Consultant (MECR)

With almost half of the world's population being impacted, climate change is the biggest threat to human health in the twenty-first century. Globally, the detrimental effects on health are already apparent, putting between 3.3 and 3.6 billion people at risk. As a country which is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, the health impacts for Sri Lanka are imminent. Sri Lanka faces significant climate change related health challenges, including increased vector-borne diseases, heat stress, nutrition deficits, air pollution and other complexities. These challenges have profound implications for public health, such as rising incidences of dengue and heat-related illnesses, as well as worsening malnutrition among vulnerable populations. The situation underscores the urgent need for improved communication strategies to raise awareness, promote preventive measures, and enhance community resilience against health impacts brought on by climate change and to promote community engagement in climate adaptation. Taking a multi-level approach, this project will strengthen the national policy environment through data, research, policy formulation, and capacity building for public health workers and agencies, while implementing grassroots actions at the community level to reduce vulnerability to climate change-induced health impacts. This project will develop a climate health risk communication strategy including an action plan which will capture the needs of the vulnerable groups. Through this community driven approach, vulnerable population will gain knowledge, adopt practices for their wellbeing and effectively manage

their resources, reducing disease risk. The project aims to improve knowledge and behaviour, fostering resilience to climate-induced health impacts, alleviating the burden on the national health system. The comprehensive approach extends to enhancing central and provincial health systems, building stakeholder capacity, actively engaging with communities and providing resources. Contributing to universal health coverage, the project prioritizes health literacy and culturally appropriate information for marginalized communities, ultimately improving resilience of the communities and promoting equity across diverse population groups in Sri Lanka. This project will be implemented collaboratively with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Environment aligned with national programmes, strategies and commitments. This unique project will be instrumental in mainstreaming climate-health risk communication as an adaptation strategy in Sri Lanka.

Objectives of the consultancy

1. To design and validate a comprehensive National Climate-Induced Health-Risk Communication Strategy through multi-stakeholder consultations, ensuring it is evidence-based and aligned with national assessment findings.

2. To formulate a validated National Implementation Plan that provides a clear roadmap for climate-health risk communication, including the development of a standardized training curriculum for national rollout.

3. To develop, pilot, and validate a specialized Training of Trainers (ToT) Manual and deliver district-level training sessions to institutionalize climate-health risk communication skills within the Ministry of Health frontline workforce.

Expected Output: Public health officers and other relevant officials trained on skills and tools to effectively communicate climate adaptation messages at community level through climate health risk education.

Description of activities

This assignment focuses on equipping public health and relevant officials with the tools to communicate climate adaptation messages through structured risk education. The process begins with two national consultative workshops involving a multi-sectoral group of stakeholders—including the Ministries of Health and Environment, UN agencies, and academia—to develop a National Community Health Risk Communication Strategy. Following validation by the Project Steering Committee, IOM will lead the drafting of a national implementation plan and a specialized Training of Trainers (TOT) curriculum. This curriculum will be institutionalized as a digital national document and rolled out through one national and four subnational sensitization workshops. To ensure practical application, the team will conduct five field missions to pilot the strategy in selected districts, integrating findings into community-level activities. For long-term sustainability, this TOT program will be incorporated into the Ministry of Health’s annual training agenda, utilizing vulnerability mapping to empower divisional-level officers in planning risk-based community responses.

The consultant will draw guidance for his tasks through the “National assessment on Climate induced health impacts and communication mechanisms”. The "National Assessment on Climate Health Risks and Community Health-Risk Communication Mechanisms" will begin with a comprehensive review of existing national policies, strategies, and research to evaluate the climate-health nexus in Sri Lanka. This study will assess current climate-sensitive health interventions and the specific relationships between diverse climate drivers and health impacts. A core component of the assessment involves detailed risk and vulnerability mapping, which will analyze regional health risks, health facility preparedness, and the susceptibility of various community groups using relevant climate projections. Furthermore, the assessment will evaluate existing communication mechanisms and early warning systems through a nationwide field survey designed to capture community perceptions and identify communication gaps. Ultimately, this assessment will provide evidence-based policy recommendations and strategic insights to guide the development of the National Communication Strategy on Climate-Health Risks in Sri Lanka. Once the findings of the assessment are analysed, the research organization will present the preliminary findings to the project steering committee for validation and to draft key recommendations for further action. The report will be a joint publication of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Environment, and IOM, and it will be available in both print and digital formats in English. The assessment report will be officially launched as a national event, attended by higher officials of the Project Steering Committee, UN agencies, CSO partners, academia, mainstream media, and IOM.