RAPID GENDER ANALYSIS CONSULTANCIES – FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT

CARE in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Caucasus, and Balkans is seeking highly-skilled Rapid Gender Analysis (RGA) consultants willing to work with CARE for a long-term basis under a ‘Consultancy Framework Agreement.’ The Consultancy Framework Agreement is an arrangement that permits CARE to retain one or more qualified individual consultants for multiple consultancy assignments within a 24-month period. After a competitive procurement process, one or several consultants will be recruited to the Framework Agreement under a generic Terms of Reference (See TOR below) that broadly define the nature and scope of services required for the duration of the RGA Consultant Framework Agreement. The criteria for selection are predicated on the below points:

1. These consultants would be required to respond to potential consultancies within in five working days – either to express interest or disinterest – and to deploy when CARE’s organization needs demand in the MENA, Caucasus and Balkans regions that fall under CARE’s regional model.
2. These consultants would be required for short-term (1-3 weeks) and medium-term (4-12 weeks.) deployments.
3. These consultants will be hired under the Framework Agreement for the period of 24 months initially, which could be extendable[1]

The Terms of Reference for RGA Consultant is below:

1. Overview:

CARE USA is one of the world’s leading multi-mandate aid agencies, fighting poverty and injustice in over 104 countries worldwide and helping 65 million people each year find routes out of poverty, with a specific focus on the empowerment of women and girls.

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Caucasus and Balkans Region, CARE operates in 11 countries or sub-regions, which include: Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia), Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia), Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territories (West‐Bank & Gaza), Syria, Turkey, and Yemen. While the size and scope of programming vary considerably from one country office to another, sectors that are consistently targeted in MENA include in humanitarian responses and development programs: sexual and reproductive health; water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); shelter; food nutrition security, women and youth’s economic empowerment, gender-based violence (GBV), a life free from violence, gender equality, and women’s voice; climate justice, inclusive governance, and building resilience.

CARE has a global approach for Gender in Emergencies that focuses on mainstreamed, integrated, and targeted actions and approaches. The approach focuses on 4 key areas (RGAs, Minimum commitments for technical sectors, Women Lead in Emergencies, and Life free from violence). This approach recognizes the work we do in dynamic and complex contexts, where lasting social change does not follow a linear timeline or a single pathway, where multiple stakeholders interact and influence each other as well as our interventions, and where there are constant adjustments in social, economic, structural, environmental or other dimensions that we must be critically aware of and adapt to. RGAs provide information about the different needs, capacities, and coping strategies of women, girls, boys, and men in a crisis situation. It does this, in part, by examining the roles and relationships between women, girls, boys and men. An RGA is built up progressively and provides an initial but incomplete analysis of gender relations in an emergency. With evolving contexts in the region, CARE country presence and RMU require support to either fill capacity gaps or provide additional technical support to meet the project/ program requirements.

CARE is looking to hire an individual consultant, team of consultants or firm, to conduct Rapid Gender Analyses (RGA). An intersectional lens will be applied to the analysis, and focus will be put on capturing the lived experiences, needs and priorities of the most marginalized groups, particularly women and girls with disabilities, migrant domestic workers, and women and girls from vulnerable host and refugee communities, depending on the context of the country where the RGA is conducted, to provide a deeper understanding of gendered roles, social norms and practices, capacities and vulnerabilities, and power relations amongst targeted affected communities.

The scope of the analysis is expected to add a primary focus on GBV, by exploring and highlighting gendered social norms and practices that contribute to increasing GBV risks, as well as women’s priorities and recommendations for community-based prevention and risk mitigation. Key areas of analysis should include:

• Power dynamics
• Gendered social norms and practices including gendered roles and division of labor
• Access and control over resources
• Decision-making, leadership, and participation
• Distinct protection concerns, including but not limited to GBV

The RGA(s) will inform the design of gender and protection interventions as well as design and implementation of GBV prevention and response activities. It should therefore highlight women’s aspirations and distinct priorities as well as recommendations for Gender and Protection interventions.

1. Responsibilities:

The overall objective of this assignment is to carry out country-level or regional level RGAs in MENA.

The specific objectives below describe the overall scope of work for possible assignments under the RGA Consultancy Pool. The overall scope of work below serves as an “umbrella” of possible future assignments brought to the RGA Consultancy Pool. Consultants are expected to touch on one or more of the relevant sub-categories included in the Consultancy Pool. The list below describes the overall scope of work that is inclusive of all future assignments. The deadlines for these assignments depend on the assignment’s nature and the project timeline the assignment is associated with.

Expected roles and responsibilities

1

Inception phase

Hold inception meetings and deliver inception report prior to conducting the RGA

2

Desk review

Review available secondary data and information available

3

Adjusting/reviewing methodology and tools

To be reviewed and feedback to be provided on methodology and design

4.

Data collection

5

Data analysis

6

Present and discuss preliminary findings

7

Write final report with recommendations

To be reviewed and feedback to be provided on validation of findings and recommendations

1. Required Skills and Requirements:

• At least 6 years of relevant experience, especially with NGOs and/or academic organizations, focused on gender in the MENA region.
• Master’s degree in Gender Studies, Political Science, Development Studies, or any related discipline.
• Demonstrated solid understanding of gender issues in MENA
• Demonstrated ability and knowledge of the CARE RGA methodology and tools
• Experience in designing, implementing, or evaluating gender programming in the MENA region.
• Demonstrated skills and experience in conducting gender analyses or research around gender, women’s rights, GBV, or related subjects.
• Demonstrated skills and experience in conducting qualitative research around gender issues in the MENA region.
• Demonstrated skills and experience in designing and implementing participatory data collection exercises.
• Excellent communication and writing skills.
• Fluency in English is required, fluency in Arabic is desired.

1. How to Apply:

In order to apply to the Framework Agreement, CARE kindly requests the interested individuals to send a) a cover letter b) an updated CV c) a daily rate in USD for 20 working days of deployment and d) a daily rate for more than 20 days up to 90 days (if it is the different and more competitive daily rate for long term deployment) to [email protected] with a subject line: RGA Consultant on or before June 27th, 2022.

Successful applicants will be contacted and invited for an interview to further clarify the terms and conditions of employment under this Framework Agreement for RGA Consultancies.

[1] Upon mutual agreement of CARE MENA RMU and Consultant, the term of this agreement may be extended for another 24 months. Such extension may be made subject to the terms and conditions in the framework agreement signed by each consultant.