Climate specialist, Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP)

Background information - UNOPS

“UNOPS plays a critical role in providing management services for our life-saving, peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations. I have seen many examples of how these activities help suffering people in troubled parts of the world.”
-Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General

UNOPS mission is to expand the capacity of the UN system and its partners to implement peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations that matter for people in need.

Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, UNOPS vision is to always satisfy partners with management services that meet world-class standards of quality, speed and cost effectiveness.

By assisting UN organizations, international financial institutions, governments and other development partners, UNOPS makes significant, tangible contributions to results on the ground.

UNOPS employs around 3,500 personnel annually and on behalf of its partners creates thousands more work opportunities in local communities. With its headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, a network of five regional offices and a further 20 operations and project centres, UNOPS oversees activities in more than 80 countries.

UNOPS is committed to achieving a truly diverse workforce.

Background information - AFO

Africa Regional Office

Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Africa Regional Office supports UNOPS country offices in the region, providing financial oversight of projects, procuring goods and services and managing human resources.

AFO helps ensure that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between projects across the entire region.

Background information - Senegal

The UNOPS Senegal office is based in Dakar and supports development projects across western and central Africa. UNOPS in Senegal currently focuses on the areas of rural development, environment, good governance and procurement.

Background information - Job-specific

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help build a better life. With offices in 166 countries, UNDP works with national level partenrs to seek solutions to global and national development challenges.

UNDP Environment and Energy Group (EEG) is based in UNDP’s Bureau for Development Policy and is responsible for providing leadership and technical support toward delivery of the Environment and Sustainable Development pillar of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. Its main focus is to help countries develop capacity to manage and mainstream environment into national, local, global and regional policy and practice in support of sustainable development. The principal areas of work are in policy development and support, market mechanisms, adaptation to climate change, and local governance of resources, including energy.

One flagship programme of EEG is the Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP), a $92 million project funded by the government of Japan that was launched in partnership with UNDP, WFP, and UNICEF in December 2008. The AAP assists 20 African countries to achieve transformational change designed to shift climate change adaptation planning and interventions from siloed, single-sector project approaches to a comprehensive, strategic approach characterized by multiple-sector integrated planning. The AAP aims to achieve the following key outcomes:

• countries have introduced dynamic, long-term planning mechanisms to cope with the inherent uncertainties
of climate change;
• countries have built leadership and developed institutional frameworks to manage climate change risks and
opportunities in an integrated manner at the local and national levels;
• countries are implementing climate-resilient policies and measures in priority sectors;
• financing options to meet national adaptation costs have been expanded at the local, national, sub-regional and regional levels; and
• knowledge on adjusting national development processes to fully incorporate climate change risks and
opportunities is being generated and shared across all levels.

Functional responsibilities

The International Consultant is being recruited to support both IRTSC internal and external information systems.

Under the supervision of the Programme Manager, the International Consultant (IC) will undertake the following duties:

A Climate Specialist for AAP is needed to assist the overall goal/role of AAP HQ team, including:

1. Provide secretariat services to the AAP Programme Board
2. Develop strategic partnerships
3. Promote strategic thinking and links between the AAP and other UNDP’s core initiatives
4. Facilitate knowledge capturing, coding and dissemination

The Climate Specialist for AAP will report to Senior Policy Advisory, Environment and Energy Group (EEG).

The main roles and responsibilities are as follows:

1. Provide secretariat services to the AAP Programme Board (40%)

• Oversee the organization of the AAP Programme Board meeting on a quarterly basis, and the AAP Operations Sub-committee (OSC) on a monthly basis. This includes the quality control of materials to be reviewed at these meetings, meeting logistics, and meeting follow-ups.
• Maintain close rapport with AAP board members, particularly UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA), Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS), and the Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy (BERA) for strategic discussions, including AAP completion plan.
• Maintain close rapport with the AAP Programme Manager based in Dakar to provide strategic and technical support.
• Keep EEG/BDP senior management updated of the progress of the AAP. This includes the preparation of briefs whenever requested.
• Monitor AAP progress on a monthly basis, including financial delivery.
• Prepare progress reports gathering information from the Inter-Regional Technical Support Component (IRTSC) and Country Offices to share with the donor on a quarterly basis.
• Keep track of budgets for AAP related HQ expenditures.

2. Promote strategic partnerships (30%)

• Develop strategic partnerships with multilateral/bilateral donors, NGOs, and the private sector. Implement the Strategic Partnership Strategy for the AAP, including organizing bilateral meetings with multilateral/bilateral partners, and a donor roundtable meeting.
• Organise side-events to develop partnerships at major international/regional forum including UNFCCC meetings, UN General Assembly, the Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD),and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).
• Continuously monitor existing/emerging climate change adaptation initiatives and identify potential partner organisations/initiatives for the AAP.

3. Promote strategic thinking and links between the AAP and UNDP’s other initiatives (15%)

• Contribute to EEG’s overall discussions on climate change adaptation.
• Organise discussion and strategy planning for AAP’s completion plan, particularly how to ensure sustainability of results from the AAP, in close coordination with RBA, RBAS, BERA and AAP Programme Manager. This includes the preparation/organization of final evaluation, documentation of lessons learned.
• Maintain rapport with EEG’s other relevant initiatives such as the Boots on the Ground and other initiatives of the Climate Policy Team. This includes participation in the Climate Policy Team meetings on a regular basis.

4. Facilitate knowledge capturing, coding and dissemination (15%)

• Oversee the development of policy briefs/discussion papers on emerging lessons learned from the AAP.
• Oversee the organization of brown bag events.
•  Oversee the development and dissemination of AAP news through Climate-L, EE-net, UNDP and AAP website, ALM, RBA news, etc.

Monitoring and Progress Controls

The Climate Specialist will report to the Senior Policy Specialist, EEG.

Final Product

• Secretariat services to AAP programme provided, including organization of board meetings and OSC meetings, and maintenance of close rapport with AAP board members.
• Strategic partnerships with multilateral/bilateral donors developed/enhanced, including the organization of bilateral meetings, a donor roundtable meeting, side event(s) at major international forum.
• Completion plan promoted to ensure sustainability of AAP results.
• Links with other relevant UNDP initiatives maintained and enhanced.
• Knowledge products developed and disseminated widely.

Competencies

Corporate competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
• Promote the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism

Communications

• Speaks and writes clearly and effectively
• Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately
• Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience
• Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed
• Writes content effectively for a web-based platform

Knowledge management and learning

• Shares knowledge and experience and ability to develop lessons learned and best practices
• Ability to produce high-quality outputs in a timely manner while understanding and anticipating the evolving client and project needs
• Ability to translate scientific climate information into policy and practical guidance for a non-technical audience

Education

• Master degree in climate, environment, development or related field required.

Experience

• Experience in developing workshops and events for a range of audiences
• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience is required
• Familiarity with UNDP’s strategic plan/programmes on climate change is an asset
• Work experience in an international organsation is desirable
• Experience and knowledge of project/programme management
•  Experience with developing countries is an asset
• Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (Word, Excel, Power Point)
• Excellent knowledge of English, with demonstrated writing, presentation and communication skills

Languages

• Excellent knowledge of English, with demonstrated writing, presentation and communication skills
• Fluency in French is an asset.