National Consultant - Rural Women Economic Empowerment at Food and Agriculture Organization

VA-003-2017

Contract Type: Personal Service Agreement

Duty Station: Nairobi

Organizational Unit: FAO Representation Office in Kenya

Duration: 15 days when actually employed

Eligible Candidates: Kenyan nationals

Anticipated start date: April 2017

Background

Agriculture is the mainstay for many African countries; however, the agricultural sector is continuously underperforming in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is partly, due to the fact that there are substantial rural gender inequalities, whereby rural women have limited access to critical resources, inputs, services and infrastructure they need to be more productive. This continues despite the evidence that shows just by giving women the same access as men to agricultural inputs like fertilizers and improved seeds could increase production substantially. Many countries in the region, together with development partners such as FAO, are increasingly committed to accelerating rural women’s empowerment through targeted interventions. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls lies at the centre of the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development. In addition to the targets for SDG5 “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, it is reflected and mainstreamed across all 17 SDGs. FAO recognizes that gender equality and the empowerment of rural women is inextricably linked to the strengthening of food systems to address hunger, malnutrition, and to achieve real gains for lives and livelihoods of rural people.

In developing countries, women make up 45% of the agricultural labour force, ranging from 20% in Latin America to up to 60% in parts of Africa and Asia. Rural women’s roles span from being cultivators on their own or others’ plots – as unpaid or paid workers, employees or employers – to being wage labourers in on- and off-farm and entrepreneurs. Women play also a central role in food processing and marketing, as well as in household maintenance, caring for children and the elderly, ensuring nutrition diversity and minimizing food loss and waste. More sustained efforts to invest in rural women’s capacities as key agents of change are needed to achieve the goal of freeing the world from hunger and extreme poverty, while leaving no one behind.

Enabling and empowering rural women therefore translates into improved overall well-being for children, households and communities, which contributes to building human capital for future generations and to long-term social and economic growth. Empowering rural women and girls is therefore not only critical for agricultural development and health/nutritional improvement, but also crucial to social and economic progress, and to sustainable development overall.

Research, including the recently released 2016 Global Nutrition Report, has shown that as more women are empowered through education and skills development, the benefits translate not only into livelihood, improving the financial and social health of the family, but also to the overall wellness and nutrition status of their spouse, children and other family members thus contributing greatly to improved food security and reduction in child malnutrition.

Correspondingly, although women make up the majority workforce in the agriculture sector in the sub-Saharan Africa, they are still relegated to subsistence farming which is also compromised with the heavy un paid care and domestic workload in the households, and the inadequate access/ownership to the capital assets like land and finances which deprives them an opportunity to improve on their livelihoods. According to the Africa Human Development Report (UNDP, 2016), these burdens and deprivations drive women and the entire families into inter-generational poverty and low human development.

It is for this reason that FAO wishes to recruit a consultant to develop a regional proposal on promoting rural women’s economic empowerment in selected sites in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Reporting line and specific tasks

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Kenya and direct supervision of the Gender and Livelihood Officer, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Review/literature review of agriculture and nutrition related documents in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to identify the key rural gender inequalities and potential entry points for promoting rural women’s economic empowerment in each country. Document good practices/initiatives in the three countries on women economic empowerment focusing on rural women’s improved food and nutrition security;
  increased income and strengthened entrepreneurship and access to market opportunities;
  improved participation and leadership in formal and informal organizations and at community level;
  Gender responsive policy environment for the economic empowerment of rural women
• Carry out a stakeholder analysis in order to help FAO identify potential partners in the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women in agriculture.
• Prepare a project proposal on “Economic Empowerment of Rural women to reduce Poverty, Hunger and Malnutrition” covering the three countries and contextualizing the issues.
• Incorporate feedback and finalize the proposal with detailed budget and implementation plan.
• Prepare a project proposal on “Economic Empowerment of Rural women to reduce Poverty, Hunger and Malnutrition” covering the three countries and contextualizing the issues.
• Incorporate feedback and finalize the proposal with detailed budget and implementation plan.

Minimum Requirements

Academic Qualifications

• Advanced university degree in Sociology, Social Sciences, Economics, Development Economics, or other related disciplines

Technical Competencies and Experience Requirements

• Over 5 years of significant experience in analysing and integrating the perspective of gender equality in nutrition sensitive agriculture and programme formulation in the context of agriculture and rural development and experience in socio-economic and gender analysis
• Experience working in the Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania agriculture or rural development sector– working experience with the Ministry of Agriculture, key line ministries and related institutions in either of the countries is an added advantage
• Excellent knowledge of the key gender equality, social equity and women’s empowerment issues in the region, in the context of agriculture and rural development
• Demonstrated ability (through publications in English language) to produce written analysis of socio-economic and gender issues
• Extensive knowledge of the UN System, its working and programming mechanisms, familiarity with FAO’s work would be an asset
• Excellent oral and written English language skills