Background

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), under the “Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa” (AICCRA) program that is funded by the World Bank, is conducting a study on integrating impacts on women’s empowerment and other gender-related outcomes in the cost-benefit analysis of climate information services (CIS).

AICCRA, building on past CGIAR investments in climate information services (CIS), aims to scale CIS for smallholder farmers in six countries, including Zambia, but a major question is how to prioritize investments in CIS. Existing frameworks for cost-benefit analysis tend to focus on monetary outcomes, neglecting important benefits generated by CIS. For instance, a major objective of CIS for smallholder farmers in Africa is to provide women with information that improves their bargaining power, or to help women adopt time-saving strategies that help reduce their workloads. Moreover, CIS can directly provide gender-transformative messaging that can lead to normative change.

An important question is therefore how to quantify such gender-related benefits for cost-benefit analysis. In that light, IFPRI is seeking a qualified consultant to design, pilot, implement and analyze data from a battery of lab-in-the-field experiments that help integrate quantify the benefits from improved gender outcomes, to ultimately inform future prioritization of CIS. The work will be implemented in Eastern Zambia and will build on research undertaken earlier in Rwanda in the context of the CGIAR research program for Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Methods Module of the Collaborative CGIAR Gender Platform (Hickman et al, 2023). The consultancy position is based in Lusaka, Zambia.

Scope of work

• • Scoping of the types of gender issues that are important to consider in a cost-benefit analysis of CIS in Eastern Zambia, based on gender norms and CIS content (June-July).
  • Develop experimental designs to quantify benefits of CIS on women’s empowerment indicators including, e.g., bargaining power and work burdens (July-August).
  • Training and piloting of the experimental designs, and finalizing the battery of lab-in-the-field experiments for sharing as a tool (September)
  • Recruit a team of research assistants and conduct these experiments in Eastern Province in Zambia (October).
  • Use the collected data to analyze the experiments and write an AICCRA working paper on integrating gender in cost-benefit analysis of CIS (November – December).

Required qualifications of the consultant

• • PhD degree in economics or related field, with 10+ years of experience.
  • Strong understanding of the intersections between gender norms and financial decision-making in Zambia.
  • Conceptual and practical knowledge (policy-briefs and peer-reviewed publications) of gender norms and women’s economic empowerment in Zambia.
  • Strong research skills, and ability to use data, evidence, and quantitative/qualitative analysis on research related to gender and women’s economic empowerment in Zambia.
  • Experience leading and/or managing research programs.
  • Excellent communication skills and fluency in English, as well as basic knowledge of Cinyanja.
  • Experience in building trust and good relations with interviewees and communities.

Preferred qualifications

• • Experience in agricultural economics, rural development and/or gender fields.
  • Proficiency in local languages in Eastern Zambia.

Application Deadline: May 12, 2023