Description
| Assess the gender and social relations aspects, including gender related consequences on climate change and impacts in climate-smart agriculture and WASH, specifically on the gender roles, access and control of resources, and leadership and decision-making making especially for women and other vulnerable groups in the following project locations; Rubkona (Rotriak, Kaljak, Nhialdiu, Budang) and Mayom (Ruathnyibuol, Kurbona, Wangkei, Wurach) in Unity State, South Sudan. Moreover, identification of the impact (both positive and negative) of the W4F implementation on women and vulnerable groups and recommendations to mitigate the negative impacts to ensure the interventions are equitable and inclusive. | |
| Application Close Date | 2025-12-17 |
|---|---|
| Engagement Type | Firm |
| Job Family | 3.Engineering |
| A. Background Objectives | The Climate Proof Water4Food (W4F) program will take place in Rubkona and Mayom counties of Unity State in South Sudan. W4F seeks to increase adaptation to extreme weather events aggravated by climate change within the agriculture and water sectors, leading to increased food production and food security, as well as improved access to water and sanitation, through the following two components; • Component 1: Climate-smart agriculture and value chain strengthening • Component 2: Inclusive, gender transformative, integrated flood-and drought-adapted water resource management and access The project has been designed for Climate-Smart Gender-Transformative Agriculture (CSGTA) and Climate-Resilient Gender-Transformative (CRGT) WASH. W4F and its consortium will be led by Plan International South Sudan (PISS) and is strategically aligned with the developmental priorities of both countries at the national and local levels. Rubkona and Mayom are administrative divisions of Unity State of South Sudan. The county headquarters are in Mayom Town and Rubkona. Mayom lies in the Block 4 oil concession, south of the Kaikang oilfield in the northwest of Bentiu Town, with vast land available for crop production and cattle grazing. The inhabitants of these counties are agro-pastoral Nuer and Dinka communities, speaking Nuer and Dinka languages, respectively. These two counties are among the most severely affected by floods and civil war in Unity State. The major livelihood activities practiced by communities in these areas include farming and livestock rearing. Fishing along the rivers is also common among the host communities, with most fish produced in Unity State being transported to other states for sale, while some are consumed locally. Mayom and Rubkona face a deteriorating livelihood situation exacerbated by seasonal flooding, which has displaced many residents. Most livelihoods in these counties have been lost, as crops are submerged and livestock perish due to persistent flooding. Additionally, there are occasional cases of intercommunal violence caused by cattle rustling and revenge killings, which generally occur in Unity State. |
| B. Scope of work | Main Objective: The main objective of the assessment is to assess the root causes of gender inequality and unequal power relation dynamics in the targeted communities, deepen our understanding of the underlying causes of marginalization in the program area and utilize the findings and recommendations to ensure the project design, implementation, and outcomes of the W4F project are gender sensitive, inclusive, and effective in addressing gender inequalities in access, roles, and decision-making on the productive resources. Specific Objectives: The climate crisis is not gender neutral and has a disproportionate impact on women and girls caused by their unequal position in society. The gender assessment will focus on the decision-making power of women on the household (intra-household marginalization) and community level and the level of female leadership in the communities. It will also assess the impact of climate change on gender roles in WASH and agriculture. The assessment will include identification of the expected impact (both positive and negative) of the W4F implementation on women and vulnerable groups, as well as recommended measures to enhance the positive and mitigate the negative impacts to ensure the interventions are equitable and inclusive. Below are the specific gender domains for the assessment: 1. Identify gender-related and social inclusion issues on division of roles, workload and responsibilities and control over resources o Identify roles and responsibilities, including productive and reproductive workload, within households and communities in agriculture and WASH related activities o Assess the gender division of WASH chores at the household level and the gender division of agriculture-related tasks and the time of investment in the different tasks. o Assess access to and control of assets, resources and opportunities, and obstacles in WASH and Agriculture. 2. Level of participation, leadership, and decision-making power of women in WASH and agriculture o Assess the existing barriers to equal access to land, information, finance, extension services, and technology o Identify underlying discriminatory social and cultural norms, unequal power relations, economic and institutional barriers that hinder women’s decision-making power in WASH and agriculture o Assess the root causes of gender inequality that hinder inclusive participation in WASH and agriculture o Assess women’s decision-making positions and active participation in the agricultural cooperatives and WASH committees o Assess how the impacts of floods and displacement affect women, girls and men, boys differently o Assess how climate change affects women and men in relation to access and control over productive assets, and participating in household and community decision-making o What are the coping mechanisms of women and men to protect themselves from the consequences of climate change 3. Social, cultural gender norms and climate shocks o Assess gender norms, taboos and beliefs on sanitation and hygiene practices o Identify opportunities that can be addressed by the programme to help advance (gender) equality. o Assess how climate shocks increase vulnerability to Gender-Based Violence (GBV), sexual exploitation, and child marriage risks 4. Policy environment and frameworks o Assess Policy frameworks and laws that prevent women and men, boys and girls, persons with disabilities and other excluded groups from having equal opportunities in WASH and Agriculture o Review gender and inclusion policies and legislation in the programme thematic areas to assess the existing gaps. o Recommend strategies aimed at tackling the root causes of gender and social inclusion inequality and how to achieve inclusive and equitable program outcomes Due to several intersecting issues and further explorations of power and gender inequality in all levels, the assessment will focus on;  • Intra-household marginalisation  • Inter-household/c |
| C. Deliverables Expected | The maximum period for carrying out the assignment will be 6 weeks. Expected deliverables are as follows: a. Inception report • Outline methodology, gender assessment tool, stakeholders’ engagement plan, and the work plan • Literature review of gender assessments conducted in the project context • Outline of the gender assessment framework, including key questions tailored to the project components • Tools for data collectionb. Field data Collection & Analysis • Stakeholders mapping and engagement plan/ sample • Enumerators’ identification & training • Data collection (Sex, age, disability disaggregated data and qualitative insights from communities) • Integrate disability assessment tool Washington disability tool/ questionsc. Gender assessment report • Comprehensive findings across project sectors: Climate-smart agriculture and WASH (analysis of gender roles, access to resources, decision-making, gender impact on climate change, vulnerabilities, adaptation capacity, and social norms) • The gender inclusion best practices/ learnings • The gender gaps, barriers, and opportunities • Gender case studies from other partners implemented the Climate-smart agriculture WASH intervention in the aread. Recommandations & Action Plan • Recommendations for gender responsive strategies for climate-smart agriculture and WASH intervention outcomes • Area for capacity building, especially for women’s leadership and participation, • Community engagement plan for behaviour change and risk mitigation • Suggestions for inclusive and gender sensitive climate smart agriculture methods that can be accepted, capacity building to women groups, extension services and coordination with Ministry departmentse. Report presentation and validation session with Project Partner and the Government Ministries • PowerPoint slides summarizing key findings and recommendations • Facilitate a presentation session with Project Partners to validate the findings and clarity for the recommendationsf. Final report submission • Submit final gender assessment report (within 6 weeks of contract signature) • Report language: English |
| D. Duration and Timetable for the Assignment | The expected total working days for all deliverables are up to 32 working days from contracting to the finalization of deliverables. Applicants to the ToR should specify the number of days required for each deliverable in their application.Milestone Timeline Procurement process Contract signature & Inception Inception meeting with the consultant  Week 1 Inception report in word format (30 pages maximum) summarizing the methodology, sampling, data collection tools, ethical considerations, and detailed work plan agreed upon with Plan South Sudan, alongside risk assessment, list of required support from Plan South Sudan to enable data collection and detailed plan for training enumerators and quality assurance of collected data  Week 2 Review of existing information (Secondary information on GESI in the program area, Information on GESI from the baseline)  Review and Preparation of the tools/ questionnaire based on the main issues in the program area (main gender related issues, main social inclusion related issues).  Training of Enumerators and tools pretesting  Field work & data collection • Data collection report (5 pages maximum) including final sample achieved by location, gender and internally displaced persons versus host communities’ disaggregation, reflections on the data collection process, reflections on the testing phase including documentation of any potential changes made to tools, and limitations and adaptations made during data collection.  Raw data:  • Raw quantitative data (Stata or SPSS), and annotated command lines file.  • Transcripts of interviews and/or focus group discussions, translated into English.  • Quantitative and qualitative data cleaning, coding and analysis (gender findings, social inclusion findings)  Week 3-4 Draft report & slide deck: First draft GESI assessment report summarizing findings and lessons from collected data, documented limitations from the study, completed sampling, and recommendations for future GESI assessments Week 5 Validation meeting to confirm the contents and data claims compared against common knowledge and trends Second draft GESI assessment report incorporating comments from the first draft review  Week 6 Presentation of major findings by the consultant to relevant staff to receive comments to improve the report and review draft report by Program teams Final report submission |
| E. Bank Contribution and Institutional Arrangement | Bank Contribution  The African Development Bank (AfDB) will provide financial and technical support for this consultancy under the Climate Proof Water4Food (W4F) Program. AfDB’s sector specialists will provide technical backstopping and ensure that the Gender Assessment align with AfDB’s Integrated Safeguards System and Gender Policy. The Bank will review and approve key deliverables (Inception, Draft, and Final Reports) and participate in validation and dissemination workshops Institutional arrangement The assessment will be done under Plan International South Sudan’s Terms of Reference and supervised by Plan International South Sudan’s MERL and GESI team for the study design, data collection and report within the agreed timeframe with jointly reviewing with the Plan International Denmark MERL and GESI counterparts. Plan International South Sudan shall provide necessary support and advice accordingly on how to execute the assignment during the duration of the assessment. These shall include: • Access to relevant project documents necessary for execution of the assessment duties • Provide local linkages for guidance i.e. Plan International staff, implementing partners, list of beneficiaries, support for mobilization. |
| F. Duty Station | The consultant’s duty station will be Juba, South Sudan with regular travel to Unity State (Rubkona and Mayom Counties) for fieldwork and stakeholder consultations.  |
| G. Essential Specialized Skills/Knowledge/Competencies | A multidisciplinary team including experts in WASH, climate value-chain disciplines will be favoured. We expect expertise requirements to be defined as precisely as possible by the consultant team to ensure that key issues for the delivery of the ToR are handled by appropriate specialists, such as a gender specialist when gender issues are determinant:Core team • Lead consultant with at least 5 years of proven experience working on gender and WASH. Experience on value chain development is a plus. Relevant advanced university degree. • Gender specialist with at least 5 years of proven experience in WASH and climate change and relevant advanced university degree. Experience • Experience conducting research in South Sudan on gender, WASH, climate and value chain • Experience on climate change and resilience in WASH sector • Experience on value chain development is a plus |
| H. Supervisor | Mrs. Nancy Ogal Senior Water and Sanitation Engineer AfDB Water Department African Development Bank |
Consultancy Input Days
| 24.00 |
