Consultancy for developing a Climate-Environment and Sustainability Strategy for UNICEF, Maseru, Lesotho, 38 days

Remote | Maseru

Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund
Location: Remote | Maseru
Grade: Consultancy - Consultant - Contractors Agreement
Occupational Groups:
- Operations and Administrations
- Development Cooperation and Sustainable Development Goals
- Environment
- Meteorology, Geology and Geography
- Children's rights (health and protection)
- Climate Change
Closing Date: Closed

UNICEF seeks to hire a consultant who will assist UNICEF Lesotho Country Office in developing a climate, environment, and sustainability strategy, roadmap, and action plan, which includes relevant priority programmatic and operational actions, an internal accountability matrix, a monitoring framework, and a staff capacity development plan.

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, Opportunity

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

Climate change and environmental degradation pose significant threats to children globally, jeopardizing the progress achieved in child survival and development. With over a billion children already facing extreme risks from environmental and climate hazards, urgent action is essential to adapt and build resilient, low-carbon social services. These services, including water and sanitation, healthcare, education, nutrition, social protection, and child protection, are crucial investments for children's well-being. The UNICEF Strategic Plan for 2022-2025 underscores the critical importance of addressing climate change, environmental degradation, and disaster resilience as integral components of its mission to safeguard children's rights and well-being. In line with its commitment to safeguard children worldwide, UNICEF has launched the Sustainability and Climate Change Action Plan (SCAP) 2023-2030. The SCAP focuses on urgent climate action, fostering systematic change in collaboration with public and private sectors to prioritize children's needs, enhance their resilience to climate threats, and integrate sustainability and climate action both internally and externally within UNICEF. It also outlines UNICEF’s organizational response to this climate crisis and focus areas for action and partnerships – delivering the best results cannot be achieved by UNICEF working alone.

Lesotho ranks among the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, posing significant threats to the health, education, and protection of its young population. According to the Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI) published by UNICEF, Lesotho is having a CCRI score of 5.4 and ranked 61st out of 163 countries, classifying the children in Lesotho as at “Medium-high” risk with their exposure to climate hazards and environmental shocks. The nation's children are particularly susceptible to water scarcity, riverine flooding, and pollution (soil and water).

In 2023 UNICEF Lesotho conducted a Climate Landscape Analysis for Children (CLAC) that examined the baseline situation climate, energy, and environmental-related issues affecting children and how they relate to UNICEF’s priorities in the country. UNICEF Lesotho has contributed to secure water access and improved resilience in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), ensure solar-powered health centers for vaccine refrigeration and continuity of service, prioritize youth-led advocacy on climate change.

Despite UNICEF’s commendable climate and environmental actions in Lesotho, the country office is yet to have an overarching organizational-country level strategy aligned with the capacities and aspirations of UNICEF Lesotho Country Program (2024-2028)1, UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), and UNICEF global SCAP2. Accordingly, this consultancy seeks to formulate a climate-environment and sustainability strategy for UNICEF Lesotho Country Office to cover the period from 2024 to 2028. This strategy will serve as a crucial guide for the organization's planning and active engagement in climate change and environmental sustainability efforts, aligning with the demands of central and local governments.

It is against this background, that UNICEF in Lesotho is seeking a consultant to formulating a Climate-Environment and Sustainability Strategy to Guide Planning and Active Engagement in Climate Change Initiatives and Environment Sustainability Efforts as an office-wide strategy within UNICEF, Lesotho. The justification for this consultancy stems from recognizing that climate change intensifies existing vulnerabilities, impacting children's and adolescents’ access to health, education, and protection. This initiative complements UNICEF’s Sustainability and Climate Change Action Plan (SCAP), and a tailored strategy is anticipated to enhance UNICEF's effectiveness in addressing these challenges.

Moreover, integrating sustainability principles into UNICEF's programme aligns with the organization's commitment to environmental stewardship and responsible resource management.

Scope of Work:

The objective of this assignment is to assist UNICEF Lesotho Country Office in developing a climate, environment, and sustainability strategy, roadmap, and action plan, which includes relevant priority programmatic and operational actions, an internal accountability matrix, a monitoring framework, and a staff capacity development plan.

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Chief of Child Survival and Development (CSD), and in close collaboration with Programme and Operations sections, and UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa (ESARO) colleagues, the consultant will lead the development of the UNICEF Lesotho Climate-Environment and Sustainable Strategy (2024 -2029)

The specific tasks and deliverables:

1. Capacity Assessment

Conduct capacity assessment of the Lesotho Country Office in designing, planning, and implementing climate, environment, and sustainability actions.

Evaluate current staff skills and competencies related to climate, environment, and sustainability and identifying areas for improvement and training needs.

This involves reviewing existing programmes, internal structures and processes related to climate, environment, and sustainability; interviews and surveys among staff to assess their awareness and engagement in climate and environmental initiatives; examine past and ongoing projects and initiatives related to climate and environment to identify lessons learned and areas for improvement; Review the strategic plans and frameworks of UNICEF Lesotho to assess the integration of climate and sustainability considerations; evaluate the office's ability to incorporate climate change adaptation and mitigation into its programmatic planning; conduct a workshop to enhance planning skills and strategies for climate and sustainability actions; assessing their alignment with the CLAC findings, and identifying new opportunities for impactful interventions.

2. Strategy and Roadmap Development

Based on the CLAC and capacity assessment findings, develop a comprehensive climate, environment, and sustainability strategy and roadmap (2025-2029) for the Lesotho Country Office.

The strategy should align with the Office's priorities (e.g., CPD), UNSDCF and SCAP and include:

Summary of the CLAC;
Strategic objectives for Lesotho CO;
Detailed action plan for the different Lesotho CO’s programmes (health & nutrition, HIV, education, WASH, ECD, Social Policy , PME, and child protection, operations), with initiatives to enhance children's resilience to climate impacts and to reduce environmental degradation outlining timelines, and responsible parties;
Youth awareness raising plan & community and stakeholder engagement;
Identified necessary systems and structures to integrate and implement climate, environment, and sustainability strategies within the Lesotho Country Office, with a focus on scalability;
Monitoring and evaluation components (including key indicators)to track progress, to assess outcomes and impact following the integration of climate, environment, and sustainability strategies. Through:

desk review of the existing policies, action plans, strategies, UNICEF/UN initiatives related to sustainability and climate changes in Lesotho, key players and existing initiatives.
SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in climate, environment, and sustainability efforts.
office-wide workshops as part of the strategy formulation process.
workshops or consultations to gather input from key stakeholders (government bodies, donors, civil society organizations, the private sector, communities, and youth themselves) for strategy development.

3. Orient Lesotho Country Office on the Strategy and roadmap.

4. Develop a 10-page CLAC Advocacy Brief for External Stakeholders

Produce a 10-page advocacy brief based on the CLAC report for external stakeholders to highlight key findings, actionable insights, and recommendations for climate and environmental sustainability efforts

Work Assignment Overview:

Tasks/Milestone:	Deliverables/Outputs:	Timeline (period/deadline)	Payment structure (% of the total fee)
Development of the inception report including stakeholder engagement plan, working methodology/approach to achieve the tasks, detailed time schedule, milestones, checklist to incorporate feedback provided by UNICEF program specialists and stakeholders	Inception Report	3 days	10% (remotely)
Internal assessment of UNICEF Lesotho Country Office	Staff capacity development plan	7 days	2days (remotely) 5 days (In country)
Develop a comprehensive climate, environment, and sustainability strategy and roadmap (2024-2029) for the Lesotho Country Office based on the CLAC, capacity assessment findings and internal/external consultations.	Draft strategy and roadmap	20 days	30% (In country)
Seek feedback from internal and external stakeholders to refine and finalize the strategy	Final Strategy Document (report, PPT presentation)	5 days	20% (In country)
Orient Lesotho CO on the Strategy and roadmap.	One day workshop and orientation report	1 day
Development of final report Develop a 10-page CLAC Advocacy Brief for External Stakeholders	Final report with recommendations 10-page CLAC Advocacy Brief	2 days	40% (Remote)

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

An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in environmental sciences, environmental management, public policy, international development, international relations, social sciences, or related fields.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

A minimum of eight years of relevant professional experience in disaster risk management, climate change, international development, and humanitarian assistance experience, preferably in the UN system, is required. Field experience is an expected asset.
6 years’ experience in program assessment, strategy development, advocacy, resource mobilization, and partnership building with international donors, bilateral and multilateral.
Proven experience in the analysis and development of climate change systems and policies related to environment sustainability and climate change.
Excellent communication, facilitation, and presentation skills
Specific experience in working/liaising with donor groups at the HQ or field level is desirable.
Knowledge and working experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Middle East region as well as experience in public-private partnerships are also assets.
Proven knowledge of policy and budgetary decision-making processes in the Government of Lesotho.
In-depth experience with the UN processes, inter-governmental and member states negotiations.
Fluency in English (verbal and written).
Positive performance record on drive for results and teamwork.
Proven capacity to quickly absorb new information and techniques and work under tight deadli

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.

This vacancy is now closed.