Terms of Reference (ToR): Safeguards and Social Inclusion Specialist
1. About IUCN
IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society
organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the
knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature
conservation to take place together. Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and
most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of
1,400 Member organisations and some 15,000 experts. It is a leading provider of
conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the
role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.
IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs,
scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples’ organisations and others can
work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve
sustainable development.
Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio
of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional
knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore
ecosystems and improve people’s well-being. Through its status as a Project Agency for the
Global Environment Facility (GEF) and an Accredited Entity for the Global Climate Fund
(GCF), IUCN been entrusted to mobilise significant sources of multilateral funding and to use
its global network of Members and experts to put this funding to greatest effect.
2. Background
At the UN COP15 meeting in Montreal, Canada, the Conference of Parties to the Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD) agreed on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity
Framework (KMGBF), which includes a target to protect at least 30% of the planet under
effective conservation. IUCN is closely supporting the implementation of the KMGBF across
many countries and ecosystems. Framed by IUCN’s global agenda on forests, the IUCN
Asia Regional Office seeks to combat deforestation and forest degradation in areas of high
biodiversity and cultural significance and restore degraded forest landscapes, while ensuring
that rights-based land use is enabled, and forest benefits are sustainably managed and
equitably shared.
IUCN and FAO are co-leading the GEF-8 Southeast Asia and the Pacific Forests Integrated
Programme (SEAP Forests IP). The programme addresses the significant loss of primary
vegetation in Southeast Asia and the Pacific ranging from Bhutan to Papua New Guinea.
The Regional Coordination and Technical Support Project (RCP) acts as a framework at the
regional scale to maximise the impact of three country projects in Lao PDR, Papua New
Guinea, and Thailand, alongside efforts in other biome countries1. The overarching objective
is to maintain the integrity of globally important primary forests to maximize carbon and
biodiversity benefits. This will be achieved through five interconnected components: creating
an enabling policy environment, improving protected area effectiveness, enhancing primary
forest conservation outside protected areas, leveraging innovative financing, and
strengthening programmatic coordination, knowledge management, and capacity
development.
The RCP will focus on delivering outputs with a regional scope and will also respond to the
specific needs identified by the country projects. It aims to establish a regional policy agenda
for primary forests, improve monitoring and reporting, facilitate transboundary protected area
1 For the purposes of the Global Environment Facility-funded Southeast Asia and the Pacific Forests Integrated
Programme, the biome is considered to comprise Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Viet Nam,
Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.
management, and coordinate with other related global initiatives. The RCP will be executed
by IUCN and FAO, with CIFOR-ICRAF and Grow Asia as additional executing partners and
will engage regional partners like ASEAN to ensure a collaborative and impactful approach
towards safeguarding the region's vital primary forests.
3. Overview and Objective of the Consultancy
IUCN is seeking a Safeguards and Social Inclusion Specialist for the GEF-8 SEAP Forests
IP RCP. The Specialist will work under the supervision of the Chief Technical Advisor (CTA)
and collaborate closely with the PMU, FAO, IUCN, child projects, Technical Advisory Group
(TAG), regional partners and other implementing partners.
The main objective of this assignment is to play a catalytic and facilitative role in
operationalising the planned safeguards risk management across the Programme. This
takes place in two ways. Firstly, the Specialist will be directly responsible for all aspects of
environmental and social risks management through activities in the RCP. Secondly, the
Specialist will offer technical oversight and support to the implementation of safeguards
instruments at child project level to ensure there is consistent application of FAO, UNDP and
IUCN policy and cross-fertilisation of project experiences. This will include providing clear,
comprehensive, and practical guidance on integrating environmental/ social due diligence
into child project implementation, with a particular focus on gender, Indigenous peoples and
local communities (IPLCs), forest governance/land tenure, protected areas, and community-
level institutions.
The consultancy is intended to provide flexible, demand-driven technical advisory support
throughout Year 2 implementation. The scope and prioritization of activities may be adjusted
during implementation in consultation with the CTA in response to emerging Programme
priorities, country requests and opportunities for regional collaboration. The contract is
scheduled for one year with possible extension.
4. Description of Tasks [...]
Procurement details
Reference: IUCN-26-09-Safegurads and Social Inclusion Specialist-661
Procedure: SOP1 - Open Procedure
Procurement type: Consulting
IUCN office (lead): ARO Thailand
Requisitioning unit: Asia - Science and Strategy Group (TH)
Project: P04913 GEF8 Indo Malaya CFB IP Regional Coordination Proj
Country of performance: Home-based
Expected contract duration: 12 months
Estimated contract value: 25,000-199,999 CHF
Currency of proposals: USD - United States dollar
Language of documents: English
Deadline for questions: 15 September 2026 16:59 UTC
Deadline for technical and financial proposals: 22 September 2026 16:59 UTC
Expected contract award date: 14 October 2026 16:59 UTC
Documents
- Terms of Reference: Safeguards and Social Inclusion Specialist ToRs.pdf
- Conditions for Participating: Conditions for Participating ENG-SPA-FRA.docx
- Standard contract: Standard Agreement.docx
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a membership union of government and civil society organisations working on nature conservation and sustainable development. IUCN procures consulting services, goods and works for its projects worldwide through the IUCN Procurement Portal. For all contracts above CHF 25,000 IUCN selects contractors through a formal competitive tendering process under its Standard Operating Procedure 1 (Open Procedure). Interested bidders must register on the portal, review the Terms of Reference, the Conditions for Participating and the standard contract, and submit their technical and financial proposals through the portal before the stated deadline. Questions must be raised through the portal's Q&A function before the deadline for questions.
