CLIMATE CHANGE INDUCED IMPACTS ON WOMEN/GIRLS PSYCHOSOCIAL, SOCIO-ECONOMIC and NUTRITION SECURITY CONDITION IN ASIA REGION July 2022

1. Background

The ACF – Pool Asia is supporting 5 missions: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. Due to Asian specific context (countries at relatively advanced stage of development with located vulnerabilities, social inequities and recurrent punctual needs following natural hazards, except Afghanistan and Myanmar which remain really fragile countries), the Pool Asia implements both post-crisis/development and emergency programs. Therefore, specific attention is required in selecting the project implementation approach taking into consideration this particular context. Climate change is a complex environmental and social issue, affecting a world that is characterised by, and based on, deep-rooted unequal gender relations.

Climate change is a growing threat to our food systems, with grim implications for food and nutrition security, livelihoods, and overall health and well-being (including Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support – MHPSS) of local population, especially for poor and vulnerable people including women around the world. Climate-related impacts, ranging from floods to heatwaves and wildfires, are projected to increasingly impact food security and nutrition, especially by disrupting food systems (IPCC, 2021[1]; Fanzo et al, 2018[2]; Al-Delaimy et al, 2020) and increasing social inequities, which together will impact the Mental Health and Psychosocial Well-being of the populations. Indeed, agriculture and other aspects of food security, as well as water, biodiversity and ecosystems, health systems, infrastructure (in particular energy, transportation and tourism) and loss of territory, livelihoods and habitats are identified as areas of particular concern from climate risks and impacts in countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the UNFCCC (UNFCCC NDC Synthesis Report 2021).

Asia and the Pacific are impacted by natural hazards to a greater extent than any other region in the world. Southeast Asia’s risk of natural hazards is high. This is compounded by the rapid rate of urbanization in the region; its proximity to seismically active faults, volcanic zones, tsunami prone coasts; and its susceptibility to the effects of climate change, which is likely to cause increased drought, flooding, and coastal inundation.

Knowledge and literature relevant to the topic of climate change impacts, from national, regional and global levels, have been produced and published worldwide. This has further informed national policy makers, humanitarian and development actors and provided recommendations for necessary actions required. Examples are the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)[3] and the ASEAN[4] report on the State of Climate Change in ASEAN Region.

There is a growing evidence that women and girls, who constitute the majority of the world’s poor, are disproportionately affected by climate change. Gender inequalities in terms of unequal access to wealth, resources, information and decision-making are further reinforced by the effects of climate change.

The latest IPCC[5] report is clear: climate change affects every person and every region of the planet, but its impacts are highly disproportionate and further exacerbate existing socioeconomic inequalities. The people who are the less responsible of the climate emergency are most severely affected. Among these, women and girls bear the brunt of climate impacts.

In the vast majority of communities across the world including Asia region, women shoulder a heavier work burden inside and outside the home and work longer hours than men, often without labour regulations and social protection. This inequality is often referred to as the “triple burden” where women simultaneously undertake a reproductive role (childbearing and domestic work), a productive role (subsistence production), and a community managing role (unpaid care work and provision of resources). Women are expected to earn an income, look after the home, children, and elderly dependents, and participate in community forums and activities.

Women’s vulnerability[6] to climate change stems from a number of social, economic and cultural factors. Seventy per cent of the 1.3 billion people living in conditions of poverty are women. In urban areas, 40 per cent of the poorest households are headed by women. Women predominate in the world’s food production (50-80 per cent), but they own less than 10 per cent of the land.

Women represent a high percentage of poor communities that are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood, particularly in rural areas where they shoulder the major responsibility for household water supply and energy for cooking and heating, as well as for food security. In the Near East, women contribute up to 50 per cent of the agricultural workforce. They are mainly responsible for the more time-consuming and labour-intensive tasks that are carried out manually or with the use of simple tools.

However, there are gaps in understanding the in-depth and country specific dimensions of the inter-linkages between climate change impacts, gender equality, food and nutrition security, and Mental Health and Psychosocial Well-Being of women/girls and their access to health and other social services. Humanitarian and development workers, practitioners and different stakeholders are often guided by assumptions and generalizations and face challenges to assess the climate vulnerabilities among different social groups such as women, girls and men.

Therefore, there is a need for a better understanding of how climate change is impacting women and girls in the ACF project areas in the Asian countries covered by ACF-France operations. For this, the ACF-France Asia pool wants to hire a consultant with proven experience to conduct formal study in order to understand psychosocial, social, economic and cultural factors, generate evidence and extents of impacts and make informed decisions. Furthermore, the consultant will propose a Logframe and Concept Note for a regional intervention in areas of expertise of ACF.

2. Objectives of the consultancy

2.1 General objective:

Against the above background, the general objective of the study is to understand the impact of climate change on women/girls psychosocial, socio-economic and nutrition security condition in Asia, generate evidence and make informed programmatic decisions.

2.2 Specific objective

The study will have the following specific objectives:

• To carry out a meta-analysis on climate change impact on women and girls in the Asia region, highlighting the current state of knowledge, and with a focus on psychosocial, social, economic and cultural factors
• To identify existing gap of humanitarian and development response and strategies on climate change impact and gender in the region
• To carry out 2 brief case studies in areas where ACF is currently operating and aligned with evidence generated by the study
• To identify technical fields where ACF can have an added value to implement its nutrition security approach, as well as its gender transformative approach and propose recommendation on integration of nutrition security, gender consideration into adaptation, mitigation options/interventions based of the study findings
• To develop a logframe and Concept note based on the findings and gaps identified, for a regional intervention in areas of expertise of ACF

3. Duties and responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Asia pool, country office task force and working directly with the assigned focal point at Asia pool, the incumbent will be responsible for the following tasks:

3.1. Literature review:

• Conduct background research combining both quantitative and qualitative information
• Identify and explore various data sources, including but not limited to UN, CGIAR, IFPRI, ASEAN, IPCC
• Undertake a literature and secondary data review, including a review of relevant national policies/strategies, best practices, sex disaggregated data and vulnerability assessments relating to climate change impacts (flood, cyclone…)
• Review past or current ACF projects on climate change and gender in the region
• Produce and submit a desk review summary report

3.2. Data Collection / Research

• Develop a work plan, indicating a proposal for the methodology/with regards to data collection including sources from the UN agencies, Civil Society Organizations, community members and other stakeholders to carry out this study
• Conduct fieldwork to collect 2 case studies: collect inputs from various stakeholders beyond the UN Women network in the appropriate format (eg: workshops, bilateral/multilateral interviews).
  • The budget for this activity should include staff cost (candidates to propose a team structure), transportation and necessary stationeries
  • 2 brief case studies should be written following the field work
• Consult with different stakeholders including relevant government ministries and women’s organizations and ensure women’s organization perspectives are included.
• Produce a study report as well as a best practices document ( short guide to identifying and documenting best practices on CC and gender programmes) in English

4. Outcome of the consultancy/expected deliverables

• Desk review summary report
• Presentation of the main outcome of the study with the team at selected country of operation
• Presentation at HQ level, with the Asia pool members at minimum, but also any other relevant and concerned staff members at HQ
• 2 brief case studies
• A draft study report, which will be reviewed and validated by the ACF-France Asia pool members, to reach a final study report (showing study location, reference) before dissemination, with inclusion of:
  • an executive summary
  • background information, with reference to this ToR
  • purpose of the work and methodology used
  • outcomes and findings, including the desk review summary report and the 2 brief case studies
  • Discussion and conclusion
  • recommendations and way forward
  • annexes
• A logframe and Concept note based on the findings and gaps identified, for a regional intervention in areas of expertise of ACF

5. Timescale

The total time required for this assignment is three months maximum (September 2022 to December 2022- to be confirmed according to the start date abased on recruitment process of the consultant). The consultant will not be working throughout all this time and this should be clearly explained in the detailed technical proposal.

6. Terms of payment

• 40% upon signing the contract
• 30% upon satisfactory completion of the draft study report
• 30% upon satisfactory completion of all the deliverables
• The payment will be made through bank account in the name of the consultant firm. ACF will deduct income tax. Besides, no other benefits shall be admissible beyond what is stipulated in the contract.

7. Criteria for selecting the best offer

Upon the advertisement of the Procurement Notice, qualified consulting firm is expected to submit both the Technical and Financial Proposals. Accordingly, firms will be evaluated based on Cumulative Analysis as per the following scenario:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable,
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. In this regard, the respective weight of the proposals are:
• Technical Criteria weight is 70 %
• Financial Criteria weight is 30%

8. Job requirement/proposal

Qualification and experiences

Consultant should:

• Be a consulting organization/institution/firm with a team of expertise/mixed team from economic and environment, social, and Disaster Risk Reduction/Disaster Risk Management backgrounds.
• Have team member with an appropriate post-graduate qualifications and appropriate experience in climate change, gender and nutrition security with at least five years relevant experience.
• Have proof of similar past work or publications related to gender, climate or nutrition security fields
• Be a register firm under the set of legal provisions or under any valid legal cover.
• Have the commitment to meet the deadlines

[1] IPCC 2021: the physical science basis. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#FullReport

[2] Fanzo, J., Davis, C., McLaren, R., & Choufani, J. (2018). The effect of climate change across food systems: Implications for nutrition outcomes. Global Food Security, 18(January), 12–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2018.06.001

[3] https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/

[4] https://asean.org/book/asean-state-of-climate-change-report/

[5] https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FinalDraft_FullReport.pdf

[6] https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/womenin-shadow-climate-change