Careers Vacancy

Consultancy: Technical assistance to support the climate change agenda of the FSC Indigenous Foundation

CONTEXT

A. BACKGROUND

In 2019, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) established the FSC Indigenous Foundation (FSC- IF) as the operational office of the Permanent Indigenous Peoples Committee (PIPC). The FSC-IF is a private interest foundation in accordance with Law No. 25 of June 12, 1995, of the Republic of Panama. The mission of FSC-IF is to enable an enabling environment to guarantee the rights of Indigenous Peoples and promote sustainable forest-based solutions within 300 million hectares of indigenous forests on the planet. The vision is that Indigenous Peoples’ global values, rights, livelihoods, ecosystem services, natural capital and communities are incorporated into forest governance, climate change governance and market systems.

Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance for Rights and Development

The FSC-IF is the implementing partner of the five-year Global Development Alliance (GDA) program funded by USAID and FSC: Indigenous Peoples Alliance for Rights and Development (IPARD). The IPARD Program is guided by three development objectives:

  • Objective 1: To organize and convene a capacity building program for Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and stakeholders.
  • Objective 2: To foster an enabling environment for the recognition, effective participation and joint decision-making by Indigenous Peoples in matters affecting them, and
  • Objective 3: Promote the sustainable development of Indigenous Peoples based on sustainable economic models.

IPARD uses three interconnected approaches to support Indigenous Peoples in overcoming their development challenges:

A.    Multi-Sectoral Approach (MSA): under the strategic guidance of IPARD’s Steering Committee (SC), the Program convenes and leverages the expertise of multi-sectoral partners to ensure that the needs of Indigenous communities are considered across a wide range of sectors.

B.    Country-Focused Approach (CFA): IPARD’s programmatic strategy is guided by a country-focused approach, driven by specific national contexts related to Indigenous Peoples. IPARD implements a structured process to identify, evaluate and select countries for its programs. FSC-IF works in conjunction with the IPARD Steering Committee, and according to the guidelines of the multi-sectoral approach, in order to select countries and identify key priorities and strategies.

C.  Indigenous Project Management Approach (IPMA): Leveraging FSC-IF’s networks and relationships with Indigenous leaders and organizations around the world, IPARD seeks ongoing dialogue, consultation, and feedback with Indigenous Peoples to inform the Program. IPARD supports a forum through which the FSC-IF Indigenous Foundation serves as a bridge between Indigenous Peoples, technical partners, national governments, and the private sector. IPARD invests in best practice conservation and effective approaches and methodologies to ensure long-term development of Indigenous Peoples Organizations in multiple management areas to allow them to develop, negotiate, manage, and implement their own programs, projects and other initiatives.

Through these three approaches, IPARD aims to empower Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and catalyze an enabling environment where Indigenous Peoples can pursue their development.

B. IPARD PROGRAM – GLOBAL CONTEXT

The FSC-IF is committed to supporting the rights of the indigenous communities and their rights and to promote rights-promoting public policies through close collaborations with the governments, mainly through the nation’s institutions for indigenous affairs.

Indigenous Peoples are key actors for effective solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss. There will be no solution without including them. Their importance to environmental protection and climate change policies and actions has been recognized by the UNFCCC’s Conference of the Parties including the Cancun Agreement. The Paris Agreement also calls for efforts to respect, consider, and promote its implementation while also incorporating the respect to Indigenous Peoples’ rights.

However, Indigenous Peoples are facing critical threats to their rights and their contribution and participation have not been effectively considered in climate change actions. Moreover, a 2021 Rainforest Foundation Norway Report indicates that less than 1% of climate funding over a 10-year period was converted into direct financial support to Indigenous Peoples.

In response to this challenge, at the 2021 during the World Leaders Summit at the UNFCCC’s 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow a coalition of governments and diverse stakeholders from public and private finance announced a commitment of US$ 1.7 billion to direct support to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) in recognition of their important to protect forests and face climate change. After the COP26 US$ 1.7 billion commitment, there has been an urgent need to design an Indigenous Finance Mechanism to appropriately implement innovative funds to support IPLC in line with their strategic visions, ancestral values, traditions, and knowledge.

In lieu, the IPARD Program has been carrying out actions aimed at contributing to this process that include the generation of capacities and a favorable governance environment for Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations and other public and private actors around climate change, as well as the design and implementation of services to strengthen sustainable indigenous economic models. Within the framework of this process, the IPARD Program seeks to promote innovative instruments that contribute to the development of sustainable financial infrastructures of Indigenous People Organizations at the national, regional, and global level in the face of climate change and that involve international cooperation actors, governments, and other interested private sector actors. These instruments will contribute to the well-being of Indigenous Peoples and help protect communities and cities from the influence of extreme weather events and the development of sustainable economic models.

With this consultancy, the IPARD Program is seeking to enhance its engagement in international environmental and Indigenous Peoples’ rights forums to contribute to global discussions, share expertise, increase Indigenous Peoples access to climate finance and promote sustainable practices based on ancestral knowledge. To achieve this, the organization requires technical support in organizing side events during international forums, such as African Climate Week 2024, Climate Week in New York City 2024 with private sector, the Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week (LACCW 2023) and the COP28 (28th United Nations Climate Change conference), among others.

The IPARD program had an active participation in international environmental forums in 2022 and 2023 and this has led to many initiatives and collaboration proposals.  The FSC-IF has also established partnerships with regional and global Indigenous People Organizations, in Central America and Central – South Africa and is looking to expand these networks and follow up on collaboration initiatives that resulted from previous engagements. We expect to keep the same or higher participation levels and impact in international forums in the following years 2024-2025.   For this purpose, this consultancy will support FSC-IF to develop a participation strategy, strengthen relationship with stakeholders and map spaces for participation, as well identifying strategic partners.

C. OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY

General Objective:

The objective of the consultancy is to support FSC-IF in the implementation of the IPARD program to promote effective participation of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) in international forums related to climate change, promoting the creation, and strengthening of relevant relationships with partners, stakeholders, and financing mechanisms, with the end goal of strengthening their commitment with Indigenous Peoples and their sustainable development objectives.

Specific objectives:

  1. Support to develop a participation strategy in relevant high-level international forums, with its respective proposal for outreaching and accessing sustainable development funds.
  2. Support program implementation including direct support to the FSC-IF team in tasks related to project activities (workshops, webinars and strategic meetings, draft working documents and presentations).

D.    SCOPE OF THE CONSULTANCY

  1. Strengthen IPARD program participation strategy in high-level international forums, with its respective proposal for outreaching and accessing funds, including the creation of strong proposals for donors and financial mechanisms.
  2. Strengthen existing relationships with stakeholders and strategic partners including non-profit organizations, government agencies, private donors, development banks and international organizations.
  3. Map spaces for participation and identifying strategic partners for program objectives, for IPARD to be present in these spaces and properly represented. Support the participation of IPOs in relevant forums and activities.
  4. Provide recommendations i) on project funding opportunities and ii) improvements in project proposals, structure, investment criteria, indicators, results measurement, budgets, among others.
  5. Work together with the IPARD communications unit to make all activities visible.

F. CONTRACT CONDITIONS:

Type of Consultancy: Individual consultancy with payments according to the deliverables indicated in the payment schedule.

Type of contract: Lump sum.

Duration of the contract: 4 months

Location: The consultant will carry out his/her work virtually

Responsible person: Program Leader for Objective 2

G. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS AND REQUIRED COMPETENCIES 

The consultant must comply with the following:

Academic background:

  • Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, environmental sciences, or other related disciplines.

 General  experience:

  • At least 5 years’ experience of international cooperation fundraising techniques, including non-profit organizations, government agencies, private donors, development banks and international organizations.
  • At least 5 years’ experience in project management for development, environmental projects, relationship management with strategic partners, such as: ONG´s, Indigenous organizations, philanthropies, private companies.
  • At least 5 years’ experience on climate change sectors, including public and private mechanisms related to protocols and instruments linked to UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, Cancun Agreement, REDD+, Voluntary Carbon Market, benefit sharing, Indigenous climate safeguards, FPIC, among others.
  • Work experience in at least four (4) United Nations Agencies and Government Agencies, in tasks related to environmental protection and sustainable development globally.

Specific experience:

  • 5 years proven experience organizing high-level international events and conferences, including substantive coordination and logistics.
  • 5 years proven experience in partnership management in the international community, public sector, private donors.
  • 3 years of proven experiences in climate finance, climate change, sustainable finance, and funding mechanisms.
  • At least one (1) year experience organizing high-level international events and conferences, including substantive coordination and logistics for indigenous people organization.

Competencies and skills:

  • Good interpersonal communication and coordination skills.
  • Deeply familiar with Indigenous Peoples culture and communities.
  • Excellent written and spoken English and fluent in Spanish.

DOWNLOAD TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR DELIVERABLES, METHODOLOGY, AND SUBMISSION DETAILS

Proposal Submission Deadline

Deadline for submission is October 11, 2023 (5:00 p.m. Panama Time).

Submission Address

Both the Technical Proposal and Cost Proposal must be submitted, as well as any question about the ToR,  via e-mail to: procurement.fscif@fsc.org with the subject line – “Technical Assistance to Support the Climate Change Agenda of the FSC Indigenous Foundation through the IPARD Program”.