Consultant, Agency, Gender and Climate Change - ReliefWeb

Consultant, Agency, Gender and Climate Change | ReliefWeb

Period of Engagement

We anticipate the consultancy will take approximately 40 days between mid October and June 30, 2024.

Project Description/Background

This consultancy will support Save the Children and the Center on Gender Equity and Health at the University of California San Diego (GEH/UCSD) to implement a landscape review on Agency, Gender and Climate Change. The landscape review is part of a larger effort being undertaken by the Agency for All project consortium.

Climate-related physical health (i.e., diseases, early mortality, malnutrition) and mental health (i.e., anxiety, depression) impacts are increasing globally. These health and well-being impacts are not neutral, they are the product of the nature of the climate hazard, the extent of exposure to the hazard, and underlying vulnerabilities and intersecting identities. While climate change compromises physical and mental health for many, it also exacerbates existing structural, social, cultural, and gender inequities for women, further magnifying health threats and directly increasing their risk of violence, including child marriage. Rural-residing women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are often perceived as being at particular risk, as many rely on natural resources (e.g., water, firewood) that become more scarce and difficult to procure with climate shocks, though this is affected by cultural and contextual differences, including ongoing impacts stemming from colonialism.

Extreme climate shocks may further exacerbate gender-based violence (GBV) by heightening environmental stresses, and catalyzing conflict and. Gender imbalances also exist within climate-driven adaptations, with increasing male migration leading to women taking on more work across a broader range of caretaking and household or community tasks. Agency is a critical component of women’s ability to adapt and respond to changing social, cultural and environmental circumstances, enabling a degree of resilience to shifts in external conditions. Research suggests that women’s agency is compromised by climate change-driven environmental stressors, and that this phenomenon appears strong enough to supersede gender-equitable norms. This is driven by resource scarcity (with women and girls already experiencing higher levels of food insecurity than men, as well as by differential coping mechanisms reflective of existing power structures, with men tending to migrate, and women tending to bear increased household responsibilities. While there is increasing investment and attention to the issues of gender, climate and health, there is space for deepening understanding of the role of agency in the gendered aspects of decision making, action, and adaptation related to climate change.

Responding to the 2023 USAID Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy’s promising approaches in the climate sector, Agency for All seeks to leverage its consortium expertise to explore intersectional, resilience-focused, action-oriented SBC programming for health and well-being that “address[es] harmful gender norms and time poverty, advances gender equality, and increases acceptance of women’s participation in and leadership on climate actions at all levels, including through engagement with men and boys to champion women’s leadership”. To do so, Agency for All proposes a sequential set of synergistic activities over a two-year period (July 2023-June 2025) contributing to key questions around agency, empowerment and climate change and health that build towards programmatic design and testing. The first of these activities will be a landscaping review to synthesize peer reviewed and gray literature on the intersections between climate change, gender, and agency, with a focus on SBC programmatic strategies working at this intersection in global health. Save the Children seeks a consultant to conduct this landscaping.

Description of Services

The landscaping review will consider the role of individual and collective agency in gender-responsive climate action for health programming. The landscaping review will seek to both summarize the evidence on the conceptual linkages between agency – both individual and collective – in gender-responsive climate action and identify promising gender transformative SBC approaches that have been implemented, and how and why they’ve been successful. Given the dearth of evidence to date on the nexus of gender, climate change and agency, the review will have a strong health focus, but will also cover a range of sectors to generate a state of the field. The review will encompass peer-reviewed and grey literature focusing on LMICs with the option to showcase evidence from high-income countries (HIC) as needed. The review should also highlight resilience, youth-led climate action (with a focus on adolescents and girls), and feminist and women’s rights organizations. This activity will consist of the following steps which we anticipate the consultant selected will lead with technical and operational support from Save the Children and GEH/UCSD:

Develop a landscaping review protocol, including search terms, inclusion, exclusion criteria, timeframes, and plan for review and data extraction. Conduct the landscaping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature using scientific databases and the USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC), USAID’s Climate Links, or other sources as identified. Review the selected literature and analyze the findings into a review matrix or comparable format for discussion and review by the project team. Develop a list of stakeholders working on gender-responsive climate action programming with a focus on agency and empowerment and conduct key informant interviews (KIIs) to gather additional evidence, solicit input, and possibly showcase best practices. Draft agenda and materials for a virtual consultation(s) to inform drafts and/or vet findings together with activity leaders at Save the Children. Participate, co-facilitate, and support consultations. Draft a landscaping review report, exploring the potential of developing a conceptual model of agency in gender-responsive climate action programming in global health. Manage reviews and inputs, and produce a final version of the landscaping report. Draft accompanying programmatic and policy recommendation briefs with findings for review and finalization.

Deliverables

Develop a landscaping review protocol, including search terms, inclusion, exclusion criteria, timeframes, and plan for review and data extraction for review by Save the Children and GEH/UCSD. Conduct the landscaping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature using scientific databases and the USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC) Draft plan of a virtual consultation(s) to inform drafts and/or vet findings together with activity leaders at Save the Children for review. Landscaping review matrix for presentation to project team in collaborative analysis session list of stakeholders working on gender-responsive climate action programming with a focus on agency and empowerment Completed Key Informant Interviews with identification of possible showcase best practices for review and inputs by Save the Children and GEH/UCSD Participate/co facilitate consultations Draft, revise and finalize a full landscaping review report, exploring the potential of developing a conceptual model of agency in gender-responsive climate action programming for review and finalization. Draft accompanying programmatic and policy recommendation briefs with findings for review and finalization.

Total number of days

40

Management of Consultancy

The consultant’s main point of contact will be Mathias Pollack, Senior Advisor, Social and Behavior Change; supported by Lydie Ky, Advisor, Program Management, who will be the point of contact on the contract and billing issues.

Consultant Qualifications

- Familiarity with international social and behavior change (SBC), gender, and climate change research and interventions, global priorities, and strategies.
- Experience conducting qualitative data collection (including KIIs, research and/or landscape analyses around SBC, gender and/or climate change.
- Experience conducting landscape reviews and/or scoping reviews of evidence and experience facilitating stakeholder engagement in research processes through workshops or other formats
- A demonstrated track record of producing well-written, synthesized, and thoughtful reports and briefs.

How to apply

All candidates should send a cover letter describing their approach to completing the SOW, including a 1-2 page outline of the proposed methodology, and their relevant experience, a resume, a quote for the proposed work (including number of days, rate, and all related expenses), and name and contact details for two professional references related to a similar SOW to Lydie Ky at lky@savechildren.org no later than 5 pm EST, October 9, 2023.