Consultant, Environmental Country Profile

Organizational Context

Purpose of Project and Background

The following are the Terms of Reference for the Environmental Country Profile to inform Shelter and Settlements programming for the Mozambique Shelter Cluster.

The GSC has received a financial contribution from USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance  to improve the capacity and quality of the humanitarian response in shelters and settlements. As part of the activities funded by this grant, the GSC will develop a series of Environmental Country Profiles to support the integration of environmental considerations into accommodation and settlement programming. A range of country profiles were developed in 2022 – 2023 and can be found on the Global Shelter Cluster website.

Mozambique is vulnerable to climate change due to its high exposure to climate-related risks (cyclones, heavy rains, tropical storms, floods, droughts) that devastate crops and critical infrastructure. Climate change will increase the frequency and severity of water scarcity and climate-related hazards and will place additional pressure on the Mozambican government's ability to address existing development obstacles, such as extreme inequality, low education levels, severe environmental degradation and rampant armed conflict and violence.

Given this level of risk, the Mozambique Shelter & NFIs Cluster sees great value in developing an Environmental Country Profile to provide up-to-date and context-specific guidance to humanitarian shelter agencies. The primary objective of the Environmental Country Profile is to inform environmentally sustainable shelter and settlement programming, making key information on environmental considerations, impacts, concerns, and opportunities relevant to shelter and settlement programming available and accessible to agencies that work in the sector. This resource will support agencies to minimize any negative impact of the program on the natural environment, in accordance with the Shelter and Settlements Standard Sphere 7: Environmental Sustainability as well as Mozambique government regulations.

Alignment to the IFRC’s objectives and strategy

(IFRC’s Strategy 2030)

The Environmental Country Profile is aligned to the IFRC´s Strategy 2030 through the “Goal 1: People anticipate, respond to and quickly recover from crises” as it acknowledges the importance of considering the environment and its sustainability for the well-being of the planet´s ecosystem and populations.

The Global Shelter Cluster (GSC) is an open platform for the coordination of the humanitarian shelter and settlement sector, with more than 45 partners participating consistently globally. The GSC is co-chaired by IFRC and UNHCR at the global level, and it has 695 partners who participate on a regular basis. IFRC is the convener of the Shelter Cluster in disaster settings, while UNHCR leads the Shelter Cluster in conflict situations.The GSC Global Strategy recognizes the environment as a cross-cutting issue for an effective shelter and settlements response. It also recognizes that humanitarian operations can have serious environmental impacts. The GSC seeks to increase understanding of the environmental issues faced by operational teams, in order to minimize the impact of response activities and maximize the potential for lodging risk reduction. 

Job Purpose

The Mozambique Shelter & NFIs Cluster sees great value in developing an Environmental Country Profile to provide up-to-date and context-specific guidance to humanitarian shelter agencies. The primary objective of the Environmental Country Profile is to inform environmentally sustainable shelter and settlement programming, making key information on environmental considerations, impacts, concerns and opportunities relevant to shelter and settlement programming available and accessible to agencies that work in the sector. This resource will support agencies to minimize any negative impact of the program on the natural environment, in accordance with the Shelter and Settlements Standard Sphere 7: Environmental Sustainability.

The environmental profile consists of a series of annexes on key topics including:

1. Country environment, hazard, conflict, security and housing context
2. Key actors
3. Regulatory requirements and institutions
4. Ecologically protected and sensitive areas
5. Hazards and maps
6. Guidance on rapid environmental impact assessment
7. Environmental Management and Monitoring plan
8. Project management cycle and sustainable construction
9. Utilizing GIS data for enhanced humanitarian shelter programming
10. Environment, site selection and planning issues
11. Security of tenure and environment in country
12. Site decommissioning
13. Green building practices and most common building materials
14. Green logistics and procurement
15. Greening household items
16. Key considerations for energy and fuel in country
17. Debris and waste management, recycling, reuse and repurposing
18. Climate risk management and adaptation, Nature-based solutions

Desired outcomes

The main outcome of the consultancy will be the preparation of an Environmental Country Profile for shelter and settlement programming for Mozambique.

The consultant must possess the relevant qualifications, skills and experience (see J: Qualifications, below).

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Consultancy outputs

The consultancy will include, among others, the following activities:

• Drafting and presentation of a work plan: proposed with timelines for each proposed activity and a list of the main proposed stakeholders.
• Initial draft: The development of the Environmental Country Profile will be guided by a Technical Working Group (TWG) under the National Shelter Cluster, which is formed by the Mozambique Shelter Cluster Coordination Team specifically for this purpose. Relevant members of the Shelter Cluster Support Team (GSC) and Communities of Practice will also be included in a broader peer review group, i.e. the GSC Senior Environment Advisor and the Environment Community of Practice. The consultant should recommend the inclusion of other key stakeholders in the TWG. Sufficient time should be allowed to fill each annex of the harmonized profile document with country-specific content, with maximum participation of TWG members. This may require 2-3 technical working group meetings.
• Final draft: each annex will be reviewed by TWG members and key informants. Final comments will be addressed and incorporated. The final project will be presented to the TWG for review and approval.

Method of delivery and reasons for selecting that method

In order to ensure consistency in the approach to the development of Environmental Country Profiles, across all country contexts, the GSC has designed a common framework outlining the minimum methodology requirements and content, while offering flexibility for country-specific priorities, contexts and characteristics. This framework will be used as a basis for the development of the Environmental Country Profile.

The consultant will be responsible for completing the majority of the Environmental Country Profile (some sections will be contributed to by the Global Shelter Cluster or members of the Technical Working Group). The exact list of annexes will be decided before starting work. The consultant must harmonize all annexes into a coherent final document.

Support to be provided to the consultant

The development of the Environmental Country Profile will be guided by a Technical Working Group (TWG) under the National Shelter Cluster, which is formed by the Mozambique Shelter Cluster Coordination Team specifically for this purpose. Relevant members of the Shelter Cluster Support Team (GSC) and Communities of Practice will also be included in a broader peer review group, i.e. the GSC Senior Environment Advisor and the Environment Community of Practice. The consultant should recommend the inclusion of other key stakeholders in the TWG.

Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

Schedule for payment of fees

(Indicate deliverables and timeframe, e.g. milestones, reporting deadlines, etc.)

The consultancy is expected to complete the proposed task within the time frame indicated below (see Timeline in the ToRs Here ).

The payment for the consultant services will be in three installments, the first as an advance before field travel, the second after the presentation of the draft and the third after presentation of the final version.

Education

Educational ( Master or equivalent) background related to environment and/or disaster management.

Experience

• Solid experience in environmental issues in Mozambique and/ or sub region.
• Strong familiarity with disaster-related humanitarian assistance, and particularly shelter operations in Mozambique and/ or sub region.
• Familiarity with the construction sector in Mozambique and/ or sub region.

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

• Good research and writing skills
• Demonstrated skills in managing technical groups to achieve defined results on established schedules.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to clearly synthesize and present results, draw practical conclusions, make recommendations and prepare well-written reports in a timely manner.
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and in a team.
• Portuguese proficiency. A working knowledge of English is desirable, but not essential

Competencies, Values and Comments

• Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability
• Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; Creativity and innovation; Building trust.

The applicant must present the following documents:

1. Curriculum Vitae (CV)
2. Cover letter clearly summarizing the work experience mentioned above.
3. Narrative and financial proposal. Attach it in Other attachment.
4. Written Sample: A copy of a previously written report (similar type of reports, research, document presented to any organization in the past), or references from published works. Attach it in Other attachment.

All proposals must be submitted by 30th April 2024 to IFRC careers (Official site).

Time Allocation, for budget purposes

The duration of the consultancy will be a maximum of 40 working days within 8 months of timeframe. The consultancy is expected to commence in May 2024.

Immediate availability for the period indicated in the deadlines section will be a strong advantage.

Management of consultancy

For any additional information or clarification, please contact Alvaro Gramajo at coord.mozambique@sheltercluster.org with fina.nhancalize@ifrc.org and mandy.george@sheltercluster.org in copy.

Notes

• The consultant will be contracted by the IFRC and the standard contractual terms will apply.

• Agreed travel expenses will be reimbursed at cost in accordance with in the IFRC’s relevant regulations.

• Global Shelter Cluster, the IFRC and the USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance , March 2024)