Zambia: Consultant, Climate-Hotspots Gender Impact Assessment

Aug 11, 2022 | WorldFish
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WorldFish is an international, non-profit research and innovation organization reducing hunger, malnutrition and poverty across Africa, Asia and the Pacific. For over 45 years, our work on sustainable aquaculture and fisheries has improved the lives of millions of women, men and youth.

Fish and other aquatic foods grown in and harvested from oceans, lakes, rivers and ponds provide income for more than 800 million people and provide 3.3 billion with 20% of their animal protein intake. Our focus on sustainability makes sure that the way we produce and use these foods today means a plentiful future of generations to come.

Our evidence-based solutions range in scale from households to global policies and spans across six interlinked themes: nutrition, gender, climate, sustainability, economy and COVID-19.

We champion aquatic foods for healthy people and planet and believe that a sustainable blue planet of well-nourished children, women and men is within our reach

WorldFish is implementing an impact assessment of interventions addressing the gender-food system-climate nexus in climate-agriculture-gender inequality hotspots in Zambia in collaboration with the CGIAR Generating Evidence and New Directions for Equitable Results (GENDER) Platform. WorldFish has been working in northern Zambia to establish aquaculture markets by linking smallholder aqua-farmers to input and output markets; setting up inclusive business and entrepreneurial models, especially with rural women and youth; promoting smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate variability and climate change; and increasing the number of human resources in fisheries and aquaculture sub-sector since 2018. The impact assessment will be done in Luapula (Mansa, Sanfya, Chipili and Kawambwa districts) and Northern (Kasama, Mpulungu, Mungwi, Luwingu, Mbala and Mporokoso districts) provinces. Projects that will be assessed as part of the impact assessment have reached close to 3000 people. The gender impact assessment seeks to generate evidence to achieve more equitable, sustainable, productive and climate-resilient food systems. Consultants must show evidence of the ability to develop and promote high-quality evidence, knowledge, methods, tools, and alliances around gender that foster transformational change for inclusive and equitable food systems within planetary boundaries. It is from this background that WorldFish wishes to hire a consultant to carry out an impact assessment.

Background

Women and men do not always equally participate or benefit from food systems in low- and middle income countries and there remain untapped opportunities for women’s empowerment in food systems. Climate change not only puts food systems under stress, particularly in Africa and Asia, it is also a potential threat to gender equality in agriculture and food systems. First, women make out a large proportion of smallholder farmers and tend to be highly dependent on agriculture and natural resources and have less diversified livelihoods than men. That makes women smallholder farmers more vulnerable than men to climatic shocks and stressors. Second, women face structural gender inequalities and have fewer and lower-value assets, less access to land, capital, labor, agricultural inputs, and social and institutional networks. Additionally, in many cases, women’s access to and use of climate-smart technologies is constrained due to social norms and gender roles that limit their agency, both at the household and community levels. Such inequalities impede women’s ability to respond to, adapt to or mitigate climate change impacts (Puskur and Lecoutere 2022).

The assignment detailed in these TOR is part of a wider research project that has three consecutive stages where each stage informs the next. The first stage consisted of developing a methodology to identify climate–agriculture–gender inequality hotspot countries and sub-national areas. By applying this methodology Zambia has been identified as hotspot country for the aquaculture subsector in Luapula and Northern provinces. The second stage is a situational analysis in Zambia’s climate change hotspot areas analyzing climate change trends, food system transformations and gender dynamics in more depth. The situational analysis is done against the gendered food systems framework (figure 1 below). This assignment fits into the third stage of the research project. This third stages builds on stage one and is informed by preliminary results of stage two. This third stage will now formally test research hypotheses of the gendered food systems framework. Its results will contribute to an improved understanding of how food systems can contribute to gender equality and vis-versa how gender equality can contribute to food systems, leading to a win-win situation.

Research Framework and Objectives

The aim is to implementa pilot study using an experimental or quasi-experimental research design in Northern and Luapula provinces identified as hotspot areas as detailed below testing one (or more) of the below hypotheses on indicators of the key outcomes. The study will test the hypotheses of the gendered food systems framework against the background of climate change in climate–agriculture–gender inequality hotspots in Zambia.

The gendered food systems framework which identifies key domains in gender transformation in food systems will form the basis for the hypothesized relationships between the changes intended through the intervention and the envisioned outcomes that will be established with the impact assessment (Figure 1).

The specific hypotheses to test in the framework of the study can relate to the effect of

• Enhancing gender equal access and control over resources, technology and/or information;
• Encouraging less gender-discriminatory and more positive social norms and ideas of masculinity;
• Improving women’s leadership (governance and policy, including at local level); and/or
• Changing structures, policies and institutions such that they do not discriminate by gender (including at local level) on two key outcomes.

These key outcomes include

• Gender equality and women’s empowerment; and
• The gender equality in terms of engagement and benefits from food system and climate resilience.

The study will use a quasi-experimental research design in Luapula and Northern provinces of Zambia identified as climate–agriculture–gender inequality hotspot in Zambia. The consultant will finalise the intervention and control study site in collaboration with WorldFish. The activity is also expected to build upon the experiences of GAAP. The consultant is expected to adopt both quantitative and qualitative methods, including case studies to assess the actual and expected changes that have occurred in targeted communities (including positive and negative, direct and indirect) as a result of the climate smart inclusive business models, input and output aquaculture markets established by WorldFish in the targeted communities.

Roles and Responsibilities

Working closely with the WorldFish MEL unit and the project leadership in Zambia and Malaysia. The consultant will:

• Develop a research design for conducting a rigorous impact assessment, specifying the data needs, samples, method of analysis.
• Specify the metrics (quantitative and qualitative) for assessing changes in the key outcomes, including
• Collect high-quality data;
• Analyze the data and write a high quality publishable gender impact evaluation report
• Identify lessons learned and develop practical recommendations for WorldFish/FISH, the Donor, and the project stakeholders that may help inform the design and implementation of similar future projects (with defined sustainability pathways) and activities in the future;
• Incorporate feedback from stakeholders in a timely, objective and transparent manner and;
• Submit a final report, manuscript and both raw and clean electronic data sets to WorldFish.

• Gender relations and women’s empowerment (e.g. using the pro-WEAI, among others); and
• Gender Equality in other aspects of food systems (adoption, production, incomes, nutrition, ecosystem health indicators) and/or climate resilience.

Requirements

Skills, Experience and Knowledge

a) Qualifications of the service provider

• The lead consultant must possess an advanced degree (Masters or PhD) in any of the following: Agricultural Economics, Social Science (Sociology/ Social Anthropology), Statistics/Population Studies, Project/Program Management or Project/Program Evaluation, Impact evaluation methodology;
• The evaluation team should consist of people with a diverse set of skills including impact assessment, strong understanding of gender theory and practice, understanding of fisheries and aquaculture.

b) Experience

• Experience in implementing evaluations including impacting assessments in sub-Saharan Africa with a focus in aquaculture, fisheries or agriculture sector(s).
• Must have executed similar assignments in Zambia or other southern African countries in the last 5 years.
• Experience in developing and implementing mixed methods research designs.
• Demonstrated experience incorporating ethical considerations that arise with researching human subjects.
• Track record of writing detailed and yet concise evaluation reports. He/she must provide two similar or related evaluation reports done in the past 5 years.
• Experience in leading or co-leading evaluation teams.

c) Skills

• Data management and data curation.
• Data analysis and report writing.
• Proficiency in the use of technological aids for enhancing collection of quality data, analysis and presentation.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.

d) Methodology

• Clear, practical, robust, logical and complementary methodological approaches are desired and,
• Clear justification of study site/location choice and intended respondent numbers and selection, whether random or otherwise.

How to Apply

This opportunity is open for all applicants. The selection of consultant will be based on the relevant qualification and experience, and the most competitive proposal. The interviews are expected to be held in August 2022 and only shortlisted consultant will be notified and expected to attend the interview. The successful consultant should be available to commence the consultancy contract for maximum of three (03) working months in between August and December 2022.

All applicants are required to follow the instruction on the submission of proposal as per below, latest by 20 August 2022.

1. Introduction to the organization, your experience and examples that illustrate your work and team’s ability to conduct the impact assessment using (quasi-)experimental methods and illustrating an strong understanding of gender theory and practice (max 1 page)
2. Proposed intervention, specific research question and research hypothesis that will be tested, research design and methodology to conduct the impact assessment, building on the proposed framework and research hypotheses (max 2 pages)
3. A detailed timeline of activities including field visits and schedule of deliverables. (max 1 page)
4. A budget estimate with a breakdown indicating costs of personnel, services and supplies, travel, workshops, communication and, indirect costs etc., as applicable and, a proposed payment schedule. (max 3 pages, and, if needed, details in annex)
5. The consultant must submit two samples of evaluation or impact assessment reports conducted in the past 5 years
6. CVs of the any collaborators (CVs can be submitted as an annex and do not count towards your 7 pages; each CV should not be more than 2 pages)

The proposal should be a maximum of 7 pages.

Financial Bid Evaluation Considerations

WorldFish will not be obliged to give the highest rating to the lowest bidder. The best bids will be those that demonstrate value for money and whose budget is closely tied to the rationally determined methodological approach and plausible remuneration rates.

The screening will start as soon as possible, and will continue until the position is filled. Only selected consultant candidates will be contacted.

Our Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Commitment

WorldFish has seven offices across Asia, Africa and the Pacific, with more than 400 staff and 27 nationalities who contribute to a dynamic multicultural work environment.

WorldFish is committed to promoting a work environment where diversity and inclusion is valued and we seek to have gender balance in the organization. We aim to also seek balance across other diversity dimensions.

People in WorldFish are treated equally irrespective of gender, ethnicity/race, national or social origin, disability, religion, political affiliation, age, family size, marital status or any other form of personal identity.

We are an equal opportunities employer and strongly encourage qualified people from developing nations to apply.