Individual Consultant - Environmental and Social Safeguards Pilot Coordination

Deadline for ApplicationsJanuary 10, 2026

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)H (no hardship)

Family Type (not applicable for home-based)

Family

Staff Member / Affiliate TypeCONS Local

Target Start Date2026-01-15

Terms of ReferencePURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
From Feasibility to Practice: Operationalizing ESS in UNHCR’s Projects. This project aims to translate the recommendations of UNHCR’s ESS Feasibility Study into practical action by coordinating the pilot phase of Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS) implementation. It will support global financing negotiations and accreditation processes with key development and climate donors, including the World Bank, IADB, ADB, and GCF. Through targeted technical oversight and operational capacity building, the project will ensure quality and compliance of ESS packages in pilot operations, while documenting good practices and establishing a foundation for institutional learning and scale-up.

CONTRACT TYPE: Individual Consultant
WORKING ARRANGEMENT: Part-time, payment per deliverables
PROPOSED PAYMENT SCHEDULE: Total fees of 30,000.00 USD
First installment – 10 days – 6,000.00 USD
Second installment – 20 days - 12,000.00 USD
Third installment – 10 days – 6,000.00 USD
Last installment – 10 days - 6,000.00 USD

GENERAL BACKGROUND OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
Following the completion of the E&S Feasibility Study and its presentation, UNHCR is launching a controlled pilot phase to test enhanced Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS) procedures across selected donor-funded projects. The feasibility study identified strong thematic coverage but procedural gaps in five key areas:
• Systematic E&S risk management in the project cycle and enterprise risk management (ERM).
• Public disclosure of E&S risk documents and incidents.
• Inclusion of ESS clauses in vendor and contractor agreements.
• Stakeholder grievance mechanisms specific to E&S.
• Independent accountability mechanisms (IAM) for E&S issues.
The study recommended a two-step implementation approach, beginning with a pilot phase (2025–2027), followed by a transition to full mainstreaming post-2027. The pilot phase is critical to securing future funding from Multilateral Finance Institutions (MFIs), including the World Bank (WB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as well other multilateral climate funds, with a potential revenue impact of up to USD 350 million annually.

OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

OBJECTIVES:
The consultant will coordinate the pilot phase of UNHCR’s ESS implementation, focusing on:
1. Support to global financing negotiations and accreditation processes
2. Project-specific technical oversight
3. Operational capacity building and knowledge management

SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
1. Support to global financing negotiations and climate funds accreditation processes (20%)
• Provide technical input and support negotiations on standard financing agreements with major ESS requiring funding sources, including the WB, the IADB and the ADB.
• Support the follow up of the UNHCR’s application for accreditation with the GCF.

2. Project-specific ESS oversight (60%)
• Oversee quality assurance of project-specific ESS packages.
• Review and advise on Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs) for pilot projects. Based on the pipeline, pilot countries are the following:
• Americas: Ecuador, Haïti / MCO Panama
• WCA: Cameroon, Nigeria, Tchad, CAR
• EHAGL: South Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Ethiopia
• Asia: Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Myanmar

3. Knowledge management and operational capacity building throughout project-specific oversight (20%)
• In collaboration with the Evaluation Service, document good practices and lessons learned from pilot projects and maintain a knowledge management repository for ESS tools, templates, and case studies.
• Join a dedicated community of practice with the concerned bureaus and operations
• Develop a tipsheet and a short training module (1h) for prioritized operations on ESS.
• Develop guide for minimum capacity/resources required and key considerations at operational level on ESS.
• If possible, conduct remote capacity-building sessions for pilot country teams on needs basis.

DELIVERABLES:
 Draft suggestions or SOPs for ESS considerations in key sectors: feedback mechanisms and community accountability, labour management, security management, sustainable supply and procurement, financial, partnership management, and overall risk management
 Project-specific ESS documentation
 Revised standard agreements
 Package for GCF accreditation’s ESS requirements
 Field guidance & Powerpoint presentation

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Other informationThis position doesn't require a functional clearance

RemoteNo