AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

AFRICA CLIMATE CHANGE FUND

RECRUITMENT FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT – GENDER SPECIALIST

CONSULTANT

Request For Expressions Of Interest For Individual Consultants

 

 

  1. The African Development Bank (AfDB) wishes to recruit a Gender Specialist consultant under the Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF) to support the growing portfolio and project management and administration activities within the ACCF secretariat ;
  2. Under the leadership and guidance of the Climate Finance and Environment (PECG.1) manager and the ACCF Coordinator, the Consultant’s core duties will include the following activities but not limited to (further details are outlined in the Terms of Reference) :
  • Developing and launching the third Call for Proposals on Gender Equality and Climate Resilience. In addition, supporting and evaluating the fund’s impact through the development and implementation of gender-transformative monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities to report the results from the third CFP (CFP3) projects against the ACCF’s results management framework ;
  • Carrying out innovative and impactful gender-transformative projects through the CFP3, which are aligned to the Bank’s Gender Marker System (GMS), African Nationally Determined Commitments (NDCs) to Gender and Climate resilience and empowering women and youth in climate resilient activities ;
  • Contributing to mainstreaming of gender equality targets in NDCs through the fund ;
  • Increasing visibility of the Bank’s work and its progress in implementing the Gender Equality targets within the Fund.
  1. Interested Individual Consultants shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to undertake the Assignment (relevant documents, information on similar services undertaken in the past, relevant experience, etc.) ;
  1. The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s procedures for the acquisition of consulting services funded by the administrative budget of the Bank. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include him/her in the shortlist ;
  1. The Consultancy will be home-based with periodic visits to the Bank’s headquarters with occasional field missions might occasionally be required ;
  1. The duration of service is 12 months with possibility of renewal. The tentative starting date is January 4, 2021. Interested Individual Consultants may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours from 08:00 to 17:00, Abidjan local time ;1
  1. Expressions of interest must be received by email at the address below no later than December 8, 2020 at 4 p.m. Abidjan local time and specifically mention “Gender Specialist”.

For the attention of       Rita Effah, ACCF Coordinator

African Development Bank

E-mail : [email protected] with copy to [email protected]

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SHORT LIST

A shortlist of three to six individual consultants will be established at the end the request of expressions of interest. The consultants on the shortlist will be judged on the following criteria on the basis of their updated resume.

  • Master’s degree in any of the related areas: gender, climate change, environment, sustainable agriculture, sustainable development ; 20%
  • Demonstrated experience conducting research and analysis in the area of gender equality and at least one other related theme, including climate change adaptation, natural resources management, sustainable development and agriculture ; 30%
  • Demonstrated experience in gender monitoring and evaluation and mainstreaming including policy analysis and design of programmes that address gender equality issues ; 30%
  • Strong proficiency in oral and written English and / or French) with excellent communication skills as demonstrated by an ability to express ideas clearly, logically and effectively.20%.

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

AFRICA CLIMATE CHANGE FUND

RECRUITMENT FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT – GENDER SPECIALIST

CONSULTANT

Terms of Reference for Recruitment of Gender Specialist Consultant

 

  1. Background :

The slow progress till date in limiting global warming underlines the need for adaptation to climate change in Africa, which is the most vulnerable continent to climate change impacts, under all climate scenarios. The African Development Bank (the Bank) has reaffirmed its commitment to leverage funds for adaptation in the 25th Conference of Parties (COP). The Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF or the Fund) remains a unique financial instrument supporting the efforts of African countries to access international climate finance and to building their resilience.

There is a huge financing gap to meet the aspirations of African countries as expressed in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. Indeed, the ACCF was overwhelmed by demand in response to its most recent call for proposals from Regional Member Countries (RMC) for support to develop capacity to access climate finance readiness funds from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Adaptation Fund (AF).

In Africa, inequalities between women and men are among the greatest in the world. African women and girls are among the world’s poorest, and they have the highest rates of illiteracy. 1 Women’s participation in the formal labour sector is low, and in many parts of the continent discrimination against female entrepreneurs, workers and managers negatively affects their productivity and results in large disparities in income between women and men.2 In agriculture, which is heavily dominated by women, women’s productivity is 30 percent lower than men’s because women lack access to vital inputs.3 Unless Africa invests heavily in gender equality, it will neither sustain its growth nor meet its development goals.4 To achieve this vision, the Bank Group’s Strategy 2013–2022 recognizes the need to reduce gender inequalities by “strengthening women’s legal and property rights, promoting women’s economic empowerment, and enhancing knowledge management and capacity building” on gender equality. These priority areas, defined and agreed in broad consultations with African countries, form the pillars of the Bank’s Gender Strategy for 2014–2018.

The Bank is updating its second Climate Change Action Plan (2016-2020) and will pursue its efforts to scale up climate finance for African countries. In line with this plan, the ACCF, which is hosted within the Climate Finance and Environment Division (PECG1) of the Climate and Green Growth Department (PECG) of the Bank, will continue to play a unique role to provide small grants to broad range of actors, including non-state actors, that the Bank and other financing initiatives cannot reach through regular grants and lending. The fund also supports a key set of activities that are complementary to the Bank’s regular operations including: capacity building, training, project development, institutional strengthening, and piloting innovative new approaches through small-scale projects, which could be scaled up/replicated if successful.

Consistent with provisions under the Operational Guidelines of the Fund, every two years, or based on the availability of resources, the ACCF shall issue competitive Call for Proposals (CFP). The fund has launched two previous CFPs with the most recent been the Second CFP (CFP2) in 2017-2018. The ACCF will be launching a third CFP (CFP3) focused on the theme: Gender Equality and Climate :

  • AfDB Gender Strategy (2014-2020), investing in gender equality for Africa’s transformation ;
  • Ibid ;
  • Ibid ;
  • Ibid.

Resilience (GESR) to address women’s and men’s unequal access to the resources that are needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and to adequately address and proportionally, the ways in which gender roles influence women’s and men’s ability to mitigate and adapt. The intermediate outcomes of the CFP3 are to increase effectiveness of women entrepreneurs to deploy financing, technologies and climate-resilient approaches in adapting to the effects of climate change; enhance capacity of policy makers, communities and stakeholders to effectively address the vulnerability of women and girls to climate change; and improve ability of African governments to use tools and knowledge to mainstream gender equality in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and related policies and programmes.

Objectives of the assignment :

The overall goal of the assignment is to develop a Gender-transformative workstream within the ACCF. In this context, the consultant will support the Bank’s efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment and participation both in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The main objectives of the assignment include to support the ACCF in :

  • Developing and launching the third Call for Proposals on Gender Equality and Climate Resilience. In addition, supporting and evaluating the fund’s impact through the development and implementation of gender-transformative monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities to report the results from the third CFP (CFP3) projects against the ACCF’s results management framework ;
  • Carrying out innovative and impactful gender-transformative projects through the CFP3, which are aligned to the Bank’s Gender Marker System (GMS), African Nationally Determined Commitments (NDCs) to Gender and Climate resilience and empowering women and youth in climate resilient activities ;
  • Contributing to mainstreaming of gender equality targets in NDCs through the fund ;
  • Increasing visibility of the Bank’s work and its progress in implementing the Gender Equality targets within the fund.
  1. Duties and Responsibilities :

Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the ACCF Coordinator and the Division Manager of the Climate Finance & Environment Division, PECG Department, the consultant will undertake these tasks, including :

  • Ensuring that ACCF grants are gender-transformative to support the needs and priorities of African countries for climate adaptation, reaching the most vulnerable communities including women and youth, to promote country ownership and empower the ultimate beneficiaries ;
  • Identify supporting outputs and activities to achieve gender equality outcomes ;
  • Identify assumptions, risks and mitigating strategies ;
  • Provide input into defining, collecting, analyzing sex-age disaggregated baseline data; define gender-sensitive and sex-age disaggregated indicators and targets for the draft performance measurement framework(PMF) ;
  • Provide gender-based analysis and technical advice for project proposal and associated project implementation plan ;
  • Provide inputs into all aspects of the project workplan, budget and project reports ;
  • Coordinate implementation of the gender equality strategy and related project activities ;
  • Strengthen project team, implementing organizations’ and partners’ gender equality knowledge, skills and capacity with training and tools ;
  • Assist in monitoring results against the PMF and gender equality strategy ;
  • Strengthening strategic partnerships through co-organized and targeted training and capacity building events and activities related to gender equality and climate resilience ;
  • Undertaking field visits and meetings with relevant stakeholders including government officials, development partners, NGOs and others, to document best practices when necessary ;
  • Supporting the development of mutually reinforcing partnerships within and outside the Bank as related to gender and climate resilience ;
  • Supporting effective coordination with other Bank initiatives and ecosystem (i.e. the Bank’s sectoral, civil society and gender departments particularly AFAWA initiative, the Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation multi-donor trust fund and the Jobs for Youth in Africa Innovation Lab) whilst respecting the specificity of the Fund, and securing its ability to support external stakeholders;
  1. Deliverables and Reporting :

The consultant will formally report to the ACCF Coordinator and Manager, Climate Finance Division (PECG1).

The consultant will undertake the following deliverables in :

  • Supporting the design of the selection criteria and the preparation for the third call for proposals :
  • Supporting the pre-qualification of entities invited to participate in CFP3 by assessing the capacity of partner institutions to achieve gender equality outcomes as well as demonstrated evidence of involvement of women and girls, including women and civil society organizations advancing women’s and girls’ rights are consulted in the development of project proposals ;
  • Managing shortlisting and final selection of the gender-transformative projects under the CFP3 according to the GMS ;
  • Developing a gender focused results management framework with sex disaggregated (baseline data and targets) and gender sensitive indicators taking into consideration Global Affairs Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy and the AfDB’s Gender Marker System (GMS) ;
  • Establishing a method for gender-focused and disaggregated monitoring and evaluation of ACCF funded projects ;
  • Supporting effective implementation of gender focused projects under the fund by ensuring context specific gender-based analyses are conducted to inform projects design of ACCF funded projects and to reflect gender equality outcomes across project design ;
  • Ensuring learning and knowledge dissemination of the gender equality aspects of the ACCF through desk reviews, working papers, advocacy materials, blogs, briefs and any other requirements to generate knowledge ;
  • Support resource mobilization efforts of the Fund for gender and climate resilience workstreams ;
  • Develop an internal/external risk register to reduce gender inequalities within the scope and influence of the project.
  1. Required Skills and Experience :

Education : Master’s degree in any of the related areas: gender, climate change, environment, sustainable agriculture, sustainable development.

Experience :

  • At least 10 years’ experience conducting research and analysis in the area of gender equality and at least one other related theme, including climate change adaptation, natural resources management, sustainable development and agriculture ;
  • Demonstrated experience in designing and facilitating trainings on gender equality and climate change for government officials and civil society representatives in developing countries ;
  • Demonstrated experience in gender monitoring and evaluation and mainstreaming including policy analysis and design of programmes that address gender equality issues ;
  • Demonstrated experience working on policy and programmatic issues with national and local governments and civil society organizations including community organizations in the area of gender equality and climate change ;
  • Strong understanding of the links between climate change, agriculture and gender issues ;
  • Experience or strong familiarity working with government, multilateral, bilateral and civil society development partners ;
  • Excellent analytical, writing, advocacy, presentation, and communications skills ;
  • Demonstrated ability to work in an independent manner ;
  • Strong proficiency in oral and written English (and or French) with excellent communication skills as demonstrated by an ability to express ideas clearly, logically and effectively.
  1. Duration and Location :

This is a one-year consultancy, beginning tentatively by 4th January 2021, with possibility of renewal. The Consultancy will be home-based with periodic visits to the Bank’s headquarters with occasional field missions might occasionally be required.

  1. Costs :

The consultant will receive a monthly lump sum. No additional benefits or per diems will be paid whilst working from home base. The consultant is responsible for his/her own health insurance and accommodation costs. The Bank will cover full costs of any required missions and provide per-diem in accordance with rules governing consultant mission travel.