims of the armed conflict while promoting their integration into national safety nets. In alignment with Government priorities, the UNDAF and the UN Country Strategy, the PRRO have a particular emphasis in supporting reconstruction efforts following a peace accord. Its objectives will include saving lives in emergencies, strengthening livelihoods and income generation opportunities, improving dietary diversity, preventing child recruitment by armed actors and strengthening smallholder farmer access to markets. WFP will be reaching IDP’s, returnees, people affected by mines and explosive devices, and those in the process of resettlement, as well as communities affected by confinement, and boarding schools in conflict affected areas. To do this, WFP will be scaling up its Cash Based Transfers(CBT) assistance significantly.

WFP country office intends to boost its commitment to Gender/GBVand climate change adaptation and further strengthen these components throughout its operations. The consultant will enable WFP Colombia to meet its ambitious Gender/GBVand climate change adaptation mainstreaming goals.

Duties and responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Country Director and the technical supervision of the Senior CBT Programme Officer and the Gender & Protection focal point of WFP Colombia, the consultant will perform the following responsibilities:

  1. In collaboration with the CBT team and the Gender & Protection focal point of WFP Colombia, be in charge of the preparatory phases of the project using CBT multipurpose modality and dedicated to the women victims of GBV. More specifically:
  • Gather GBV information related to the context of intervention and elaborate a Gender analysis in order to understand GBV issues and needs of potential beneficiaries and the existing answers and gaps that justify an intervention involving WFP with social safety nets schemes.
  • Review the national and local social protection systems related to Gender and GBV topics in order to understand the strengths and the weaknesses of these systems and analyze the gaps which WFP could cover supporting the local and national authorities.
  • Meet UN agencies; NGO and private sector to strength the synergy related to the multipurpose dimension of the project. With the CBT team, link this potential synergy with the approach so-called "Cash Plus”.
  • Take into account WFP experiences with graduation schemes in order to suggest and analyze graduation schemes for the beneficiaries. These schemes need to highlight the link with potential partners (private, international cooperation and Colombian authorities).
  • Meet national and local authorities to strength our collaboration for the design and the implementation of this type of project (clarify WFP and Colombian authorities’ roles; define WFP support to the authorities through specific methodologies or; elaborate a plan related to the scale up of this kind of project by the Colombian authorities.
  • Define with the authorities, the private sector and the beneficiaries the conditionality of this project (conditionality is equivalent to a social safety transfer delivered monthly through a CBT modality to the beneficiaries who attend specific trainings and are aligned to exit strategies criterion related to the 4Rs’ initiative).
  • Integrate within the project nutrition sensitive activities in line with the context of intervention and beneficiaries need.
  • Support the design and the implementation of a national and local Beneficiary Complaint Mechanisms involving existing national and local Colombian social network.
  • Participate with the CBT team of WFP Colombia to the CBT feasibility study il line with this project.
  1. Contribute to the design and implementation of the climate adaptation projects in order to reduce vulnerabilities and build resilience to the impacts of climate change within targeted communities.
  1. Other duties, when required, and in line with Gender / GBV and climate change adaptation such as:
  • Write resource-mobilization proposals; uphold contact with donors; write donor reports; etc.
  • Participate in meetings (gender and protection cluster, inter-agency group meeting, CBT Working Group, etc.) and facilitate inter-agency cooperation.
  • Mainstream Gender /GBV and climate change adaptation in all WFP Colombia activities.
  • Advise, guide and support Programme and M&E staff at country office and field offices (trainings; integration of Gender / GBV and climate change adaptation perspectives; propose and develop Gender / GBV and protection indicators with M&E unit; conduct field visits; create and adapt tools; collect secondary data (interviews and desk research); write the reports; etc.).

Expected Outcomes

  • Report detailing the achievements of the preparatory phases of the project using CBT multipurpose modality dedicated to the women victims of GBV.
  • Project proposal, plan of operation, design and implementation reports on Gender / GBV and climate change adaptation.
  • Gender / GBV and climate change adaptation analysis carried out.
  • Systems, tools, and processes for mainstreaming Gender / GBV and climate change adaptation set up at country and sub-office level
  • WFP Colombia staff trained in Gender / GBV and climate change adaptation mainstreaming
  • Funding secured from external donors for Gender / GBV and climate change adaptation mainstreaming specific projects
  • WFP strongly involved in inter-agency groups and collaborations on Gender / GBV and climate change adaptation.

Timeframe:

The consultancy will take place for two months, with possibility of extension.

Propossed Honorariums:

The Honorariums will be based in the SB3 UN scale

Duty Station:

Bogotá, Colombia

Work arrangements and coordination:

The Consultancy will be done under the overall supervision of the Country Director and the technical supervision of the Senior CBT Programme Officer and the Gender & Protection focal point of WFP Colombia. The Gender office and Protection unit in Regional Office and HQ will provide backstopping, support and guidance to the consultant. The consultant will work in Bogota, at the WFP Country office in Colombia. However, it is expected the consultant will have to do certain field visits for specific project or to collect information. WFP will facilitate any necessary travel.

Recruitment Qualifications

Education:

University and Master’s Degree or equivalent in economics, international affairs, public administration, social science, political sciences, development studies, gender studies including GBV and climate change adaptation.

Experience:

At least 3 years of relevant experience in providing substantive advisory services, hands-on experience in design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of projects in gender / GBV and climate change adaptation, in Political Sciences or related fields and in protection issues.

Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web based management systems.

Language Requirements: Fluency in Spanish and English. French is an asset.

Previous experience in UN agencies and working in Colombia or Latin America is an asset.