Consultant for Gender Impact Assessment in RLLP watersheds

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES– INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT SELECTION)

COUNTRY: Federal Democratic Republic Of Ethiopia

NAME OF PROJECT: Second Resilient Landscapes and Livelihoods Project

Loan No./Credit No./Grant No.: – TF-B5341      

Project ID: – P174385

Assignment Title: – Recruit an Individual Local Consultant for Gender Impact Assessment in RLLP watersheds

Reference No.: ET-MOA-497751-CS-CQS

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of Second Resilient Landscapes and Livelihoods Project (RLLP-II), and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services.

The consulting service (“the Services”) includes Recruit an Individual Local Consultant for Gender Impact Assessment in RLLP watersheds on Selected woredas of the Project. The service shall be finalized in 60 staff days. The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be obtained from our office or can be obtained at the email address kinfumz@yahoo.com, or hiwottessema2014@gmail.com,  

The Ministry of Agriculture now invites eligible individual consultants (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Individual Consultants shall provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications, capability which should include General and specific experience, technical and managerial capability of the individual consultant and relevant experience to perform the Services.

The short listing criteria are:

• General experience and capability which should include specific experience in the required area.
• Years of relevant experience and technical and managerial capability of the consultant.
• The consultant shall present documentary evidence that properly delivered similar assignments.
• The consultant shall have similar experience in the Gender Impact Assessment in agriculture sectors and should indicate years of experience in similar assignment in agriculture sectors.
• The Consultant shall have at least MA degree in gender, human rights, or other related fields. 
• The consultant shall also have at least 10 years proven professional experience in Gender and Gender Based Violence (GBV/SEA/SH), training, and prevention activities of WB supporting projects.

The attention of interested local Individual Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” July 2016 Revised November 2017 and August 2018 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.  In addition, please refer to the following specific information on conflict of interest related to this assignment: Selection and employment of consultants under IPF by World Bank Borrowers July 2016 Revised November 2017 and August  2018 (“Consultant Guidelines”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest, as per paragraph 3.17of the Procurement Regulations.

The individual Consultants may associate with other individual consultant to enhance their qualifications, but should indicate clearly whether the association is in the form of a joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy. In the case of a joint venture, all the partners in the joint venture shall be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the individual consultant selection method set out in the Procurement Regulation.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours: 8.00 AM to 9.00 PM hours. Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by e-mail) on or before August 19, 2025, time 2:30PM.

Attn: Ato Kinfe Bekabil or W/ro Hiwot Tessema

Sustainable Land Management Program, Second Resilient Landscape and Livelihood Project

CMC Road, behind Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration

Block B, 2nd Floor,

City: Addis Ababa, Bole Sub City

Telephone: +251-911-193610/+251-0913046081

Email: – kinfumz@yahoo.com,  or hiwottessema2014@gmail.com,  

Ministry of Agriculture

Sustainable Land Management Program

Resilient Landscapes and Livelihoods Project (RLLP)

Terms of Reference to Recruit an Individual Consultant for Gender Impact Assessment in RLLP watersheds

1. Introduction

Land degradation has important gender dimensions, more specifically for women and girls. Women suffer more from the consequences of land degradation, which exacerbates the lack of fuel wood, as they are responsible for collecting wood to prepare food for home consumption. As mothers are more vulnerable to a lack of food or water and other basic needs at the micro-watershed and kebele level, they are also recognized as key actors in natural resource use and management. Despite favorable government policies and efforts, women’s participation in decision-making and their access to resources seem limited.  

According to the Project Implementation Manual (PIM) and Gender Mainstreaming Guideline of RLLP, Gender Mainstreaming (GM) means giving support to both women’s and men’s participation, contribution, and benefit explicitly, rather than assuming that both groups will benefit equally from gender-neutral development interventions. The ultimate goal of GM is to achieve gender equality.

The rationale for considering gender issues in RLLP was that men and women not only play different roles in society with distinct levels of control over resources, but they often have different needs, too. It is, therefore, important to treat gender issues as an integrated development strategy to reverse natural resource depletion in general and combat land degradation in particular. Thus, to address gender inequalities, it is of crucial importance to take into account the particular needs of women in the framework of sustained land management promotion (PIM of RLLP, 2019).

In RLLP, gender mainstreaming guideline document was prepared, and implemented. The document entails to consider men’s and women’s participation and their benefits in all the project components during the implementation periods. Although the project provided a considerable amount of benefit to women/females, it would be useful to assess and identify the gender impact and associated constraints in RLLP woredas and watersheds.

Therefore, assessment of gender related impacts in RLLP and generating lessons for RLLP-II implementation   could narrow the gaps between men and women, ensure gender responsiveness and sustainability and improves ownership of the project. RLLP recognized gender sensitivity as one of the key indicators for its success, which was realized through equipping RLLP implementers with the necessary gender mainstreaming skills, procedures, and implementation arrangements, and through its monitoring & evaluation system. To this effect, RLLP targeted female and male, young and old, and poor and better-off community members as its beneficiaries during its implementation from 2019-2023. No community member in the selected woredas/watersheds was intended to be excluded from the Project benefits.

According to the Borrower Completion Report (BCR, 2024) women in the RLLP intervention areas gained equal land tenure security compared to men, promoting gender equity and empowerment in land management decisions. The project emphasizes gender inclusiveness in line with SDG 5 (Gender Equality) by involving women and vulnerable groups in decision-making and project activities. Thus, based on the agreement of the joint implementation support mission, the PCU planned to recruit an individual consultant to conduct a gender impact assessment.

1. Objectives  

The general objective of the Gender Impact Assessment is to identify and analyze the potential impacts of the project on women, men, and gender-diverse individuals, with the aim of promoting gender equality, preventing unintended negative consequences, and ensuring that women and marginalized groups have equitable access to benefits, participation, and decision-making opportunities throughout the project lifecycle.

The Specific objectives are to:

• Assess females’ participation in planning and implementation of the project components as well as benefit from different RLLP components.
• Assess the impacts of RLLP interventions on livelihoods, roles, power relations, including the decision-making process, and control over resources
• Assess the different needs, roles, and priorities of women, men, and gender-diverse individuals in relation to the project.
• Analyze how the project’s activities, benefits, and risks may affect different genders, particularly women and marginalized groups.
• Ensure that women and underrepresented groups have meaningful opportunities to participate in decision-making processes throughout the project lifecycle.
• Examine whether all genders have equal access to project resources, services, training, and benefits.
• Detect potential gender inequalities or discriminatory practices and propose strategies to mitigate them.
• Identify gender gaps and propose strategies to address equality in the successor RLLP-II, 
• Provide evidence-based recommendations to inform gender-responsive policies and institutional practices.

1. Specific tasks 

The individual consultant will undertake the following specific tasks:

• Review the project appraisal document and other gender specific design documents to understand the contexts,
• Review national strategies and gender specific documents prepared by Ministry of Agriculture as well as the project,
• Review the progress reports of the project including borrower completion report and project implementation completion report (ICR),
• Prepare detail methodology and data collection tools,
• Conduct field level data collection based on agreed methodologies and sample size for the study,
• Prepare comprehensive impact report and submit.

1. Scope of the assessment

The assessment will be conducted in nine of RLLP implementing regions (Amhara, B/Gumuz, Central Ethiopia, Gambella, Oromia, Sidama, South Ethiopia, Southwest Ethiopia, and Tigray) and selected woredas and micro-watersheds. The woredas will be selected in consultation with regional project coordination units, through considering their accessibility related to security, the number of woredas each region constitutes, and other factors. Hence, 20% of project woredas (approximately 34 woredas) will be assessed. The assessment will focus on a specific group of communities, mainly FHHs, married women, female youth and other community groups, including elders, disabled persons, etc

Qualitative and quantitative data will be collected from primary and secondary data sources, respectively in all project areas. The primary data will be collected through office-level discussions and consultations with stakeholders, project staffs, Focus Group Discussions (FGD), Key Informant Interviews (KII), household survey (project benefited women and/or affected household survey), and site observation. The secondary data includes a review of relevant documents, including protocols, operational documents, Agreed Action reports, rules and regulations at federal and regional level, biannual gender mainstreaming and E&S risk management reports.

Some of the operational documents (supplementary to the secondary data) include: –

• Project Appraisal Document (PAD) of RLLP;
• Project Implementation Manual (PIM) of RLLP;
• Component Strategies/Manuals (e.g., CSA Manual);
• Borrower Completion Report (BCR);
• Project ESRM instruments (ESMF, RPF, and any other related documents);
• Annual work and budget plans (AWBP) and Progress Reports;
• Joint Implementation Support Mission Aide Memoirs (Agreed Actions);
• Mid-term Review Report; and other supportive and relevant documents.

1.  Methodology

• The individual consultant is expected to present standard and accepted detail methodologies for the data collection, data organization, and data analysis including software to be used for analysis though considering the key issues outlined in the Scope section above, the consultant is expected to: Understanding the project context, technical details and theory of change by reviewing all relevant technical and legal document of the project related to gender mainstreaming and action plan,
• Field based understanding of the biophysical and socio-economic nature of the project landscapes,
• Mapping with and without scenario of the project including before and after scenario for identified gender impact indicators,
• Conduct interview and focus group discussion with the project staffs, direct and indirect beneficiaries

1. The individual consultant Qualification   

To meet the objectives of the assignment, it is recommended that independent individual local consultant will be recruited to closely work with experts at national, regional, and woreda levels with an understanding (good experience) on the subject matter in the field of gender related issues. The consultant shall have both the skill and experience necessary to undertake the range of tasks specified in this ToR. Similarly, he/she   shall be available to do the work as and when required, and need to have the ability and commitment to work under pressure in challenging and remote locations.

With close supervision of National PCU team and management, the individual Consultant should have the following qualification  

• At least MA degree in gender, human rights, or other related fields.  
• He/she shall possess at least 10 years proven professional experience in Gender and Gender Based Violence (GBV/SEA/SH), training, and prevention activities
• He/she shall have proven experience of working similar activities and know-how of the World bank financed and supported projects.

1. Deliverables

• Inception Report (IR) that includes outline of the proposed contents of the gender impact assessment (combining the review of available data and/or a list of documents (to be reviewed); field assessments; sample size and sampling framework; questionnaires and checklists; ethical considerations and other relevant materials used during the field visit within one week after contract signing.
• Draft Gender impact assessment reports by October 30, 2025, that includes executive summary, a description of RLLP’s gender mainstreaming activities, legal requirements, types of risks and impacts associated with gender (recommended actions, deliverables, responsibilities, target completion, budget estimate).
• Final report by mid-November 2025.

1. Duration of the Consultancy

The assignment continues until September 2025, commencing on mid-November 2025. The contract will be time-based and probably for three months in total.

1. Reporting & Contract Administration

The Consultant will report directly to SLMP National Program Coordination Unit (NPCU), managing RLLP-II project throughout the course of this assignment.

1. Payment Schedule

Payments will be made against the completion of deliverables in accordance with the following provisional schedule:

• 15 % advance payment upon contract signing,
• 15% upon submission and acceptance of the inception report,
• 15% up on submission of final desk review of existing data and evidences (including outline and expected contents of the report),
• 20% Upon submission and acceptance of draft report,
• 35% Upon submission and acceptance of the final report.

1.  Confidentiality

The Consultant is required to maintain the confidentiality of all project information and data.

1. Submission of Proposals

Interested candidates should submit technical and financial proposals to the procurement department before August 19, 2025. The technical proposal should outline the consultant’s approach, methodology, and relevant experience. The financial proposal should indicate the consulting fee for the completion of the tasks, broken down by activities and deliverables.