TERMS OF REFERENCE

                                     GENDER ASSESSMENT OF “FOOD AND AGRICULTURE” THEME

                                                        FASTENAKTION - NEPAL

BACKGROUND

Fastenaktion (FA), previously known as Fastenopfer, is a Swiss international development agency supporting local NGOs in Nepal for the last two decades. Grassroots Consulting (GC) is a Nepal based consultancy firm mandated by Fastenaktion to coordinate the Nepal Country Programme (referred to as PCU). Fastenaktion’s current Country Programme (CP) 2017-2024 focuses on the two core themes: Right to Food/ Agroecology and Women Empowerment. The Country Programme operates in direct partnership with 9 organizations. Out of the 9-partner organizations (referred as POrgs), 8 are focused on the Food and Agriculture theme – mainly working in remote parts of Karnali and using community empowerment and agroecology as means to increase food sovereignty, mainstreaming gender to some extent, but with potential to further refine and shape a clearer focus on gender transformation.

FA has placed a strong focus on gender and women empowerment in the last years. However, the topic has undergone important changes in the past couple of years. Since 2005, the partner organization CAED implemented a project named Women’s Reproductive Rights Program (WRRP) in the eastern Nepal focusing on Uterine Prolapse or Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP). WRRP worked on the one hand at grassroots level by building capacity and knowledge regarding causes and consequences of POP and its relation to women's sexual and reproductive health rights. On the other hand, WRRP aimed at influencing policies and service provision on POP and establishing women's sexual and reproductive health rights at district and national level. WRRP as well as another project implemented by CAED (KLEP -Karnali Livelihood Empowerment Programme) were working on gender in a transversal way with model couple campaigners (MCCs) as an approach. MCCs are an instrument to analyse different roles within families and are functioning as a starting point within communities to reflect on gender relationships. The idea is that the workload between man and woman is analysed together and afterwards shared in a more balanced way. Moreover, decision making within households should happen in a more gender equal way and mutual respect become an important component of family life. This example of MCCs should then spill over to other families within the community. In 2021, WRRP was phased out.

Most recently, on the theme ‘Women Empowernment’ Fastenaktion’s partner, Aawaj, conducted a situation analysis of child marriage in Karnali. One of the findings was the lack of collaboration and collective action among CSOs in Karnali. To strengthen efforts against child marriage, an alliance consisting of 10 chapters in 10 Districts, brings together CSOs working against child marriage called “Campaign Against Child Marriage Alliance - CACMA) has been initiated. Through collective action, CACMA aims at increasing accountability towards prevention of child marriage at provincial and municipal level. 

Fastenaktion’s geographic focus is the Karnali province. Within Karnali, the target group are food insecure marginalized groups living in remote areas where markets and other development stakeholders are less active. Mostly, they are affected by multiple dimensions of marginalization as per the LNOB (Leave No One Behind) framework. Those most in need have been identified and include Karnali Dalits, Dalit women and other food insecure groups. Partner organizations implementing projects under Food and Agriculture theme are listed in annex I.  

PURPOSE OF THE CONSULTANCY 

Against this background, Fastenaktion Nepal has entered a reflection process on how to meaningfully work on gender transformation within the CP with a focus on more strongly mainstreaming gender in the “Food and Agriculture” theme. For this purpose, FA is currently calling for consultants to support and further strengthen this reflection process.

Fastenaktion seeks to procure the service of a consultant or a team to analyze and assess the diverse gender aspects related to the ‘Food and Agriculture’ theme and provide recommendations that would help mainstreaming and further strengthening of gender transformative approaches in all its processes and interventions relevant to the theme. 

OBJECTIVES

1) Understand and assess the context and key gender issues and priorities among the target group of projects under the ‘food and agriculture’ theme. 
2) Contextualize the understanding of “gender” for the context Fastenaktion is working in  Nepal, and recommend relevant gender approaches for the country programme.
3) Evaluate how/if projects respond to gender issues and priorities in a culturally sensitive way. 
4) Provide recommendation to strengthen gender transformative approaches for projects under the “food and agriculture” theme. 

SCOPE AND ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS 

Through an analysis of key documents, consultations with key stakeholders and field visit to sample project sites; the consultant understands, analyses and provides recommendations related to the above-mentioned objectives. In particular, this includes the following key questions for each objective:

Objective 1:

a) Which are the contextual elements relevant for gender relations?
b) Which elements does the projects’ target group see as restricting in terms of gender?
c) What kind of approaches related to new masculinities have been piloted in similar contexts in Nepal and show potential? If not available in Nepal, explore in the region.

Objective 2:

a) What experience and understanding do the current POrgs and relevant stakeholders have on gender responsiveness and on gender transformation?
b) How does the country programme (incl. PCU and POrgs) understand the topic of gender (incl. commonalities and differences), serving as a basis for a shared understanding of gender relevant to the Nepali context?

Objective 3:

c) Where do the current projects and POrgs stand regarding the gender equality continuum (according to OECD) (supported by examples)?

Objective 4:

a) Considering the findings, how should POrg/CP integrate/ mainstream gender in the
    projects under the “Food and Agriculture” theme in order to become more gender
    transformative?
b) What further measures/ actions are required to do so (new partner organisation, additional  gender expertise, capacity building, South-South exchange etc.)?
c) Recommend a sequence of steps/ action plan for the short and medium term.

The recommendations of the assessment will be used by Fastenaktion Nepal in designing its next programme phase starting from 2025.

METHODOLOGY AND PROCESS

The consultant is requested to propose a methodological approach. Nonetheless the assessment should at the minimum include the following:

• a review of relevant background documents, including the evaluation of the MCC approach
• consultation with key stakeholders including FA, POrgs, gender and food system experts familiar with the theme and the target; as well as the target group itself with a particular focus on the most marginalized.
• This includes a field visit to four to six POrgs’ project locations and the other POrgs are included through phone calls. 

DELIVERABLES
The deliverables include the following, sequenced by phase:

Application Phase
Bidding documentation (see requirements in the respective paragraph)

Inception/Preparation Phase
Inception report (draft and final version after feedback, English, max. 15pages without annexes), containing at least:

- Preliminary findings/assumptions to the assessment questions.
- Detailed design and methodology for the assessment including approaches, strategies, sampling, assessment methods and tools 
- Details of methods and tools and the required participants. 
- Information to be obtained during the interviews, interview partners to be met, participants of any workshops, indicators for verification/falsification of the preliminary findings/assumptions. 
- Travel plans to project sites. 
- A quality assurance plan for the process and deliverables

Assessment Phase

• Plan of Activities: field visit, any workshops, interviews, focus group discussions and other events required for data collection and analysis.
• Exchanges with FA regularly (including after each field visits). 
• Restitution workshop of the findings for Objectives with all POrgs to ensure a common understanding of those as a basis for elaborating on Objective 4.

Closing Phase

• Fully “cleaned-up” dataset and transcripts of qualitative data (if required)
• Workshop for restitution and common learning to discuss findings and in particular recommendations with Fastenaktion and partner organizations.
• Draft and final report in English (max 25 pages). The final report must contain:
  a. an executive summary
  b.  methodology, limitations
  c. clear, evidence-based answers to each objective and assessment question, indicating the specific source(s) of information/evidence on which the answer is based
  d. overall recommendations and conclusions of the consultants,
  e. an overall conclusion: main findings and opinion of the consultant(s)
  

PROCESS AND TIMELINE
The consultancy will take place from September to December, 2023.

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE CONSULTANT(S)
The consultancy requires candidates with significant expertise and a track record on gender transformative approaches, experience with LNOB approaches, as well as in-depth familiarity with the issues of food and agriculture of the people living in remote Karnali. Individuals as well as organizations or companies may apply. If it is a team, a good gender-balance is a must, as well as their readiness for field visits to remote areas.

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
Upon selection, the consultant(s) will work closely with PCU to finalize the processes and tools.  The PCU supports in making logistical arrangement to the field in coordination with local field partners. Payment is made by GC to the consultant(s) as per the contract. 

COMMUNICATION CHANNELS AND ISSUE MANAGEMENT
The main point of contact for the consultant(s) representing Fastenaktion-Nepal will be the Programme Coordinator for Nepal. The Programme Manager for Fastenaktion -Nepal will be equally involved in the decision-making process. Fastenaktion will provide feedback to all the key documents. In case of disagreement regarding methodology or divergent opinions during any of the process, minority views will be reflected in an annex to the final report. 

ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLES
The consultant(s) should adhere the following principles:

- Neutrality: the consultant remains neutral and avoids bias or prejudice in the interpretation of information and discussions.
- Evidence-based: statements, perceptions and opinions must be based on concrete facts and experiences.
- Appreciative approach: the consultancy identifies both achievements and gaps and the consultant translates these findings into concrete recommendations, which feed into the dialogue with the different stakeholders. 
- Cultural diversity: the chosen approaches and procedures need to respect cultural diversity, allowing for a critical look, but at the same time recognise the diversity of different local and organisational practices and cultures. 
- En-gendered approach: the consultancy must address the intervention’s target groups in differentiated ways, take into account power relations within organisations and target groups, and differentiate the effects of the intervention on men/women.
- Informed consent and confidentiality: Persons can only be interviewed or assessed upon their informed consent. Data will not be attributed to specific individuals interviewed. The consultants will ask explicit permission to use quotes, testimonies and pictures to present findings, if these could lead to the identification of the respondent. 

BUDGET AND PAYMENT
The overall assessment process is expected to be realized in approx. 50 working days. However, the consultant(s) are open to providing revised number of days in the bid document with relevant justification. The consultant(s) will propose their daily rate for consultation service in the biding document. Food, travel, accommodation, and stationary costs will be covered as per bill following FA’s organizational policy. The venue costs for the restitution workshops are covered by FA, as well as the partners’ attendance. The costs for this evaluation are covered by Fastenaktion-Nepal and payments be made through Grassroots Consulting which represents Fastenaktion in Nepal. 

APPLICATION PROCESS AND DEADLINE

Completed bids shall be submitted by the e-mail titled “Gender Analysis_Karnali” to [email protected] with cc to [email protected] by September 25th, 2023. Discussions/interviews are likely to take place first half of October, 2023. 

TENDER DOCUMENTS
Interested and eligible candidates should submit the following: 

- A cover letter, indicating how the candidate(s) understand the ToR and meet the required qualifications (maximum 1 pages) 
- Proposed approach, design, methodology, and sequence of activities and time frame (max 7 pages) 
- Budget with Consultation fee/days. 
- CVs (maximum 4 pages)

EVALUATION OF BIDS
A team in Fastenaktion will assess the offers based on pre-defined criteria. The following components are some of the major components to be used in evaluating the bids: 

- The experience and competence of the consultant(s) in relation to the Terms of Reference;
- The proposed methodology for the assignment in relation to the Terms of Reference;
- The consultant(s) ability to perform the assignment in the appropriate time while upholding quality; 
- The biding offer. 

Fastenaktion may call selected bidders for a presentation of their bids.

LIST OF REFERENCE DOCUMENTS: 

- CP 2017-2024
- Sample Project Report
- Situation Analysis Of Child Marriage In Karnali Province aawaaj.org.np/pdf/Child-Marriage-Situation-Analysis-Report.pdf
- Internal Self Evaluation Report 
- Food and Agriculture Concept Note: 
- MCC Evaluation Report
- MCC Summary: https://fastenaktion.ch/content/uploads/2019/06/MCC-Eval-2018-Summary.pdf 
- Annual Monitoring Report

Provided upon request. 

Annex I: Partner Organization (POrg) on the theme Food and Agriculture