Local recruitment: State Coordinator: CCES and Resilience Programming via DevNetJobsIndia

POSITION: – State Coordinator: CCES and Resilience Programming, Maharashtra

LOCATION: Mumbai

DURATION: 18 months

CLOSING DATE: 10th March 2025

Background & Purpose of Assignment:

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

Purpose of Activity/Assignment: The purpose of this ToR is to hire a Technical Expert who will provide technical support in implementing the Maharashtra State Convergent Climate Action Plan 2025-2027 of MFO informed by Climate Landscape Analysis of Children conducted by ICO and enhancing knowledge and capacities of the Government officials, local bodies and key partners on localized mitigation/adaptation measures to reduce impact of climate change related shocks and stresses on WASH, Health , Education and Nutrition infrastructure and services. It will further help in localization of State Action Plan for Climate Change. The Technical Expert will provide technical support in the following areas:

• Capacity building of civil society organizations/government and partners on the use of data and potential
• solutions for making Water Supply infrastructure and services climate resilient, energy efficient while working closely with Jal Jeevan Mission and Atal Bhujal Yojana under Water Supply and Sanitation Department; like promoting the application of innovative technological (such as clean and renewable energy including off grid
• communities, recharge shaft and other demand side management).
• Capacity building to Higher and Technical Education Department, HEIs, civil society organizations/ relevant government line departments and partners on the use of data and potential solutions to scale up youth engagement and water stewardship interventions with possible solutions with wastes management, air pollution and natural resources management
• Provide technical support on empowering and engagement of children, adolescents and youth in climate policy, adaptation, and action including dissemination of tools and knowledge working closely with State Climate Action Cell and Majhi Vasundhara Program of Department of Environment and Climate Change, civil society organizations/ relevant government line departments and partners
• Extend capacity building and technical support to Education Department and State Disaster Management Authority other key partners on better preparedness and response planning at School level with roll out of school safety programming with inclusion of Road Safety in School Safety Program, Aapda Mitra, technical support in implementation of mitigation projects and GO-NGO coordination for preparedness, early warning and recovery
• Capacity building to Public Health Department in planning and training for climate change and Human health using SHWP-RKSK platforms under NPCCHH and strengthening preparedness and early warning system for emergency services for health care functionaries
• Technical support to district administration, partners and CSOs in implementation of intervention package to climate resilient agriculture for women working in cotton farming
• Support the climate and disaster inform programming in key sectors like social protection systems that
• are child shock responsive under Child Friendly Gram Panchayat and localization of SDs working closely with YASHADA 

Scope of Work (Include Background/Rationale/Key Objectives of the Assignment):

UNICEF Maharashtra has been investing in identifying opportunities to systematically embed sustainability and climate action as a core focus within rolling work plan, advocacy and communication outreach. Maharashtra given its large population, socio-economic and cultural diversity, long coastline and multiple agro-climatic zones coupled with rapid urbanization, industrialization and non-sustainable agricultural practices is acutely vulnerable to triple burden of planetary crisis; i.e Climate Change, Environmental Pollution and Loss of Bio Cultural Diversity and Natural Resources. The state faces threats from recurrent droughts, heavy precipitation, floods, heatwaves and sea-level rise. 

Therefore, adaptation and mitigation strategies that can address these intensified impacts and build future resilience to social protection and essential services for children and women to manage the stress and shocks need to form a vital part of the overall convergent programming strategy of Mumbai Field Office. The major climate risks identified under State Climate Change Action plan are disease spikes due to climate variability, heat waves, increasing carbon footprint with improper wastes management, shrinking water resources and water-guzzling cropping pattern. These risks create a significant impact on environmental loss leading to water scarcity and degradation of natural resources including loss of agricultural productivity, soil pollution which have an impact on shrinking food baskets for the vulnerable population, forced migration of families, loss of school days and long-term impact to marginalized communities and children.

These climate change-related extremes pose a growing threat to the achievement of optimal nutritional status, both directly through affecting food production and indirectly through altering social and economic influences in people’s lives. Evidence and projections of climate change impacts on food and nutrition security have increased significantly in recent years. Notable among them are the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) report, several Lancet Commissions on climate change and planetary health (2009–2015), and the 2018 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change. Besides amplifying the threats for underlying causes of undernutrition, climate change also interacts with efforts to improve nutrition. For example, changes in temperature and rainfall patterns affect production and productivity, as well as storage, packing and transport. This in turn affects the kinds and nutritional content of crops that can be grown or animals that can be raised. Since many smallholders in the region eat what they produce, this directly affects diets and nutrition and disease patterns.

 Major variations of temperatures, precipitation patterns and humidity have a strong effect on vector-borne diseases which contribute to undernutrition. Competition over increasingly scarce resources occasioned by climate change increases the risk of conflicts and migration patterns. These puts further strain on the already heavy workload of women and caregivers, negatively impacting their ability to provide proper care to infants and young children, heightening the risk of malnutrition. These effects put children at increased risk of both life-threatening acute malnutrition and life-changing chronic malnutrition, causing stunting and affecting cognitive development, especially when successive shocks leave families unable to recover.

In addition, Maharashtra has three-tier healthcare facilities/infrastructure to provide comprehensive health services. The impending effects of climate change have serious impact on the functioning of the infrastructure/system and continuity of health services. The National Program on Climate Change and Human Health (NPCCHH) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare aims to reduce health risks from climate events through awareness, capacity building, and strengthening health systems. It focuses on coping with climate-sensitive diseases and minimizing environmental impacts to ensure sustainable healthcare. The program addresses the increasing risks to health systems from climate change by implementing green measures in healthcare facilities. These include energy efficiency, water conservation, smart building practices and green healthcare facilities which enhance the resilience and sustainability of healthcare services. Similarly, the IPHS, NQAS, Kayakalp guidelines promote climate and risk resilient health systems and also create an enabling environment for Non-Communicable Diseases.

Hence, considering the intersectorality and complexity of multiple hazards leading to deprivations call for a convergent action plan to address the triple burden. India is the 5th most vulnerable to climate change globally, according to German Watch and within India Maharashtra is the third most climate hazard state (CEEW, 2021).

Objectives

• Convergent cross sectoral climate smart, resilient planning and interventions operational framework with enabling environment in place to address climate crisis and environmental sustainability issues affecting children, youth and women under Child Survival, Growth and Development and essential basis services
• Enhanced capacities and operational efficiency of relevant line departments to integrate climate smart, resilient lifesaving services demonstrating convergent approaches and models in schools, higher education institutions, community utilities like water supply schemes, health care facilities and early childhood care centers.

Note: During any kind of unprecedented extreme climate hazard, disaster the candidate is expected to extend required support to the supervisor and relevant line departments with support in drafting SITREP, coordinating JRNA-PDNA and capacity building.

Duty Station: Mumbai

Official travel: The consultant will need to travel to Districts within Pune, Wardha, Yavatmal, Chatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Dharashiv, Ratnagiri, Nashik, Nagpur

Qualification

• Minimum five years of relevant field experience, focusing on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), climate change particularly in WASH, Health sector and working with Government, civil society organisations and IAG
• Knowledge of sector policy and practice relating to Climate Action Plan, clean and green schools, anganwadis, health care facilities, youth engagement initiatives, source sustainability and a broad understanding of the national flagship programs, viz. Jal Jeevan Mission, Atal Bhujal Abhiyan, NPCCHH, Disaster Management programs and its status in the State of Maharashtra
• Previous experience working with UN or bilateral agency will be an advantage with good verbal and written communication skills (English, Hindi and Marathi), including presentational skills
• Demonstrated excellent motivational skills to achieve behavior change in communities with Ability to use computer software i.e. MS Office, MS Excel, PowerPoint, KoBO and other related software/ programmes.

Application Procedures

(1)        Qualified female/male candidates are requested to please indicate their ability and availability to undertake the terms of reference above.

(2)        We request you to please inform us where you have seen this advertisement.

(3)        Your application should be sent to mumbai.consultants@unicef.org  by COB 10^th March 2025 with subject line “State Coordinator: CCES and Resilience Programming, Maharashtra “ in separate files consisting of:

• Cover letter
• CV (clearly mentioning relevant experience and any experience with UN/International/ Bilateral agencies)
• The General Terms and Conditions of Contract (Consultants) GTC.pdf
• P11 Form Personal History P11 Form.docx
• Technical Proposal & sample of previous work
• A financial proposal in PDF format indicating deliverable based fee as per template attached. Please mention your name in the file name while saving.

(4)        The selection will be based on technical evaluation & financial proposal in the ratio of 75:25. The technical criterion for evaluation is as follows:

• Educational Qualifications (15)
• Technical note to understand the competencies, relevant work experience, communication skills both written/verbal(20)
• Interview (30)

Experience in Bilateral/International/UN agencies * (10)

Total Score is 75.

Minimum overall qualifying score should be 56.

(5)       The financial proposals of only those candidates, who are found technically responsive, will be opened.

(6)       Any attempt to unduly influence UNICEF’s selection process will lead to automatic disqualification of the applicant.

(7)      Joint applications of two or more individuals are not accepted.

(8)      Please note, UNICEF does not charge any fee during any stage of the process.

For any clarifications, please contact: mumbai.consultants@unicef.org

For detailed information, please check the complete version of the documents attached below. 

Download Attachment: CIC ToR-CCES-25-26.doc

Download Attachment: Financial Proposal State Coordinator CCES and resilience programming, Maharashtra.doc