Facilitator for Theory of Change Workshop of the UNICEF Pacific Climate, Environment, Energy and Disaster Risk Reduction (CEED) Strategy, Suva, Fiji, 16 Days

Contract

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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.

For every child, care.

In the Pacific we work in Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu: These 14 Pacific island countries are home to 2.3 million people, including 1.2 million children and youth, living on more than 660 islands and atolls stretching across 17.2 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean, an area comparable to the combined size of the United States of America and Canada. Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu are classified as Fragile States according to World Bank/OECD criteria.

All 14 Pacific Island countries and territories have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but only a third are on track with reporting obligations. Explore the different areas of our work in the link provided here www.unicef.org/pacificislands.

Background of Assignment:

The Pacific Islands Countries and Territories (PICTs) are one of the most affected and vulnerable areas to the impacts of climate change, environmental degradation, and biodiversity and habitat loss. The 2021 World Risk Index identifies five PICTs are among the top 20 most at-risk countries in the world, including Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Tonga, which are ranked first, second and third respectively. While its collective greenhouse gas emissions barely exceed 0.03 per cent of global emissions, the Pacific region is at the frontline of the adverse impacts of climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Pacific region is being affected by rising temperatures, a larger proportion of the most intense tropical cyclones, storm surges, droughts, changes in precipitation patterns, sea level rise, coral bleaching, and invasive species, all of which are already detectable across both natural and human systems.

While all members of the society are facing the impacts of climate change, children are already uniquely vulnerable to death and damage. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 88 per cent of diseases attributable to climate change occur in children younger than five years of age. This is the first time an entire generation of children will grow up in a world that has become much more dangerous and uncertain as a result of climate and environment changes. A child born in 2020 in East Asia and the Pacific region will experience 1.8 times more exposure to crop failure, 2.5 times more drought, 3 times more river floods, and 8.2 times more heatwaves across their lifetimes, compared to a child born in 1960.

The UNICEF Pacific Multi-Country Office has developed a strategy on the Climate, Environment, Energy and Disaster Risk Reduction (CEED), in line with the new 2022-2026 UNICEF Strategic Plan (SP) and the 2022-2025 UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific Regional Office Management Plan (ROMP). The new SP recognizes that climate change and environmental degradation are existential threats to a child’s ability to survive, grow, and thrive and that all levers of the organization need to work together in a coordinated fashion.

To ensure the UNICEF Pacific CEED Strategy has a robust theory of change (ToC) two workshops in Fiji and another Pacific Country with UNICEF Field Office presence are planned with the involvement of UNICEF focal persons, key stakeholders and partners. These workshops will aim to capture the contributions of partners within the frame of the CEED strategy, and in line with the SDGs, and build an understanding of how the activities and interventions produce the series of results that contribute to achieving the final intended results of the strategy, including the underlying risks and assumptions to that results chain.

How can you make a difference?

The objective of this assignment is to:

• Desk review on the CEED strategy design, Pacific Multi-Country Programme Document, SitAns, MICS, previous research of similar programmes and strategies, and other relevant background documents to prepare for the workshop.

Product: annotated outline of agenda for the 2 half-day workshops, in Fiji and another Pacific country, and presentations, exercises, and instruments to help facilitate the ToC workshops.

• Facilitate the ToC workshops in Fiji and another Pacific Country.

Desired effect: Coherent and comprehensive understanding of the current situation regarding CEED in the Pacific Country, the causes and consequences of the related deprivations, the resources and interventions (existing or desired) to target the deprivations, and a theory of how to get from the current situation to the desired situation, including how interventions will trigger the necessary changes.

• Report on the ToC.

Product: Based on feedback from the workshop, develop a refined Theory of Change for the UNICEF CEED Strategy in the Fiji and another Pacific Island Country. The document should include both a brief narrative explanation of the theory of change (maximum 10 pages), as well as a graphical representation of the causal pathways through which the desired impact level change is arrived at.

Please refer to the TOR for further information on the deliverables and the timelines

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Master’s degree in International Development, Public Administration, Development Program Evaluation, or any related social science discipline with extensive experience with and knowledge of climate change, environment, energy or disaster risk reduction, and applied research methods, and monitoring and evaluation.
• Minimum of 10 years of professional experience in climate change, environment, energy and/or disaster risk reduction research or evaluation.
• Experience in organizing theory of change workshops and facilitating consultation to bring consensus to discussions.
• Proven experience on gender and equity issues.
• Knowledge of challenges and issues in CEED in the Pacific Region will be an asset.
• Experience working with the UN is an advantage.
• Ability to synthesize information succinctly and accurately and a track record of producing high-quality evidence products.
• Adaptability and flexibility, client orientation, initiative, concern for accuracy and quality.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit here

Remarks:

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Consultant/Contractor will be required to complete mandatory online courses (e.g. Ethics, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Security) upon receipt of offer and before the signature of contract.