International Consultant – Gender and DRR to Support Updates of the Ha Noi Recommendations for Action on Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction

TERMS OF REFERENCE

I. Background

UN Women

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of substantive equality between women and men. The fundamental objective of UN Women is to enhance national capacity and ownership to enable national partners to formulate gender responsive laws, policies and upscale successful strategies to deliver on national and international commitments to gender equality. 

In Viet Nam, UN Women’s country strategy focuses on two areas: (i) Remove structural barriers that inhibit women’s economic empowerment and resilience to economic shifts, disasters and climate change; and (ii) End Discrimination and Violence Against Women and Girls. As part of the first area of work, UN Women focuses on supporting evidence-based advocacy for gender-responsive normative frameworks, as well as coordinating high-level policy advocacy with strategic development partners.

In 2016, the Government of Viet Nam, supported by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) organized the Asia-Pacific Conference on Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction. The Conference gathered over three hundred government officials, practitioners, researchers and academics from twenty-two countries across the Asia-Pacific region and examined the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) from a gender perspective. The conference took stock of the progress made over the past decade and identified challenges, gaps and a way forward for each of the four Priorities for Action under the Sendai Framework; and, also presented an opportunity to discuss related issues such as women’s leadership and participation, disaster risk reduction in the context of the changing climate, and gender in community-based disaster risk management.

The conference adopted the “Ha Noi Recommendations for Action on Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction [1]” which provided concrete actions for national governments to move forward on strengthening integration of gender equality in the implementation of the Sendai Framework. The Ha Noi Recommendations then was shared widely and used to contribute to the Asia Regional Plan for Implementation of the Sendai Framework and the Pacific Strategy for Climate and Disaster Resilient Development in the Pacific. The key recommendations were deliberated at the Asian Ministerial Conference for DRR (AMCDRR) in New Delhi in November 2016, the Pacific Regional Meeting on Disaster Risk Management, and the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference for DRR in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in 2018.

Reviews of progress against the Ha Noi Recommendations in subsequent years, including the stocktake [2] prepared by the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction (APP-DRR) Gender Stakeholder Group  in preparation for the 2018 AMCDRR and the comprehensive review [3] covering gender and social inclusion aspects developed by UN Women in 2020, show promising but uneven progress in implementation of the gendered aspects of the Sendai Framework. Within the ASEAN region, substantial progress has been made under the Ha Noi Recommendations generated under Priorities 1 (Understanding Disaster Risk) and 2 (Strengthening Disaster Risk Governance) of the Sendai Framework, while progress under Priorities 3 (Investing in DRR) and 4 (Enhancing Preparedness for Building Back Better) has been more limited.

Regional context:

At the regional level, in recent years, recognizing the urgency of addressing key protection, gender, and inclusion issues in a riskscape with intensifying and more frequent hazards, ASEAN across sectors have accelerated operationalization of commitments in support of the ASEAN Declaration on Gender-Responsive Implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For example, regional investments in understanding disaster risks have included dedicated efforts towards understanding both specific sexual and gender-based violence risks by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM), and the institutional arrangements for mainstreaming gender in disaster response by ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AIHCR). Most prominently, the ASEAN sub-region has led the way in strengthening gender-responsive governance for disaster management through the adoption of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) Work Programme 2021-2025 in November 2020, which has incorporated gender and social inclusion as a key guiding principle. This key guiding principle aims to inculcate a whole-of-society approach in disaster management that leaves no one behind by recognising the key roles and unique needs of the communities, especially those that are most affected during disasters including women, children, youth, elderly, the poor and people with disabilities as well as other vulnerable groups.

The ACDM has furthermore established in February 2021, under the ACDM Working Group on Prevention and Mitigation (WG on P&M), a cross-sectoral Technical Working Group on Protection, Gender, and Inclusion (TWG-PGI) in disaster management, bringing together technical expertise from the ACDM, ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW), Senior Officials Meeting on Social Welfare and Development (SOMSWD), the ASEAN Secretariat, and the AHA Centre to promote gender equality and ending violence against women in disasters. As a key output of the TWG, an ASEAN Regional Framework & Guidance on Protection, Gender, and Inclusion in Disaster Management is under development with support from UN Women. The framework will aim to:

• Consolidate regional commitments across sectors to articulate a common vision for promoting protection, gender, and inclusion in disasters;
• Create common understanding of benchmarks and priority actions for achieving inclusive disaster risk management;
• Propose entry points for collaboration between NDMOs and gender machineries;
• Support countries in setting priorities, indicators, and targets for measuring progress in protection, gender, and inclusion at the national level, while providing indicators and a baseline for measuring progress at the regional level.

The engendered AADMER Work Programme 2021-2025, dedicated coordination mechanism for protection, gender, and inclusion, and a wealth of country level good practices on gender and DRR position ASEAN well as a regional and global thought-leader in disaster management. In this regard, ACDM Viet Nam as the Co-Chair of the ACDM Working Group on Global Leadership proposes, in collaboration with the TWG-PGI and with technical support from UN Women, to organize  activities following up from the Ha Noi Recommendations that contributes towards the AADMER Work Programme Output 5.1.1.8, Platforms to generate awareness and understanding on the importance of inculcating a whole-of-society approach in disaster management, especially those that are most affected during disasters.

In this context, UN Women is looking for an international consultant to provide technical support in review and consolidate good practices of ASEAN member states on gender and DRR along Ha Noi Recommendations and to contribute to the development of the ASEAN Regional Framework & Guidance on Protection, Gender, and Inclusion in Disaster Management.

II. Objective

The objective of this assignment is to contribute to increase commitments of ASEAN member states on integration of gender in the implementation of the AADMER Work Programme 2021-2025.

The consultancy will aim to update the Ha Noi Recommendations for Action on Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction, with an eye on sharpening recommendations and informing ASEAN member states with experiences from their implementation to feed into the ASEAN Regional Framework & Guidance on Protection, Gender, and Inclusion in Disaster Management.

III. Specific Tasks

The consultant is expected to work closely with UN Women Viet Nam, UN Women Asia and Pacific Regional Ofice, Viet Nam Disaster Management Agency and ASEAN Secretariat on the following tasks:

1. Review and consolidate good practices of ASEAN member states from existing studies and reports along Ha Noi recommendations

• Identify and consolidate short (1-2 page) case studies of good practices (at least 2 good practices per Sendai priority, 8 good practices total) of ASEAN member states from desk review, with additional consultation with ACDM or ACW representatives as needed.
• Provide suggestions on updated recommendations.

2. Provide technical support to the organization of a virtual workshop on gender and DRR with representatives of ACDM and relevant regional stakeholders. The workshop will tentatively be organized in the 2^nd week of September 2021.

• Prepare an annotated agenda and detailed chair/moderator’s guide for the workshop;Facilitate 1-day virtual workshop and collect inputs from participants on the updated Ha Noi Recommendations and inputs for the ASEAN Regional Framework & Guidance on Protection, Gender, and Inclusion in Disaster Management.
• Draft workshop report, including the updated Ha Noi recommendations and inputs for the ASEAN Regional Framework & Guidance on Protection, Gender, and Inclusion in Disaster Management.

IV. Deliverables and Schedule of Payment

Payment will be made upon submission of deliverables with an approval from the project manager.

V. Duration of Assignment and Duty Station

The consultancy is home-based.

The consultancy will start from 15 August to until 30 October 2021 (with maximum of 25 working days)

VI. Institutional Arrangement

The work of the international consultant will be supervised by UN Women Programme Analyst on DRR/CC and will be ultimately responsible for the UN Women Viet Nam Country Representative.

The consultant will also work closely with Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority, UN Women Regional Office DRR team, and ASEAN Secretariat throughout the contract.

VII. Application Evaluation Criteria

The applicant will be evaluated based on technical capacities (70%) and a financial proposal (30%). Technical evaluation will be based on the following criteria stated below:

Core Values and Competencies

In addition to aforementioned requirements and qualifications, it is important that the intern shares the core values and core competencies of the organization.

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:

http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf [4]

The weight of technical points is 70% and financial points is 30%.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on Cumulative analysis, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

VIII. Application Procedure and Deadline

Candidates are requested to send the following documents in separated attachment in one application email to [email protected] [5]

1. Application letter explaining your interest in the consultancy and why you are the most suited candidate for this position, including the overall approach to the expected tasks outlined in the TORs
2. Updated CV, including professional reference.
3. Personal History Form (P11). The P11 Form can be downloaded from the following website: http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs [6]
4. Financial proposal specifying the total lump sum amount (breakdown of the daily professional fee in local currency and proposed number of working days). The candidate does not to include the travelling cost as UN Women will follow the EU-UN cost norms.
5. An example of writing on the topic.

Deadline for Application:  3 August 2021

IX. Evaluation

The evaluation will be based on the combination of the weighted technical and financial scores (70 per cent technical and 30 per cent financial).

NOTE: Documents required before contract signing:

• UN Personal History Form;
• Full medical examination and Statement of Fitness, at their own cost, to work and travel for consultants with travel involved. (This is not a requirement for RLA contracts);
• Completed UNDSS BSAFE online training course.
  EN: https://agora.unicef.org/course/info.php?id=17891 [7]
• Individual subscribers over 65 years of age are required to undergo a full medical examination including x-rays at their own cost and obtain medical clearance from the UN Medical Director prior to taking up their assignment;
• Release letter in case the selected consultant is a government official.