Technical Specialist - Climate Change

Water, Environment and Climate (WEC)

The Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) portfolio, based in Vienna, and with offices based globally is part of the UNOPS Global Portfolio Office. The Portfolio has built strong partnerships and is effectively managing a portfolio of over 500 million USD over the last 15 years to support key initiatives with fund management, project implementation and administrative support. WEC effectively operationalizes partners' agendas with global approaches, as well as regional and country specific activities focused on climate action, protection and conservation of the environment. Partners profit from WEC’s ability to operationalize and/or scale up their important substantive agendas, including in support of key multilateral environmental and climate agreements,  such as the Paris Agreement, the Cartagena Convention as well as the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Initiative for Climate Action Transparency

The Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) was created at the time of adoption of the Paris Agreement to help developing countries build transparency frameworks for effective, evidence-based climate policies and actions that can contribute to the global transformation required and help mobilize the financing and support to enable implementation. The Initiative works with over 80 developing countries ranging from large countries, like Nigeria, to small islands, such as Fiji.

ICAT provides countries with tailored support and practical tools and methodologies to build robust transparency frameworks needed for effective climate action in sync with national development priorities.  Through regional hubs and direct country engagement, the projects ICAT supports relate to:

• Develop NDC tracking frameworks

• Assess greenhouse gas and/or sustainable development impacts of sectoral policies

• Build frameworks to analyze projections of greenhouse gas emissions and removals

• Develop monitoring frameworks for just transitions

• Develop the M&E adaptation actions

• Build climate finance transparency frameworks; and/or

• Aggregate or integrate greenhouse gas impacts of subnational and non-State actions

To support these areas, ICAT offers a suite of practical, open-source tools and methodologies to provide effective support to the transparency efforts of countries around the world.

ICAT is an unincorporated multi-stakeholder partnership steered by the Donor Steering Committee (DSC), confirmed by its donors, Austria; Canada; the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF); Germany; Ireland and Italy; and includes the UNFCCC Secretariat as the dedicated UN body with a climate change policy mandate, and UNOPS as an ex-officio member. The Initiative is hosted by UNOPS on behalf of the DSC. Within UNOPS, the ICAT Secretariat manages ICAT’s day-to-day activities, coordinating and guiding the work of the implementing partners.

This is a home-based assignment. The selected candidate is required to make the necessary arrangements, to standards deemed acceptable by UNOPS, for secure internet connectivity, a laptop, and any other equipment required to perform the assignment.

The selected candidate must also have the legal right to work in the country from which they will be based throughout the duration of the contract.

This position is offered under a retainer contract modality. The incumbent will be engaged on an as-needed basis, depending on operational requirements, for up to a maximum of 80 working days over a 6-month period. Assignments will be communicated in advance by UNOPS authorized personnel/supervisor before any engagement. 

A retainer contract is issued for intermittent services and does not guarantee a minimum number of working hours or days. Payment is made only upon the completion of work and submission of a Certificate of Payment (CoP).

The Technical Specialist supports ICAT in strengthening the accessibility, usability and practical application of its Toolbox for developing countries. The role focuses on  reviewing and mapping ICAT tools and guides, assessing their relevance against country needs, and identifying  linkages, gaps and opportunities for further methodological development. Working under the supervision of ICAT’s Technical Advisor, the Technical Specialist  will provide evidence-based recommendations to help countries more effectively use ICAT resources to build transparency frameworks for the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Background

The ICAT Toolbox  consists of a range of over 40 tools and guides. In particular, it includes a series of guides and accompanying tools to support countries in assessing the impacts of policies and actions, covering greenhouse gas impacts in a variety of different sectors, as well as sustainable development and transformational impacts. Other important topics that are covered in the toolbox include the transparency of climate finance, monitoring of just transitions, M&E of adaptation, mainstreaming gender, and links between Articles 6 and 13. The development of the toolbox thus far has been driven by the needs of countries and the toolbox has been applied widely and received positively.

However, feedback highlights the need to enhance its accessibility, usability, visibility and direct application to climate policies and actions, including their design, implementation and monitoring. To support this objective, a review and mapping exercise of the ICAT toolbox is needed. The aim is to clarify how the ICAT Toolbox supports developing countries to build robust transparency frameworks to implement the Paris Agreement. Specifically, the mapping will provide a concise overview of how each guide and tool can support countries to: develop evidence-based climate policies, develop and implement ambitious NDCs, mobilize finance, and facilitate international reporting (e.g. reporting of NDC progress in BTRs). The mapping will thus highlight how ICAT’s Toolbox aligns with ICAT’s strategy.

The mapping will clarify the relevance and applicability of the tools and guides for different purposes, and position the toolbox within the broader landscape of tools and guides that are available from other organizations and entities. The results of this work will also be used to bring clarity to the benefits and functions of the toolbox, so that users can more easily navigate, understand and choose the tool or guide that suits their needs, and will also include identification of areas for further methodological development. The ICAT Secretariat is therefore seeking a consultant to conduct this review and mapping exercise.  

Objectives

The consultancy aims to:

• Review, map, and document the ICAT Toolbox. Prepare a comprehensive overview of all tools and guides within the Toolbox, covering their purpose, functionalities, and outputs.This should include a focus on the linkages between the tools and guides and how they can be used, both separately and together. The overview aims to  provide clarity on how the ICAT Toolbox can support countries for different purposes to build transparency frameworks for Paris Agreement implementation. This includes: developing evidence-based climate policies, developing and implementing ambitious NDCs, mobilizing finance, and facilitating international reporting (e.g. reporting of NDC progress in BTRs). The review will also cover supporting materials related to the use of the ICAT Toolbox, including templates and resources developed through ICAT country support projects.

• Evaluate the ICAT Toolbox against country needs and the broader landscape of climate tools. Analyze how the ICAT Toolbox aligns with, complements, or differs from relevant existing international resources, and assess its overall usability in relation to country needs. Based on this analysis and country feedback, identify challenges, gaps (e.g. tools or guides that may be missing), and opportunities for complementarity to facilitate country-level application. Provide recommendations for the further development of the ICAT Toolbox to meet country needs (e.g. enhancing the coverage of topics, updating existing tools and guides, or development of new tools that facilitate the practical application of ICAT’s guides) and ensure it is better positioned to support policy development, NDC implementation, and finance mobilization.

• Develop an approach for organizing and presenting the ICAT Toolbox. Propose a structured and easy to understand approach for organizing and presenting the Toolbox, based on the review, mapping and analysis conducted. 

Tasks

All tasks spelled out below shall be conducted under the supervision of ICAT’s Technical Advisor. The deliverables are subject to a review process involving a range of experts and to final endorsement by ICAT. All deliverables must be submitted in English and must be of a high standard without typos and grammatical errors. 

Task 1: Review the ICAT Toolbox and the Landscape of Related Tools

The consultant will conduct a comprehensive review including:

• Country Needs Assessment: Synthesize current needs and challenges faced by developing countries regarding tools and guides, focusing specifically on the information, data, and policy analysis required to build effective transparency frameworks in support of Paris Agreement implementation.

• Toolbox Review: Review and map the ICAT Toolbox alongside other relevant existing resources, organizing the analysis, broadly, around ICAT’s areas of support to countries in relation to implementation of the Paris Agreement:

  • NDC tracking frameworks

  • Policy impact assessment (GHG, Sustainable Development and Transformational Change) 

  • Analyze projections of GHG emissions and removals

  • Monitoring frameworks for just transitions

  • Monitoring and evaluation of adaptation actions

  • Climate finance transparency frameworks

  • Aggregating or integrating GHG impacts of subnational and non-state actions

The review will involve a combination of desk-based review and targeted discussions covering:

1. The ICAT Toolbox, including supporting materials developed through ICAT country support projects

   • ICAT will provide the consultant with a list of these resources. 

2. The broader landscape of climate action transparency tools, guides, and related resources widely used by developing countries.

   • The consultant is expected to identify and compile a proposed list of resources to be included in the review. The proposed list does not need to be exhaustive and should focus on tools, guides and resources that can be used in conjunction with, or complement, the ICAT Toolbox, and are directly relevant to ICAT’s areas of support for developing countries.

   • The proposed list must also be discussed with ICAT and relevant stakeholders to incorporate their input.

3. Targeted discussions with countries and relevant organizations or agencies to gather insights. The consultant, based on the review, is also expected to provide a list of suggestions for individuals, countries or organizations to include in these discussions. Upon approval from ICAT, the consultant will also conduct the discussions.

Task 2: Prepare a comprehensive report based on findings

Building on Task 1, the consultant will prepare a concise report synthesizing and presenting the key findings of the review and mapping and relevant implications. The report should clearly demonstrate how the findings identified through Task 1 link to the ICAT Toolbox, including linkages, gaps and areas of complementarity with the wider landscape of tools and guides, and country needs and challenges highlighted through targeted discussions. 

The consultant must also provide a concise account of the discussion and analysis undertaken, including the main considerations and perspectives emerging from country and stakeholder discussions, to provide the basis for the findings and recommendations. 

The report should cover the following:

1. A high-level analysis and description of the ICAT Toolbox as a whole.

2. A detailed analysis of the Toolbox, broadly mapped according to ICAT’s areas of support to developing countries as stated above. This analysis should include:

   • A concise analysis of the country and stakeholder consultations, including the key needs, challenges, perspectives and considerations raised, and how these have informed the recommendations.

   • A concise overview of each tool, guide, and report within the ICAT Toolbox, highlighting its purpose, main functionality, expected outputs, and relevance to identified country needs. Additionally, the description should include a short summary of the minimum technical and institutional requirements for application, for example in terms of personnel involved.

   • A concise overview of the linkages between each tool and related supporting materials (e.g. templates developed as part of the development of a guide, or supporting material developed to facilitate application of a guide through an ICAT country support project). The report should also explain how the different tools and guides relate to one another within the ICAT Toolbox.

   • A comparative assessment of the ICAT Toolbox with other relevant tools and guides, evaluating whether existing resources are up to date, and identifying complementarities, overlaps, differences and gaps.

3. Recommendations for further development of the ICAT Toolbox to better respond to country needs. Recommendations should address both the coverage of the ICAT Toolbox (in terms of priority topics, key methodological gaps and needs for updating existing tools and guides) and usability aspects. 

4. This should also consider formatting and presentation (e.g. shorter insight briefs and user-oriented products), as well as the potential for developing tools to facilitate the application of ICAT’s guides, and needs for updating existing tools and guides.

   • For each recommendation which would involve additional work, the consultant should outline the proposed scope, main objectives and key areas of work in sufficient detail to inform the development of ToRs for subsequent activities. 

The consultant may be required to deliver a virtual presentation on the findings to ICAT stakeholders.

Task 3: Develop an approach for presenting the ICAT Toolbox

Drawing on the findings from Tasks 1 and 2, the consultant will develop an approach for presenting the ICAT Toolbox to improve its accessibility, usability and visibility. While the Toolbox may continue to be structured according to the ICAT’s areas of support for developing countries, the approach should include recommendations for navigation and the communication of linkages among the different tools and guides. 

Under this task, the consultant will prepare:

1. A short document (up to 5 pages) presenting the ICAT Toolbox

2. A short slide deck introducing the ICAT Toolbox based on this proposed approach.

3. Input to support the development of visual and design elements that communicate the proposed approach. ICAT will contract a graphic designer separately to produce these visual and design elements.

The consultant may be required to deliver a virtual presentation on the findings to ICAT stakeholders.

Task 4: Support other Toolbox activities 

Provide additional support related to the ICAT Toolbox, including activities aimed at enhancing its usability, accessibility, and application by countries

Time frame (exact days will be agreed upon prior to the task)

• Task 1: Review the ICAT Toolbox and the Landscape of Related Tools (including on-boarding and required mandatory online training)

  • Up to 30 working days

• Task 2: Prepare a comprehensive report based on findings

  • Up to 25 working days

• Task 3: Develop an approach for presenting the ICAT Toolbox

  • Up to 5 working days

• Task 4: Support other Toolbox activities

  • Up to 20 working days

Required

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) preferably in environmental management/sciences, international relations, business economics, environmental science, education, development studies or related fields with 7 years of relevant experience OR

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in any of the above or related fields with 5 years of relevant experience is required

Required

• Relevant experience in the area of climate change in the context of developing countries. 

Desired

• Experience with methodological work such development or application of tools and guides related to climate action and/or climate transparency.

• Experience with drafting reports and publications related to climate action and/or climate transparency.

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