Programme Specialist (Climate Change & Environment), NOC, Putrajaya/Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Malaysian Only

Contract

This is a NO-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-3 contracts.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, hope

JOB ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

This post is based in the UNICEF Malaysia Country Office. Supervised by the Programme Specialist (Innovation & Sustainability), the incumbent will be part of the UNICEF Malaysia Programme Team and work closely with many other colleagues of the UNICEF Country Team.

How can you make a difference?

PURPOSE FOR THE JOB

The overall scope of work of the Programme Specialist (Climate Change & Environment) is to contribute to the objective of UNICEF Malaysia’s country programme of strengthening the capacity of government, young people and private sector partners to develop and accelerate the implementation of child-centred climate, environmental, and disaster risk reduction policies and actions

Under the supervision of the Programme Specialist (Innovation & Sustainability), the purpose of this position is to support the Malaysia Country Office’s climate and environment programme and engagement in addressing climate and environment-related risks to children. This will include developing partnerships, evidence generation, planning and implementation of advocacy campaigns, and the development of programmatic and policy guidance to address climate and environmental risks to children.

As and when required, the Programme Specialist (Climate Change & Environment) will work in close collaboration with the relevant programme, communication and fundraising staff in the UNICEF Malaysia Country Office, UNICEF Regional Office and Headquarters team, other UN Agency staff, Government officials, technical advisors and experts, private sector, and civil society ensuring successful programme implementation.

This position requires a dynamic individual who provides relevant programme expertise and works well within a team. The incumbent is expected to have solid technical knowledge on climate change and environment and practical experience integrating climate, environmental and sustainability-related issues in development cooperation programmes and national and local development policies and plans.

SUMMARY OF KEY FUNCTIONS/ACCOUNTABILITIES

1. Evidence generation, situation analysis and technical guidance to staff and programme partners on climate change and environmental risks and solutions for children

• Map and maintain overall knowledge on the policies and regulatory frameworks, institutions, programmatic activities and partnerships, including at the subnational level, relevant to child rights realisation from the perspective of the environment, climate and disaster risk reduction (DRR)
• Identify objectives, actions and best practices for protecting children from climate change and environmental risk globally and locally and provide necessary technical assistance and capacity development to staff and partners for their adoption.
• Coordinate identification and addressing of gaps in the evidence base around the impact of climate change and environmental pollution on child rights and child-sensitive climate and environmental actions in Malaysia across different sectors, such as education, child protection and social policy programmes

2. Child-sensitive climate and environmental policy and action, advocacy and partnership development

• Establish strong working relationships with relevant ministries and government counterparts aimed at supporting national priorities and advancing UNICEF’s environment and climate action portfolio
• Support communication, dissemination of evidence, and awareness-raising regarding climate change, environmental degradation and child rights in Malaysia and provide grounded inputs into key national climate, environment and DRR policy dialogues
• Identify partners and entry points for strategic engagement and policy advocacy regarding climate change impact on children for engagement
• Establish close collaboration with national and subnational authorities, NGOs community groups, other partners and children themselves to keep abreast with climate-related initiatives and efforts, including collection of information, identification of problems and constraints, and advocating for tangible solutions for children
• Support the development of platforms and opportunities that empower children as agents of change with an active role in addressing the climate crisis by exercising their views, opinions and concerns, identifying and working on solutions, and promoting environmentally sustainable lifestyles.
• Identify funding opportunities and support UNICEF programmes in accessing climate-related funding from existing and emerging sources, including public private partnerships, innovative climate finance and leveraging of non-financial contributions for climate aims.

3. Management and coordination support for climate and environment programme development and implementation

• Provide technical inputs to UNICEF efforts at cross-sectoral integration of environment and climate change and development of effective programmatic response at all levels from strategy development to design and costing specific interventions.
• Coordinate projects and partnerships in the environment and climate action portfolio.
• Liaise and build effective programmatic partnerships with other stakeholders active in climate change, environmental sustainability and DRR in Malaysia for programmatic coordination, lessons learned and good practices
• Participate in relevant United Nations and development partners’ climate change and environment working groups to ensure linkages/ knowledge exchange with regional and global stakeholders.

4. Results-based planning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting

• Coordinate and be ultimately responsible for effective knowledge management systems (data collection, monitoring, report generation, evaluation and tasks related to documenting the programme process with partners) regarding UNICEF environment and climate action
• Ensure that child-focused environment and climate action are appropriately integrated into results-based programme workplans, progress against set objectives and targets is monitored and jointly reviewed with Government to ensure achievement of quality and sustainable results
• Prepare inputs to annual reports, results assessments and specific programme/project and reports in order to update management, partners and allies, including relevant briefs and reports for decision making purposes by UNICEF management

IMPACT OF RESULTS

The impacts of climate change and environmental pollution, and degradation are increasingly felt in Malaysia. The increasing frequency of floods, storms, and droughts – in tandem with environmental degradation, urban congestion and pollution – are increasingly impacting agriculture and food security, safe water supplies, public health, and delivery of essential social services. Therefore, UNICEF Malaysia has developed a climate change and environment programme to address these challenges and work towards an enhanced capacity of government, adolescents and private sector partners to develop and accelerate child-centred climate, environmental, and disaster risk recovery policies and actions. The position will be critical to the successful implementation of the climate and environment programme and ensure UNICEF has the in-house capacity and expertise required by this programme.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

RECRUITMENT QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• An advanced university degree* in Climate Science/Studies, Civil/Mechanical Engineering, Energy, Environmental Studies/Management, economics, public policy, sustainable development or related field.
• *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 7 additional years of professional experience in managing complex cross-sectoral projects may be accepted instead of an Advanced University Degree.

Experience & Technical Knowledge

• A minimum of five years of progressively responsible professional work experience at the national level in programme/project development and implementation focused on areas related to development cooperation in climate change adaptation and mitigation, and environmental management
• Technical knowledge of climate change and environmental issues in Malaysia is a requirement
• Experience working with the Malaysia government and familiarly with regulations and policies concerning climate and environment are considered an advantage is an asset
• Experience in negotiating and liaising with counterparts and partners in the area of the environment of climate change is an asset
• Demonstrated ability to work harmoniously in a multi-cultural environment and establish harmonious and effective working relationship both within and outside an organisation
• Knowledge of children’s rights and gender in the context of climate change and/or environmental management is an asset
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)

Language Requirements

• Fluency in English and Malay (Bahasa Malaysia)
• Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

Core Values

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability

Core competencies

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Works Collaboratively with others (1)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Drives to achieve impactful results (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF's compensation, benefits and wellbeing.

Click here to lean more about UNICEF's salary scale & structure

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.