Consultancy: A Policy Brief mapping and assessing humanitarian perspectives in the Loss & Damage discussion for Danis...

The Danish Red Cross and CARE Denmark are seeking a consultant, or a team of consultants, to undertake a mapping and assessment of the loss and damage impact in the global south and to develop a policy brief with recommendations for COP28 and beyond.

Background and Purpose
At the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), participating states decided to establish a Loss & Damage Fund. The purpose of the Fund is to address the needs of vulnerable communities and support their efforts to cope with and recover from the consequences of climate change, through financial support for loss and damage activities, including disaster risk reduction, early warning systems, and sustainable livelihoods. The implementation of the Fund is still ongoing. It is challenged by the lack of a common understanding and agreement on how to measure loss and damage and relevant data to support it.

Great efforts are needed to develop a robust evidence base and methodologies to assess losses and damages, to track and monitor risks, vulnerability and needs. Understanding this requires global as well as local community data, including capturing qualitative measures and lived experience, as well as quantitative measures. Non-economic losses and damages impact individuals, societies, and the environment upon which people depend. Current actions fall short on addressing non-economic loss and damage such as loss of life, cultural identity, health, displacement, and biodiversity.

The purpose of the Policy Brief is to contribute to a better understanding amongst media and policy makers, in Denmark and internationally, of the loss and damage agenda and the impact of climate-related hazards. The brief will map available data and any gaps, including for non-economic losses, to ensure that humanitarian perspectives on impact and risk levels linked to pre-existing conditions of vulnerability and exposure form part of the dialogue too. The findings and policy recommendations will be used to engage policy makers in the loss and damage dialogue before, during and after COP28 in United Arab Emirates in December 2023.

Scope
The scope of this Policy Brief will be to map and assess loss and damage in the global south, this includes studies on non-economic loss and how people impacted would like loss and damage responded to, with the aim to underline the importance of responding to non-economic loss where the biggest gaps often are.

The brief will provide an overview of 8-10 selected disasters caused by climate change, for example the drought in East Africa and the typhoon in the Philippines, looking at the impact and available data on economic and non-economic losses and damages. Furthermore, the brief will dive into two-three cases with a stronger set of data to provide a more in-depth understanding of the impact of the losses and damages and pre-existing vulnerabilities and giving voice to affected communities and the local actors that are working to address these.

In the coming of the brief, it is expected that an inception phase will map and explore data available to measure losses and damages and that the results of the search will develop a structure and methodology for the brief. By the end of the inception phase, the consultant is expected to deliver a structured methodology to the brief driven by data and learning. It is furthermore expected that 10 cases as well as 2-3 more detailed cases will be presented to the Steering Group with the scope of sharing a larger policy narrative to the loss and damage discussion that includes the gap in data available. The delivery should be presented in a kick-off workshop facilitated by the consultant for relevant partners and stakeholders.

If possible, travel should be limited and research for the selected cases should be conducted via secondary data platforms and through online interviews. If deemed needed, the consultant can expect some travel activity to the global south.

Methodology  
The consultant is expected to utilise the following, but not limited to, methods for data collection and analysis in the inception phase:  

• Desk review relying on secondary data such as existing assessments, studies, reports, and quantitative data sets (including data from existing disaster risk reduction, climate and meteorological systems)
  
  
• Interviews with selected RCRC Climate Centre, Danish Red Cross and Care DK staff.
  
  
• Key informant interviews (KIIs) with national / local authorities, community representatives, thematic experts and staff members from organisations present in the selected ‘deep dive’ case contexts
  
  

Qualifications of the consultant(s)

• Relevant background within climate policy and/or humanitarian development.
  
  
• Work experience in humanitarian or international development programming; preferably a professional background from an NGO, Red Cross or similar;
  
  
• Prior experience in undertaking regional and/or cross-country studies (quantitative and qualitative);
  
  

• Sound knowledge of the loss and damage agenda
  
  
• Strong analytical skills and ability to digest and translate large amounts of information materials and data sets into clear and concise findings;
  
  
• Solid methodological and research skills;
  
  
• Excellent planning, communication and writing skills;
  
  
• in-depth understanding and/or experience of working with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement;
  
  

• Fluency in spoken and written English
  
  

Contract and Financial Provisions
The contract is expected to run from the end of April to October 2023. Payments are made to the Individual Consultant/Contractor based on the number of days worked. Consultancy fees should not exceed 300.000 Danish Kroner (about 40.000 EUR). This amount has been established based on the understanding that it includes all of the Consultant’s costs (including transport, accommodation, insurance, per diem, telephone etc.) and profits as well as any tax obligation that may be imposed on the Consultant. It has been estimated that the contract equals 45 working days.

Timeframe
The consultancy is expected to be completed no later than October 2023 with the following tentative timeline:

ToR approved by partners with consultancy adverted online

03/04/2023-14/04/2023

Consultant interviews

14-16/04/2023

Consultant notification of award

17/04/2023

Consultancy inception phase

17/04-01/06/2023

Case development

02/06-01/09/2023

Drafting of brief

02/06-01/09/2023

Consultancy deliverable achievements

1/10/2023

Revisions of the work plan will be made in consultations with consultants and the two partners. The report is expected to be no longer than 20 pages. The Consultancy assignment falls into two parts:

1. An in-depth data research with an overview of 10 cases/climate disasters selected on the basis of agreed criteria
2. three focus cases that includes history of climate disasters in the country, data on loss and damage and “human storytelling” with personal stories for impact.
   
   

Deliverables Deadline

Workshop as end of inception phase 1st week of June 2023

Deep dive of cases 1st week of August 2023

First draft or report 1st week of September 2023

Final report 1st week of October

Application
Interested consultancy firms or independent consultant(s) can apply. The application should include:

• A technical proposal not exceeding 2 pages typed in New Times Roman size 11, single spaced
  
  
• A Summarized firm profile (if any), CVs of the lead and (possibly) associate consultants, as well as examples of previous relevant consultancy work.
  
  
• Financial proposal (detailed budget specifying daily fee and estimated number of days, travel expenses and other additional costs quoted in separate line items)
  
  

The application should be uploaded at the Danish Red Cross web page, no later than 14.04.2023. Interviews of pre-selected applicants will take place between 14-16 April 2023.

For additional information regarding this consultancy, please contact Tanja Panadit Clausen, through email: [email protected]