Individual consultant – Development of a strategic framework on climate action for children for UNICEF Botswana (45 working days spread over three months)

The purpose of the assignment is twofold – a) to update the Climate Change Landscape Analysis for Children (CLAC) and b) to develop a dedicated strategic framework on climate action for children for UNICEF in Botswana covering the remainder of the country programme (2024-2026). The assignment will take place under the overall supervision of the Deputy Representative and day-to-day technical guidance by the office climate change focal point (SBC Officer).

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, justice

UNICEF’s global 2022-2025 Strategic Plan recognizes that Climate Change and environmental degradation are existential threats and that all levels of the organization need to work together in a coordinated fashion. The Strategic Plan draws strong links between responses to Climate Change with disaster risk reduction as children increasingly need holistic solutions that address both sudden-onset impacts of disasters, including those that are exacerbated by Climate Change such as hurricanes and floods and resilient solutions that promote climate-smart development for the long-term. Addressing Climate Change issues is therefore vital for building a more sustainable future for children. The organization has since developed a Sustainability and Climate Change Action Plan which establishes a set of foundational elements that all country offices must comply with in order to ensure a minimum level of responsiveness to climate change issues. The deliverable expected under this consultancy is a critical milestone in ensuring that UNICEF Botswana completes the foundational elements.

As in many other countries, climate extremes are a major impediment to resilience in Botswana, where livelihoods are highly sensitive to weather fluctuations. According to the World Bank’s 2021 Climate risk profile for Botswana, increased temperatures are expected for Southern Africa and specifically for Botswana, with mean monthly temperature changes expected to increase by 2.5°C for the 2050s and by 5.0°C by end of the century. Recurring drought has resulted in low agricultural production (cereals in particular), leading to a requirement to import larger quantities of cereals and other foodstuffs at higher prices (exacerbated by the global polycrisis), thereby putting vulnerable children at heightened risk of food insecurity and malnutrition. Poor households already spend a disproportionate amount of their disposable income on food, an increase in the price of staple foods therefore translates to a decrease in household spending on other essential services such as healthcare or education. Botswana’s National Climate Change Strategy (2018) acknowledges that climate change might jeopardise the country’s ability to achieve the objectives set out in its Vision 2036 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Given the criticality of understanding climate risks and how they affect children’s rights, in 2020, the UNICEF Botswana country office commissioned a climate change landscape analysis for children to assess the impact of climate change on child rights. It found that climate change has impacted child rights in several ways, including access to basic services and infrastructure, water availability, disruption of sanitation services, nutrition and food security, health and well-being, child protection, education and learning outcomes and forced child labour. Yet children and young people’s voices are rarely heard in national discussions around climate change as they are not consulted or able to participate in policy processes. Furthermore, sectoral strategies, policies and budgets generally do not consider the impact of climate change on quality, coverage and continuity of services and therefore do not contain measures to mitigate this impact. In 2020, UNICEF Botswana supported the development of a climate landscape analysis for children (CLAC) which provided an initial overview of climate trends and the situation of children. Since then, there have been some changes in the policy landscape as well as new global dynamics around climate action. Furthermore, UNICEF Botswana has since initiated a new five-year country programme (2022-26).

Against this background, it is therefore essential that UNICEF Botswana updates the CLAC and develops a strategic framework on climate action to orient UNICEF staff, partners and other stakeholders, on existing environment and climate change-related initiatives to support efforts addressing the climate emergency for children in Botswana.

How can you make a difference? 

The purpose of the assignment is twofold – a) to update the Climate Change Landscape Analysis for Children (CLAC) and b) to develop a dedicated strategic framework on climate action for children for UNICEF in Botswana covering the remainder of the country programme (2024-2026). The assignment will take place under the overall supervision of the Deputy Representative and day-to-day technical guidance by the office climate change focal point (SBC Officer).

a) Climate Change Landscape Analysis for Children (CLAC)

Following UNICEF’s CLAC guidance, the landscape analysis will contribute to answering the following questions:

• How do climate, environment and DRR issues affect children in Botswana?
• What is the climate finance and policy landscape nationwide?
• Where are children most at risk from the effects of climate change?
• Do government strategies/priorities on climate, environment and DRR take into account children’s needs?
• Do ongoing initiatives benefit children?
• How are children engaged, consulted on climate, environment and DRR issues/solutions?

The exercise will use desk review as the key method to collect and analyse secondary data, which will be supplemented with individual interviews and consultations with key stakeholders at national level as well as two field visits which will include key informant interviews as well as focus group discussions at community level.

b) UNICEF Botswana strategic framework on climate action for children (2024-2026)

This strategic framework will identify entry points for climate action for children by UNICEF Botswana, taking into account the Country Office’s (CO) strategic positioning in an Upper Middle-Income context, and key implementation strategies of evidence generation and knowledge management; advocacy for systems change; and technical assistance for systems strengthening. It will identify entry points, opportunities and action points for climate change action by UNICEF Botswana in functional areas covered by the CO – where relevant:

• Health and Nutrition
• Education
• Child Protection
• Adolescent development and participation
• HIV
• Social policy
• Cross-sectoral functions: social and behaviour change; planning, monitoring and evaluation; gender; disability

The process is expected to be participatory, involving the entire office (and external stakeholders for consultations), with the consultant playing a facilitating role.

Scope of work:

The consultant will be expected to carry out the following activities, leading to the production of the deliverables below:

Activity	Deliverable	Number of working days	Deadline
Literature review of available data, research, policies and strategies on climate change and children, including in Botswana; UNICEF policies/frameworks on climate action; UNICEF programmatic documents for Botswana; and relevant literature and the policy landscape in Botswana; stakeholder mapping; proposed timeline and methodology for both deliverables and draft list of stakeholders to be interviewed and associated list of draft interview questions	Inception report	5	29th March
Half-day inception meeting for UNICEF staff and key stakeholders		1
Stakeholder consultations and key informant interviews, including with the following: UNICEF staff in Botswana CO and Regional Office (climate resilience hub) Relevant government and CSO counterparts Representatives of adolescent and youth engagement platforms Other UN agencies and WB	Draft landscape analysis; PowerPoint presentation; 2 human interest stories from the field	8	3rd May
Field visits to two locations in Botswana heavily affected by climate change for key informant interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders, communities and children		10
Drafting of landscape analysis report and presentation of findings during validation meeting		10
Incorporate comments from validation meeting with stakeholders into CLAC report	Final CLAC report, accompanied by PowerPoint presentation and advocacy brief	3	8th May
Conduct one-day co-creation workshop with UNICEF programme staff to initiate development of strategic framework to guide UNICEF Botswana’s work on climate action	Draft strategic framework and presentation	1	24th May
Draft strategic framework to guide UNICEF’s work in Botswana on climate action for children and present to all staff and selected children/adolescent/youth representatives and present draft version to staff		5
Finalise strategic framework for UNICEF climate action for children in Botswana	Final strategic framework for climate action based on comments and feedback received from staff	2
Total number of working days		45

Proposed final report structure:

The final CLAC should at a minimum include the following chapters:

• The climate, environment and disaster risk reduction (DRR) situation in the country
• The impact of climate, environment and DRR issues on children (WASH, health, education, poverty, food and nutrition, child protection, social inclusion, population dynamics and conflict)
• Government responses to/priorities on climate, environment and DRR
• Child-inclusive policies, strategies and programming around climate, environment and DRR
• Recommendations

The final strategic framework should at a minimum include the following elements:

• Introduction
• UNICEF Climate change policy and strategic framework
  • Global and regional policies
  • UNICEF Botswana 2024-2026 strategic framework for climate action for children
  • UNICEF Botswana accountability framework on climate action for children
• Action tracker as annex

Working relationships:

The consultant will report to the Deputy Representative and work closely with the climate change focal point for UNICEF Botswana (SBC Officer) for day-to-day management. While UNICEF will support to set up internal meetings, the consultant is expected to make his/her own arrangements in terms of setting up meetings with external stakeholders with minimal support by UNICEF.

Timeline

The consultancy is expected to take up 45 working days, spread out over a period of max. 3 months.

 

WORK ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW
Tasks[1]	Deliverable/output[2]	Timeline/deadline[3]	Estimated budget[4]
Literature review of available data on climate change and children; UNICEF policies/frameworks on climate action; UNICEF programmatic documents for Botswana; and relevant literature and the policy landscape in Botswana; proposed timeline and methodology for both deliverables	Inception report	29th March	25%

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

Advanced university degree in geography, environmental science, natural resource management, or related areas. An additional two years of work experience may be considered in lieu of a Master’s degree.

Required: 5 years of work experience in conducting research and developing plans/strategies around environmental issues and climate change.

Desirable: previous work experience with the United Nations

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
• Demonstrated expertise in child rights or any of UNICEF’s main areas of work (child protection, social policy, education, gender, health, adolescent development) is considered an asset.
• Excellent writing and oral communication skills in English
• Excellent research and analytical skills
• Proven experience in producing research (requirement to submit 2 samples of recent research)
• Demonstrated expertise in child rights or any of UNICEF’s main areas of work (health, nutrition, education, child protection, social policy, gender) is 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. 

 

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.