Request for Proposals: Theory of Change Facilitator

Introduction

The Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change works to ensure that health is at the centre of how governments understand and respond to climate change.

We are a collaboration of over 120 leading experts from academic institutions and UN agencies across the globe, bringing together climate scientists, engineers, energy specialists, economists, political scientists, public health professionals and doctors.

We produce indicators and research on the links between health and climate change across five thematic areas:

Climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability;
Adaptation, planning, and resilience for health;
Mitigation actions and health co-benefits;
Economics and finance;
Public and political engagement;

Each year our findings are published in the medical journal The Lancet ahead of the UNFCCC negotiations. Our data makes clear how climate change is affecting our health, the consequences of delayed action and the health benefits of a robust response. We use this data to provide high-quality evidence to policymakers and researchers alike: developing evidence-based policy briefs in collaboration with country-based experts; holding briefings with policymakers to inform their understanding of health and climate change issues; and running training courses for health professionals on health and climate change in collaboration with health institutions. For a full range of our outputs, please review the Lancet Countdown website.

Aims

The Lancet Countdown would like to further develop and formalize its theory of change (TOC), which will allow us to further develop our strategic plans and more substantively put in place criteria for establishing new work (e.g. collaborations, indicators, research initiatives). The TOC will act as a reference for the Lancet Countdown and other emerging and on-going projects.

The TOC will be used across the collaboration, including the central team, the themed working groups, and regional teams to help build on our research direction and guide the development of our indicators and further research outputs. It will also underpin capacity building in low and middle income countries.

The TOC would help us clarify our impact in the context of the annual report and wider, year-round activities, to be clear on our audiences and how we can influence change at a national and international level.

The TOC will enable our wider team to articulate clearly our work to our collaborators, funders, partners, governments, and other stakeholders.

Timeline

We would like to undertake the TOC process, beginning in April, with final documentation to be in place by August 2021.

Brief

We would like an external facilitator with expertise in TOC to lead this initiative so that project collaborators and stakeholders are free to participate and contribute where appropriate, without demanding too much of their limited time.

The process of formalising our theory of change should include the following groups:

Lancet Countdown central team;
Working group nominees;
Regional leads;
Select WHO staff;
Select experts from the scientific community.

We have good insights into the needs of our audience in the form of past engagement strategies, a ‘light touch’ stakeholder mapping, working group roadmaps and regional collaboration terms of engagement. We envision these as assisting as inputs into the TOC process with the selected expert(s).

The facilitator will:

Plan the process;
Facilitate seven workshops (i.e. one with central staff, the five working group sessions and a final session to reflect on the work carried out);
Undertake evidence gathering in support of the process;
Develop the TOC in collaboration with the central team;
Establishing integration of the TOC in all working groups;
Report the TOC and provide communication visuals (e.g. TOC diagram).

By the end of this process, the facilitator will have provided a TOC that articulates:

Our intended impacts and indicative timelines;
The need and context for the Lancet Countdown as an intervention;
How we will bring our intended outcomes about;
A proposed monitoring and evaluation framework for the TOC, e.g. the type of indicators and metrics that should be considered;
The process by which we developed the theory of change;
How we would work with others in the health and climate change research space.

The Lancet Countdown authors would like to write up our TOC methodology as a paper to be published, with the facilitator as a co-author if interested.

Required

Demonstrated experience designing theories of change and articulating theories of change through reporting, visual illustrations and diagrams and through result/impact frameworks;
Experience in facilitating expert workshops remotely.

Preferable

Experience with public health and/or climate sector;

Anticipated Budget

We have a budget of approximately £20,000 to support this initiative. All engagement is envisioned as being virtual and no travel is anticipated.

Please send full offer to include plan, costs, and timeline to info@wordpress-908066-3979812.cloudwaysapps.com

CLOSING DATE: 9 APRIL 2021 at 18:00 UK time