Gender and Agricultural Livelihoods Analyst - TOMAK

Terms of Reference
________________________________________________________________________________

Assignment title: Assessing Agricultural Technologies for their Impacts on Gender Dynamics and Food Security

Dates & duration: 21 March – 30 June 2022

Location(s): Homebase and Baucau, Bobonaro Municipalities, Timor-Leste

Reports to: Josie Huxtable, TOMAK GEDSI Specialist

TOMAK Contract Representative: Tammy Theikdi, TOMAK Program Manager

_____________________________________________________________________________

Background

TOMAK

The To’os Ba Moris Di’ak Program (TOMAK) is a A$25 million, 5–10-year agricultural livelihoods program funded by the Australian Government in Timor-Leste. Its goal is to ensure rural households live more prosperous and sustainable lives. TOMAK works in partnership to implement parallel and linked interventions that aim to:

• Establish a foundation of food security and good nutrition for targeted rural communities.
• Build capacity so these communities can confidently and ably engage in profitable agricultural markets.

Component 1 of the program (Food Security and Nutrition) promotes nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) approaches to improve the availability and utilisation of nutritious food. Component 2 (Market Systems Development) promotes the development of commercial agriculture following a market systems development approach, focussing on selected higher-potential value chains. Gender approaches are embedded in the planning, implementation and monitoring of activities across the program, in order to promote gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

With Phase 1 of the program concluding in May 2021, the program entered a transition period (June 2021-June 2022) to allow sufficient time for the design of the second phase (Phase 2). The transition period offers an opportunity to consolidate gains and reflect on the program strategies and approaches implemented during the first phase. 

 

The Assignment

During Phase 1, TOMAK promoted the uptake of agricultural technologies as a mechanism to increase agricultural production and productivity. Labour-saving agricultural technologies were piloted through program-established farmer field schools.  

 

The aim of the pilot was two-fold: to promote labour-saving technologies while supporting farmers to manage the risk involved in adopting new technologies; and to address challenges mobilising labour during COVID-19 when many public health measures such as restricted movement and group gatherings meant that traditional labour mobilisation methods such as relying on neighbours and relatives were no longer possible. 

 

Promoted technologies included rice mowers, power threshers, mini power tillers, peanut shellers and hand sprayers. Farmers were shown how to use and maintain equipment in order to manage labour and time to maximise production, improve quality and increase income. Once farmers trialled the technology and saw tangible results as part of the farmer field school, they could decide whether to invest in the technology at a subsidised cost through a 50% cost-share arrangement with the program. 

 

Evaluation of the pilot found that women and men were equally motivated to invest in the promoted technologies given the strong labour-saving potential of each one, and that farmers were purchasing technologies either as a household or as a group splitting the overall investment costs. The evaluation also found that promoted technologies had potential to reduce the workload of multiple household members. Women farmers were found to be benefitting from technologies such as hand sprayers and shellers which save them labour and time as an individual, but they also benefitted from heavier equipment such as rice mowers where men are the primary user - this is because of the associated reduction in hired labour for harvesting (where women are typically responsible for preparing food for hired labour which is both time-consuming and costly).

 

While these findings are promising, the evaluation did not assess whether the promoted agricultural technologies were gender-responsive in terms of design, use, and dissemination. Designing and disseminating technologies in a gender-sensitive way can impact technology adoption and potentially have pay offs for men and women farmers, particularly for women who have slower rates of technology adoption than men. These benefits could include increased access to income and improved food security. Undertaking such analyses can be used to improve the design and dissemination of agricultural technologies under Phase 2 in ways that increase adoption by men and women farmers. 

 

Therefore, during the transition period, TOMAK is seeking an external consultant to build on the experience of promoting specific labour-saving technologies through a targeted assessment.

 

The assessment will focus on up to three TOMAK-promoted agricultural technologies and provide analyses of the technologies across five key areas: 1) the potential consequences on men’s and women’s time and labour 2) men’s and women’s ability to influence household adoption of the technology; 3) the different pathways for women and men in learning about and accessing the new technologies, including extension services 4) the extent to which the technology alters the influence over and/or control of agricultural income by women and men and 5) the extent to which the technology may affect (positive or negative) food security outcomes.

 

The aim of the assessment is to develop recommendations on how the incentives to adopt the technology might be altered to target women farmers, how to increase women’s access to benefits from the adoption of technologies, and how to design distribution models that respond to women farmers’ needs through extension agents and input suppliers.

 

Overview of Assignment

Assignment responsibilities:

• Develop an assessment methodology to assess the gender-responsiveness and gender-related impacts of TOMAK-promoted labour-saving technologies in terms of design, use and dissemination. This methodology should include a gender and technology assessment tool to identify gender-based constraints that shape and challenge the use, adoption and dissemination of agricultural technologies and practices.  
• For the duration of field data collection, the consultant will be supported by local researchers where needed. The consultant will be responsible for managing local researchers, including training in the specific tools to be used for the evaluation.
• Analyse data and present initial findings for additional analysis and validation at a sense-making workshop with the TOMAK team.
• Produce a synthesis report including targeted recommendations and develop three gender technology profiles.

 

Timeline

Finalisation of the timeline to be determined with the selected consultant:

• Initial planning and discussions with the TOMAK technical team (March);
• Development of assessment methodology, tools and workplan (early April)
• Data collection and analysis (mid-late April)
• Sense-making workshop (early May)
• Delivery of report and gender technology profiles (late May)

Skills and experience required:

1. Demonstrated practical experience in gender/women’s economic empowerment/justice related programming in the area of agricultural productivity, food security and resilience (at least 5 years preferred).
2. Excellent qualitative and quantitative research design and analysis skills (experience in qualitative analysis software well regarded)
3. Excellent writing skills as evidenced by significant high-quality evaluation reports/products.
4. Demonstrated high level organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple tasks, competing priorities and complete assignments within timeframes.
5. Experience working leading and supporting, and capacity development for in-country/remote research teams.
6. Experience leading research in resource constrained environments
7. Fluency in Tetum language is desirable

 

To apply:

For further information or to submit your application please contact Tammy Theikdi tammy.theikdi@adamsmithinternational.com

Applications close 11 March 2022.

Applications should include a brief cover letter describing knowledge and experience relevant to the role, a CV (no more than 3 pages) and a recent example of evaluative work.