WorldFish

Consultant (Research on Impacts of Community Saving Groups) (01 position)

About the Organization

WorldFish is an international, nonprofit research organization that harnesses the potential of fisheries and aquaculture to strengthen livelihoods and improve food and nutrition security. Globally, more than 1 billion people obtain most of their animal protein from fish and 800 million depend on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods. WorldFish is a member of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. The WorldFish mission is to strengthen livelihoods and enhance food and nutrition security by improving fisheries and aquaculture. We pursue this through research partnerships focused on helping those who stand to benefit the most—poor producers and consumers, women and children.

Background

Enhanced Coastal Fisheries in Bangladesh II (ECOFISH II) is an on-going project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Jointly implemented by WorldFish and the Department of Fisheries (DOF), ECOFISH II has been built upon the previous work of the original ECOFISH-BD project regarding hilsa shad and other coastal fish production in the Meghna River ecosystem. ECOFISH II is supporting host-fishing communities in the USAID Zone of Resilience (ZOR), Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf areas, coastal fishing communities in the Meghna River Ecosystem (MRE) areas and the Nijhum Dwip Marine Protected Areas (MPA).

Both ECOFISHBD and ECOFISH II focused in highly vulnerable fishing communities where 80-90% of households earn USD 1.25 or less/day. One of the prime activity to reach the goal of the projects is to enhance the community resilience and women’s empowerment through creating community saving groups. Community savings have the objective to reduce the dependency of communities on external micro-credit providers and avoid unfavorable repayment terms. Each Community Savings Groups (CSG) has on average 30-40 fisher-women. These women’s are provided training about saving management and leadership. It is believed that CSGs have created resilience in the intervened fishing communities and had a positive role in empowering the fisherwomen and reduced the hunger, GBV and child marriage. This pro-women approach has also provided the women in the fishing communities in playing their pro-active role in decision making, especially improving the compliance on hilsa and biodiversity conservation. These successes have yet to be captured and properly understood and for this reason a thorough study should be launched hiring a competent consultant.

Research Objectives

The study aims to address research questions:

Do women in the fishing households are empowered and has improved savings, and improved livelihood, improved nutrition and health care practice through CSG initiatives for hilsa conservation?
To address this research questions, the objectives could be defined as:

To assess the performance of CSG.
To measure the empowerment of women in the fishing households using the methods and indicators of the Project based Women Empowerment Agricultural Index (Pro-WEAI).
To assess the impact in the dimensions savings, livelihood as well as nutrition and health care practices.

Rationale for Conducting the Research to Analyze the Impacts of CSGs

It is expected that with increasing social capital and cohesion, and livelihood options, of poor fishing communities’ resilience of Hilsa Fisher communities have been enhanced through the Community Saving Groups (CSG). At this stage, it is decided to consider a study for CSG for impact assessment of community savings on empowerment, livelihood, saving strategies as well as nutrition and food consumption practices of fisheries households. The research findings will also highlight the achievements ECOFISH-BD and ECOFISH II projects regarding gender equity and women’s empowerment in MRE area. Thus, WorldFish would like to hire a consultant for 40 working days (spread over 15 June 2021 to 15 September 2021) under ECOFISH II project to develop the research methodology and tools, to collect and analyze the data, and to prepare a comprehensive report and manuscript with findings and recommendations.

Key Responsibilities

Develop standard impact evaluation tools (both qualitative and quantitative) and design the impact study addressing Pro-WEAI indicators as well as other relevant indicators, in consultation with ECOFISH II team and get endorsement from the Team Leader.
Recruit the enumerators/ data collectors.
Train enumerators on the tools and data collecting strategy in presence of ECOFISH II staff before the research implementation in the field.
Prepare a comprehensive research report including recommendations.
Prepare a quality manuscript based on the findings with necessary statistical analysis, graphs and tables for ready submission to a peer review international journal.

Deliverables

An inception report explaining the methodology of the research.
All the qualitative and quantitative tools and datasets of the research.
A comprehensive research report, and a manuscript for submission to a peer review journal.

Requirements

This consultancy is open for National Consultant with the following skill and qualification:

Master in Sociology, Gender Studies, Development Studies, Anthropology, any other discipline of social science, or related subject from an accredited university. Candidates having Ph.D. degree will be given preferences.
Wide experience in conducting qualitative and quantitative social research, gender analysis, community assessment or similar kind of research.
Facilitating experience for national or international sessions /seminars, good report writing skills.
At least 3 articles in international peer-reviewed journals relevant to gender equity/co-management/ resource management/ social justice.
For highly deserving candidates with significant working experience in the related filed or with fishing communities, educational requirements and publishing in international journals, and previous working experience with USAID funded projects may be relaxed.
Having VAT registration number is mandatory.

Other Skills and Competencies

Strong verbal communication skills in both Bangla and English.
Proven track record of consultancy with good reporting ability.
A positive and can-do attitude, committed and motivated.

Eligibility, Location and Duration

This is open for national consultant only and will be based in Dhaka, Bangladesh with extensive field visit in USAID Zone of Resilience (ZOR), Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf areas, in the Meghna River Ecosystem (MRE) areas and the Nijhum Dwip Marine Protected Areas (MPA). The selection of consultant will be based on the relevant qualification and experience, and the most competitive proposal. The interviews are expected to be held in June 2020 and only shortlisted consultant will be notified and expected to attend the interview. The successful consultant should be available to commence the consultancy contract for a maximum of 40 working days in between 15 June 2021 to 15 September 2021.

Our Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Commitment

WorldFish has seven offices across Asia, Africa and the Pacific, with more than 400 staff and 27 nationalities who contribute to a dynamic multicultural work environment.

WorldFish is committed to promoting a work environment where diversity and inclusion is valued and we seek to have gender balance in the organization. Our Leadership Team is 50/50 in terms of its gender split and 60% of our management cadre are women. We continue to seek diversity and gender balance across other dimensions and we support individual performance and potential in achieving our organizational goals and mission.

We are an equal opportunities employer and strongly encourage women and men from developing nations to apply.

How to Apply

Interested applicants are invited to submit the following information online latest by 28 May 2021:

Apply Here

Screening will start immediately, and will continue until the position is filled. Due to the high volume of applicants for WorldFish positions, we appreciate all interest, but only short-listed candidates will be contacted.