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, hope.

 

Consultancy Title: Climate, Energy, Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (CEED) Policy Consultant

Section/Division/Duty Station: Climate Environment Energy & Disaster, Programme Group, UNICEF NYHQ

Duration: 10 February 2025 to 6 February 2026

Home/ Office Based: NYHQ / Remote

 

About UNICEF

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 for developing 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.

 

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

Climate change, disasters and environmental degradation present significant and escalating threats to the rights and well-being of children globally, jeopardizing the progress achieved in child survival and development. Over a billion children are exposed to severe risks from climate and environmental hazards such as heatwaves, floods, and cyclones. Consequently, it is imperative for countries to develop policies and associated financing strategies which prioritize climate-resilient, low-carbon social services encompassing water and sanitation, healthcare, education, nutrition, social protection, and child protection to tackle current threats and prepare for increasingly severe impacts.  

In alignment with our commitment to protect children and young people worldwide, UNICEF’s 2023 – 2030 Sustainability and Climate Action Plan (SCAP), housed within the Climate, Energy, Environment and DRR (CEED) team, prioritizes urgent climate action through systematic change to prioritize the needs of children and young people and build their resilience to the climate threats at hand.  The SCAP strives to mainstream sustainability and climate action both internally and externally, through protecting the lives, health and well-being of children and their communities; empowering children with developmental opportunities and skills; and reducing emissions and the environmental footprint within UNICEF. 

To build on previous UNICEF engagement towards the UN Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat and significant progress with respect to integrating children and the resilience of essential services within core UNFCCC negotiations outcomes, a consultant is required to support consolidation and implementation of UNICEF’s SCAP policy strategy towards relevant climate, environment and disaster risk reduction processes at an intergovernmental and national level.

The consultant will work under the supervision of the CEED Programme Officer and in close collaboration with relevant staff within the CEED team, and across Programmes (PG), Division of Global Communications and Advocacy (GCA) and Public Partnerships Division (PPD) as required. 

 

Scope of Work:

The CEED Policy Consultant will report to the CEED Programme Officer by supporting deliverables under three workstreams:

Climate Change Adaptation, Loss and Damage and Disaster Risk Reduction Policy

• Provide in-house synchronization support and technical expertise to adaptation-relevant work of UNICEF vis-à-vis UNFCCC workstreams and Constituted Bodies to ensure focus on children and adaptive essential services.
• Support technical submissions, analysis of Party positions/submissions and engagement to secure key priorities in the UNFCCC negotiations, including integration of child-responsive language/provisions.
• Assist in the development of internal and external guidelines and trainings on child-responsive policies, in collaboration with the UNFCCC secretariat and/or other key partners.

Climate Finance Policy

• Support development around knowledge products such as a child marker for climate finance or other avenues for enhancing tracking of child-responsive climate finance.
• Explore and support integration of child-tagging in domestic climate budgets, feeding back good practice to policy positions.
• Support engagement with – and influence the policies of – key actors in the climate finance space including Multilateral Climate Funds and other International Financial Institutions

CEED Policy Unit Support

• Support information management and knowledge sharing for the CEED policy unit and relevant UNICEF stakeholders.
• Support the signing processes between UNICEF and the Declaration on Children, Youth and Climate Action
• Support the successful development, implementation, and monitoring, learning and evaluation of child- and youth-responsive CEED policies and plans.
• Provide quality inputs to the senior management on briefings, talking points, speeches, analytical/strategic documents, etc.

 

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Provide in-house synchronization support and technical expertise to adaptation-relevant work of UNICEF vis-à-vis UNFCCC workstreams and Constituted Bodies to ensure focus on children and adaptive essential services.

• 1x in-house clinic on the Global Goal on Adaptation (1 March 2025)
• 7 monthly meeting notes from the Global Goal on Adaptation taskforce submitted (1 page) highlighting progress made (7x meetings) (30 March 2025, 30 April 2025,30 May 2025, 30 June 2025, 30 September 2025, 30 October 2025, 30 November 2025)

Support technical submissions, analysis of Party positions/submissions and engagement to secure key priorities in the UNFCCC negotiations, including integration of child-responsive language.

• Four briefings (1 page) submitted summarizing the support to UNFCCC constituted bodies and workstreams in their requests for input (Q1: 25 April 2025, Q2: 25 July 2025, Q3: 25 October 2025, Q4: 15 December 2025)

Assist in the development of supplementary guidelines and trainings on child-responsive policies, in collaboration with the UNFCCC secretariat and/or other key partners.

• 1x policy brief on child-sensitive adaptation indicators (10 pages) (1 July 2025)

Support the delivery and dissemination of the UNICEF Adaptation Policy Guide. (Complementary research, reviews, copyediting, launch)

• 1x Policy Adaptation Guide (10 pages) (1 July 2025)

Explore and support integration of child-tagging in domestic climate budgets, feeding back good practice to policy positions.

• 1x Options Paper on child-sensitive climate finance (1 July 2025)
• 2x in-house meetings on child-responsive climate finance (1 December 2025)

Support development around knowledge products such as a child marker for climate finance or other avenues for enhancing tracking of child-responsive climate finance.

• 1x training or webinar on mainstreaming children in climate finance. This event may be in partnership with financial institutions (1 September 2025)

Provide support to event engagements in UN fora (including COP) with a focus on strategic in-house synchronization, side events, speaking engagements, etc.

• 2x Position Papers for the meeting of subsidiary bodies (COP Policy Brief/UNICEF position paper) (Q2: 1 June 2025, Q4: 1 November 2025)

Support information management and knowledge sharing for the CEED policy unit and relevant UNICEF stakeholders.

• 1x restructuring of files and content within UNICEF SharePoint (based on consultations and interviews with CEED staff) (1 December 2025)

Support the successful development, implementation and monitoring, learning and evaluation of child- and youth-responsive CEED policies and plans.  

• Provide 5 key recommendations for addressing bottlenecks and prioritizing priority areas for internal capacity building (6 February 2026)

Support the signing processes between UNICEF and the Declaration on Children, Youth and Climate Action           

• Deliver 1x documentation via the UNICEF.org with the new signatories of the Declaration on Children, Youth and Climate Action (6 February 2026)

Provide quality inputs to the senior management on briefings, talking points, speeches, analytical/strategic documents, etc.

• 3x Briefing Notes/Talking Points on CEED Policy related topics (6 February 2026)

 

Qualifications

Education: 

Advanced university degree (Bachelors) in the area of in a STEM field, science policy and international relations, or related fields is required.

 

Work experience:

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required *: 

• A minimum of 2 years of relevant professional experience in international development with a specialized focus on associated fields (environment and climate change, human rights/child rights, international development etc.) is required.
• Experience of conducting policy-relevant research, assessment and analysis in fields of children’s environmental and climate change rights is required.
• Previous experience engaging with the UNFCCC Adaptation workstreams and constituted bodies such as the Adaptation Committee, the Nairobi Work Programme or the Least Developed Countries Expert Group is required.
• Sound knowledge of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is preferred.
• Previous experience with UNICEF or a children’s environmental rights organization is preferred.
• Knowledge and experience of engaging with the Declaration on Children, Youth and Climate Action is desired.
• Excellent written and verbal communication in English.
• Good judgment, initiative, high sense of responsibility, tact and discretion.
• Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and ability to establish harmonious working relations in a multicultural environment.

 

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.