Job Title: Gender Consultant
Type of Contract: Regular Consultant
Division: GEN – Gender Office
Duty Station (City, Country): Home based
Duration: 6 months
CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND:
The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. WFP is well known for its ability to deliver food assistance rapidly to people in need. In order to respond effectively in the challenging contexts in which WFP operates, staff require sound knowledge of the fundamentals of emergency and transition programming, as well as skills in specialized areas.
Humanitarian principles promote an approach guided by humanitarian needs, thereby requiring humanitarian action that fully meets the differentiated needs of women, men, girls and boys affected by crises. The humanitarian system does not systematically take into account poverty and pre-existing vulnerabilities linked to identity factors. In addition, widespread violations of international humanitarian law, including increased attacks against humanitarian actors and medical personnel, as well as the obstruction of aid, increasingly compromise humanitarian access and prevent humanitarian assistance from reaching those most in need.
WFP is committed to save lives and change lives wherever it operates. However, in some settings the organization face challenges in accessing potential beneficiaries because of restrictive gender social norms, that for example do not allow women and girls to leave the house or to work.
If access to specific groups is restrained, their needs will not be assessed, and it will not be possible to design appropriate interventions. WFP might eventually fail to reach people most in need and who might be crucial for the livelihoods and the needs of households and communities. This is particularly risky when humanitarian assistance and life-saving programming are rolled out.
Hence, WFP is seeking to leverage its understanding of disproportionate consequences of limited or lack of humanitarian access by populations in needs, to design and implement enhanced programmes, and support evidence-based strategic decision making to address access constraints and obstacles to and by population in needs.
In this context, the Gender office is looking for a Gender and Access consultant to conduct a comparative cross-country analysis on issues related humanitarian access by women and men of different ages, in the diverse contexts where WFP operates, and to develop guidance to ensure access to assistance by all affected populations.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Under the overall guidance of the Programme Policy officer – Gender and the Head of Access, the consultant will
- Conduct a desk review of the literature on the topic (both from WFP and external sources) of access to women and girls during humanitarian response.
- Conduct key informants interview with stakeholders in WFP, UN agencies, INGOs and NGOS, research institutions, Civil Societies and Communities based organizations,
- Conduct interviews and focus groups discussions with key stakeholders and communities on the ground in two identified countries
- Analyse specific challenges face by men, women, boys and girls in accessing humanitarian assistance delivered by WFP
- Draft a report with a detailed analysis on gender roles and challenges in accessing WFP assistance, including recommendations to WFP and its cooperating partners (CPs) to tailor programming to better respond to the needs of all people in needs in both preparedness and response planning. The report will have to be reviewed and approved by the Gender Office, the Access team and the country offices involved before finalisation.
- Facilitate a workshop to present the research and validate the findings with key stakeholders.
- Develop a guidance note to mitigate access constraints and obstacles by men, women, boys and girls to humanitarian assistance, to be reviewed and approved by the Gender Office and the Access team.
The incumbent will have to closely collaborate with the Gender Office, PRO-P (Humanitarian Access Unit, Protection, Disability, Urban, Minorities), Regional Bureaux (RBs) and Country offices (COs)
SUPERVISION:
The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Programme Policy Officer – Gender, in close coordination with the Humanitarian Access team.
DELIVERABLES:
- Detailed workplan, including a preliminary list of documents to review and key informants list
- Desk review report
- Workplan and tools for primary data collection in the field
- Field data collection report
- First research report including the findings of the primary and secondary data collection
- Final report, after clearance from GEN, PRO-P and the country offices participating. The report will include an executive summary and a list of documents and people consulted
- A guidance note on access for WFP, including sample Standard Operating Procedures and a PowerPoint to be reviewed, and approved by GEN and PRO-P.
- PPT to present the draft findings in a workshop.
ESSENTIALS QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
Education:
Master’s degree in Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Risk Management, Human Rights/IHL, gender or similar
Experience:
8 years of relevant working experience in the subject matter, including gender related experience
Knowledge and Skills:
Excellent proficiency in Windows MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher); Behavioural competencies: organised and able to multi-task, working with people, willingness to do other tasks as required
Languages:
Fluency in English both written and oral. Fluency in French, Spanish or Arabic
DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS:
- Very good knowledge of Humanitarian Access Approach in WFP and mechanism to mitigate humanitarian constraints.
- Strong understanding of how WFP’s programmatic tools can be adjusted and developed to ensure they work effectively in protracted crisis contexts
- Strong knowledge of global coordination mechanism to collectively address gender issues, access constraints including group such as the IASC and NGO forum.
- Good general understanding of WFP’s overall operations and activities.
Terms and Conditions
WFP offers a competitive compensation package which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.
Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP.
http://www.wfp.org Click on: “Our work” and “Countries” to learn more about WFP’s operations.
Deadline for applications: 01 November 2021
Ref.: VA No. 151167