International Consultant to conduct quantitative data collection and analysis of climatic and resilient data for UNICEF Angola Country Office, Luanda

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have worked in Angola continuously since 1976 with mandate to support government and non-state actors to protect the rights and promote the wellbeing of every child.

Our work is aligned with Sustainable Development Goals and aims to ensure each child in each 18 provinces has access to good health services, quality education opportunities, clean water, and toilets; and children grow up protected and develop in an inclusive, just, and peaceful society.

Since its establishment, UNICEF has been helping the government of Angola to strengthen national policies, programmes and services to ensure that every child enjoy their rights.

UNICEF’s capacity, technical skills and structure allow us to work effectively with policy and decision-makers and be among the first responders to humanitarian crisis. It allows us to assess and respond quickly to the priorities and needs of communities in the most remote and underserved areas of the country.

UNICEF protects and promotes the rights of every child in Angola.

For every child, Water

Located on the west coast of Southern Africa, the country is heavily influenced by climate variables because of its Atlantic Ocean coastline, the influence of the Benguela cold-water current and its high-altitude central plateau. These factors result in the country experiencing both humid and dry tropical conditions. In particular, the country is facing water scarcity as a serious environmental threat as climate change exacerbates droughts. A 2022 World Bank report on drought in Angola concludes that there is a need to support the government of Angola in its paradigm shift1 In addition, high levels of malnutrition mean that 38 per cent of children below 2 years old are malnourished and nearly half of children below five years of age are affected by some form of stunted growth. The country also lags in terms of education performance. Only 38% of the population above the age of 18 has completed upper secondary level, and while the Basic Law of the National Education System does have provisions for compulsory and free education, the 2014 census showed that roughly 4.5 million people (34% of the population) over the age of 15 could neither read nor write (MCTA, 2021). This indicates a significant shortfall in terms of meeting national priorities about educational attainment. All these elements are especially problematic in the context of increasingly frequent and severe climate change impacts as droughts and extreme rainfall becomes more common in Angola.

Global data shows that Angola emits only 0,08 per cent of global CO2 emissions, nevertheless according to UNICEF Children’s Climate Risk Index Angola ranks 10th, with a “extremely high risk” of facing negative and devastating climate effects. In essence, the biophysical impacts of climate change driven by the frequency and severity of extreme events, such as heat waves, coastal storm surges, droughts and floods are projected to increase. Given the country’s political history and the relatively recent end (2002) of a protracted civil war, the country has not had the opportunity to put in place the necessary infrastructure needed to yield meteorological data for the last 40 years. This results in minimal data collection on key climate trends, such as rainfall patterns and temperature.

How can you make a difference?

Scope of work:

UNICEF Angola WASH-Climate-Environment-Disaster Risk Reduction Team is developing a nationwide and integrated information management platform for its own programming to fulfil the ambitions of the new UNICEF Country Programme Document 2024-2028. The platform at the beginning will be filled with water, sanitation and hygiene data, with administrative, topographic, hydrographic and social service infrastructure layers as well as climate and resilience-related data. However, considering the abovementioned challenges, the country may lack data related to historical series to perform projections of future climatic scenarios and, consequently, face challenges to adequately plan for evidence-based interventions. Based on this information, the objective of this work is to review the available datasets together with relevant national institutions and ministries (like INAMET, GEOSPATIAL, Ministry of Environment, etc.) and to compile the existing datasets and collect data identified to fill the data gaps. The consultant will have to work in close collaboration with national entities. The assignment is from December 2023 to December 2024 of 88 working days. If the consultant is not already based in Angola, he/she will be required to travel to Luanda for about 10 working days at the beginning of the consultancy to liaise with stakeholders. The consultant will:

1) Identify all data needed to submit a project proposal to the Green Climate Fund and Global Environment Facility. 2) Conduct a literature review and an investigation to map the climate and resilience-related data producers and data holders in Angola (public entities, academic institutions, private sector, civil society and individuals, Angolan and non-Angolan based institutions). 3) Reach out to climate and resilience-related data producers, holders and certifiers to access and review all available climate and resilience-related datasets and studies. When needed, with UNICEF support make formal requests for data access. 4) Perform the first phase of data cleaning for the existing compiled datasets and support the incorporation into the integrated information management system developed by a parallel consultancy during the same period. 5) Develop jointly, with the other consultancy firm in charge of the integrated information management platform, the methodology for comprehensive data collection to fill the identified data gaps (including a specific procedure with regards to validation of datasets by national authorities, safety and security of data collection and processes, such as storage, transfer, analysis, ownership, etc.) to be integrated into platform. 6) Plan data gap collection organised per type of information needed, in relation to biophysical climatic elements, such as rainwater, temperature, air quality, sea level rise, deforestation and soil fertility loss, etc. and in relation to resilience. 7) Prepare a costed plan for data gap filling collection for most urgent datasets and regions of the country based on the previously identified gaps. 8) Provide technical assistance to institutions generating data that request it to strengthen their data management mechanism (data collection, treatment, analysis and knowledge product generation). 9) Perform the second phase of data cleaning of the newly collected datasets (during the consultancy) and support the incorporation into an integrated information management system developed by a parallel consultancy. 10) With the available data, elaborate a comprehensive data analysis to identify current and future patterns at national level and for specific geographic areas agreed with UNICEF Angola Country Office.

The details on tasks, deliverables with timelines are elaborated in the table below:

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Number of days to produce each deliverable

Estimate Budget (% of total)

Inception phase

Deliverable 1 – report – Identification of detailed data needed to submit a project proposal to the main climate donors Deliverable 2 – report – Literature review to understand who

the main actors are and who generates/owns data in Angola.

13

15%

Access and data cleaning

Deliverable 3 – datasets collection – access and review climate-related datasets and studies.

Deliverable 4 – dataset collection – first dataset cleaning to support the incorporation into the information management

system.

22

25%

Methodology and data collection plan development

Deliverable 5 – report – development of a clear and coherent methodology for comprehensive data collection to fill the gaps.

Deliverable 6 – report – Plan for data gap collection detailed

per type of biophysical climate and resilience elements.

18

20%

Data collection costed plan, data gap filling and second data cleaning

Deliverable 7 – report – elaborate a costed plan for data gap filling collection for most urgent datasets and regions of the country.

Deliverable 8 – report on technical assistance provided to institutions to strengthen their data management system. Deliverable 9 – dataset collection – dataset cleaning of newly collected data to support the incorporation into the

information management system.

26

30%

Comprehensive data analysis

Deliverable 10 – datasets transfer to UNICEF, analysis and final report – Elaborate a final report that include a dedicated report on national (and if possible subnational) data analysis of all datasets collected and cleaned during the mission (scope of

analysis to be agreed with UNICEF).

9

10%

Minimum number of days

88

100%

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

• Master’s degree in Climate Change, Environment, Resilience, Water Resources Management, Water and Sanitation or Environmental Engineering or a closely related discipline from a recognized University. Work experience • Minimum of 8 years of professional work experience in environmental data identification, collection and analysis. • Experience in interactions and management of multiple complex relations with different actors, i.e. Government institutions, UNICEF etc. • Strong knowledge of data collection/analysis tools, instruments and of information management tools and mechanisms. • Positive and proactive attitude. • Experience of working with an international organization or the UN System would be considered an asset. • Fluency in English verbal and written, knowledge of Portuguese would be considered an asset. If the selected person does not speak Portuguese translation during the field mission will be provided. • Excellent report-writing skills. • Previous work experience in the country/region would be considered an asset.

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.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule:

Payment of professional fees will be based on the submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

Please propose a lumpsum professional fee (in USD) based on 88 working days to undertake this assignment.

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.