Local recruitment: Consultant - Gender Assessment in Bauchi State

WaterAid Nigeria, with funding support from DP World will implement “Increasing Access to Sustainable Climate Resilient WASH for Women in Bauchi to contribute to the overall goal of equitable access to safe water, clean toilets and good hygiene for all. The project is focused at enabling women recognize the challenges they face in accessing sustainable Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services and aims to address them.

The project aims to identify models for empowering women/girls through entrepreneurial skills and to also identify successful approaches and best practices to address Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management (MHHM), women and girls’ health, education; economic and wellbeing in general; and constructing climate resilient infrastructures such as solar powered water facilities and gender sensitive and climate resilient sanitation facilities to increase access to clean water and sanitation services in Misau LGA.

WaterAid intends to generate evidence from women, girls, and people with disabilities (PWDs) to inform project design that takes into context the needs of PWDs especially women with disabilities. To this end, there is need to conduct a gender and disability assessment and analysis in the communities and locations of planned interventions to understand different gender norms’ realities, recommendations, and the ability of women and girls to participate, contribute and benefit from the project and other WASH interventions.

As a non-negotiable principle in our new Country Programme strategy, we are more deliberate to work with gender focused partners and groups in planning and delivering our programme. We are building on our experience of empowering women economically by strengthening skill and capacity to operate and manage water schemes and village level operations and management. We will ensure that various dimensions of their social and biological roles are reflected in institutional service delivery like our female friendly toilet model. Another focus will be on gender-based analysis, budgeting and monitoring to continuously learn and improve on women and girls’ representation and decision-making roles on their WASH needs.

To this end, WaterAid is seeking to engage a gender expert to conduct a gender and social inclusion analysis in the selected LGA with focus on women/girls and PWDs to generate evidence that will be used to disclose barriers and opportunities for women empowerment in the WASH sector, and the development of planned interventions that address the various issues women and girls face with managing MHHM and the various steps on how to promote gender equality in the target LGA. The assessment would also take into consideration climate change/investigation into women and marginalised groups specific experiences with climate impacts on WASH and their needs / ideas for climate resilient WASH. See below gender analysis that incorporates a climate dimension to serve as a guide – https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/IUCN%20Gender%20Analysis%20Presentation.pdf

The consultant will work with the Bauchi State team, Ministry of Women Affairs & Social Development, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Education, RUWASSA, CSOs, traditional and religious leaders and all relevant stakeholders to incorporate appropriate methodologies for data collection, including interviews, focus group discussions (FDG), Semi Structured Interviews (SSI) with focus groups across selected LGAs in Bauchi State to generate feedback.

·         To conduct a gender and social inclusion assessment in Bauchi State with a focus on understanding the gender norms’, realities, and barriers related to WASH, womens empowerment and leadership in WASH and the impact of and solutions to climate related WASH realities. This assessment would include analysis of the ability of women and girls to participate, contribute and benefit from WASH projects.

·          Using methods such as (but not limited to) focus groups with such as women/girls, girls and PWDs, men and boys.

·         To identify the barriers and opportunities and entry points the project should consider in relation to   gender equality and women’s empowerment in relation to and Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management (MHHM) with an additional lens on how this is influenced and affected by climate change.

·         To assess the current practice(s) and barriers related to Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management amongst girls, women (including women and girls with disabilities).

·         To Identify barriers as well as opportunities for women and girls to participate WASH related employment, service delivery, entrepreneurship and decision-making including participation in operation and maintenance of WASH facility, leadership in decision making at different levels etc.

·         Produce a detailed report outlining findings, challenges, and recommendations with great attention to gender inclusion and climate resilient WASH services.

·         Work with Bauchi State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Ministry of Water Resources, Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and other stakeholders to leverage expertise, resources, and opportunities for gender mainstreaming.

ii.             The engaged consultant will conduct Focus Group Discussion (FDG), surveys, Semi Structured Interview (SSI), Key Informant Interview (KII) and document reviews and recommendations.

iii.            Identify barriers preventing sustainable, safe and hygienic MHHM practices, this will include culture, religion, belief, social and economic infrastructure.

iv.           Assess the current level of women and girl’s involvement in decision making process related to WASH facilities/interventions.

ii.    Development of suitable suite of tools and approaches for the assessment including focus on participatory methods, do-no-harm and ensuring empowering approaches.

iii.   Two-days training of enumerators and pre-testing data collection tools

iv.   Conduct in-depth interview with Bauchi State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Ministry of Water Resources, RUWASSA, WASH Unit, WASH Media, NEWSAN, organizations that work with Women/Girls and PWDs to generate evidence which will be used to review the findings from the assessment in Bauchi State.

v.    Conduct Field visit to target LGA to conduct FGDs with women, girls, PWDs.

vi.    A detailed analysis and a comprehensive report.

·         The gender expert must be an effective communicator and advocates women rights and gender equality.

·         The gender expert should be able to work with diverse stakeholders.

·         The gender expert should have practical experience working on WASH and gender and social inclusion related projects.

·         The gender expert should have the necessary skills in conducting research and analysis related to gender and social issues.

·         The gender expert should hold a master’s degree in women studies, sociology, psychology, having a strong academic background helps provide a solid theoretical foundation on gender issues.

2.    Phase 2: field work/data collection, analysis and drafting of report (10 days)

3.    Phase 3: validation and dissemination workshop/submission of final report (5 days)

3.    40% upon final validation and submission of report to WaterAid