Program Assistant

Volunteering Admin Environment

Overview

Support the development and implementation of climate finance initiatives in Tuvalu.

You have:

• Experience in implementing and monitoring development projects, experience in climate change is an asset.
• Knowledge of local public financial management and governance, including decentralization processes and instruments.
• Proven/demonstrable networking capabilities and ability to associate with a range of actors.
• Work experience with local stakeholders, particularly local governments and communities, addressing gender equality as a project objective is desired.
• Strong awareness of key and emerging issues related to climate change/adaptation is highly desirable.
• Sound security awareness; experience with a UN organization/agency is desirable.
• Experience with UNCDF/UNDP policies, rules and procedures is desired, but not a requirement.

Contract

This is a UNV National Youth contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Youth contracts.

The Local Climate Adaptive Living (LoCAL) facility of the UNCDF was designed and launched in 2011 with the aim of promoting climate change-resilient communities and local economies by establishing a standard and internationally recognized country-based mechanism to channel climate finance to local government authorities (LGAs) in LDCs and to increase local resilience, thereby contributing to the achievement of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly the specific goals of poverty eradication (SDG1) and climate action (SDG13). LoCAL increases awareness and capacities to respond to climate change at the local level, integrates climate change adaptation into local governments' planning and budgeting systems, in a participatory and gender-sensitive manner, and increases the amount of finance available to local governments for climate change adaptation.

LoCAL focuses on the delivery of four outputs that will directly contribute to increasing local governments’ access to climate finance and building resilience to climate change:

• Output 1 – Awareness and capacities to respond to climate change adaptation at the local level are increased; • Output 2 – Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) is mainstreamed into government’s planning and budgeting systems and investments are implemented in line with the Performance-based Climate Resilience Grants (PBCRG) mechanism; • Output 3 – The PBCRG system is effectively and sustainably established in participating countries and leads to an increased amount of CCA finance available to local government and local economy; • Output 4 – The role of local authorities and of the PBCRGS in addressing climate change are increasingly recognized at international level, through outreach, learning and quality assurance.

LoCAL combines performance-based climate resilience grants (PBCRGs) with technical and capacity-building support. PBCRGs ensure programming and verification of climate change expenditures at the local level and offer strong incentives for general performance improvements targeting areas of importance for enhanced resilience. The PBCRG can be seen as an earmarked cross-sectoral grant with conditions attached to the use of its funding for climate change adaptation beyond business as usual. Combined with regular grant allocations, PBCRGs enable 100 per cent of the investments in climate-sensitive sectors to become climate resilient over time.

The PBCRGs consist of a financial top-up to cover the additional costs of making investments climate resilient and/or of additional investments for climate change adaptation. These grants complement regular allocations made by the central level to local governments through the respective intergovernmental fiscal transfer system. They include a set of minimum conditions, performance measures and a menu of eligible investments.

• Provide support for the development and effective implementation of LoCAL in Tuvalu in close collaboration with the UNCDF national teams and the LoCAL Facility (global team); • Contribute to quality monitoring, evaluation and reporting (e.g. preparation and monitoring of the annual work plans, organization and participation in field missions, contribution to the preparation of the quarterly and annual reports); • Contribute to the organization of events, meetings, conferences, etc., including proposing agenda topics, identifying participants, preparation of documents and presentations, etc. • Collect intelligence on technical and financial partners, identify opportunities for collaboration with key stakeholders and support the development of partnerships for LoCAL in assigned countries. • Support the process of preparation, design, submission and approval of programme/project concepts and full-fledged proposals for financing; • Contribute to operations activities, including finance, planning, human resources, procurement, transport, IT, security, administration and ensure they follow UNCDF’s rules, regulations, policies and procedures • Contribute to the knowledge and communication efforts of LoCAL based on lessons learned and results achieved from target countries (e.g. collecting stories from the field, photos/videos, webpage, as appropriate).

• Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Creativity • Judgement and decision-making • Planning and organizing • Professionalism • Self-management

Experience in implementing and monitoring development projects, experience in climate change is an asset. Knowledge of local public financial management and governance, including decentralization processes and instruments (e.g. performance-based grants, intergovernmental fiscal transfer systems, etc.); Proven/demonstrable networking capabilities and ability to associate him/herself with a range of actors (inter alia central and local governments; policy makers; development partners and donors, local communities, women and youth groups) with a view to building relations and facilitating links is highly desirable; Work experience with local stakeholders, in particular local governments and local communities, and in addressing gender equality as project objective and/or cross-cutting issue in developing countries is desired; Strong awareness of key and emerging issues related to climate change/adaptation is highly desirable; Sound security awareness; Experience with a UN organization/agency is desirable; Experience with UNCDF/UNDP policies, rules and procedures is desired, but not a requirement.

Tuvalu along with many other Pacific islands is known for being one of the friendliest nations in the world. It provides for an interesting and enriching environment, but also requires a mature level of cultural awareness, as well as more stamina and commitment than elsewhere to make life comfortable and affordable. Therefore, flexibility and the ability and willingness to live and work in harsh and potentially hazardous conditions, involving physical hardship and little comfort, are essential.

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Potential interview questions

Added 10 days ago - Updated 2 hours ago - Source: unv.org