[Hiring] Social and Environmental Safeguarding Consultant @AGORA

Role Description

UNICEF Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO) has prioritized the rollout of Social and Environmental Safeguarding (SES), a recent addition to UNICEF’s regulatory framework. The SES Framework is organized around four pillars:

• Environmental and Social Standards (ESS) in Programming and Safeguarding
• Complaints and Feedback Management
• Programme Implementation Risk Management/HACT
• Data Protection

The consultancy will support APRO’s Operations team in rolling out SES across the region’s 22 offices while helping Country Offices meet institutional donor requirements—particularly those of IFIs, KfW and GCF—related to SES.

The consultant will be supervised by the Regional Operations team, in close coordination with APRO Country Offices and the OSE team at headquarters.

Scope of Work

• Support the SES rollout:
  • Contribute to the development and enhancement of regional SES-related rollout and implementation materials, ensuring that donor perspectives and Country Office typological needs are adequately reflected, promoting sustainability and simplification. This should cover, among other areas:
    • SES training modules are updated based on feedback collected;
    • The Environmental and Social Safeguarding Risk Management Plan (ESRMP), including proposed mitigation measures;
    • The Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP);
    • Monitoring tools, including benchmark/tracking tool on steps to take on SES to support offices in tracking progress (integration within existing tools as feasible);
    • Other SES related checklists, templates, plans, guidance, etc.
  • Support capacity building of UNICEF staff, partners, vendors on SES implementation
  • Provide recommendations to better integrate SES with other risk areas, including Programme Implementation, Data Protection, Supply and Operations. Also, provide recommendations on CFM related issues, in particular:
    • The extent of Government involvement in CFM processes and the use of Government feedback channels, including implications for data protection, independence, and oversight;
    • The use of inter-agency feedback channels and whether interoperability among systems is sufficient.
• Support in reviewing and addressing SES-related donor requirements:
  • Engage with Regional and Country Offices contacts to assess the compliance of submitted documents with Environmental and Social Commitment Plans (ESCPs) and other documents developed by local governments as well as with relevant donors’ Environmental and Social Frameworks (ESFs), identify gaps and provide recommendations to address those gaps.
  • Identify and propose opportunities to streamline compliance with donor requirements.
  • Provide technical assistance to Country Offices in designing SES risks management and related checklists, plans and documents.
  • Prepare summary reports on the quality and trends of ESS/Safeguarding submissions to donors and other stakeholders, including Complaints and Feedback Mechanism (CFM) inputs, highlighting common gaps and best practices.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in environmental science, social sciences, environmental law, law, public administration, human rights, or a related field, is required.

Requirements

• At least 10 years of experience in environmental and social risk assessment.
• Sound knowledge of Safeguarding frameworks, inclusive but not limited to Protection Against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.
• Strong knowledge of Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) from IFIs and relevant IFIs/UN safeguard policies (including PSEA).
• Experience in reviewing ESCPs, ESMF, ESMPs, LMPs, and other safeguard instruments.
• Sound knowledge of complaint and feedback/grievance redressal and mechanisms.
• Excellent analytical and report-writing skills.
• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement abilities.
• Ability to work both collaboratively and independently and to meet tight deadlines.
• Experience of working with UN agencies and knowledge of UNICEF mission and mandate is an asset.

Benefits

• UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does.
• UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence.
• UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities throughout the recruitment process.