Consultancy to Strengthen Positioning of Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation and Resilience

Organization: Concern Worldwide Closing date: 30 Sep 2026 Background Concern recognises climate change as a significant driver of poverty, inequality and humanitarian need. Concern is part of the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (ZCRA), a multi-sectoral partnership, powered by the Z Zurich Foundation, focused on enhancing resilience to climate hazards in both rural and urban communities. By implementing solutions, promoting good practice, influencing policy and facilitating systemic change, we aim to ensure that all communities facing climate hazards are able to thrive. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and approaches for adaptation and resilience – including Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), green or green-grey infrastructure, Natural Resource Management (NRM), and others - are increasingly gaining attention in the field of climate hazard mitigation and adaptation. The Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (from here referred to as the Alliance), including Concern, seek to position themselves strongly as key players in global and national discourses - alongside peer and expert organizations – with the aim to fill gaps, support and complement processes where the Alliance can make a difference and foster systemic change, based on our expertise, experience and added value. Within the Alliance, Concern is leading the Nature-based Adaptation and Resilience (NbAR) theme which aims at providing leadership on NbS and similar approaches across Alliance partners to i) improve and enhance the quality of community level interventions, ii) consolidate evidence of practicality and impact of nature-based interventions, iii) and support scaling and influencing to facilitate systemic change (within countries and at global level). The concept of NbS and similar approaches have their origins in the conservation sector but become increasingly relevant and instrumental in climate resilience work of development and humanitarian organizations. As this field is in some way novel to our usual work, we seek to understand where and how we are best positioned to include NbS for climate adaptation and resilience in our regular programming and influencing work with the ultimate goal to scale NbS to be able to effectively contribute to building the climate resilience of communities worldwide. The consultant will support the positioning of the Alliance in the thematic area by exploring discussions and positions in the global NbS landscape through a combination of desk research and interviews with key personnel. Purpose and objective This consultancy will guide and focus the positioning of the Alliance and its partners in the field of nature-based solutions for climate adaptation and resilience to reduce the impacts of climate related risks (hazard, exposure and vulnerability). The consultancy will establish current trends and discussions in the NbS landscape, identify what different players do to focus and advance their efforts to make NbS more relevant and effective in climate adaptation and resilience building to climate hazards, explore positions and strategies of peer organizations at community level, country level and global level. The consultancy will aim to answer the following key questions: • What strategies or approaches do peer organizations (such as CARE, WHH, Acted, Save the Children, Oxfam, Action Against Hunger, etc TBD) have for NbS in climate adaptation and resilience to climate risks. Which topics do they focus on within NbS? Which are the different specific types of NbS approaches or interventions that peer organizations at different levels prioritize? Which concrete problems do they want to solve through NbS? Which results or impact pathways do the organizations prioritize? What gaps and challenges do they face in designing, implementing, documenting and scaling NbS for climate adaptation and resilience? • How do organizations measure improvements in ecosystems and nature? How is maladaptation of NbS and/or other trade-offs assessed? • What are the major discussions within thought leaders (e.g. ICUN, Oxford NbSI, UNEP, WWF and others) and in practitioners’ networks (such as PEDDR, IUCN working groups) relevant for global positioning of the Alliance and its partners, including Concern? Common (advocacy) goals, Diverging opinions, disagreements, • What are potential policy influencing entry points: Explore which arenas for global influence are worth engaging with and prioritising given capacity constraints. E.g. UNFCCC, UNCCD, Sendai Framework follow-up etc. The consultancy will be done through desk review and internet research as well as 1:1 interviews with resource persons (Alliance internal and external). The consultancy will support Alliance partners including Concern overall to strengthen their approach of NbS for climate adaptation and resilience, identify gaps and opportunities, and priority programmatic and influencing areas. Methodology and core support • Understand ZCRA programme + NbAR theme rationale and progress review The consultant will liaise the NbAR theme lead and identified theme members and review key documents to understand the history and experience of the Alliance in resilience and specifically NbS, the rationale and evolvement of the NbAR theme and current progress. The consultant will review existing programme experience, strategic priorities and emerging ideas and identify key areas relevant to inform the Alliance position in the area NbS. The consultant will explore unique opportunities within the Alliance’s current work and projections that will be instrumental to strengthen climate resilience thinking, future scaling and potential for nature-focussed funding. • Review of strategy and programme of peer organizations The consultant will do a mapping and desk review of NbS programme and strategy – including approaches such as EbA, green infrastructure (and could also include natural resource management) - of peer organizations as well as global thought leaders in NbS at different levels (e.g. IUCN, UNEP, IISD). The aim is to explore and identify common trends and peculiarities in how other humanitarian and development organizations understand NbS, which terminology and language they use, what goals they set for the role of nature in climate adaptation and resilience to climate risks, as well as wider development, which indicators and measurements they use to assess success of NbS, which unique or innovative processes they consider when implementing or scaling NbS. The consultant will source key documents from peer organizations and other thought leaders to understand different positions, interpretations of NbS and unique points of view or opinions individual organizations represent. The consultant will also identify relevant debates and policy influencing entry points e.g. surrounding the shaping of the follow-up to the Sendai Framework and surrounding the UNFCCC processes. The consultant will further schedule key informant interviews with experts from key actors in the field to attain more in-depth knowledge about organizational positions and strategies and opinions on trends and discussions at global level. Using this and the internal position as a basis will help the consultant to explore the global thought scape and identify areas that are relevant for the Alliance and partner programming and where we are best positioned – based on our experience and expressed focus – to influence global thinking and processes. • Identify and recommend entry points and opportunities for the Alliance’s own position and for partner programming on nature-based adaptation and resilience Building on the desk review, the consultant will translate the findings from desk review and interviews into practical and strategic recommendations for NbS positioning in the Alliance. The report should list and elaborate on common understanding of NbS, areas of agreement and disagreement among actors, unique perspectives in implementation and strategy, risks and opportunities seen in NbS implementation and scaling (including looking at aspects such as effectiveness, maladaptation, trade-offs, equity, etc). The consultant will identify entry points (key sales points) for the Alliance programme (and in particular for the NbAR theme) and partners on global and regional discussions and processes. The report should contain critical information to constitute the foundation for an Alliance position/discussion paper, shape the roadmap for strengthening Alliance NbS programme quality, support national and global level influencing positions. This should include: • Gaps and niche areas that the Alliance can fill based on added advantage as climate resilience consortium, adaptation relevance, evidence base, Alliance experience, feasibility, ability to scale, etc. • Opportunities and topics where the Alliance and its partners can make a mark in technical and strategic implementation of NbS interventions and approaches at different levels. • Opportunities for influencing and advocacy at strategic levels. The consultant will also identify (topical) debates that dominate the global NbS landscape, where there are commonalities and diverging views on approaches or strategies. Scope of work / Key deliverables • The consultant will undertake a desk-based review and internet research as well as short interviews with peer organizations and technical/strategy experts to explore current trends and debates around NbS implementation, policy and finance. The consultant is expected to: • Establish the different NbS strategies and approaches of peer organizations and key actors in climate adaptation and resilience, including topics, type or characteristics of NBS prioritized, specific problems and challenges that NbS should solve, as well as results to be achieved through targeted NbS implementation. • Identify gaps and challenges that peer organizations and key actors face in designing, implementing, documenting and scaling NbS for climate adaptation and resilience to climate risks. • Capture examples of methods/tools which are used by others for measuring effectiveness and success of NBS (with a focus on ecosystem (co-)benefits) • Examine major discussions in which peer organizations, practitioners’ networks and thought leaders at different levels are engaged in, including common position and (advocacy) goals, diverging opinions & disagreements in the sector, niche topics that some want to push but which is not overall agreed approach, way forward or advocacy goal. • Map global and/or regional influencing arenas and recommend priorities. • Highlight any unique selling point that organizations are basing their NbS work on • Identify key areas positioning of the Alliance (3-5 options) and future work, evidence generation, implementation, scaling and influence. • Produce a final report outlining the above aspects and emphasizing particularly: The Alliance’s strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in NbS programmatic and influencing work Global debates surrounding NbS which are relevant to shape Alliance work on climate resilience and for peer organizations and thought leaders in the sector. Opportunities and niche areas where the Alliance and its partner organizations can make the most possible difference in advancing NbS in climate resilience work, thinking and policy influence, as well as pertinent areas where the Alliance support can be directed best. Duration The consultancy is expected to require approximately 10 consultancy days, delivered remotely over a 4-week period between beginning and end of October 2026. The final schedule will be agreed based on the consultant's proposed workplan, availability and Concern's operational priorities. Reporting and management The consultant will report to Felix Gossrau, Concern Worldwide Climate Resilience Technical Advisor for the ZCRA programme, with support from Seona Dillon McLoughlin, Zurich Climate Resilience Programme Coordinator. The consultancy will be delivered remotely. Regular check-ins will be held to review progress and adjust focus as needed. Required expertise • Expertise/Experience in thematic areas such as climate adaptation and resilience, ecosystem/nature-based adaptation and resilience, conservation and livelihood nexus (programming, strategy, analysis). • Previous experience in assessing, designing, implementing or strategy development for NbS, EbA, green/grey-green infrastructure for climate resilience/adaptation or similar approaches. • Understanding of ongoing discourse about nature-based resilience and adaptation solutions to climate risks at global technical, policy and academic level. • Experience in organizational assessment / analysis, strategy development, positioning. • Strong understanding of climate adaptation, resilience, and DRR programming, as well as conservation, natural resource management. • Experience working with NGOs and/or international originations in climate-vulnerable contexts. • Strong analytical and report writing skills. How to apply How to apply Please provide the following by Wednesday, September 30 COB as an email with attachments to amy.dignam@concern.net with the subject line “Concern NbS Consultancy Application”: • CV • Indicative technical proposal including proposed timelines • Two samples of relevant previous work • Financial proposal, including daily rate Due to the urgency of this consultancy, applications will be shortlisted on a regular basis, and we may offer the role before the closing date. Data Protection: During this recruitment and selection process, you will provide Concern with your personal data. Concern takes its responsibilities towards this personal data very seriously and is committed to complying with all relevant data protection legislation. Concern uses this information to consider your suitability for this position and may contact you to call you for an interview. Your data may be shared internally to consider this application. Concern will store your data securely. 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By signing the Concern Code of Conduct, candidates acknowledge that they have understood the content of both the Concern Code of Conduct and the Associated Policies and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these policies. Additionally, Concern is committed to the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults and children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable adults and children are recruited by us for such roles. Subsequently, being engaged as a consultant with Concern is subject to a range of vetting checks, which may include criminal background checking.