Climate Change and Environment Specialist (Consultancy) Tender, Barbados - 33302739

Procurement Summary

Country : Barbados

Summary : Climate Change and Environment Specialist (Consultancy)

Deadline : 12 Jun 2019

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 33302739

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : United Nations Secretariat

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND
1st Floor United Nations House Marine Gardens Christ Church Tel: 467.6000 Fax: 436.2812
Barbados
URL :http://www.unicef.org/

Tender Details

Tenders are invited for Climate Change and Environment Specialist (Consultancy).

UNICEF works in some of the world-s toughest places, to reach the world-s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

How can you make a difference?



Country Office: UNICEF Eastern Caribbean Area Office

Duty station: Eastern Caribbean Area

Location of Consultancy: Bridgetown, Barbados

Section: Office of the Representative

Consultancy title: Climate change and Environment Specialist

Supervisor: Representative

Duration of Contract: August 2019 to July 2020

Background & Rationale:

UNICEF works in some of the world-s most hardship places, to reach the world-s most disadvantaged children, to save their lives, to defend their rights, to help them fulfill their potential. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone, and we never give up.

The Eastern Caribbean is one of the world-s most vulnerable regions to climate change. The UNICEF Office for the Eastern Caribbean (“the Office”) is covering 12 countries and territories, [1] mostly Small Islands and Developing States (SIDS). The sub-region is already seeing the impact of climate change with more frequent and intense weather events, which may erase decades of investment and sustainable development in a few hours. Slow onset disasters such as sea level rise and water scarcity are among other upcoming threats.

In February 2019, the Office initiated a Climate, Environment and Energy Landscape Analysis for Children (CEELAC) to examine climate, energy and environment-related issues affecting children in the Eastern Caribbean, and how they relate to UNICEF-s priorities. The report, which will be completed in July/August, will look at national and regional policy responses and the degree to which children/youth are considered within these, and include a mapping of key development partners- current initiatives.

The CEELAC is being conducted within the broader context of UNICEF increasing though still emerging engagement in the field of climate change at a global level. Building on its current program, which partly focuses on Disaster Risk Reduction since Hurricane Irma and Maria in 2017, the Office is now looking at options to: 1) mainstream climate change and environmental issues into its multi-country strategic plan (2018-2021); 2) identify cross-sectoral synergies; 3) diversify its portfolio, based on UNICEF comparative advantages, and 4) develop climate resilience expertise to be used at various levels. The first step towards these objectives and to implement recommendations formulated as part of the CEELAC, is to beef up the required ECA office human resources.

Purpose:

The consultancy aims to support UNICEF Office for the Eastern Caribbean to: 1) mainstream climate change and environmental issues into its multi-country strategic plan (2017-2021); 2) identify cross-sectoral synergies; 3) diversify its portfolio, based on UNICEF comparative advantages, and 4) develop climate resilience expertise to be used at various levels. This will consist in supporting the implementation of recommendations formulated as part of the CEELAC, including short-term (1-3 months), medium term (4-8 months) and longer-term (8-12+ months) interventions.

Assignment/expected results:

The consultant will be assigned the following tasks[1]:

1. CEELAC follow-up

· Contribute to the finalization of the report and related documents [e.g. country factsheets], and facilitate the report-s dissemination;

· Engagement with key interlocutors to raise awareness and capacity on child rights-based approach to CEE issues (regional, governmental and non-governmental), including a) substantive focus considering specific impacts on children and young people (necessitating disaggregated data) and b) on process (e.g. consultations, indicators to capture their situation and monitor/evaluate results etc).

· Develop an M&E plan to track the implementation of CEELAC recommendations; lead an internal evaluation of CEELAC implementation and update the CEELAC accordingly (i.e. a brief lesson learnt report to be prepared around June 2020).

2. Strategic planning, research and advocacy

· Review the multi-country programme document in light of UNICEF Regional Office-s Strategic Framework “Climate Action for Children” (2019-2021) and other relevant strategic documents;

· Conduct research to fill data gaps, identify best practices and support communication and policy advocacy regarding climate change, environmental issues and child rights in the Eastern Caribbean. For instance, based on CEELAC findings, identify several themes on which to write brief research papers such as obesity/CC, respiratory diseases, CC/indigenous rights in Kalinago territory, CC & CWD, etc - these papers could be prepared with an advocacy purpose, such as influencing sector policies. Another idea would be to use the context of the CRC 30thanniversary to advocate for the right to a healthy environment and other emerging child rights in the ECA context.

· Strong advocacy component working with children and young people themselves to raise awareness/demand for climate action. Education is a key entry point to strengthen ongoing DRR work in this area. CEE impacts on health and WASH are interlinked and critical for children in the sub-region, there are strong grounds for this consultancy to consider scoping out a proposal on how UNICEF ECA could start looking at this area too, or at least beginning to seriously engage with key stakeholders in this area.

· Initiate and lead a child-centred, participatory research project on children and youth- perceptions and experiences on climate change, including various deliverables (testimonies, exhibitions, reports, etc.) to be used at the occasion to pre-defined milestones. An idea could be to partner with other UN agencies, governments and NGOs to conduct research in communities where adaptation/mitigation projects are implemented and focus the research on impact on children - this may be a more affordable option, a way to accelerate partnership-building, expose UNICEF to new types of projects such as ecosystem/biodiversity management, and reach most exposed children.

· Liaise with the CEE team in HQ/NY and LACRO to contribute to UNICEF Knowledge Exchange on CEE

3. Fundraising and programming

§ Explore opportunities to develop and raise funds for a flagship programme in the field of climate change. The programme should be child- and youth-centred, highly visible in the region and at country level, and include a C4D component. For instance an idea could be to create a strong and sustainable platform to engage children and youth on climate change - extensive use of social media, training of climate change ambassadors, low-cost/replicable pilot projects at country-level, such as clean-up campaigns, art interventions such as wall paintings, banners and signposts displayed at schools - in brief a project that empowers children and youth as actors of change: See this blog page: https://blogs.unicef.org/blog/climate-change-a-look-through-the-eyes-of-youth/]

§ Seek collaboration/co-implementation of projects with other UNICEF Country Offices in the Caribbean, in particular those that have conducted a CEELAC. It could be for instance about finding one concrete activity to implement with Haiti/Jamaica, who are conducting their CEELAC. This could be involving them in the above-mentioned participatory research.

§ Develop tools and guidelines and/or adapt existing ones, to support UNICEF and partners- efforts to address climate change in their interventions, across sectors. This could be developing child-centred NAP and NDC guidelines and an adapted version of LACRO-s government guide for child-centred resilient development. It could also be about conducting a child-centred risk informed programming exercise together with UNICEF staff and partners. See the video UNICEF: https://vimeo.com/223523595]

§ Provide technical support to other programmes and interventions with a CEE component, such as the Safe School Programme and emergency responses in case of any climate-related/natural disasters (e.g. hurricane).

§ Build internal capacity to mainstream CEE issues through various UNICEF ECA workstreams - advise the Representative on how best to ensure that mainstreaming is a) implemented, b) monitored & evaluated

§ Support UNICEF fundraising efforts by developing concept notes, providing input into proposals from other sections, and by mapping opportunities for UNICEF. ECA office could for instance be part of a sub-regional proposal involving sister UN agencies to contribute to strengthen resilience of the sub-region to climate change.

4. Networking and partnership building

· Ensure the Office-s active participation in existing national and regional CEE frameworks both for improving their responsiveness to children-s needs and priorities as well as to promote the Office-s own positioning, and share lessons learned and good practices;

· Establish climate and environment-focused partnerships and generally engage with partners such as Government counterparts, UN agencies, CSOs, academia and development partners. For instance, provide technical guidance and policy advice to governments such as supporting Saint Lucia and Antigua & Barbuda to develop their Education Sector NAPs

Documents

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