| Overview : The UNDP Barbados and Eastern Caribbean Multi-Country Office (MCO) covers 10 countries and territories that include Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Within the Eastern Caribbean, UNDP aims to create an enabling environment to support national governments capacities for inclusive and sustainable human development; meet their regional commitments, and internationally agreed goals including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As part of UNDP Barbados MCO support to the Commonwealth of Dominica, a Project Office was established in 2017 to assist government with immediate response, recovery and reconstruction post Hurricane Maria. This included strengthening national recovery frameworks, disaster preparedness and climate and community resilience, as well as empowering women to take a more proactive role in emergencies. Since 2017, the Dominica Project Office has evolved its portfolio to include climate resilience, economic recovery and sustainable development initiatives. In this context, UNDP wishes to engage an experienced consultant, who can provide administrative, technical and monitoring support to both the EnGenDER project and the Strengthening Sustainable Livelihoods and Resilience in the Kalinago Territory. The Engender Project The physical impacts of climate change and natural hazards are being seen to compound pervasive structural inequalities and socioeconomic vulnerabilities since gender equality and human rights are given insufficient consideration required in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and in disaster risk, recovery and response. While this is a general pattern where women and girls face a disparity in terms of (amongst other things) access to economic participation, nuances exist in each country in the needs and vulnerabilities of women, men, girls and boys, which warrant more detailed investigation and articulation. Women and men typically respond and react differently at various stages of disaster and recovery; and the groups with the least knowledge and capacity to take short-term measures to limit impacts from climate-related disasters are often the most affected. Thanks to the generous contribution from Government of Canada and UK aid, EnGenDER seeks to further integrate gender equality and human-rights based approaches into disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate change (CC) adaptation and mitigation; environmental management frameworks and interventions. EnGenDER will also identify and address some of the gaps to ensure equal access to DRR and climate change and environmental solutions for both men, women, boys and girls in nine Caribbean countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname). Appreciating that the nine participating Caribbean countries are at different stages of removing barriers to gender equality and integrating gender-based analysis into climate change, as well as disaster recovery, this project aims to ensure that climate change and disaster risk reduction actions are better informed by an analysis of gender inequalities, and decisions are taken to ensure that inequalities are alleviated rather than exacerbated. These underlying gender inequalities (specific to each country context) are compounded by increasingly intense and frequently experienced climate change and disaster risk within Caribbean societies. EnGenDER therefore aims to empower governments to take ownership of their disaster risks and exposure with better national arrangements to deal with possible large-scale recovery needs, including improved shock responsiveness in national systems and better social protection finance tools for the most vulnerable. As such, the project’s ultimate outcome is improved gender-responsive climate and disaster resilience including for women and girls and key vulnerable populations[1] and future generations in the Caribbean. The EnGenDER project will support CC, DRR and environmental management interventions in the 9 Caribbean countries by leveraging sector-level entry points (e.g. National Action Plans (NAPs) and National Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs)), specifically supporting implementation and/or upscaling of countries’ priority actions. This project will analyse and prioritise the needs of the most vulnerable with respect to climate change adaptation and mitigation in priority sectors, including increasing their resilience in key livelihood sectors. It will also improve institutional capacities for delivering services effectively for the most vulnerable to accelerate post-disaster recovery and mitigate risk. By using a multi-disciplinary and integrated approach, the project also aims to contribute to the achievement of several SDGs (2, 5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16). Strengthening Sustainable Livelihoods and Resilience in the Kalinago Territory The project aims to strengthen the livelihoods and resilience of the Kalinago Territory, by working with Government in delivering an integrated package of support to strengthen capacities to boost agricultural production and sustainable agricultural practices; design and implement community reforestation programmes to augment livelihoods and protect critical water catchment areas; develop a comprehensive Kalinago tourism strategy and brand that generates new income opportunities for the territory, and; boost institutional capacities of the Kalinago Council for improved participative and inclusive decision making and planning. [1] An online survey completed by 108 stakeholders in the target countries have identified the following groups as very vulnerable: women, older men, boys and girls, and persons with disabilities. |
