Deadline: 12-Jun-23
UN Women is accepting proposals to strengthen women’s resilience to natural disasters and threats, including climate change, contributing to sustainable, secure, and thriving communities in disaster prone districts in Malawi.
The Malawi Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) Project is an 18-month project that aims at initiating and providing a comprehensive package of services to strengthen women’s resilience to natural disasters and threats, including climate change, contributing to sustainable, secure, and thriving communities in disaster prone districts in Malawi. The project will be implemented in three disasters prone districts that were heavily hit by Tropical Cyclone Freddy: Zomba, Blantyre and Phalombe.
Programme Goal: The lives and livelihoods of women and girls are resilient to disasters and climate change; contributing to sustainable, secure, and thriving communities.
Programme Objective: Malawi adopts gender-responsive decision-making and governance systems enabling targeted action for building the resilience of women and girls to current and future disasters and threats including climate change.
Funding Information
- The budget range for this proposal should be (up to a maximum of $400,000 per partner).
- Duration: The Programme is expected to commence in June 2023 – December 2024.
Outcomes
- Outcome 1: Ministries of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Local Government, Natural Resources and Climate Change and the Department of Disaster Management Affairs [DoDMA] in Malawi use prevention, preparedness, and recovery policy frameworks, systems, and processes, which are gender-responsive, evidence-based, and implemented as a result of local women’s and girls’ advocacy through women’s leadership and participation in disaster risk reduction; enhanced gender capacity for disaster risk reduction and resilience stakeholders; enhanced access to knowledge, guidance and expertise on gender-responsive disaster resilience; and strategic partnerships, networks, and advocacy for women’s agency and leadership in disaster risk reduction.
- Output 1.2: Women’s organisations have enhanced capacity to advocate, lead and engage in disaster risk reduction and resilience building.
- Activity 1.2.2. Work with [at least 50 women, youth and disability organisations in each target district] to develop their capacities for women’s leadership and their meaningful participation to influence decision making processes and practice.
- Activity 1.2.3. Strengthen the engagement of 50 men within each traditional system of the target districts to advocate for women’s leadership.
- Output 1.2: Women’s organisations have enhanced capacity to advocate, lead and engage in disaster risk reduction and resilience building.
- Outcome 2: Women and girls have voice and agency and access to resilience services to withstand multiple hazards, recover from disasters, and increase their resilience to future crises through targeted action to build gender-responsive and inclusive early earnings systems, risk-communication, and preparedness; and link to and partner with locally appropriate mechanisms (e.g. self-help groups), services, and products (e.g. financial); and through strategic partnerships provide support for resilient livelihoods and businesses.
- Output 2.1: Government, local DRR stakeholders and women’s organisations are enabled to develop inclusive and gender-responsive preparedness and early warning systems.
- Activity 2.1.2. Support the functioning of coordination units at district level with mobile phones, transportation, and management tools in support of inclusive local preparedness and end-to-end, accessible and inclusive early warning systems.
- Activity 2.1.3. Support capacity development and awareness raising of at least 40 local stakeholders’ organisations in each target district (e.g., women’s and disabled persons’) in support of local preparedness & engagement in inclusive early warning systems (N).
- Activity 2.1.4. Develop the capacity of [200 women and girls in each target district] of the WRD covered communities to influence and access preparedness, EWS and risk communications including community agreements, safeguards, and communication around evacuation centres.
- Output 2.3: Partnerships established between WRD and new/existing livelihood and resilience programmes; and partnerships brokered between women’s organisations/agencies with livelihood and business actors and experts.
- Activity 2.3.1. Identify key opportunities through new partnerships to support resilient business activities for [250 in each target district] women e.g., self-help groups, developing new markets, providing access to savings, loans, financial, institutions and technical advice.
- Activity 2.3.2. Partner with the financial sector to develop innovative financing products for women’s MSMEs and startups including incubators and accelerators for [300 in each target district] women-led start-ups, soft loans, grants, guarantees, microinsurance, and financial inclusion and venture capital funds to expand access to finance for women ventures and enterprises, and to help put women’s businesses online.
- Output 2.4: Women engaged in formal and informal business have increased capacity on climate and disaster resilient businesses.
- Activity 2.4.1. Stock-take existing interventions that are successfully building women’s resilience in Malawi especially in the disaster risk prone districts.
- Activity 2.4.2. Pilot and document climate and environmentally friendly agricultural practices for [40 in each target district] women farmer groups with sustainable water and renewable energy management solutions (e.g. solar pump irrigation).
- Activity 2.4.3. Finance small-scale agro-processing technologies including Multi-Functional Platforms (PMFs) based on renewable energy to minimise post-production losses and develop sustainable value chains and agribusiness processing activities to support [100 in each target district] women’s resilient livelihoods.
- Output 2.5: Targeted and innovative climate and disaster resilient livelihood opportunities are made accessible for women in selected communities covered by WRD.
- Activity 2.5.1. Develop capacities for [500 in each target district] women business owners and young women entrepreneurs to increase knowledge and skills on assessing and managing disaster risks and preparing for future disasters.
- Activity 2.5.2. Facilitate access to entrepreneurship in the sustainable energy sector for [500 in each target district] women small and medium enterprises by supporting access to credit and solar energy (e.g. savings groups) and building the capacity of women and integrated energy service operators.
- Output 2.1: Government, local DRR stakeholders and women’s organisations are enabled to develop inclusive and gender-responsive preparedness and early warning systems.
Competencies
- Technical/functional competencies required This Call for Implementing Partners is open to International Non-Governmental Organizations based in Malawi that have expertise and capacity to deliver the above interventions. Applications are encouraged particularly from organizations with a presence in the three target districts namely Zomba, Blantyre and Phalombe and have experience in delivery of programming relevant to this CfP reflecting:
- Demonstrable experience and expertise in collaborating with government ministries such as the Ministries of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Local Government, Natural Resources and Climate Change and the Department of Disaster Management Affairs [DoDMA]
- Experience in implementation of Disaster prevention, preparedness, and recovery interventions
- Experience in facilitating gender integration in key national policies, preferably those related to disaster risk reduction and resilience building.
- Result-based programming, building on lessons learned and recommended practices, to ensure optimal results and use of resources.
- Women economic empowerment initiatives and gender-responsive approaches that place first priority on promoting and enhancing women’s livelihoods, access to market, business development skills and renewable energy opportunities for crisis affected and at-risk women.
- Focus on disadvantaged groups, or otherwise especially excluded, and ensuring responsiveness to diversity.
- Priority placed on sustainability of results.
- Experience in establishing/strengthening linkages to financial institutions targeting resilience for the benefit of the crisis affected and at-risk in Somalia and other fragile contexts.
- Ability to facilitate access to entrepreneurship in the sustainable energy sector for women’s enterprises micro and small enterprises through access to renewable energy.
- Experience in capacity development and awareness raising for local stakeholders in support of preparedness and engagement in inclusive early warning and early action.
- Other competencies, which while not required, can be an asset for the performance of services:
- Commitment to sharing knowledge, by documenting, evaluating, and disseminating results, and working with UN Women staff including developing monitoring systems that can track the progress towards economic empowerment thousands of beneficiaries.
- Coordination and multi-sectorial partnerships, including among government organizations, nongovernmental organizations, women, and other civil society groups.
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