RESEARCH AND POLICY COORDINATOR – CLIMATE IMPACTS

1. Background Information

The Climate Action Network (CAN) is a global network of more than 1500 civil society organisations in over 130 countries driving collective and sustainable action to fight the climate crisis and to achieve social and racial justice. CAN convenes and coordinates its members, namely, International Members and regional and national nodes to achieve this. CAN is an accredited observer in the UNFCCC and convenes its members to achieve maximum impact in this process and other relevant multilateral processes.

The poorest people, primarily in the global South and Small Island States, are the least responsible for the climate crisis and least resourced to deal with the consequences. The climate crisis has exacerbated inequalities and social injustice, which has also been sharply highlighted during the Covid19 pandemic. With rising climate catastrophes: floods, cyclones, landslides, heatwaves and forest fires make headlines every day, individual stories tend to get lost in data on death tolls and destruction.

Centering people in understanding the impacts of climate change means understanding how this impacts people’s everyday lives, their livelihoods, their cultures, their land and their relationship with the natural world.

CAN strives to secure equity and justice through various ways, including advocating for finance for Loss & Damage, demanding debt cancellation for the poorest countries, and pressuring rich countries to honour their obligations on finance and support under the Paris Agreement towards adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. The most recent IPCC report on climate impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability which has highlighted the urgency of action to address losses and damages caused by climate change in circumstances where irreversible impacts are already occurring, and impacts on under-resourced communities are serious and growing in severity.

This role will include work across three areas to support critical processes to drive action: human rights and litigation and policy advocacy on loss and damage finance and advancing adaptation.

1. Details of the specific role/department:

CAN acknowledges that the climate crisis is a human rights crisis, with fundamental human rights being undermined. This is further complicated by the fact that those least responsible for creating the climate crisis are disproportionately impacted. CAN will support Pacific Island people and governments seeking an International Court of Justice opinion on climate change and human rights, namely: how international law obliges governments to protect the rights of people, both present and future generations, against rising impacts from the climate crisis.

CAN is concerned that without new and additional Loss and Damage finance being mobilised urgently and at scale, frontline communities who have contributed the least to the climate crisis will not be able to address losses and damages. In 2021 at COP26 in Glasgow, the G77 and China (led by a proposal by the Alliance of Small Island States) proposed the establishment of a Loss and Damage Finance Facility (LDFF) under the Warsaw International Mechanism of the UNFCCC, and connected with the Financial Mechanism of the UNFCCC. However, the proposal was rejected, with strong dissent from the US and the EU followed by other developed country Parties. CAN sees a critical role to provide technical and other input into driving the agenda forward to ensure the mobilisation of new and additional L&D finance and the establishment of a LDFF that is fit for purpose.

CAN also considers that ambitious progress on Loss and Damage and the Global Goal on Adaptation, within and outside the UNFCCC requires active coordination and urgent attention. Developing country negotiators need support inside the negotiations on technical positions that result in real solutions for their communities. Support is also needed outside the negotiations to build allies, confront blockers and secure political agreement for what is decided in the negotiating rooms. These processes need to result in outcomes at the earliest possible time to transform outcomes for the people impacted by losses and damages.

The advertised role is supposed to support the research and advocacy work in above mentioned areas.

3. Scope of Work

The work will be divided into three key areas:

(a) Human rights and litigation: This area of work will focus in particular on the campaign led by Pacific Island people and governments seeking an International Court of Justice opinion on climate change and human rights. They are seeking a resolution in the 77th UN General Assembly in September 2022.

(b) Loss and Damage Finance Facility (LDFF): The focus will be on the technical arrangements necessary and political considerations to operationalise a fit for purpose LDFF within the UNFCCC negotiations.

(c) Loss and damage under the UNFCCC: The work includes developing engagement strategy on how civil society can support the negotiators to reach ambitious outcomes within the negotiations, and how can the inside connect with the outside to communicate priority areas for advocacy.

CAN invites proposals from eligible skill/role to submit expressions of interest for job role.

4. Duration: 50 days of work until December 2022

5. Working modality

Flexible hours, working remotely from anywhere in the world with strong internet connection.

Weekly updates and/or check-ins by Wednesday of each week, conference calls as needed.

6. Objectives

To support and provide input into processes to secure climate justice for communities on the frontlines of climate change.

Deliverables:

The expected role and deliverables of the assignment are:

• Support the coordination of CAN’s support to the ICJ campaign, including engaging with the Government of Vanuatu and PICAN to roll out the campaign strategy
• Support the strategy development and advocacy efforts inside and outside the UNFCCC on loss and damage finance
• Research on the elements of the loss and damage finance facility, including conducting interviews with relevant experts and stakeholders and participating in the consultations.
• Any other area of research or coordination needed to deliver on the objectives.

7. Technical Bid Details and Financial Proposal

Expressions of Interest should include, but not be limited to, the following:

• A description of your understanding of the needs as outlined in this Request for Proposal.
• A technical proposal with an executive summary and CV/s.
• A financial proposal in EUR outlining the anticipated costs, activities, terms and deliverables.
• An initial plan of work outlining the activities, deliverables, milestones and target start and completion dates.
• References and/or samples for similar work done that may assist in assessing the technical bid.
• Full contact details including email, telephones, addresses, contact person/s, and website/s if any.
• Submit all documents in one (1) PDF file that is not more than 15 pages

8. Assessment Criteria

CAN International will use a transparent and competitive screening process including a technical and financial evaluation.