Consultant: Formative Evaluation Of Climate Education And Action Among Children And Young People In The United Arab Emirates

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UNICEF’s global analysis shows that nearly every child is already exposed to disruptive climate hazards. One billion children – nearly half of the world’s total child population – are at ‘extremely high risk’ due to a deadly combination of high exposure to climate hazards and insufficient essential services to help them cope. The occurrence of climate-related disasters has risen by nearly 35% since the 1990s.

Climate change is inseparably linked to water and food insecurity – to which children are especially vulnerable. Around the world, 450 million children live in areas of high, or extremely high, water vulnerability, while 27 million children under five years are facing severe food insecurity linked to drought. By 2040, an estimated 600 million children will inhabit regions experiencing severe water stress. At its heart, the climate crisis is a child rights crisis.

In 2021, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) announced for United Arab Emirates (UAE) to host the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) in 2023. UAE has demonstrated its climate ambition during recent years by announcing a national drive to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The country has also been responsible for developing innovative green projects which aim to reduce fossil fuel consumption and promote climate resilient development.

In the education sector, the UN Secretary General, world leaders, children and young people in every world region are calling for a transformation of education systems so that they become better able to respond to the global climate and environmental crisis. The Ministry of Education (MOE) in UAE has responded to this call, in alignment with SDG 4.7 and in the runup to COP28, where the role of education in climate change adaptation was emphasized.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Education (MoE) announced the UAE’s Green Education Partnership Roadmap in April 2023. His excellency Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi , Minister of Education indicated, “COP28 is important as it provides a roadmap for using education to achieve sustainable development goals and combat climate change. It also increases awareness about climate change and discusses projects to address its efforts”. For the Green Education Partnership, the Ministry of Education signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UNESCO and UNICEF to advance climate education and action among children and youth.

How can you make a difference?

Education

More specifically, this formative evaluation is to examine relevance, coherence, prospective effectiveness, and sustainability of the ongoing Greening Capacities Pillar of the Green Education Partnership, namely the educator’s training and development of resource package. The specific objectives are:

• Assess the extent to which the “Educators Training” component of the Greening Capacities Pillar within the Green Education Partnership meets the national priorities and is set to measure intended results in rollout of the climate education at schools,
• Assess the extent to which the” Educator’s Training” component ensures the synergy and complementarity with other pillars of the Green Education Partnership in its implementation,
• Assess the effectiveness of the pedagogy and resource packages introduced under the Greening Capacities Pillar and their prospective effectiveness in rolling out the climate education in the classroom setting,
• Assess likelihood of the prospective sustainability of the programme set-up and implementation modality.
  
  

The evaluation must follow the UNICEF Evaluation Policy, UNICEF adapted UNEG evaluation report standards, and UNICEF style book. The evaluator is responsible for meeting the UNICEF’s quality standards for evaluation deliverables. The evaluation manager will provide quality oversight and quality reviews of the deliverables, whereas the regional evaluation adviser provides final quality assurance for all key deliverables. On completion of evaluation, the evaluation report will be externally assessed and rated, based on the UNICEF Global Evaluation Report Oversight System (GEROS). UNICEF reserves the right to demand quality products and will request revisions until the product meets the UNICEF quality standards. This may affect the overall timeline indicated in this ToR. The Evaluation report must be proofread for style and spelling before submission to UNICEF

The evaluation will be managed by the Evaluation Specialist at UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Office (MENARO) in close coordination with the Gulf Area Office staff involved in the programme (Chief of Child Protection in Abu Dhabi /UAE, as well as the Statistics and Monitoring Specialist).

The Evaluator will provide evaluation services as per the contract, which governs the engagement with UNICEF. The Steering Committee will be formed and meet twice over the period of evaluation: to endorse Terms of Reference and the inception report. The Steering Committee members are representatives of UNICEF MENARO, UNICEF GAO and MOE. In case special meetings would be required, they will be convened as and when needed. The reference group will be also formed, whose members will review and provide comments to the final report.

The work will be home-based, but the evaluator will travel for key informant interviews in Abu Dhabi (and focus group discussions in Abu Dhabi and two other locations if the evaluator can conduct them herself/himself).

All travel arrangements, including insurance and visas, will be managed, and paid by the consultant. Therefore, expected travel costs must be included as a budget item in the financial proposal.

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

• Education: A PhD or Masters degree in the social sciences (evaluation, development studies, economics, social science, psychology, and Education) with proven experience in climate change analysis is key to this assignment.
• Experience :A minimum of 10 years of experience in conducting evaluations in education programmes as the evaluation team leader or sole evaluator (at least 12 evaluations regardless of evaluation object). Experience should include teacher’s training component and preferably in a high-income country setting. Experience in conducting evaluations in the UN system. Cultural familiarity to the Middle East, preferably Gulf Area. Proven expertise in strong qualitative data analysis; Ability to work with senior government officials. Strong interpersonal skills
  
  

Experience in climate education programme and/or evaluation in climate education is considered as a strong asset.

• Language: Fluency in English and preferably Arabic
  
  

Interested candidate is to submit her/his CV, highlighting relevant experiences and at least two references, together with two past evaluation reports written and conducted by the candidate as the sole evaluator or the team lead.

If the candidate is not fluent in Arabic and has a national enumerator the candidate prefers to administer the focus group discussions, please enclose his/her CV with a brief description of her/his responsibilities and daily professional fee in US$. This is optional.

Applications submitted without a financial proposal will not be considered. The financial offer should be a lump sum for the whole assignment including Travel if applicable.

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 committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

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.