Gender Equality, Social Inclusion and Safeguards (GESI) Specialist

Background

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 46 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. 

The Local Transformative Finance (LTF) Practice aims to be a center of excellence and innovation fund for local government finance. Over a 30-year period the Practice has developed deep expertise in intergovernmental fiscal transfers (IGTF), local development funds, public financial management and performance-based grants. LTF supports policy reforms and advocates for a greater appreciation and use of IGTF and performance based local government financing mechanisms in development finance. 

On the basis of this experience, LTF designed and manages the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL), which is a mechanism to integrate climate change into local authorities’ planning and budgeting through the regular intergovernmental fiscal transfer system using performance-based grants in a participatory and gender-sensitive manner, increase awareness and capacities to respond to climate change at the local level including through ecosystem-based solutions, and increase the quality and number of local investments that address climate change. LoCAL combines performance-based climate resilience grants (PBCRGs), which ensure the programming and verification of change expenditures at the local level, with technical and capacity-building support. It uses the grants and demonstration effect to trigger further flows for local climate action including global climate finance and national fiscal transfers. 

LoCAL is presently working with 34 countries across Africa, Asia the Caribbean and the Pacific, and has cumulatively mobilised over US$170m for more than 2,100 adaptation projects.  UNCDF is now working with the Government of Solomon Islands to activate the LoCAL mechanism in Solomon Islands. 

UNCDF has supported the Government of the Solomon Islands (GoSI) to design the LoCAL Mechanism with the aims of increasing the resilience of communities and local economies across the country, through regular, predictable and verifiable climate finance in support of local climate responses.  It will achieve this through increased provincial government access to climate finance to implement climate change adaptation investments in Solomon Islands (Outcome 1) and institutionalising a standard and internationally recognized country-based mechanism of performance-based climate resilience grants in the country, further attracting climate finance, domestic and international (Outcome 2). 

LoCAL-Solomon Islands will raise awareness and strengthen capacities for subnational climate change adaptation at both PG and central levels (Output1); support the integration of climate change into local planning and budgeting processes and finance local adaptation interventions and investments (Output 2) and establish and deploy across the whole country an effective performance-based climate resilience grant system (financing mechanism) that can attract various sources of climate finance (Output 3). 

LoCAL will be embedded in the Provincial Capital Development Fund (PCDF) and empower the PGs to develop and fund adaptation and climate-related disaster risk reduction strategies and plans, including climate induced displacement, and CCA infrastructure and services. With improved capacity, PGs will be well placed to access additional national and international CCA funds through central government and act as coordinating agencies for integrated local climate response while providing the continuity and maintenance capacity that is often lacking from time-bound projects. Beyond supporting PGs to increase access to climate financing, LoCAL will also support PGs access to technical expertise on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, in particular climate-induced displacement, to support the implementation of CCA projects funded through the PBCRG and to strengthen the entire project cycle from planning through execution and monitoring. 

As LoCAL will be implemented in close coordination with the Solomon Islands Integrated Economic Development and Community Resilience (IEDCR) project, the GESI Specialist will work closely with members of the IEDCR Team, in particular the IEDCR Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS) Specialist, IECDR Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Resilience Expert, and the Provincial Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Reduction Officers.

The GESI Specialist reports to the LoCAL Programme Specialist, P-3, based in Honiara, Solomon Islands and works in close collaboration with other LTF and LoCAL colleagues in the Pacific regional office/Asia-Pacific regional office, HQ and across the region. The incumbent will work closely with MPGIS, and the LoCAL national and regional team, and may be required to work with the LoCAL Regional Program Manager based in Suva, Fiji.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Under the supervision of the LoCAL Solomon Islands Programme Manager, and in close coordination with MPGIS, the IEDCR and the LoCAL national and regional team, the Gender Equality, Social Inclusion and Safeguards (GESI) Specialist will have the following responsibilities: 

 Functions / Key Results Expected 

       The overall responsibilities of the assignment are to: 

• Provide strategic direction on the delivery of GESI outcomes for LoCAL in Solomon Islands 
• Lead the incorporation of GESI into LoCAL-funded activities, to contribute to improved social inclusion and gender equality, working with the Integrated Economic Development and Community Resilience (IEDCR) Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS) Specialist, as well as the Provincial Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Reduction Officers 
• Establish systems for continuous monitoring and evaluation to deliver strengthened results on GESI. 
• Produce GESI-related knowledge and materials for LoCAL 
• Monitor program risks, including social and environmental safeguards and health and safety. 

      Provide strategic direction on the delivery of GESI outcomes by LoCAL in Solomon Islands 

• Working with national and sub-national government partners, refine LoCAL’s strategy for mainstreaming GESI in the programme activities, and develop a detailed action-plan for implementation and monitoring of the strategy. 
• Lead work to ensure GESI-responsive planning and implementation of activities for all LoCAL program outputs.
• Prepare high-quality Terms of Reference for consultants and resource persons and develop and maintain roster of experts and resource persons on GESI-related issues in Solomon Islands. 
• Lead or participate in periodic meetings with key stakeholders including NGOs and other groups supporting GESI outcomes as required.
• Provide high quality support to the program manager in delivering their management roles with particular attention to internal and external GESI related issues. 

Lead the incorporation of GESI into LoCAL-funded activities, to contribute to improved social inclusion and gender equality, working with the IEDCR ESS Specialist, as well as the Provincial Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Reduction Officers 

• Working with the LoCAL Community Development/ Field Officer, provide strategic advice and inputs to sub-national government on the incorporation of GESI into LoCAL processes and tools, and the alignment of support through PBCRGs with GESI objectives. 
• Receive and disseminate updates from the Provincial Government on GESI related policies, guidelines, models, templates, standards, and norms related to law making, gender budgeting, planning, public financial management, information technology. 
• Support in reviewing provincial and local level policies and provide inputs from GESI perspective.
• Identify capacity development needs with regard to GESI in the province and support the development and provision of internal capacity development activities. 

     Establish systems for continuous monitoring and evaluation to deliver strengthened results on GESI.   

• Ensure impact measurement captures impacts on social inclusion and gender equality, including proposing new indicators and methods where required.
• Meet regularly with all technical specialists and experts of the LoCAL team to brief them on progress, issues, challenges and opportunities with regard to GESI.
• Provide GESI related inputs to provincial-level monitoring and consolidated progress reports. 
• Identify opportunities for, develop TORs for and lead work on GESI-focused reviews and evaluations. 
• Provide input and advice to the regional and global teams on monitoring and evaluation of GESI.   

     Produce GESI-related knowledge and materials for LoCAL in Solomon Islands   

• Develop and maintain knowledge products and Communities of Practice on GESI 
• Document lessons learned and best practices and communicate to relevant agencies, the LoCAL national, regional and global team in relation to gender and social inclusion.  

    Monitor program risks, including social and environmental safeguards and health and safety.   

• Working closely with the IECDR ESS Specialist, monitor, and proactively address social, environmental and other risks of LoCAL activities in line with safeguard policies. 
• Manage the development of a consolidated health and safety strategy for LoCAL in Solomon Islands. 
• Contribute to the delivery of a safe and healthy working environment for LoCAL staff and employees.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient  functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Competencies:

Core competencies:

• Achieve Results LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact.
• Think Innovatively LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems.
• Learn Continuously LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences. 
• Adapt with Agility LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands.
• Act with Determination LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results.
• Engage and Partner LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration.
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity. 

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

2030 Agenda – People

• Gender: Gender mainstreaming

External Relations & Advocacy

• Communication: Ability to create and implement advocacy strategies which lead to impactful change  
• Partnership management: Knowledge and ability to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships, and remove any obstacles to resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder funding platforms.
• Strategic Engagement: Ability to capture and sustain attention, interest and agreement of high-level, influential policy and decision makers and secure their buy-in of high-level vision and objective.

Programme and Policy

• Nature, Climate and Energy: Climate Change Policies: Governance / integrated planning for climate change investments in the context of urbanization
  Climate Change Adaptation: strategies

Business Direction & Strategy     

• System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.

Required Skills and Experience:

Education:

• Advanced University Degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Gender Studies, Sociology, Human Rights, Law and/or International Development or a related field is required. Or 
• A first-level university degree (Bachelors) in the above areas with additional two years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years (with master’s degree) or 7 years (with bachelor’s degree), ideally working with government, UN or donor programs on developing solutions that contribute to improved gender equality and social inclusion at the national or local levels.
• Experience in designing, developing, and using knowledge products, mentoring, training, or outreach, in the context of gender and climate change.
• Experience in project management, implementation, and monitoring.
• Demonstrated experience and skills in coordinating with different stakeholders and facilitating discussions. 
• Work experience with central or local government, including the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS), in an area related to gender, and knowledge of government systems is highly desirable.   
• Experience with a UN organization/agency/ International development sector is desirable.
• Knowledge of climate change and the potential impacts on local economic development in the Solomon Islands is desirable.

Required Languages:

• Fluency in English and Solomon Islands Pidgin is required.