Individual Consultancy to provide technical guidance on disability inclusive climate action programming, Nairobi, Eastern & Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) - 30 days consultancy

Consultant Teaching & Training Programme & Policy

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, education.

How can you make a difference?

Scope of Work

Background and Justification

In 2020, OHCHR issued a report acknowledging that persons with disabilities, particularly women and children, are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis.[1] A systematic analysis revealed however that only 35 of 192[2] State Parties to the Paris Agreement currently refer to persons with disabilities in their Nationally Determined Contributions, no State Parties to the Paris Agreement refer to persons with disabilities in their climate mitigation policies, and only 45 State Parties[3] to the Paris Agreement currently refer to persons with disabilities, persons with health conditions or those with chronic illnesses in their climate adaptation policies.

The Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI) indicates that children and adolescents in all 21 countries in ESA live in high or medium risk of environmental, social and health impacts of climate change.[4] A recent UNICEF report estimates that there are 28,9 million children with disabilities in ESAR.[5]

Disability inclusion is a cross-cutting programme of UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and mainstreamed across the regional flagships and focus areas of ESAR’s Regional Collaboration for Children 2022-2026. According to the Regional Collaboration for Children, accelerated progress in climate resilience and adaptation will require the input of multiple sectors.

Referring to UNICEF's Strategic Plan and ESAR’s Regional Collaboration for Children, as well as UNICEF’s 2022 Global Disability Summit commitments for disability inclusive climate action[6], there is a need to ensure that ESAR’s regional flagship on climate resilience and adaptation is inclusive of children and young people with disabilities.

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[1] A/HRC/44/30. Available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G20/097/56/PDF/G2009756.pdf?OpenElement

[2] Status Report on Disability Inclusion in National Climate Commitments and Policies, June 2022. Available at:

https://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/sites/default/files/drcc_status_report_english_0.pdf

In ESAR, only Eswatini, Tanzania and Zimbabwe refer to persons with disabilities in their NDCs.

[3] Ibid.

In ESAR, only South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe refer to persons with disabilities, persons with health conditions or those with chronic illnesses in their climate adaptation policies.

[4] The Climate Crisis is a Child Rights Crisis:: Introducing the Children’s Climate Risk Index. New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2021.

[5] UNICEF, Seen, Counted, Included: Using data to shed light on the well-being of children with disabilities, 2021. Available at: https://data.unicef.org/resources/children-with-disabilities-report-2021/

[6] Available at: https://www.globaldisabilitysummit.org/commitments

*Goal and Objective*****:

Under the supervision of the ESARO Programme Specialist (Climate), the consultant will:

1. Assess the inclusiveness or lack thereof of UNICEF’s climate action programming in ESAR, including relevant frameworks and guidelines, capacity and practices.
2. Map lessons learned from other UN agencies, INGOs and CSOs that UNICEF can use to inform its climate action programming

3. Provide recommendations to ensure UNICEF’s climate action programming in ESAR is inclusive of children and young persons with disabilities.

   Provide details/reference to AWP areas covered:

The AWP activity “BMZ/KFW MULTI-SECTORAL CLIMATE RESILIENT HUB” is one of the key areas of implementation for the Climate Resilience Hub. At the same time disability inclusion is highly prioritized and this consultancy will strengthen the programming in that regard.

Activities and Tasks:

The primary task of the consultant is to review UNICEF’s climate action programming in ESAR for its disability inclusiveness, and map lessons learned from other UN agencies, INGOs and CSOs that UNICEF can use to inform its climate action programming. The end goal of the assignment is to produce a technical guidance document for disability inclusive climate action programming in ESAR strengthening capacity of Country offices to plan, implement and monitor disability inclusive climate action programming.

The methodology should include the following steps:

Step 1. Desk review. The consultant will review relevant evidence and data on the impact of climate change on youth with disabilities, data (where available), and policy and programme documents provided by country offices.

Step 2. Data collection and analysis. The consultant will develop a tool to collect feedback from UNICEF country offices, other UN agencies, relevant government counterparts, relevant international development agencies and organizations of persons with disabilities in the countries. The tool will be used to compile feedback from each country to document past and ongoing initiatives, approaches used, opportunities and challenges faced at the country level. The analysis should aim to identify the future climate action needs and areas where support is needed, including how to make them inclusive of and accessible to children and young persons with disabilities.

Step 3. Good practices and lessons learned. The consultant will identify good/promising practices and lessons learned, if any, as well as the use of innovative approaches and develop case studies to document them.

Step 4. Present the findings. After sharing the draft report with UNICEF and receiving feedback from the RO, the consultant will develop a PowerPoint presentation, which will be presented to relevant UNICEF colleagues via webinars.

Step 5. Report. The consultant will prepare an ESAR report of maximum 20 pages, with at least the following sections included:

• Executive summary (2-3 pages)
• Impact of climate change on children and young persons with disabilities in the region and review of the level of progress of countries
• Recommendations to improve policies and frameworks to support child- and disability inclusive climate action programming
• Mapping of UNICEF programmes in climate action and the inclusiveness of children and young persons with disabilities in the region or lack thereof
• Good practice and lessons learned from other organizations
• Successes, challenges and gaps in climate action programming at the country level in view of disability inclusion, in selected countries where children are most at risk according to the Children Climate Risk Index (CCR 2021)
• Recommendations on how to make UNICEF ESAR climate action programming inclusive of children and young persons with disabilities
• Annexes:
  • Acronyms
  • Bibliography
  • Methodology and approach
  • Tools used for data collection
  • List of respondents to the survey and interviewees

The following cross-cutting issues should be kept in mind.

• To what extent do initiatives address gender specific needs and barriers?
• To what extent do initiatives address the specific needs and barriers of children and young persons with different disabilities?
• To what extent are initiatives specific to a particular country context (HIC, LMIC, LIC, humanitarian, emergency…), needs and available resources?
• To what extent has COVID-19 accelerated/frozen/given new opportunity to climate action programming for children and young persons with disabilities?

Work relationships:

The consultant will report to the Programme Specialist (Climate) at ESARO with regular virtual meetings with relevant colleagues including the Disability Inclusion team at ESARO. The consultant will engage also directly with COs, government counterparts, international development agencies and OPDs when collecting country information.

Outputs/Deliverables:

• The Inception Report will describe the strategic directions of the work, the methodology to be followed, the different steps to deliver the expected results, potential limitations, the framework/tools for information collection and analysis, and the detailed timetable that the consultant will use to deliver the main results of the study.
• The main findings of the survey/interviews with COs, government counterparts and stakeholders on the level of progress of climate action programming and initiatives at national levels according to the analysis grid used and the good practices identified.
• The report, the final deliverable, will consist of all the sections listed above. The consultant will present this work at a regional webinar to be scheduled.

Deliverables

Duration

(Estimated # of days)

Timeline/Deadline

Schedule of payment

Percentage payment

Inception report based on desk review

10

1 November 2023

7 November 2023

20%

Key findings from the data collection and analysis

35

1 December 2023

7 December 2023

20%

Draft report

25

1 January 2024

7 January 2024

30%

Final report

9

15 February 2024

22 February 2024

20%

Slide deck and webinar presentation

1

20 March 2023

27 March 2024

10%

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

• Advanced degree in environmental, earth science or related discipline.
• Minimum 8 years relevant professional experience, experience working in issues relating to climate action, disability, social inclusion and/or related fields in developing country contexts.
• Strong experience in research, program management, monitoring and reporting.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and previous experience communicating with partners at different levels.
• Demonstrated ability in work planning and report preparation.
• Demonstrated skills in professional high-quality writing in English.
• Experience working in the Eastern and Southern Africa region highly desirable.
• Previous experience working with UNICEF is an asset.
• Must exhibit the UNICEF Core Values of:
  1. Care
  2. Respect
  3. Integrity
  4. Trust
  5. Accountability

6. Sustainability

• Competencies

1. Builds and maintains partnerships..

2. Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

3. Drive to achieve results for impact

4. Innovates and embraces change

5. Manages ambiguity and complexity

6. Thinks and acts strategically

7. Works collaboratively with others

• Excellent communication skills in English.

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.

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.

Remarks:

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

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.

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Added 7 months ago - Updated 7 months ago - Source: unicef.org