Terms of Reference (ToR): National-Level Participatory Climate Risk Assessments (PCRAs)

Countries: Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia

Background

The Southern Africa Trust (the Trust) is implementing a multi-country climate justice programme titled “Strengthening Women and Young People’s Agency for Community-led Solutions and Models for Resilience Building in Climate Change-Impacted Rural Communities in Southern Africa.”

The programme operates across Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, with the objective of strengthening community-led climate resilience, amplifying the agency of women and young people, and influencing climate governance and natural resource management processes.

Rural communities in these countries are experiencing increasing climate hazards, including droughts, floods, cyclones, and land degradation, which intersect with entrenched structural inequalities, gender disparities, economic injustice, and weak natural resource governance. Effective community-led climate action therefore requires an accurate, participatory, and context-specific understanding of climate risks, vulnerabilities, local capacities, and existing adaptation practices.

To support this, the Trust seeks to engage one national consultant per country to conduct Participatory Climate Risk Assessments (PCRAs) in selected climate-vulnerable rural communities, followed by national validation meetings.

Purpose of the Assignment

The overall purpose of the assignment is to conduct comprehensive, participatory climate risk assessments in selected rural communities in Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, and Zambia, with a strong climate justice, gender, and youth lens.

Proposals must be submitted to amumba@southernafricatrust.org and cc isakala@southernafricatrust.org by Close of Business (17:00 CAT) on 6 February 2026. Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis; however, only submissions received by the deadline will be guaranteed full consideration. The Southern Africa Trust reserves the right to close the call earlier should a suitable candidate be identified.