Programme Specialist - Climate

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.

UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children.

UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress.

UNICEF mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a "first call for children" and to build their capacity to form appropriate policies and deliver services for children and their families.

UNICEF is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children – victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms of violence and exploitation, and those with disabilities.

UNICEF responds in emergencies to protect the rights of children. In coordination with United Nations partners and humanitarian agencies, UNICEF makes its unique facilities for rapid response available to its partners to relieve the suffering of children and those who provide their care.

UNICEF is non-partisan and its cooperation is free of discrimination. In everything it does, the most disadvantaged children and the countries in greatest need have priority.

UNICEF aims, through its country programmes, to promote the equal rights of women and girls and to support their full participation in the political, social and economic development of their communities.

UNICEF works with all its partners towards the attainment of the sustainable human development goals adopted by the world community and the realization of the vision of peace and social progress enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

Climate change is already causing widespread disruptions in every region of the world and threatens to undermine progress in nearly every area of human development. It poses substantial risks to multiple dimensions of poverty and wellbeing - people’s health, nutrition, education, food security, water and shelter, economic development, as well as natural environment. While climate-related hazards threaten all of us, their impacts fall unequally. Children will bear the brunt of climate impacts due to their greater vulnerability and the disproportionate risks they face, especially in developing countries.

Bangladesh ranks 15 in UNICEF's Children's Climate Risk Index - second highest in Asia, behind Pakistan, and is at a high risk from multiple natural hazards. According to the INFORM Index 2024, Bangladesh’s risk value stands at 5.7 (on a scale of 1-10) with significant recurrent climate-related hazards including floods, cyclones, landslides, and riverbank erosion.
An estimated 19.4 million children, spread across 20 of Bangladesh 64 districts, are exposed to the most detrimental and hazardous consequences of short- or longer-term climate change. Approximately over 5 million of them are under the age of five, a changing climate is already undermining their prospects for a better future. Further, approximately 4.5 million children live in coastal areas regularly struck by powerful cyclones, including almost half a million Rohingya refugee children living in fragile bamboo and plastic houses.

In Bangladesh, climate changes manifest itself in floods, cyclones and increases cases of diseases such as dengue and acute watery diarrhea and cholera. Climate-induced emergencies disproportionately affect different population groups, with pre-existing gender inequalities worsening the adverse impacts on women, children, people with disabilities, and gender-diverse individuals. By September 2024, a total of 18.4 million people had been impacted, with an estimated 6.4 million in need of immediate assistance like food and clean water.

Despite significant government efforts to implement risk-informed development strategies, the recurrence of climate-related disasters and public health emergencies demands enhanced stakeholder collaboration. Thus, innovative human, environmental, and economic climate-smart interventions are critical to building resilience and ensuring sustainable development in this challenging humanitarian context.

Thus, UNICEF has development the Sustainability & Climate Change Action Plan to guide mainstreaming of climate-change activities across various sectors

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The Programme Specialist-Climate will support the Sustainability and Climate Change Action Plan (SCAP) mainstreaming across all sectors. S/he will report to the Chief of Field Services and work closely with the Deputy Representative-Programmes, to coordinate the climate, environment, energy and DRR components of the country program across various sectors/sections. The main purpose of this position is to uphold and strengthen capacities of the UNICEF BCO and its partners in implementing the Sustainability and Climate Change Action Plan (SCAP) of the country office. The goal of the position is aligned with UNICEF’s global strategy on climate, environment, energy and DRR (CEED).

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES (not all-inclusive, delegate as required) of the UN Volunteer as follows:

1. Country Office support on CEE mainstreaming:

▪ Support UNICEF to develop key climate-related documents and climate strategies to accelerate mainstreaming of Climate, Energy and Environment in its programming.
▪ Support development of a strategy to address the climate crisis in Bangladesh.
▪ Review key strategic documents and provide timely and relevant input to sections.
▪ Support identification and development of tools and resources to support sections.

2. Climate financing:

▪ Identify opportunities for climate financing in Bangladesh and opportunities for BCO.
▪ Support BCO in drafting proposals to the GCF and other climate financing donors (together with Resource Mobilisation team) and in liaison with HQ and Regional Office.

3. SCAP programme development, implementation, and mainstreaming :

▪ Act as Secretariat to the UNICEF Climate Change Working Group
▪ Support coordination of SCAP initiatives across UNICEF Bangladesh, linked to climate and various areas core programmatic and cross-sectoral areas.
▪ Support in developing proposals, TORs, presentations, speaking points and strategies linked to Climate, Energy & Environment.

4. Support coordination and capacity strengthening of young people on climate advocacy:

▪ Support young people to prioritise key issues/priority tasks for advocacy and elaboration of annual workplans in coordination with the UNICEF Communication Section (elaborate priority asks and key milestones for 2025 with specific dates and short-term/long term goals and objectives)
▪ Working closely with the UNICEF Communication, Social Policy, and WASH Sections, organize capacity strengthening of young people on advocacy, social policy, and media training.
▪ Support young people to form a Youth Forum, an umbrella young people-led forum that will articulate the needs of young people and influence youth climate agenda in government.
▪ Coordinate closely with the Communication Section to support young people in identifying key issues to advocate for inclusion in the NDC 3.0