## Project Overview:

ICIMOD is hiring a consultant under the Integrated Climate Adaptation Solutions for the Hindu Kush Himalaya Region (HI-CAS), a multi-country project funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC). The project aims to improve climate-resilient, nature-positive livelihoods while strengthening the leadership and agency of beneficiaries (rightsholders)1 in Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.

The project will be implemented by adopting gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) responsive, locally tailored climate adaptation solutions grounded in feminist and human rights-based methodologies that place the rights, agency, and leadership of beneficiaries (rightsholders) at the centre. These evidence-informed integrated adaptation solution packages (IASPs) will combine springshed management, renewable energy technologies to power irrigation systems, and agrobiodiversity practices. Beneficiaries (rightsholders) in the programme area will be supported through capacity building and knowledge sharing to strengthen institutional policies and actions and increase access to sustainable investments in climate action and development, particularly in the water, energy, and agrobiodiversity sectors, with a strong focus on beneficiary (rightsholder) leadership.

HI-CAS is designed to enhance the climate resilience of vulnerable communities, particularly women, girls, Indigenous Peoples, and disadvantaged communities in the HKH region, through activities focused on springshed management, agrobiodiversity, and productive use of renewable energy. The project will be implemented in two gewogs (blocks) in Paro and Punakha dzongkhags of Bhutan; two upazilas (sub-districts) in Bandarban and Khagrachari districts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh; and two municipalities, Roshi and Dhankuta, in Nepal. Over its four-year duration, the project aims to benefit approximately 40,000 IPLCs and other disadvantaged groups by reducing their exposure and sensitivity to climate change impacts while fostering ecosystem health and climate mitigation outcomes.

The project adopts a partnership-based implementation approach, working in close collaboration with municipal governments, HI-CAS implementing partners, and community institutions to co-design, pilot, refine, and scale integrated climate adaptation models. This approach prioritises local knowledge, inclusive participation, and equitable decision-making to ensure solutions are responsive to the needs, priorities, and constraints of beneficiaries (rightsholders) across the project area. Central to this approach is the IASP, which includes technical guidelines and training materials to support the delivery of coherent, integrated climate adaptation interventions. The IASP incorporates springshed management, agrobiodiversity, renewable energy, and inclusive governance and embeds a feminist implementation framework aligned with national and subnational adaptation policies. This package will serve as a guiding tool for implementing partners, municipal governments, and practitioners in planning, implementing, and monitoring GESI-responsive adaptation solutions. IASP will help to strengthen institutional coordination and strengthen capacity-building efforts, as well as learn and roll out integrated climate adaptation interventions under HI-CAS.

## Objectives:

The main objective of this consultancy is to develop and finalise practical, field-oriented, and GESI-responsive technical guidelines and associated training materials for the IASP to support delivery of climate adaptation interventions under the HI-CAS project.

Specific objectives:

- To facilitate the IASP co-creation process with the ICIMOD HI-CAS team and technical staff, governments, implementing partners, and community institutions and to ensure the IASP is context-specific, locally relevant, and aligned with national and subnational policies and standards.
- To manage the development and documentation of integrated technical guidelines and training materials that combine springshed management, agrobiodiversity, renewable energy, and inclusive governance, embedding a feminist implementation framework aligned with national and subnational policies, strategies, and standards.

Technical content for the guidelines and training materials will come from the ICIMOD technical team, including the existing six-step protocol for springshed management and a detailed feasibility study guideline for renewable energy and agroecological training resources. The consultant's role will be to synthesise and amalgamate existing material into a coherent integrated package suitable for rollout of GESI-responsive IASP interventions.

## **Scope of work:**

The consultant will work in close coordination with the ICIMOD HI-CAS project team and will be responsible for leading and supporting the development of a GESI-responsive IASP. This will include analysis of secondary literature and existing ICIMOD technical resources, facilitating processes, and ensuring that GESI considerations are fully integrated into the design, development, and implementation of the GESI-responsive IASP.

**Specific tasks**

1\. Evidence review and contextual analysis

- Review relevant ICIMOD reports, guidelines, modules, tools, and lessons learned, as well as comparable regional and global initiatives, to inform the development of the GESI-responsive IASP.
- Identify gaps, overlaps, and opportunities from existing resources to strengthen an integrated,GESI-responsive IASP.
- Apply an intersectional feminist and IPLC-centred lens to ensure that diverse needs, capacities, and power relations, particularly those affecting beneficiaries (rightsholders), are systematically incorporated into the GESI-responsive IASP technical guidelines and training materials.

2\. Development of the GESI-responsive IASP.

- Coordinate the development of technical guidelines and associated training materials for a GESI-responsive IASP that is actionable, context-specific, and scalable.
- Work closely with HI-CAS technical teams to define the following:
- Clear implementation pathways and sequencing of GESI-responsive IASP interventions
- Quality assurance standards and criteria, and risk mitigation measures
- Structured learning questions to support adaptive management
- Clarify governance arrangements (roles, responsibilities, and coordination mechanisms) that facilitate local group and coordination committee formation and sustainability
- Review the draft package for alignment with national and subnational policies, climate commitments, and development frameworks.
- Integrate GESI and feminist principles across all sectors, components, tools, and implementation processes from inception, ensuring beneficiaries' (rightsholders') leadership, meaningful participation, and equitable benefit-sharing.

3\. Capacity building and partner support

- Work with the HI-CAS technical team to orient partners on GESI-responsive IASP training modules, tools, and learning materials.
- Support mentoring and accompaniment of implementing partners during the pilot rollout of the GESI-responsive IASP guideline and training materials, with a focus on strengthening institutional capacity for GESI-responsive and inclusive adaptation programming and update the operational guidance based on learnings from the pilot training(s).

4\. Consultation, validation, and learning

- Facilitate inclusive stakeholder consultations, workshops, and community engagement processes to validate guidelines, ensuring accessibility, cultural appropriateness, and practical applicability.
- Integrate monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) elements aligned with the HI-CAS Results Measurement Framework (RMF) to track GESI outcomes, effectiveness, scalability, and sustainability of interventions.

Ensure learning mechanisms support adaptive management and continuous improvement of GESI-responsive IASP.