Consultant on climate change for capacity assessment and action planning with local councils

Terms of Reference (ToR)

Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of local councils dealing with climate change.

Introduction

Oxfam in Iraq envisions climate justice in a way that is feminist, equal, and free from conflict, promoting human rights, and expanding civic space. Oxfam supports equitable socio-economic transformation, inclusive and accountable climate governance, and climate adaptation and resilience measures which protect those who are highly vulnerable and most exposed to the climate consequences. One of the key measures to apply Oxfam’s green vision, is to involve, on the sub-national level, all the possible stakeholders and diverse actors from the local community, hereby referred to as “local councils”.

Background

Iraq is among the countries most affected by and most vulnerable to climate change globally and is the fifth most vulnerable to reduced water and food availability, extreme temperatures, and associated health problems^[1]. It is one of four countries that depend on the Euphrates–Tigris River basin for its water supply, which over recent years has experienced high levels of water stress and environmental degradation, resulting in increased water scarcity for countries dependent on it, including Iraq^[2]. With the impacts of climate change, drought in the area continues to increase in duration and intensity, together with growing desertification and more frequent sandstorms and flash floods, all of which affect agricultural yields^[3].

As the public narrative on conflict in Iraq is receding; more attention is being directed towards topics including education, economy, and corruption, as well as the growing public interest in issues related to climate change, especially with the immediate impacts that are notably increasing year after year, such as water scarcity and sandstorms. There is a belief amongst the Iraqi public that the government and local authorities have mismanaged environmental issues and crisis related to climate change^[4].

Funded by GIZ, Oxfam is implementing a project in Ninewa and Al Anbar governorates of Federal Iraq to promote public awareness on the potential and negative effects of climate change on local natural resources and livelihoods, and to assess the current capacities, leadership, institutional context and planning agendas of local councils dealing with climate change. The research will explore if such factors serve as constraints or enabling mechanisms for achieving climate adaptation.

Al-Anbar Governorate

Anbar is the largest of Iraq’s governorates and one of its most sparsely populated. The governorate is made up of seven districts: Ana, Fallujah, Haditha, Heet, al-Qaim, Ramadi, and al-Rutba, and borders three neighboring countries, Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The capital city of Anbar is Ramadi. As of 2019, the estimated population of Anbar is 1,818,318 people. The governorate is predominately inhabited by Sunni Arabs^[5]. Anbar leads the unemployment rate for youth aged 15-24 in Iraq at 33.3%^[6] following the ISIS occupation, which led to the widespread destruction of infrastructure, markets, and factories, and minimal support to businesses that might create job opportunities for young people.

Ninewa Governorate

Ninewa hosts 1.77 million returnees out of the 4.60 million returnees in Iraq (38% of the total), making it the governorate with the highest number of returnees in the country. Ten percent of these returnees live in locations ranked as having high severity conditions, whilst 32 percent live in medium severity locations and 58 percent live in low severity locations. The districts of Sinjar and Telafar host the largest number of individuals who have returned to high severity conditions. In Sinjar in particular, nearly all locations with returnees are categorised as high severity, with no returnees found to be living in low severity conditions. Given the large presence of non-camp based IDPs, one out of every four locations in Ninewa hosts both IDPs and returnees, increasing the pressure on meeting basic needs and resources for recovery. Multiple locations in Mosul and Sinjar, for instance, currently host more IDPs than returnees.

Assignment

1. Objectives:

Oxfam is seeking an external expert to undertake an assessment on the capacity of sub-national entities such as local councils dealing with climate change. The targeted governorates in Iraq are Ninewa (Sinjar, Baaj, Hamdanya districts) and Al-Anbar (Habaniyah and Karma districts). Based on the findings of the assessment findings, the consultant will set an action plan aiming to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of local entities when dealing with climate change. Once the plan is validated, the consultant will support the councils in implementing one of the recommended measures in the action plan.

The main objective of the current assignment is to:

1. Assess the capacities of local (or sub-national) entities such as local councils in dealing with climate change in the two target governorates separately;
2. Analyze the findings of the assessment and set consequently for each governorate, an action plan that answers the gaps, and tackles the potential factors enabling climate change adaptation. The action plans must be adapted to the local context, realizable, and inclusive to all actors in the society;
3. Assist Oxfam in the implementation of one of the recommended actions mentioned in the action plan, by providing support, when needed, to the councils. The expected number of days needed for technical assistance is up to 10 days during the implementation period of the action.

2. Key Deliverables:

• Inception Report summarizing the objectives, scope and outputs of the assignment, organization and methodology for achievement of the outputs, documentation review, meetings, findings, and setting out a detailed planning of the assignment, including the schedule;
• Conduct the assessment;
• Report – Assessment analysis: A situational analysis of the current capacities, efficiency and effectiveness of the councils while dealing with climate change issues in the targeted areas of Al Anbar and Ninewa governorates;
• Implementation workplan of the recommended measure: full design (Arabic/English) and timeframe;

Timeline for implementation

All documents and reports are to be submitted in English unless otherwise stated. Where specifically stated, translation into Arabic will be done only after the English version is approved by Oxfam Iraq and for the respective deliverables. All deliverables will only be accepted if they meet highest quality standards. Documents, including drafts, must be well structured and written. Data collection, analysis and presentation are expected to meet highest standards. All final documents must be proofread and professionally edited before submission. 

Proposal requirements  

Oxfam is requesting the service providers to hand in a proposal of maximum three (3) pages, which should highlight the methodology and analytical approaches that the consultant will employ for acquiring and analysing data; the types of data(sets) that will be used; an analysis plan; and a workplan. The proposal should also include a succinct description of consultant’s capacities and any relevant experience related to the ToR. The 3-page proposal does not include biographies, CVs, diplomas, sample work and references, which should be submitted separately. Proposals not fulfilling the minimum criteria will be excluded from the tender procedure and will not be assessed further. 

[1] https://www.unep.org/resources/global-environment-outlook-6?_ga=2.118495561.1336518399.1641386645-2043264144.1641103432

[2] https://www.stimson.org/2021/joint-working-group-on-international-and-eu-water-diplomacy-in-focus-the-euphrates-tigris-river-basin/   

[3] https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/mitigating-conflict-over-water-in-the-euphrates-tigris-basin/ 

[4] https://ecfr.eu/publication/early-warning-how-iraq-can-adapt-to-climate-change/

[5] https://easo.europa.eu/country-guidance-iraq-2021/anbar

[6] As per Ministry of Planning

How to apply:

The interested parties should send all the required documents listed above to the address:

[email protected].