Multi-sectoral emergency response and crises resilience – Gender and Protection Analysis

I. CONTEXT AND PROJECT BACKGROUND

Cabo Delgado (CD) province, already one of the most vulnerable and poverty-stricken provinces of Mozambique, has been affected since late 2017 by a low-intensity armed conflict between an Islamist armed insurgency and the Mozambican security forces. This insecurity and violence deteriorated an already fragile situation, leaving an estimated 1.5 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance and protection in 2022. The conflict led to massive displacements with people abandoning their homes and fields from the Northern and Central Districts of Cabo Delgado. As of June 2022, according to the IOM, an estimated 869,603 IDPs were identified in Cabo Delgado, while an additional 73,699 IDPs were identified in Nampula, 2,130 IDPs in Niassa, 680 IDPs in Zambezia, 310 IDPs in Sofala and 86 IDPs in Inhambane. This brings the total number of IDPs due to the situation of insecurity to 946,508 IDPs1.
According to the IPC Snapshot (December 2021), for the current period (November 2021 to March 2022), approximately 1.9 million people are estimated to be in high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above) in the urban and rural areas of Mozambique that were analyzed, and are in need of humanitarian assistance. Between November 2021 and March 2022, in the Cabo Delgado province, 32% of rural population is expected to be in high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3+). The delay in the onset of rains, above-average temperatures and prolonged droughts have impacted the harvest of the 2021/22 crop season, particularly in the northern region of Mozambique. In Cabo Delgado, most families were unable to participate in the agricultural season.
According to the IPC July 2021 Snapshot, conflict along with other factors such as erratic rainfall and poor infrastructure has led to concerning situation of food insecurity and malnutrition in Cabo Delgado. According to the report, it was estimated that about 75,000 children under the age of five were suffering and would likely suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021/22 and consequently need treatment. In Mueda, it was projected that the nutrition situation with the absence of humanitarian intervention would be serious (IPC Phase 3) with proxy GAM rates of 6.6% and SAM rates of 2.4% through to January 2022. The conflict in Cabo Delgado has also hampered access to primary health care (PHC) services and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. According to the Health Cluster Bulletin (May 2022), 95 health facilities are functioning in the province but 36 are still non-functional, with 886 health workers displaced. In addition, displacements and demographic pressure in host communities deteriorated access to drinking water, which negatively affects hygiene behaviors.
In displaced communities, gender dynamics (gender roles within households) may be exacerbated by transition and ongoing or post-conflict situations. In provinces affected by conflict and, as a result, by displacement, 52 per cent of IDPs are female and 55 per cent of the IDP population is under 18 years of age.2 Protection risks remain a grave concern—especially for women and girls, people with disabilities, older persons and people living with HIV/AIDS—with reports of horrific violence against civilians, including killings, beheadings and kidnappings. According to a rapid assessment report of the gender-based violence (GBV) situation and response in Cabo Delgado (August 2021)3, displaced populations face heightened GBV risks in IDP sites and host community areas where they seek safety. Sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) appear to be pervasive in IDP locations and in some host communities, particularly against single women, female-headed households and unaccompanied girls. Women and girls are exposed to risk of abduction (according to HRW, between 2018 and May 2021, 600 girls and women were kidnapped from Cabo Delgado and enslaved), sexual violence, early and forced marriage, and trafficking in conflict-affected areas. Socio-economic vulnerability related to the crisis is increasing vulnerability to GBV. Transactional sex (sexo de troca) is a common practice among adolescent girls as a negative survival coping strategies in extreme poverty. There is a grave lack of access to essential support (social, medical, legal, judicial services, etc.) for GBV survivors especially for the most at-risk groups in remote conflict-affected locations.
Action Against Hunger-Action Contre la Faim (ACF) intervened for the first time in Mozambique during and after the Civil War (until 2001) supporting the affected population through multi- sectoral (WASH, Health/Nutrition, FSL) projects. ACF intervened in 2019 to assist the population affected by Idai/Kenneth Cyclones through WASH emergency response. Following the deterioration of the security situation in the north of the country, ACF undertook a new exploratory mission in October 2020 alongside the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and a rapid Nutrition Assessment in Pemba, Chiúre, Ancuabe, Montepuez and Mueda in May 2021. ACF’s strategy in Cabo Delgado aims at reducing the morbidity and mortality of conflict-affected populations across the province through targeted multi-sectoral support in nutrition, health, water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH), and food security and livelihoods. To that end, ACF launched a food distribution in Mueda in November, targeting 133,050 IDPs and host communities in collaboration with the World Food Program (WFP) and is currently implementing two UNICEF projects (health, nutrition and WASH interventions). As of July 2022, with funding of the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), ACF initiates a 12-month multi-sectoral emergency and crisis resilience program targeting over 36,000 IDPs and host communities from Mueda district. As part of the inception phase, ACF will conduct a gender and protection analysis with the aim of tailoring existing activities to gender and protection needs and issues identified, and improving the overall quality of the action. The analysis will highlight gender and protection issues in the intervention area (Mueda district) and provide a framework for program adaptation to address gender and protection concerns (integration of targeted gender-sensitive actions, implementation of activities to improve gender equality, improve referral and identify gaps in the management of GBV-related protection cases, SRHR, etc.). The analysis will be integrated into ACF’s transformative gender standards strategy.

II. PURPOSE OF THE ANALYSIS

i. Objective of the analysis

• The Consultant’s main task will be to conduct a comprehensive gender and protection analysis, particularly of the impacts of the emergency on women, men, girls and boys. The aim is to identify the vulnerabilities of the population affected by the emergency:
• Analyze pre-existing and current power dynamics and gender roles, including access to and control of resources, different constraints and risks faced by the population;
• Analyze existing protection risks and the strategies adopted by vulnerable people to reduce the risk of protection incidents;
• Seek to understand the types of violence present, their causes and causal agents, who is most at risk of experiencing them and for what reasons.
  In addition, the gender and protection analysis will need to be complemented by training for the project team on how to integrate the recommendations into the different phases of the project cycle.

  ii. Elements covered by the analysis
  More specifically, the consultant intends to provide the following information, by geographic area of study, according to the targeted population groups (according to age, religion, ethnicity, disability, etc.) and covering the different technical sectors of ACF intervention (WASH, FSL, HEALTH, NUTRITION, MHPSS) on:

• Vulnerabilities, risks, threats, protecting communities to address these risks, threats and vulnerabilities
• Gender-specific roles and responsibilities, opportunities for empowerment, decision making.
• Gender norms, gender relations, attitudes and beliefs that promote gender inequality and other vulnerabilities.
• Participation and decision-making and opportunities for the most vulnerable women, girls, and persons with disabilities
• Access to and control of resources in emergency contexts, gender-based violence in intervention areas
• Access of vulnerable people to existing information and inclusive to comprehensive media
• Access to protection services for the most vulnerable people and/or people with disabilities.

  iii. Users of the analysis

• Action Contre la Faim field team in Mozambique, ACF France HQ
• ACF international network
• Donor (Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, BHA)
• International and local partners (NRC, SI, Helpcode, others)
• Protection cluster, MHPSS Working Grou
• Authorities (Provincial, District)
  Use of the evaluation: identify key recommendations regarding gender and protection in Cabo Delgado province; adapt ACF’s implementation framework, revise activities if necessary within the BHA program; ensure gender and protection are mainstreamed in all sectors of intervention.

  III. GEOGRAPHIC AREA
  The Gender and Protection Analysis will target the intervention areas of the BHA program namely Mueda district, in Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique.

  IV. EVALUATION METHODOLOGY

  i. Evaluation briefing
  Prior to the analysis taking place, the consultant is expected to attend a kick off meeting (or technical briefing) with ACF team composed of: Deputy Country Director (DCD) for programs, MEAL supervisor and/or officer; Gender and Protection supervisor, Health and nutrition, and FSL HoDs, Project Managers, Field and Deputy Field Coordinators, all other members of the dedicated Steering Committee4, and any other relevant members from Action Against Hunger Mozambique (and France HQ).

  ii. Desk review
  The consultant will undertake a desk review (studies, gender and protection data and analysis, country law, international conventions, stakeholders mapping, WASH / FSL / Nutrition / Health / MHPSS available information, etc.) and protection and gender analysis toolkits’ review (incl. ACF Gender and protection policies and toolkits for assessments).
  iii. Inception report
  After the desk review period and before the field mission, the consultant will prepare an inception report. The inception report will be written in English and will include the 1) suggested analysis methodology (based on ACF guidelines and toolkits; and suggested CARE tools for gender analysis) to ensure outcome achievement, 2) a detailed work plan; 3) outline the evaluation report format. ACF proposes a method that focused on qualitative methods and the use of primary and secondary information for analysis.
  The inception report will be submitted to and approved by ACF.

• iv. Field mission : primary data collection
  As part of the evaluation, the primary data collection will consist of meeting with international, local and state partners, key informants interview (KIIs), questionnaires (surveys) of target groups’ representatives, individual interviews, focus group discussions (FGD), direct observation, etc.
  The consultant will be in charge of supervising a team of enumerators for data collection. The organization will support the consultant as to facilitating the recruitment and training session for the enumerators on the methodology and data collection tools, especially on confidentiality and consideration of sensitive issues when collecting data in the field.
  Target groups of the gender and protection analysis.
  The gender and protection analysis will include the following people as priority groups, including the most vulnerable groups:
• Women and men;
• Children, adolescents, youth, and the elderly;
• The different ethnic and/or religious groups that exist;
• People with disabilities;
• Community influencers: religious leaders, traditional doctors, matrons, community leaders, teachers, godfathers and godmothers of the initiation rites, heads of resettlement centers, community court judges, etc.;
• Humanitarian organizations, local government, protection reference groups at district and provincial level, SDSMAS, and all those active in the area of gender and protection;
• ACF staff in the intervention areas (distribution monitors, gender and protection technicians, nutrition supervisors, and others you may find relevant)

  V. MAIN ACTIVITIES OF THE CONSULTANT

• Design the methodology and provide an inception report (with ACF program team in Mozambique and with the support of the technical team at HQ);
• Plan and implement the analysis in the targeted areas;
• Recruitment of the enumerators
• Training of the enumerators team for data collection and entry;
• Collect and analyze the primary and secondary data;
• Prepare the report including analysis, conclusion and recommendations (see ACF Gender and Protection Report template);
• Present the analysis results during an internal feedback workshop ;
• Conduct a training on recommendations’ integration throughout the project cycle, targeting ACF program and MEAL teams in Mueda (and/or Pemba);
• Report submission to ACF.

VI. MAIN OBLIGATIONS OF ACF

• Share with the consultant ACF above mentioned methodologies;
• Share with the consultant ACF report template;
• Provide feedbacks on the inception report, on the report and on the training and restitution presentations;
• Support the consultant with regards to enumerators hiring by providing a list of enumerators, provide the consultant all information regarding recruitment process and ensuring the administrative part of the recruitment;
• Support the consultant as to facilitating the training session for the enumerators on the methodology and data collection tools;
• Ensure coordination with local communities, its leaders, and the local authorities whereas necessary;
• Ensure security briefing to the consultant upon arrival;
• Ensure security and access validation by the ACF Security department and Field Coordinator for the areas in which data collection field activities will take place.

  VII. KEY DELIVERABLES

  i. Inception report
  The consultant will submit an inception report based on the initial desk review and ACF toolkit analysis.

  ii. Analysis report
  The consultant will submit the final analysis report to ACF and will be responsible for the organization of a feedback workshop and the training of ACF teams on the recommendations resulting from the gender and protection analysis. This will take place in Mueda/Pemba (tbd) and ACF will provide its office.

  iii. Training materials
  The consultant will hand over the training package used to train ACF program teams on the integration of the recommendations driven by the analysis (presentation, material, power point, tools, etc.)