Consultancy Geer Enterprise Market GEM Assessment

Job Description

GENDER, ENTERPRISE, AND MARKET(GEM) ASSESSMENT IN KIRKUK AND DIYALASubject of the assignmentGEM Assessment Kirkuk and DiyalaStarting date22.09.2022DurationRequirements- Technical Proposal (including methodology, work plan, output).- Financial Proposal- Sample report/ previous workDeadline for application02.10.2022Application to be sent toirqconsultancy@oxfam.org.uk-Context and Project BackgroundOxfam is a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice. Oxfam offers lifesaving support in times of crisis and advocates for economy justice, gender equality, and climate action. Oxfam demands equal rights and equal treatment so that everyone can thrive, not just survive. Recognizing the importance of sustainable development towards achieving inclusive justice, Oxfam applies a triple nexus approach that connects its humanitarian work with longer-term development initiatives alongside advocacy work to ensure more sustainable change. Oxfam?s humanitarian and development priorities in-country are emergency food security, vulnerable livelihoods, water and sanitation, gender justice, and protection. Oxfam has been working in Iraq since the 1990s with an expanding and contracting presence has embarked on research and operational projects related to sustainable production and private sector development, with a view of gradually shifting from humanitarian and early-recovery actions to longer-term solutions to the prevailing drivers of vulnerability.According to the 2021 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) the country is facing severe water stress, direct result of climate change. This is exemplified by a 50% decrease in the water supply of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, accounting for 98% of Iraq?s water supply for drinking, sanitation, and irrigation in 20213. In the Zab River in Kirkuk region, water content has decreased by 70%.4 Diyala? s main water storage, Lake Hamrin, has been almost completely depleted. May 2021, Diyala Governate warned of an unprecedented drought hitting five administrative units that could provoke migration and the collapse of the agriculture sector. By mid-summer, line ministries prohibited the planting of summer crops in Diyala to preserve water resources, immediately impacting 70% of the population dependent on agriculture. By October 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that its winter crop area would be halved because of the water crisis. This means significantly fewer farmers will receive government-provided agricultural inputs across Iraq ? no farmers in Diyala whatsoever - and the government will not buy their harvest. A 2022 report from FAO?s Data in Emergencies Monitoring concluded that the combined impact of water scarcity and reduced access to inputs contributed to decrease in the annual harvest greater than 80% in Diyala governorate. Oxfam?s community consultations in Diyala and Kirkuk revealed increased rates of waterborne disease attributable to limited and poor-quality drinking water. While water supplies are gradually replenishing, many systems have already experienced significant damage and are not fit to withstand future shocks.The growing water pressure, if it continues to go unchecked, has the potential to deepen divisions between ethno-sectarian groups, and generate instability and new protection risks. While IoM?s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) indicates levels of social cohesion appear to be stable across areas of displacement and return, Muqdadiya was a notable outlier due to high levels of violent incidents, threats, and reported mistrust between IDPs, returnees, and host community members. Low levels of social cohesion, coupled with severe environmental degradation, risk contributing to renewed tensions and/or displacement in Diyala. While social cohesion is relatively better in Hawija and Daqauq, Kirkuk, access to services remain highly unequal among IDPs and recent returnees. In both Diyala and Kirkuk, the drought and climate-change induced events forecasted for 2022 can exacerbate existing vulnerabilities among IDPs and returnees, while serving as a major obstacle to durable solutions.Considering the patriarchal nature of the communities, women and girls are disproportionately affected across all the intrinsically vulnerable segments of the communities, particularly IDPs, returnees, and poor host-community households. Nevertheless, women are a significant economic entrepreneurial force whose contributions to local, national, and global economies are far reaching. Women produce and consume, manage businesses and households, earn income, hire labour, borrow, and save, and provide a range of services for businesses and workers. Understanding how women access markets as producers and wage laborers is likely to prove critical for fostering pro-poor and inclusive economic growth. Analysing where women are, in the local supply chain and documenting the resources they use, and transform will provide information about how to strengthen local economies and maximize forward and backward linkages. Finally, reducing barriers to market access and enhancing women?s productivity will necessarily benefit both the local economies and households. It is against this backdrop that Oxfam is planning to undertake a Gender, Enterprise, and Markets (GEM) study, whose recommendations will inform the design of actions supported by the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) project to be implemented in Diyala and Kirkuk. This term of reference (TOR) therefore spells out the guidelines to enable effective delivery expected outcomes of this component of the SDC project, which have been broadly identified as;Increase womens leadership (including power, decision making at HH level) and participation, as well as through collective empowerment.Increase womens access to economic empowerment and opportunities.Reduce/Prevent risks of GBV including in relation to women?s economic empowerment and expand access to information, goods, and services.Increase (the recognition of) women?s leadership in promoting social cohesion amongst targeted communities.Identify and promote the local value chains that has the potential for inclusive and sustainable growth of livelihoods, particularly for women and adolescent girls.Oxfam therefore plans to recruit a consultant to conduct a Gender, Enterprise, and Markets (GEM) Assessment to identify potential and recommended job/economic empowerment areas for women and adolescent girls, considering the contextual challenges identified herein.Location: Kirkuk: Daquq and Hawija districts including (Zab and Abbasy sub districts)Diyala: Khanaqin district (Khanaqin center, Jalawla) and Muqdadiya district (Harouniya and Sinsil areas)-Scope of WorkThe overall aim of this assessment is to determine which issues in the household require interventions to enable sustainable women?s economic leadership and resilience in agricultural, commodity/services and labour markets, and what socio-economic factors affect women?s, men?s, and community?s capacity to adapt to risks and shocks. The principal objective is to determine which market options are favourable for ?most women?, and to identify interventions needed to ensure/enhance households? ?capacity to adapt? and women?s agency.The expected outputs are as summarised below.Establish and confirm the asymmetrical rights and responsibilities- the gender division of labour (unpaid care work) and decision-making (including e.g. access to information, mobility) within the household that underpins fundamental differences in the rights and responsibilities of men and women. This is with a view to identifying matters that affects women?s ability to participate in paid employment, to access education and training, and influences their choice of productive activities. This may include to understand in general the potential levels of risks of a

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