Request for Expression of Interest – Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Strengthening for 30 Targeted Producers’ Organizations under the Resilient Rural Belize Programme

Published by [email protected] at September 20, 2022

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Posted: Tuesday, September 20, 2022. 9:28 pm CST.

Contributed by the Ministry of Economic Development: The Government of Belize (GOB), through a financing agreement with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Green Climate Fund (GCF), has embarked on a six-year Programme, Resilient Rural Belize (RRB), which aims to minimize the impacts of climatic and economic events on smallholder farmers while supporting sustainable market access for their produce. The programme will help farmers employ climate resilient agricultural practices and technologies; integrate profitable smallholder participation into the development of select vegetables, fruits, and honey value chains; and support smallholder production capacity through investments in public and private climate resilient infrastructure and in the strengthening of smallholder farmer Producers’ Organizations (POs) and relevant GOB Departments.

Background on the assignment:
The Resilient Rural Belize Programme is committed to mainstreaming gender equality and social inclusion (GESI), to ensure that young people, women and men have equal access to, and control over, resources for development, benefits, and decision-making at all stages of development processes, projects, programs, and policies within the agriculture sector.

Objectives of the assignment:
The Programme is seeking to procure the services of a consultant to develop and implement a comprehensive GESI capacity building programme, differentiated for three groups, namely:
i. the PMU staff and the Climate Smart Agriculture Extension Officers (CSAEOs),
ii. the POs members, and
iii. staff of the Department of Co-operatives (DOC) and of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, and Enterprise (MOA), including the Gender Focal Point of the Ministry.

The main objective of the assignment is to ensure the participation of 40% women and 20% youth (ages 15 to 24) in at least 30 targeted POs by the end of the Programme and guaranteeing GESI is fully integrated in the POs, by promoting equitable management of benefits by women and young people and their participation in capacity building and investments throughout all project interventions i.e. Organization Development Plans (ODP) and Business Plans (BP) design and implementation, Matching Grant Fund Agreement (MGFA) implementation.

The specific objective is to implement an integral GESI capacity building programme, aligned with the RRB GAP, aiming at supporting at least 30 POs to move towards gender equality, women empowerment and social inclusion (how to do it and expected benefits), ensure an equal participation, decision making and benefits of women and young people in POs.

Deliverables:
The Individual Consultant shall provide the following deliverables:
a) An Inception report to be submitted within three (3) weeks of contract signature. The report shall include as a minimum, the consultancy approach, training methodology and workplan, the draft of the proposed GESI capacity building programme for the different groups (PMU staff and CSAEO, POs and DOC/MOA staff, including the Gender Focal Point and IPs) and an outline of the training sessions.
b) A training completion report for each group, which shall include the presentations and training methodologies used, attendance register, photographs, issues identified during training and the commitments made by the different groups trained, as well as recommendations for future training (electronic and one original).
c) Develop a small booklet or handout (not a training manual) to share with the POs and Implementing partners on gender equality, women empowerment and social inclusion. This could be developed from the information used to conduct the trainings (electronic and one original).
d) Consultancy Completion Report (electronic and one original), which shall include results, issues faced during the assignment, lessons learnt, commitments achieved, as well as recommendations & affirmative actions for the inclusion of youth and women in the whole project and of how to assure women and youth are benefited from project services.
e) The report will also include recommendations relevant for the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) System.

Consultant’s qualifications and experience:
The Gender Consultant must possess a minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in Gender Studies, Anthropology, Social Psychology, Sociology, Social Work, Art, Public Policy, Development Studies and/or Agriculture.

Specific Experience:
Minimum five (5) years of experience in conducting GESI investigations, analysis of gender gaps in rural areas, facilitation of training processes with the government as well as community actors, and/or socio-economic surveys with a gender and social inclusion approach.

Minimum three (3) years of experience with the use of participatory methodologies for trainings as well as women and young people empowerment.

A minimum of three (3) years’ experience conducting training sessions on topics related to Youth, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion.

Consultant must be fluent in English language and at least fair in Spanish language.

Individual Consultants interested in receiving the Request for Expression of Interest (REOI) document for this consultancy should register their interest by sending an e-mail (with subject: Request for REOI – Gender Consultant to the Procurement Officer at [email protected] giving full contact details of the Consultant. This will ensure that the Consultants receive updates regarding this consultancy.

The REOI must be submitted via email only to the following address on or before October 18, 2022, at 3:00 PM (Local time).

Attn: Geraldo Flowers
Resilient Rural Belize Programme National Agriculture Showgrounds Belmopan City, Cayo, Belize
Email: [email protected] CC: [email protected]

Institution: Ministry of Economic Development
Country: Belize
Project: Resilient Rural Belize Programme
Loan No.: 2000002301
Deadline for Submission of Proposals: October 18, 2022 at 3:00 PM.

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