Programme Specialist (Climate), P-4, Fixed Term, WCARO Dakar Senegal

Contract

This is a P-4 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 131,907 USD and 170,066 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

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:

Climate change continues to harshly impact livelihoods in urban and rural areas in West and Central Africa. Landlocked countries in the region, notably those in the Sahel, are experiencing temperature rises, irregular rainfall, and progressive desertification while coastal countries including the three small island developing states in the region, with high levels of urbanization, are projected to face significant sea level rises. Children in most countries in the region are regularly impacted by extreme weather events, including urban flooding, as well as longer term water scarcity and environmental degradation. Related disasters threaten the achievement of Key Results for Children, as negative coping strategies are selected and increases in child labor, child marriages and violence against children are expected. Available evidence reveals the reduced access and misappropriation of schools as relief centers. Meanwhile basic risk reduction measures are not systematically applied to safeguard critical infrastructure and key documents including schoolbooks, birth certificates or school records. Early warning systems mostly do not reach the last mile and schools hardly apply comprehensive school safety and security principles incl. to become greener and smarter in terms of (renewable) energy use. Overall the regional context is characterized by conflicts, public health emergencies and natural hazard related disasters, which all are at least influenced partially by climate change.

Purpose of the job:

To strengthen the integration of Climate Change, Disaster Risks and Environmental Degradation into Country Programmes and Strategies, WCARO is proposing to establish a Programme Specialist (Climate). Supervised under the Goal Area of Water and Climate by the Regional Advisor WASH and coordinating closely with the Deputy Regional Director (DRD) Programmes, the Programme Specialist (Climate) will provide technical assistance, quality assurance, coordination, resource mobilization, partnership and advocacy and documentation inputs to the climate change, disaster risks and environmental degradation components of UNICEFs work. The Programme Specialist (Climate) will further provide support to the mainstreaming of Environmental and Social Safeguards across UNICEF Country Office programming. Competencies in Environmental Sustainability, Climate Financing, Climate Adaptation Partnerships and Programming will be essential for the position. The position holder will work with colleagues in UNICEF WCARO; provide technical support in the 24 countries in West and Central African Region, and work with relevant key strategic partners in the region.

How can you make a difference?

The Programme Specialist (Climate) will support and coordinate the development, preparation, management, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all the climate change, disaster risks and environmental degradation components of the WCAR ROMP. The Programme Specialist (Climate) will be supervised by the Regional WASH Advisor and work closely with all the Regional Advisors and Programmes, with close coordination with the Deputy Regional Director (DRD) Programmes. The Programme Specialist (Climate) will also provide technical guidance and management support processes to ensure the achievement of strengthened capacities of the UNICEF WCA Regional Office and its partners in scaling up its regional strategy on climate and environment in the WCA region, through enhanced Resilience and Sustainability efforts while scaling up low-carbon, resilience building and development.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

Support formulation and coordination of inputs on the overarching programmatic framework across the RO

• Provide technical guidance and inputs to UNICEF RO sections (CP, Health, WASH, Education, Youth, Nutrition) on climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and building climate resilience in order to support RO in identifying UNICEF’s niche for addressing Climate Change impacts on children, awareness raising and design of programmes supporting the rights of children and strengthening risk informed programming in the region as and when required.

• Coordinate the formulation of the overarching narrative and multi-year milestones across RO in relation to climate energy and environment; determining priorities and performance measurements.

• Guide sections on applying the framework by defining and adjusting the RO road map, including timeline to be linked to the output results

• Provide strategic and technical advice to regional office sections’ staff on all aspects of climate, energy and environment programming and implementation.

• Influence climate, energy and environment programming including planning, development and implementation of climate resilient and adaptation approaches, in the region.

Regional Office Work planning and Technical Assistance to Country Offices

• Work collaboratively with COs, (sub-) regional inter-government bodies, donors, the private sector and regional partners on climate, energy and environment programming to ensure the most strategic use of the collective resources.

• Guide and support the development and implementation of strategic regional climate energy and environment initiatives, planning and formulation of the outcomes and output results, related indicators, baselines, targets and means of verification, ensuring alignment with the UNICEF’s Strategic Plan, the WCA ROMP as well as government plans and priorities.

• Strengthen UNICEF internal capacity and ability to collaborate with partners on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and adaptation for vulnerable communities

• Develop and support implementation of a capacity development / rollout plan for RO and COs on climate adaptation, resilience building and integration across programmes

• Provide comprehensive and current data to inform climate related policy and programme development, planning, management and implementation climate adapted and resilient social services and infrastructure.

• Prepare climate, energy and environment donor programme and multiple UN Agency proposals and investment cases.

• Support knowledge management and sharing in the areas of including development of policy papers, briefs and other strategic materials for use by Regional office, donors, UNICEF country offices and headquarters in the areas climate adaptation and sustainable energy.

Data evidence and advocacy

• Support development of regional baselines for climate energy and environment components of the regional programme and identify relevant approaches to address gaps identified.

• Coordinate collection and development of data on UNICEF thematic areas and sectors in support of climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and building climate resilience.

• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming process to ensure the achievement of results in the areas of climate energy and environment

• Support regional communication and advocacy teams through lesson learning activities and good practices whilst ensure linkages/ knowledge exchange with regional and global stakeholders.

External Partnerships and Fund Mobilization

• Develop strategic partnerships with financing and development partners, International Development Banks, and the private sector to enhance, Climate programming in the region

• Advance synergistic cross-sectoral programming, in WASH, Health, Nutrition, Social protection and Education sectors, to ensure that Climate programming in the region has a greater impact for children.

• Ensure that UNICEF engagement in the area of climate change is well coordinated within and outside UNICEF.

• Support fundraising on climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and building climate resilience in line with UNICEFs key thematic areas.

• Systematically pursue climate finance (global climate funds, bilateral, private sector) for UNICEF by mapping opportunities, preparing documentation and establishing partnerships with relevant focal points and partners.

• Participate in strategic discussions to influence national policies and strategies, on Climate Energy and Environment (CEE).

• Advise officials in government, NGOs, UN agencies and WASH and humanitarian sector donor agencies on Climate policies, strategies, and best practices.

Advocacy, networking, partnership and building

• Support vulnerability data collection, management and assessment in line with UNICEFs key thematic areas in order to support child focused vulnerability assessment and mapping activities and enhance climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and building climate resilience at sub regional level.

• Provide technical guidance and policy advice to Regional Office for supporting governments, the private sector and civil society partners on environmental risks facing children.

• Support the implementation of UNICEF’s global “Climate, Energy and Environment Framework other global initiatives through identification and development into flagship multi-country programmes that can deliver results at scale in the region.

• Support vulnerability data collection, management and assessment in line with UNICEFs key thematic areas in order to support child focused vulnerability assessment and mapping activities and enhance climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and building climate resilience at sub regional level.

• Provide technical guidance and policy advice to Regional Office for supporting governments, the private sector and civil society partners on environmental risks facing children.

• Support the implementation of UNICEF’s global “Climate, Energy and Environment Framework other global initiatives through identification and development into flagship multi-country programmes that can deliver results at scale in the region.

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Manage the implementation, monitoring and documentation including climate action research and innovation (technical or systems) whilst ensuring rigorous monitoring and wide sharing of results.

• Prepare learning/knowledge products, covering innovative approaches and good practices to support climate programming in the region.

• Initiate and contribute to the systematic assessment of Climate sector capacity gap analysis, in collaboration with government and other stakeholders, and support the design of initiatives to strengthen capacities systematically.

Impact of Results

The WCA regional strategy on climate and environment in the region is scaled up through enhanced Resilience and Sustainability efforts, and impact of climate change on children is mitigated.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in climatology, geology or earth sciences, climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, water resource management, engineering, social and economic development, international cooperation, or environmental sciences as well as additional project/financial management designations or a related field.
• Additional relevant post-graduate courses that complement / supplement the main degree are desirable.
• A minimum of eight years of relevant professional experience in Climate, Energy & Environment related programmes for developing countries is required.
• Experience of working in developing contexts is required. Work experience in Western and Central Africa will be an added advantage
• Fluency in English is required. At least intermediate level in French.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is an asset (Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish)

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates are encouraged to apply.

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

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

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

UNICEF and other UN Agencies will be moving to the new United Nations House, presently under construction in Diamniadio, 30 kilometers from downtown Dakar. The name of the duty station for this position will remain Dakar, Senegal.