Junior Officer, Climate and Emergency Information Management

Update

The climate crisis is not just changing the planet – it is changing children.

From the moment of conception until they grow into adulthood, the health and development of children’s brains, lungs, immune systems and other critical functions are affected by the environment they grow up in. Geography does not protect against climate change; it is affecting children everywhere even in in high income countries and the world is not doing nearly enough to protect them.

Virtually every child on the planet is already affected by climate change. Natural disasters, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss can devastate agriculture, cutting children off from nutritious foods and safe water. They can lead to dangerous environments and disease outbreaks, and destroy the safe shelter, quality health care and education systems children need to survive and thrive.
As humanitarian action falls short of addressing the climate crisis, children and young people are bearing the brunt. They make up half of the world’s population, but are least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and other hazardous practices harming our environment.

The climate crisis is changing children. It is robbing them of their ability to grow healthy and happy, and can ultimately cause illness, disease and even death. Efforts to sustain a liveable planet must not only account for the unique needs and vulnerabilities of young people; they must also include them in the solutions.

Delivering results cannot be achieved by UNICEF alone. Our Sustainability and Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2030 galvanizes a global commitment to ensure a sustainable world and to protect the most vulnerable children from the worst impacts of a changing climate and degrading environment. It outlines UNICEF’s organizational response to this crisis as well as focus areas for action and partnerships.

It is for this reason that the UNICEF Country Office in El Salvador is committed to incorporating and mainstreaming the CEED approach into its cooperation programme so that the different areas of the CO can integrate CEED actions into their strategic planning. Another of its priorities is to support public institutions to include youth empowerment and participation in climate action as one of their main approaches.

In addition, UNICEF is an agency that, according to the Global Humanitarian Architecture, leads 3 sectors in emergencies, including WASH, education and nutrition, and co-leads the health and Child protection sectors. Its contribution at country level is to lead preparedness, pre-positioning and response actions to humanitarian assistance in these areas, all in close coordination with strategic country partners (governmental and non-governmental) to ensure safe, protective and life-saving humanitarian assistance, without harm or leaving anyone behind. UNICEF also supports sectors to develop humanitarian needs assessments and sectoral response plans to respond in a timely manner to people in need in emergencies or crises.

The Junior Office will contribute to responding to this context in close coordination with the WASH Officer, as well as the other programme areas, focusing on the supports listed below.

2022-2030 Strategy available to see how UNICEF plans to create a liveable planet for every child by 2030.

•Support the design of a strategy for mainstreaming the climate change and DRR agenda into UNICEF programming based on CLAC analysis, annual work plans and the country programme document.
•Provide technical support in identifying potential donors, opportunities, and strategies for CEED funding.
•Supports the collection and systematisation of relevant country information (policies, laws, regulations, data, relevant statistics etc) on the water, sanitation and hygiene situation, climate change, climate action, environment and others relevant to the pro-gramme.
•Provide technical support to identify national youth platforms to advocate for youth climate empowerment and climate action.
•Support the planning and development of WASH, climate change and DRR projects for ongoing and new programmes related to CEED.
•Support advocacy on CEED with government institutions and UN agencies in the country in coordination with the WASH Officer.
•Provide information management support to UNICEF-led emergency sectors at country level once the humanitarian programme cycle has started. Support sector leaders in developing needs assessments and response plans for WASH and other sectors as required.
•Provide ongoing support to the team as needed on ongoing and emerging work on CEED.