Climate Change Technical Specialist – Climate Promise

Senior

Overview

Provide technical support on NDC implementation and revision in Africa region.

You have:

• Advanced University Degree (Master’s or equivalent) in Economics, Management, Finance, Engineering, Environmental Studies, or relevant discipline.
• At least 7 years of relevant experience in climate change or environmental programmes at the international level with a Master’s degree.
• Knowledge of climate change policy landscape (including the international climate regime), climate technologies and ability to apply this to strategic situations.
• Experience working on climate mitigation, adaptation, finance, and particularly at the policy level, in the African region.
• Strong technical knowledge of UNFCCC processes and NDC design and implementation at the national level.
• Experience coordinating and overseeing implementation of large initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to work in an independent manner and with minimal supervision.
• Fluency in English and French.

Contract

This is a IPSA-11 contract. This kind of contract is known as International Personnel Services Agreement. It is normally internationally recruited only. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education. More about IPSA-11 contracts.

Background

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

1. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
2. A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.
3. Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials

Office/Unit/Project Description

Working in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and exclusion, UNDP plays a critical role in helping countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One of its key priorities for the next 10 years is to support countries accelerate ambitious action on climate change.

Climate change is the single greatest challenge humanity has ever faced, threatening water and food security, health, livelihoods, and the safety of billions of people together with drastic negative impact on global ecosystem balance. UNDP ambitious “Climate Promise” supports over 120 countries to enhance their climate ambitions under the Paris Agreement, with focus on greater emissions reduction and resilience building. The next phase of the Climate Promise will focus on NDC implementation, climate advocacy, and long-term planning to ensure inclusive climate action at the speed and scale required to keep global temperature below 1.5°C. Achieving the carbon neutrality in the second half of the century by all countries is a crucial requirement set by the Paris Agreement to avoid the irreversible global climate change. Realization of this goal involves work on global, national, and local levels, as well as participation of all relevant stakeholders – governments, business, MDBs, international organizations, NSOs. The path to carbon neutrality should be just and leaving no one behind, while empowering women, youth, indigenous people, and vulnerable groups of population. UNDP is well positioned to enable such work through cooperation on HQ, Regional and Country Offices levels, forming an interconnected system of knowledge exchange and expertise delivery enabling the cutting-edge climate policy advocacy, development, and implementation.

The Climate Promise provides direct financial and technical support to countries on NDC implementation in the context of national development priorities.

As the Climate Promise continues to evolve, UNDP is recruiting a Climate Change Technical Specialist to provide technical support on NDC implementation and revision in the Africa region.

Institutional Arrangement

The Climate Promise Country Coordinator reports directly to the Global Climate Change Technical Specialist. S/he will be part of the larger Climate Strategies and Policy Team (CSPT) and NCE team.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide strategic guidance on NDC implementation efforts in Africa, identifying common needs that can be addressed at the regional level: this includes issues of capacity, technology transfer, resource mobilization for which a regional-level activity will be more resource efficient while achieving greater impact
• Support countries in identifying complementarity between the NDC priorities and other UNDP projects; leveraging UNDP Nature, Climate and Energy portfolio to achieve NDC targets. UNDP intervention in the countries encompasses governance, gender, inclusive growth, energy, biodiversity, forestry, security, etc. The NDCs constitute an umbrella to channel the entire UNDP work on climate and environment towards the countries’ climate ambition. The incumbent will be expected to identify complementarities across the UNDP climate portfolio.
• Serve as Country Coordinator for several countries in the Africa region under the second phase of the Climate Promise. The role of the Country Coordinator includes 1) developing multi-year workplans -together with the UNDP Country Office and the government- that respond to governments’ demand while being in line with the Climate Promise Service Offer; 2) overseeing the implementation of the workplans; 3) providing technical input to deliverables and ensuring quality of the deliverables; 4) facilitating disbursement and management of project funds; 4) facilitating the reporting of project activities; 5) providing technical advice to UNDP Country Office and Government on NDC.
• Identify and coordinate technical support to the countries from other teams within UNDP or from other partners.
• Support the Climate Promise Regional Focal Point for Africa in responding to requests for technical support from other countries in the region.
• Produce communication pieces and knowledge products on NDC implementation in the countries covered, working closely with the Africa Climate Promise Communications Specialist. This will include articles, blogs, case studies, guidance notes, etc. The goal would be to showcase achievements in the region, educate the public on the realities of the region and draw lessons from the region that can enhance best practices within UNDP.
• Contribute to webinars and events to strengthen capacity of and share experiences among Climate Promise countries.
• Represent UNDP in international events, partnerships, and negotiations, and present on technical issues as needed.
• Provide technical input for briefings and speeches for high-level UNDP officials, as needed.

Competencies

Core

Achieve Results:

LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact

Think Innovatively:

LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems

Learn Continuously:

LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences

Adapt with Agility:

LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands

Act with Determination:

LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results

Engage and Partner:

LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration

Enable Diversity and Inclusion:

LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Thematic Area

Name

Definition

Agenda 2030: Planet

Nature, Climate and Energy

Climate Change Policies: Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)

Agenda 2030: Planet

Nature, Climate and Energy

Climate Change Policies: including international climate change regime and application

Business Management

Monitoring

Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results

Business Development

UNDP Representation

Ability to represent UNDP and productively share UNDP knowledge and activities, advocate for UNDP, its values, mission and work with various constituencies

Business Direction and Strategy

Strategic Thinking

Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions

Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Academic Education

Advanced University Degree (Master’s of equivalent) in Economics, Management, Finance, Engineering, Environmental Studies, or relevant discipline.

Bachelor’s degree with additional 2 years work experience accepted in lieu of Master’s degree.

Min. years of relevant Work experience

At least 7 years of relevant experience in climate change or environmental programmes at the international level with a Master’s degree and 9 years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor’s degree.

Required skills

• Knowledge of climate change policy landscape (including the international climate regime), climate technologies and ability to apply this to strategic situations at the global, regional and national levels
• Experience working on climate mitigation, adaptation, finance, and particularly at the policy level, in the African region
• Strong technical knowledge of UNFCCC processes and NDC design and implementation at the national level
• Experience coordinating and overseeing implementation of large initiatives
• Demonstrated ability to work in an independent manner and with minimal supervision

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section

• Substantive experience coordinating with national governments and stakeholders on climate change initiatives in Africa
• Knowledge of UNDP structures, processes and procedures, particularly related to climate change will be considered is desired
• Experience supporting gender-responsive approaches to climate action will be considered an asset
• Relevant relationships and networks in the area of climate change in Africa and the Arab States is desired
• Experience with the work of multilateral, bilateral and civil society partners with active work in Africa is desired
• Demonstrated ability to develop knowledge products and outreach pieces related to climate change policy and project implementation (i.e. – articles, case studies, guidance notes, etc.) will be considered an asset

Required Language(s) (at working level)

Fluency in English and French

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 3 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: jobs.undp.org