Project Analyst/ Legislation, Gender and Social Inclusion

Background

The Global Stocktake (GST) has underscored that the world is falling short of the ambitious 1.5oC goal set forth in the Paris Agreement. Persistent gaps and challenges are hindering progress towards mitigating climate change and significant efforts will have to be undertaken to cut global greenhouse gas (GHG) to the required levels indicated by science. The GST also included stronger references to institutional framework, human rights, social inclusion and gender equality. To complement the Global Stocktake decision agreed at COP28, which offers valuable insights into the global trajectory, as well as certain measures that should be considered in addressing existing gaps, there is a need for detailed, information for governments to assess their country’s own progress in implementing their more recent climate pledges.

The country is approach the next Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) revision cycle, and globally the world is presented with an enormous opportunity to strengthen NDCs once again and get back on track to the 1.5 pathway. At the same time, it is clear that raising ambition is intricately connected to seeing progress on implementation of current NDC targets and measures. Building on the guidance provided by the Global Stocktake, countries are expected to embark on the revision process, extend timelines and explore an economy-wide scope, while ensuring alignment with 1.5oC.  As a critical starting point of this 2025 NDC revision process, the country will therefore need to reflect on the progress made to date on their current NDCs in order to identify bottlenecks, gaps, and opportunities for raising further ambition, and inform the next generation of NDCs. 

Turkmenistan as the party of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have submitted NDCs which indicate the mitigation and adaptation targets they are willing to reach to achieve the Paris Agreement goals as soon as possible. 

In addition, UNDP considers NDCs as gateways for advancing not only climate targets but also achieving sustainable development priorities such as leaving no one behind, a rights-based approach centred on empowerment, inclusion, equity, human agency and human development capabilities which recognizes that poverty and inequality are multidimensional. In this regard, UNDP’s direction of change involves supporting countries in recognizing the rights, priorities and needs of underrepresented actors, such as women, Indigenous Peoples and youth, typically excluded from climate policymaking. 

Through the Climate Promise, UNDP is supporting countries to undertake a national stocktake to support the modernization of national legislation, to identify the level of integration of gender equality and social inclusion aspects in NDC planning and implementation. The primary purpose of the NDC stocktake is to comprehensively assess national progress towards the Paris Agreement pledges and identify needs and opportunities as well as remaining challenges and recommendations for improvement in the next round of NDC. The objective of the assignment is to assess the progress made at the country level on modernization of national legislation, implementing gender equality and social inclusion commitments included in the previous NDC and assess the level of integration of these aspects. Through facilitating collective reflection on NDC implementation, the aim is to encourage higher ambition and quality of the existing NDC, using an inclusive approach, which both recognizes and promotes a human rights-based approach, advances gender equality and women's empowerment, enhances intergenerational equity, strengthens effective participation and leadership, increases capacities and knowledge to drive implementation and strengthens access to and control over resources such as finance, information, and technology of underrepresented groups typically excluded from the NDC planning and implementation process.

Institutional arrangements for implementation of enabling activities

The NDC Implementation Stocktake project is implemented under the auspices of the UNDP CO Turkmenistan. Implementation of the enabling activities under this Terms of Reference will be carried out using the existing national infrastructure and institutional setting already established for the phased implementation of the NDC of Turkmenistan.

Duties and Responsibilities

1) Institutional coordination:

- Prepare an analysis of existing institutional arrangements and coordination mechanisms to engage with agencies or ministries dealing with gender equality, youth, and social inclusion;

- Identify gaps and barriers to institutional strengthening of gender equality and social inclusion in climate action;

- Based on the institutional coordination analysis, formulate specific recommendations, with a particular focus on proposals for relevant amendments to national legislation, to improve the social inclusiveness and gender sensitivity of institutional arrangements within the overall climate change policy and coordination process.

2) Integration of legislation, social inclusion and gender equality:

- Prepare an analysis of the country's NDC 2.0 and national legislation on climate change and gender equality. Prepare proposals for amendments to national legislation to integrate gender equality and social inclusion to achieve NDC targets and combat climate change.

- Assess whether gender equality and social inclusion issues are taken into account in the implementation of adaptation/mitigation measures. Prepare activities and indicators for integrating gender aspects in the implementation of climate change activities and achieving NDC targets.

3) Policy Alingment:

- Prepare an analysis of whether climate policy and the legal framework (i.e. NDCs) are consistent with the international legal framework related to gender and social inclusion and climate change;

- Identify possible gaps in national legislation for integrating gender and social inclusion into climate policy and prepare proposals for amending the relevant legal acts or developing the necessary by-laws to integrate gender and inclusion aspects into the relevant policies.

4) Capacity Building:

- Prepare an analysis of the existing interrelations between gender, social inclusion and climate change related to NDC planning and implementation;

- Identify actions taken to increase the participation of women's groups and youth in climate issues within completed and ongoing projects;

- Prepare an analysis of best practices on capacity building that have been successful in terms of engaging and empowering women and youth in climate-related issues and processes;

- Prepare recommendations for conducting trainings on the interrelationships of gender and climate change to build the capacity of relevant national organizations and institutions.

Competencies

5. Competencies

Core Achieve Results: LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work Think Innovatively: LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking Learn Continuously: LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process Act with Determination:  LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously Engage and Partner: LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies  Thematic Area Name Definition Business development Knowledge Generation Ability to research information and to turn it into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need. Ability to apply existing concepts to new situations, and to develop new concepts to generate workable solutions and new approaches. Knowledge of relevant concepts, conceptual models, and theories that can be useful in addressing new situations. Business direction and strategy Systems Thinking  Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system Business direction and strategy  Effective Decision Making Take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with one's authority, area of expertise and resources and take into consideration potential wider implications. Business management Partnerships Management Build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies Legal Legal research The ability to identify and retrieve information to support legal positions and corporate decision making from all relevant sources. In the UNDP context, this skill includes, amongst other things, proactive seeking of information in anticipation of the different angles that any given issue may present 2030 Agenda: People Gender Gender and Environment Policy and Programme Effectiveness Social and Environmental Standards 2030 Agenda: Prosperity Inclusive Growth Social Inclusion

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Experience:

Languages:

Equal opportunity

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