Project Management and Capacity Development Consultant

Result of Service - Project has delivered outputs as per work plans for 2023, 2024 and 2025; - REDD+ actors in low-bandwidth scenarios have access to UN-REDD and AFF knowledge. - Existing UN-REDD knowledge as well as new lessons learned is relevant and applicable to African contexts. - Due to exchanges and trainings, African REDD+ practitioners are capacitated and REDD+ implementation is improved. - Thanks to policy briefs and policy dialogues African decision-makers are informed about the potential of REDD+ and REDD+ approaches.

Work Location Home Based

Expected duration 12 months

Duties and Responsibilities The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. The United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD Programme) is the UN’s interagency flagship partnership that supports nationally led REDD+ processes and promotes the informed and meaningful involvement of all stakeholders, including indigenous peoples and other forest-dependent communities, in national and international REDD+ implementation.

African countries, especially in the Congo Basin, are a crucial part of the forest solutions, however progress within the AFOLU sector remains ambiguous. On one hand, the Democratic Republic of Congo lost nearly 500,000 hectares of primary forest in 2021, on the other hand torchbearers, such as Ghana are looking to sign emissions reduction purchase agreement with the LEAF Coalition. ¿ Critical roadblocks to progress, that have been identified through engagement with countries, are gaps in REDD+ technical knowledge and capacities among governments and a lack of opportunities for advanced African stakeholders to share knowledge and experiences.

The Swiss funded UN-REDD Africa Forestry Forum (AFF) partnership will contribute to improved REDD+ implementation and increased results-based payments in the African region, the overall goals of the project are to: 1. Strengthen African countries’ REDD+ capacities and knowledge, 2. enhance sectoral policy coordination to guide appropriate REDD+ strategies and decision-making.

This position is home-based in Africa, under the supervision of Programme Management Officer UN-REDD Programme.

Working as part of the UN-REDD KM and Africa team and responding to partner country needs, outlined in the UN-REDD AFF prodoc, the project management and capacity development consultant will be responsible for facilitating a close coordination and collaboration with AFF as well as a timely delivery of the high-quality outputs expected from project implementation, such as knowledge exchanges, policy dialogues, trainings, communities of practice and advocacy side events. Furthermore, the consultant will support communicating success stories and lessons learned from UN-REDD’s African partner countries. The consultant will perform the following tasks: - Coordinate collaboration across three UN-REDD partner agencies, the project partner AFF and African governmental counterparts. - Lead the implementation of the project following its concept note, work plan, and list of deliverables. - Lead the contextualization of existing UN-REDD knowledge. - Lead the production of new knowledge products to fill gaps in UN-REDD material. - Lead the organization of Africa-specific webinars based on the REDD+ Academy. - Lead the organization of Africa-specific training based on the REDD+ Academy. - Lead the production of policy briefs. - Lead the organization of advocacy side events at AMCEN and UNFCCC COP28 - Produce and promote stories on lessons learned from UN-REDD’s partner countries. - Coordinate the work with UNEP’s digital transformation team to introduce innovative solutions to share knowledge in low- bandwidth scenarios, - Coordinate support from UNEP to the implementation of the project by partner organizations e.g., knowledge exchange, policy dialogue, community of practice, etc.,

Qualifications/special skills - A Master's Degree in social or environmental sciences is required. A bachelor's degree with an additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the master's degree. - A minimum of seven years of relevant work experience in project management is required. - A minimum of seven years of relevant work experience in capacity development is required. - Experience working on REDD+ and/or Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use - AFOLU) is desirable. - Experience working with African governments is desirable. - Experience working with international organizations is desirable Skills: - Strong, proven project management skills. - Ability to work independently with limited supervision. - Ability to convene partners and facilitate consensus. - Ability to coordinate a wide range of different outputs and partners.

Languages English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in spoken and written English and French is desirable. Knowledge of any other official UN languages would be an asset.

No Fee THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.