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If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines fordeveloping countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

Consultancy: Tracking Resilience in Education for Environment (TREE) Consultant

Duty Station: Programme Group, Education Section

Duration: 1 November 2025 (funding secured until 30 June 2026 with the possibility of extension to 31 January 2027)

Home/ Office Based: remote

 

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

The world faces interconnected environmental and education crises, with two-thirds of children unable to read by age 10 and nearly 1 billion living in high-risk climate zones. In 2024 alone, 242 million students experienced school disruptions due to climate hazards—a trend projected to worsen, disproportionately affecting low-income regions. By 2030, climate-related school closures may rise by 30%, with sub-Saharan Africa facing 40% disruptions.

Despite education's recognized role in climate resilience, it remains overlooked in policy and financing. Only 1% of climate-related development finance targets education, and only a fraction of multilateral climate projects address it. While frameworks like the Paris Agreement and COP29's Baku Initiative emphasize education's importance, national implementation lags: fewer than one-third of updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) mention climate education, and none mandate it as a strategic priority.

This gap stems from weak data systems, limited cross-sector coordination, and a lack of evidence on climate impacts on education. Existing risk assessments rarely capture school-specific disruptions or child-disaggregated data, hindering targeted action.

To address this, the Education team at UNICEF will work with partners to develop and operate the TREE (Tracking Resilience in Education for Environment) Global Observatory. A consultant is requested to implement the key functions of the Observatory, including evidence generation on climate-related learning loss and system vulnerabilities, data mobilization to inform financing, policy, and resilience-building in education systems.

The consultant will also investigate to what extent countries are positioning digital education investments as a form of climate/disaster resilience infrastructure, and if so, the degree to which they are cost-effective compared to other physical contingency investments. This work will support the production of a think piece with recommendations on how countries can themselves conduct a similar cost-effectiveness and resilience analysis, exploring key issues such as equity-adjusted cost-effectiveness, (under)utilization, and dual-use investments that can support teaching and learning during normal times. In addition, the consultant will produce 7 case studies, based on desk research, of cost-effective business models that have successfully enabled EdTech to reach scale and resilience in resource-limited country contexts. 

This initiative aligns with global goals (SDGs 4 and 13, Sendai Framework) and responds to urgent calls for resilient education systems. By bridging data gaps and amplifying evidence, TREE will catalyse investment and policy shifts to safeguard learning in a changing climate.

Working in close coordination with education teams at headquarters/regional/country office, IT, the upcoming Global Office of Evidence, Strategy, and Effectiveness (GOESE), the Climate, Environment, Energy, and Disaster Risk Reduction (CEED) team, the Global Learning Innovation Hub (LIH), the Division of Global Communication and Advocacy (DGCA) and other internal and external stakeholders, the consultant will support on:

• Establish the foundational data system to systematically track, validate, and report climate-related school disruptions (e.g., closures, infrastructure damage) by developing standardized indicators, communicating with regional and country office teams, aligning with national education and disaster databases, and supporting the development/deployment of tools for on-time monitoring and early warning.
• Propose and pilot a methodology to investigate digital education as resilience infrastructure, based on examples from countries with a range of actual risk profiles and infrastructure maturity.
• Prepare 7 case studies on successful business models to support EdTech solutions to reach scale in cost-effective, sustainable way in countries that are vulnerable to climate-related hazards, either extreme weather events or slow-onset process. 
• Launch and populate the TREE data platform by designing and operationalizing a secure, interactive digital platform that aggregates climate-disruption data from schools, government agencies, and environmental sources, ensuring features like geospatial mapping, automated reporting, and stakeholder access for analysis and decision-making.
• Analyse the climate impact on education outcome using Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys (MICS) that happened to be conducted in a timeframe covering a climate-related hazard in a country or region, which enable either pre-post or control-treatment test of the change in foundational learning skills (as measured by the MICS Foundational Learning Module).
• Support usage of TREE by conducting country offices supports, policy dialogues, webinars/workshops, and advocacy campaigns to integrate platform insights into not only UNICEF and partners agencies’ programming and global reporting, but also programme countries’ national education sector planning, climate adaptation strategies, and emergency response protocols, with defined mechanisms for government ownership and long-term sustainability.

There’s currently no sufficient funding to cover all planned activities. Some deliverables are planned to be completed if additional resources become available.

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Work Assignment Overview/Deliverables and Outputs/Delivery deadline

1. Establish the foundational data system to systematically track, validate, and report climate-related school disruptions

Deliver a finalized TREE proposal outlining climate-related school disruption metrics with data sources, comprehensive data collection protocol toolkit for country offices, and timelines.  Complete the second Global Snapshot of Climate-Related School Disruption.

15 Nov 2025

24 Jan 2026

2. Inception note and analytical framework for measuring the cost-effectiveness of digital education as resilience Infrastructure

Deliver an inception note and analytical framework for cost-effectiveness of digital education investments for crisis resilience, including definition of proposed metrics and methodological guidance on how to calculate these in different contexts, including options for equity-adjusted analysis. Delivery should include a technical annex, a final synthesis slide deck and a short comparative case briefs to support a future think piece.

30 Nov 2025

3.  Case Studies on Cost-Effective EdTech Business Models in Resource-Limited Contexts

Prepare 7 desk-based short case studies of cost-effective business models that have successfully enabled education technology (EdTech) to reach scale in resource-limited country contexts. Each case should analyse the business model, financing and sustainability mechanisms, scale achieved, and lessons for replication or adaptation in other contexts.

31 Jan 2026

4.  Analyse the climate impact on education outcome using Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys (MICS)

A research brief using established identification strategy to examine the difference in foundational learning skills, as measured by the MICS Foundational Learning Module.

30 June 2026

5.  Launch and populate the TREE data platform by designing and operationalizing a secure, interactive digital platform

-  Launch a functional Beta Version of the TREE data platform featuring geospatial mapping, disruption alerts, monthly newsletter mechanism, and stakeholder dashboards for user testing and feedback.

22 April 2026

-  Officially launch the finalized TREE Data Platform with full functionality, accompanied by complete technical documentation

24 Sep 2026 (UN General Assembly) 

-  4 Quarterly updates and maintenance of the TREE platform

30 April 2026,

31 July 2026

31October 2026

6.  Support usage of TREE by conducting country offices supports, policy dialogues, webinars/workshops, and advocacy campaigns

-  Develop, distribute, and update an Advocacy Toolkit package containing ready-to-use materials (slide decks, policy briefs, and case studies) to support UNICEF and partners in promoting TREE at COP, Earth Day, UNGA and other global forums or time windows.

30 April 2026,

31 August 2026

-  Deliver customized Country Support Package to one country office, providing tailored guidance on integrating TREE data into national education sector plans 

30 Sep 2026

-  Conduct 2 Webinars for UNICEF internal, partner groups, and government officials on TREE platform utilization

31 Oct 2026

-  Finalize a Sustainability Plan outlining concrete mechanisms for government ownership of TREE systems, including draft MOUs and funding strategies

31 Jan 2027

Qualifications

Education:   

Advanced university degree in social sciences, economics of education, climate, statistics, or a related field.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required *:

• In-depth understanding of the overall global development context and partner landscape
• Two years of experience on analysis of climate and education data
• Established experience on web platform development
• Strong education policy and sector analysis capacity and demonstrated results with education policy dialogue.
• Fluency in English is required, a good working knowledge of another UN language is an asset.
• Understanding of UNICEF operation an asset

Requirements:

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and

- Upload copy of academic credentials

- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :

• • the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability

- Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.

- At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.

- Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

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:  

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.