Call for Proposals: Research on Climate-Smart Technology to reduce Women’s Drudgery & Time Poverty (Nepal)

Deadline: 8-Sep-23
UN Women is now seeking for a Service provider/research agency to conduct in-depth research to generate relevant evidence from South experience on climate-smart technologies to reduce women’s time poverty and work drudgery.

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Programme Specialist (WPS, Humanitarian and DRR Programme) and Programme Officer (Gender, Climate Change and DRR) the Service provider/research agency will be responsible for conducting an in-depth research study on climate-smart renewable and appropriate technologies in the food business, agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and non-timer forest product sectors that reduce women’s time poverty and work drudgery.

The UN Women is a subsidiary organ of the United Nations mandated to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women’s work on women, peace, and security (WPS) also includes issues related to climate change that in turn are having a visible and growing impact on peace and security. Therefore, the Nepal Country office (NCO) plans to link its climate action work to WPS efforts as there is a clear need for gender-responsive and/or gender transformative climate mitigation/adaptation measures and technologies, which is crucial for greater and more inclusive participation and leadership of women and people from excluded and vulnerable groups in climate related decisions.

Objectives

• The study will involve literature review of existing and recorded women friendly climate-smart renewable and appropriate technologies in Nepal and neighbouring countries with similar climate and geographical conditions, as well as primary field research in few selected sites in Nepal with prior research to explore, analyse and identify such technologies that are being applied by women in these sites.  Study sites are in the high altitude, mid-hill and tarai regions. The specific sites will be identified in consultation with the UN Women team.
• It is expected that the findings will improve targeting climate action initiatives in a systematic way and pave the way for a more equitable gender relation that condition technology choice, particularly in terms of ease in maintenance, use, availability of parts and services, and adoption, and how benefits are shared. It will also inform other areas of research of the gender-related constraints and opportunities faced by women in adapting to climate change impacts, including their needs in technology access and adoption; inequalities in access to and control over resources and services. These in turn will help in development of strategies to address gender inequalities and identification of aspects of technology design needed for climate action to be responsive to gender differences.
• In the analysis of the research, the specific research questions are:
  • How are women in Nepal currently affected by time constraints, time poverty, and work drudgery related to their roles and responsibilities, and how can climate smart renewable technologies alleviate these challenges?
  • What are the social, cultural, and economic barriers faced by women in adopting and accessing such technologies?
  • What are the approaches and strategies by CBOs (community-based organizations) in facilitating adoption of the climate-smart technology at community-level including behavioral change?
  • What policy documents/provisions and institutional frameworks exist at the various levels exist to support the adoption and scaling up of climate smart renewable technologies in Nepal, with a specific focus on women’s empowerment and poverty reduction? (National Climate Change Policy, NAPA, LAPAs, NDC, GRID etc.)

Key Activities and Deliverables

• The consulting agency will be responsible for the conducting the research and achieve the objectives outlined above. To achieve this, the consulting group will undertake the following tasks:
  • Task 1: Develop a detailed inception report incl. workplan, methodological tools, frameworks and timeline for the implementation of the study, incl. survey the literature on the climate-smart renewable and appropriate technologies that reduce women’s time poverty and work drudgery in Nepal, China and India.
    • Deliverables: Inception report and methodological tools and frameworks and literature review
  • Task 2: Conduct field study in Nepal, China and India (field team of max 2 members), identifying, investigating and analysing and mapping simple, low-cost, climate-smart renewable and appropriate technologies in the above-mentioned sectors that reduce women’s time poverty and work drudgery. In situations where the execution of field research becomes unattainable due to prevailing conditions, it is recommended that such research endeavors be undertaken remotely as a suitable alternative.
    • Deliverables: Conduct field study in Nepal, China and India (field team of max 2 members, 1 week in each country), identifying, investigating and analysing and mapping simple, low-cost, climate-smart renewable and appropriate technologies in the above-mentioned sectors that reduce women’s time poverty and work drudgery.
  • Task 3: Report writing and workshop
    • Deliverables: Final report and workshop with a presentation to the stakeholders in Kathmandu valley.

Funding Information

• The budget range for this proposal is USD 27,157.

Time Frame

• 3 months: 1 October 2023 – 31 December 2023.

Eligibility Criteria

• Proven technical competencies in climate change and intersectional feminist approaches to advance gender equality
• Strong understanding of the social, gender and regional context of Nepal, India and China
• Competence in analytical assessment of data/issues in relevant areas and ability in handling primary and secondary sources, methodological tools and problems in social science
• Proven record of designing, leading and conducting field-based research on gender and social issues, climate change impacts and adaptation in Nepal and/or the neighboring countries with similar climate and geographical context, with publications on these
• Record of publications on social issues, climate change, DRR, and related topics
• Expertise on technical knowledge of related technologies and analyses of these
• Established networks and good working relations with government agencies, research institutes, NGOs, community-based organizations, and civil society organizations
• Good networks and working experience with women’s organizations is highly desirable

For more information, visit UN Women.