Full time and consultancies
Project Background
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and partners are tackling the issue of deteriorating marine environments in the Western Indian Ocean by supporting the expansion and improved management of MPAs. The Western Indian Ocean contains some of the world’s most extensive and most climate resilient coral reefs and mangroves, which are critical sources of protein, coastal protection and income to coastal populations. Yet, the integrity of the region’s ecosystems is threatened by the overexploitation of fisheries, habitat clearing and pollution, exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. To ensure sustainable management of these marine resources, women’s engagement in conservation and decision-making is crucial.
WCS is currently leading a project in the Trans-Boundary Conservation Area (TBCA) between southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. On the Tanzanian side, the project is being implemented in the three most northern villages of Moa, Ndumbani and Jasini of Mkinga District Tanzania. The project is enhancing community management of sustainable small-scale fisheries with fisheries management plans, support of locally managed marine areas, and work towards reducing post-harvest losses and improving marine-related supply chains. One of the project activities is to support establishment and strengthening of women’s groups to ensure participation in marine resource management.
WCS is looking to hire a ‘Consultant’ to provide technical assistance in support of establishment and assessment of gender related issues in relation to social-economic and cultural barriers for woman participation in marine fisheries management. The consultancy is expected to propose solutions with reference to enabling women in leadership positions and economic empowerment. Finally, the consultancy will provide training on identified solutions.
Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Fisheries
Gender equality and woman empowerment are key aspects considered important in marine systems and fisheries management in general. In the fisheries sector, men and women engage in distinct and often complementary activities that are strongly influenced by the social, cultural and economic contexts they live in. Male-female relations vary greatly and are based on economic status, power relations, and access to productive resources and services. In most of the countries within Western Indian Ocean region, fish catching is male-dominated. Women are mostly responsible for skilled and time-consuming onshore tasks, such as making and mending nets, processing and marketing catches, and providing services to the boats. In many parts of the world, they also do a significant number of shellfish gathering/clam gleaning – a fishery activity that is often under-recognized, or not recognized at all. Sectoral statistical systems (such as those for fisheries) commonly fail to capture these broader contributions to livelihoods, nor do they consider women’s engagement in fishery/shellfish harvesting activities (as the products are often not sold through a formal market system, may not be of high value, or may be used for home consumption). In addition, women may not self-report/identify as being “fishers” even though they are engaged in these activities. In fisheries value chains men and women have distinct roles, and their socio-economic status influences their power relations. Women and men can have dominant roles, or they can be in positions of high dependency. Women constitute about half the population involved in fisheries development activities. In some developing regions women have become important fish entrepreneurs who control significant amounts of money, finance a variety of fish-based enterprises, and generate substantial returns for households and communities.
Compared with men, women often face more problems related to technology, finance for enterprise expansion, transport and related gender violence. Their plight is worsened at the market level where they encounter price fluctuations for their products, or where social and/or cultural pressures limit their market opportunities to locations that are close to home. If women are able to access local markets, they may still be unable to access the national or global markets that men have access to. They often assume responsibility for their families’ daily subsistence needs, which sometimes drastically depletes their working capital. In view of their important role in the post-harvest subsector, women must be allowed to participate in decision-making processes, and be provided with the access to physical and capital resources for developing their industry and meeting their needs and aspirations. It is necessary to promote woman to form groups where they will be provided with training and leadership education to improve their participation in decision making, improve efficiency, profitability and sustainability of their activities; to ensure adequate infrastructure, equipment, technologies, and access to markets.
Overall Objectives
The overall objective of this work is to promote women’s engagement and inclusion in fishery and society, more specifically, establishment of woman groups in support of small-scale fisheries management, identify key issues and barriers for woman engagement and inclusion in decision making for fisheries management and propose solutions with reference to enabling women in leadership positions in fisheries management.
Specific tasks will include;
Activities and Deliverables
The specific deliverables expected from the consultant from this contract are set out in the table below:
No
Activity
Deliverable
Time frame
Expected Results for component 1: Establishment of support groups for woman in marine system with focus on building their agency, shared power and decision-making in small-scale fisheries management
1
Conduct meeting with woman from three villages to assess the need for establishing ‘Support groups for women to help women to build their agency, shared power and decision-making’
Report on the need for establishing support groups for women to help women to build their agency, shared power and decision-making’ including list of participants and agenda
May/June 2023
2
Establishment of 2 support groups (with at least 30 members, led by 4 woman in each making a total of 24 woman in leadership position across all villages) for woman in marine system in each village (work to be conducted in 3 villages) to help women to build their agency, shared power and decision-making. This includes supporting registration process and formalization
Report on the number of woman group established and registration in support of marine systems including list of members
June 2023
Expected results for component 2: Carryout survey on gender related issues in relation to social-economic and cultural barriers for woman to build their agency, shared power and engagement in decision-making in small-scale fisheries management
3
Conduct focal group survey on woman related to social-economic and cultural barriers for woman to build their agency, shared power and engagement and inclusion in decision-making process in small-scale fisheries management
Conduct data analysis. Based on the analysis, identify key issues related to social-economic and cultural barriers for woman to build their agency, shared power and engagement and inclusion in decision-making process in small-scale fisheries management
Data set and report on the social-economic and cultural barriers for woman to build their agency, shared power and engagement and inclusion in decision-making process in small-scale fisheries management
Report with results based on the analyzed data and list of identified key issues related to social-economic and cultural barriers for woman to build their agency, shared power and engagement and inclusion in decision-making process in small-scale fisheries management. List of participants for each focal group will be provided.
July 2023
4
Based on the results in 3&4 above, consultant will be required to ‘Propose list of solutions and provide focus training on identified solutions with reference to enabling women in leadership positions to they build their agency, shared power leading to engagement and inclusion in decision-making process in small-scale fisheries management
Report on the proposed solutions and focus training on identified solutions with reference to enabling women in leadership positions to they build their agency, shared power leading to engagement and inclusion in decision-making process in small-scale fisheries management. This includes list of participants, training manual and agenda
August 2023
Geographical scope of work
The Consultant is expected to work in Jasini, Moa and Ndumbani villages in Mkinga District, travelling to Mkinga district council office and Tanga city for consultation where necessary.
Start date and period of implementation
The intended start date is June 2023 and the contract's implementation period will be a maximum of 4 months from contract signature. The consultant will produce a draft schedule that outlines critical milestones for the work.
Qualification
The consultant can be a company or individual with relevant skills and experience.
Application
Applications should provide:
Proposals shall remain valid for acceptance for a period not less than 30 calendar days from the final date for submission of proposals.
References
Applicants must provide examples of up to three similar projects, recently completed or in progress, with the following information for each:
Selection Criteria
• WCS will review and evaluate all proposals to determine each proposer's Technical Rating. WCS may request to interview proposers to discuss their proposals and visit their offices.
• The proposer with the best combination of Technical Qualifications and Fee Proposal will be selected for the award. WCS may reject any or all proposals if, in its sole opinion, no proposal satisfies its criteria.
Please send applications to: wcstanzania@wcs.org on or before 25 May 2023 23:59:59 EAT.