Individual Consultant – Climate, Mobility and Health Specialist Consultancy

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS – CFAROSA/CO24/001

Individual Consultant – Climate, Mobility and Health Specialist

1. Duty Station of the Consultancy: Home-based with some travel to and/or within the region.
2. Duration of Consultancy: 30 working days over Six months.
3. Nature of the Consultancy: Development of climate-related action (policy and guidance) for programme implementation – Category B.
4. Closing Date: 26 March 2024
5. Project Context and Scope:

The IOM’s Regional Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Knows No Borders (KNB) Programme is being implemented in six countries, namely: Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia. The regional programme is implemented in partnership with Save the Children (SC) and other partners and aims at “improving the quality of life and HIV-SRHR outcomes of young vulnerable persons (YVP) including migrants and sex workers living in migration affected communities in Southern Africa”.

The project is guided by three specific objectives: 1) to improve safe sexual behaviour and greater freedom of choice regarding HIV and SRH amongst YVP, migrants and sex workers; 2) to increase access to and utilization of quality SRH-HIV and other support services; and 3) to create an enabling environment in which YVP, migrants and sex workers’ SRH and HIV rights and needs are progressively addressed in changed socio-cultural norms, policy reforms and implementation at the local, national, and regional levels.

The programme is in the second phase of implementation (2021-2026) with funding from the Government of the Netherlands. In 2023, the Government of the Netherlands approved the application for top-up funding (2023 -2026). Part of the top-up funding requirements is the exploration of the nexus between climate change, migration and SRHR, focusing on selected project sites to develop case studies and improve policy guidance to programme teams and partners. At the institutional level, IOM’s Institutional Strategy on Migration, Environment and Climate Change and its IOM’ Strategic Plan 2024-28 underscore the health risks associated with climate change and human mobility and highlights the urgent need for interventions that address the health needs of displaced persons, migrants, and host communities in the context of a changing environment.

Designated as a climate “hotspot” by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Southern African region is among the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate change. Southern Africa is prone to recurrent extreme climatic shocks such as droughts, floods, storms, epidemics, and landslides. Extreme weather events have become more frequent over the years, causing significant loss and damages, and resulting large population movements. The relationship between climate change and SRHR with patterns of human migration and their implications on the health of migrants and the communities in which they live is largely understood as being non-linear, indirect and largely understudied [[1]]. Despite the lack of evidence and understanding of the relationship between migration, climate change and SRHR, a recent conceptual model guided by interdisciplinary expert opinions and desk review conducted by Khalid et al (2023), provides a useful operational framework for the KNB programme [[2]]. Programmatic approaches include equity-based health services, improved and faster administrative systems, less restrictive migration policies, globally trained staff, efficient and accessible research, and improved emergency response capabilities. Indeed, the majority of the region’s disaster-related displacement is internal requiring to also ensure health systems and communities are ready to respond to the SRHR needs of persons displaced internally by disasters and other adverse effects of climate change. Building equity-based, mobility sensitive, resilient health systems and communities, remains within the principles of the Sendai Framework, which shall further guide the development of climate-related actions incorporated into the KNB programme under this top-up proposal.

Further research is needed regarding the nexus between SRHR and climate-related migration and associated health consequences and responses, to inform strategies to strengthen health systems, and make them both climate resilient and migrant inclusive. With increasing evidence generated, effective messages around climate change resilience and its link to SRH/HIV/health in migration affected communities can be developed and incorporated into the KNB programme and policy reforms within the programme countries, which could have implications for the programme’s Theory of Change (ToC).

1. Organizational Department / Unit to which the consultant is contributing Migration Health and PCA or EPC, Regional Office Pretoria, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Knows No Borders II (MA.0502)
2. Tangible and measurable outputs of the work assignment – Category B Consultant

The objective of this consultancy is to deepen the understanding of the nexus between climate change, migration and SRHR in the Southern African region to provide programmatic and policy guidance to the SRHR-HIV Knows No Borders Programme on an appropriate response.

The consultant will be expected to undertake the following tasks, split into three (3) phases as follows:

Phase I (5 working days)

1. Conduct a virtual kick-off meeting with the IOM Regional Office to discuss the project scope and objectives and to collect the required documents.
2. Engage with the relevant project teams and review available documents to come to a consensus on the methodology for achieving the deliverables and develop the initial inception report.
3. Submission of a draft inception report which should include a detailed methodology including tools to be used to gather data/information, quality assurance mechanism of data /information collection, key milestones and detailed work plan, as well as a set of developed data collection tools.
4. Incorporation of feedback, following a review from IOM Regional Office then submission of final inception report. The inception report should be approved by IOM regional office before data collection starts.

Phase II (21 working days)

1. Using the recent climate mapping exercise by the project team and partners, consolidate and summarise climate risk in the six implementing countries focusing on area that are prone to climatic disasters, including the type, nature and extent of commonly occurring disasters.
2. Conduct a desktop review and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with governments, other UN agencies and other relevant organizations to map and understand the intersections between climate-change-related migration and SRHR-HIV needs and services utilisation, among displaced persons, migrants and host communities and use available evidence to inform project implementation and possibly policy reforms. The desktop review should focus on published peer-reviewed articles, governmental and intergovernmental strategies, policies, existing programme documents and other relevant sources including institutional strategies, and UN sister agency assessments and guidance.
3. Using the “MISP Readiness Assessment Tool”, assess the readiness of sub-national health care systems (district and provincial) to inform on adequate interventions needed to meet SRHR and HIV needs of displaced persons and migrants, including women and youth (boys and girls) in emergencies in the six implementing countries.
4. Work with key stakeholders (governments, implementing partners, community-based organizations etc) to develop a problem tree and theory of change (TOC), which could assist in the further development of interventions that address the nexus between SRHR, migration and climate change, which will be integrated into the existing TOC being utilised under the KNB Programme.
5. Develop at least 2 case-studies from the KNB programme detailing how disasters, environmental degradation and other adverse effects of climate change are impacting the SRHR outcomes of the programme’s beneficiaries, and mitigation measures taken by the programme and its partners.
6. Map capacity needs of project teams and partners in relation to delivering SRHR and HIV interventions within displacement crisis contexts, including in areas experiencing rapid and slow-onset disasters.
7. Draft a preliminary report with key findings and recommendations from the above data collection exercise to support IOM and partner teams to navigate intersections between climate change, migration, and SRHR in both programming and policy.
8. Develop key advocacy messages (in the form of a factsheet) focused on climate change-migration SRHR well-being and positive outcomes for young vulnerable people, migrants and sex workers in the Southern African region.
9. Host a virtual/in person 1–2-day consultation workshop with project staff and implementing partners on the preliminary report with the aim of refining and contextualizing the problem tree and TOC for the regional KNB programme and listing programmatic priorities for action.
10. Attend and provide thematic inputs to the regional climate strategy and associated workshop led by the IOM Regional Office (scheduled for the second quarter of 2024).

Phase III (4 working days)

1. Incorporate the feedback from key stakeholders (IOM regional and country offices and select partners) on the outputs drafted in Phase II and submit a final report.
2. Delivery a 1–2-hour sensitization session (virtual) of the final outputs report (capacity needs assessment, theory of change, programmatic priorities and key advocacy messages) with IOM staff and select partners.

The final deliverables of the consultancy are:

1. Inception report, including a set of developed data collection tools.
2. The final report including the following:

Findings and recommendations from MISP Readiness Assessment

1. Two case-studies, Capacity needs assessment, Problem tree and refined Theory of Change (ToC) for KNB programme, Key advocacy messages.

Category B Consultant hired to deliver a report on a three-instalment payment basis:

Payment Deliverable Payment Deadline

1st Inception report 30% of total consultancy fee Upon submission and approval of the inception report and data collection tools by IOM

2nd Draft report 50% of total consultancy fee Upon completion of the validation workshop, incorporation of feedback and submission of the draft report

3rd Final report 20% of total consultancy fee Upon submission and approval of the final report

1. Performance indicators for the evaluation of results

The performance of the consultant will be measured based on capacity to deliver the outputs outlined above, whereby, the consultant will be expected to incorporate all feedback received from RO and CO teams to revise and align the deliverables with institutional and programming objectives during the process of the consultancy. The consultant will be required to respond to or address any questions arising from the review process before finalizing the deliverables. The consultant’s commitment to delivering quality outputs in a timely manner, aligned to the agreed methodology as proposed in the inception report will be critical.

1. Education, Experience and/or skills required

• Advanced degree in the relevant field, including in environmental health, environmental science, public health, migration studies or other related field.
• Minimum of seven (7) years of experience on topics related to climate change, public or environmental health.
• Experience working in East and Southern Africa.
• Excellent research, writing and analytical skills.
• Excellent organizational ability to meet deadlines and effectively multi-task.
• Facilitation skills is advantageous to conduct validation workshops.
• Prior experience working on IOM publications and familiarity with IOM’s style guide and publishing process is beneficial.
• Field experience in migration, SRHR or climate change in Southern Africa would be advantageous.

1. Travel required

While this consultancy is home-based, the availability of the consultant to travel to/within the region for a short period of time (maximum 2 weeks) may be required, especially for Key Informant Interviews. All travel costs would be covered by IOM.

1. Competencies

Values

• Inclusion and respect for diversity: Respects and promotes individual and cultural differences. Encourages diversity and inclusion.
• Integrity and transparency: Maintains high ethical standards and acts in a manner consistent with organizational principles/rules and standards of conduct.
• Professionalism: Demonstrates ability to work in a composed, competent and committed manner and exercises careful judgment in meeting day-to-day challenges.
• Courage: Demonstrates willingness to take a stand on issues of importance.
• Empathy: Shows compassion for others, makes people feel safe, respected and fairly treated.

Core Competencies – behavioural indicators

• Teamwork: develops and promotes effective collaboration within and across units to achieve shared goals and optimize results.
• Delivering results: produces and delivers quality results in a service-oriented and timely manner; is action-oriented and committed to achieving agreed outcomes.
• Managing and sharing knowledge: continuously seeks to learn, share knowledge and innovate.
• Accountability: takes ownership for achieving the Organization’s priorities and assumes responsibility for own action and delegated work.
• Communication: encourages and contributes to clear and open communication; explains complex matters in an informative, inspiring and motivational way.

Tagged as: International Organization for Migration, South Africa