Regional Technical Specialist

The newly established UNDP Climate Hub is the arrowhead of UNDP’s commitment to the “Climate Promise” that aims to support programming countries designing and implementing pledges under the Paris Agreement, including ambitious National Determined Contributions, with climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions fully embedded in the national development planning and budgetary processes. The Climate Hub will build on UNDP’s existing over USD 4 billion country-level climate portfolio on Climate Change Policies and Strategies, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Change Mitigation, Climate and Forests, covering over 142 countries, as well as on UNDP’s Nature portfolio, UNDP’s Sustainable Finance Hub, UNDP’s Digital offer and other relevant portfolios on youth, gender, health, climate security among others. 

The UNDP Climate Hub is responsible for: 

• Thought leadership on Climate and to be the custodian of UNDP policy positions on Climate;
• Strategy and vision formulation;
• Pipeline development in coordination with the other hubs and the Vertical Fund Programme Support, Oversight and Compliance Unit;
• Provision of integrated policy and programme support to Country Offices;
• Global engagement, advocacy in collaboration with BERA;
• Integration across thematic areas;
• Strategic Partnerships development and resource mobilization;
• Lead and support global flagship initiatives and partnerships on climate;
• Serve as focal point with relevant UN coordination mechanisms and Conventions (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change);
• Cross-organization knowledge and learning; and
• Innovation.

Under the climate hub, UNDP’s Climate adaptation portfolio assists government partners to scale up the integration of climate change adaptation into policy, planning, and investments at both national and local levels through the support to the National Adaptation Planning (NAP) process and the NDCs. UNDP supports climate change adaptation action in the context of agriculture and food security, water resources, coastal zone management, ecosystems protection, public health, resilient infrastructure, urban resilience, livelihoods, and climate information/early warnings.  

Under the portfolio, it is also working to enable countries to harness the land use and agriculture sectors’ potential for climate change mitigation and adaptation, aligned to countries’ national climate pledges through its Support Programme on Scaling up Climate Ambition on Land Use and Agriculture through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) (SCALA). This German Ministry of Environment (BMU)-funded Programme is currently under implementation and is designed to assist countries to translate their NDCs and/or NAPs into actionable and transformative climate solutions in land use and agriculture with multi-stakeholder engagement. This Programme is a joint effort of UNDP and FAO. It works across 12 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. A key outcome of the programme is to increase private sector engagement and investment to support the achievement of NDCs and NAPs.   

Within this overall context, UNDP is recruiting a Regional Technical Specialist, especially to support francophone countries (Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal), and other SCALA countries as required, and provide other advisory support on climate finance, adaptation investments and project concept note development.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the comprehensive guidance of the UNDP Technical Specialist overseeing NAP and the SCALA programme coordination, the Regional Technical Specialist embarks on a critical mission to foster resilience and adaptability to climate change within two dedicated countries under the SCALA programme. This role also extends to delivering global technical advisory services aimed at escalating investment in climate adaptation, with a pronounced focus on land use and agriculture sectors.

Strategic Technical Assistance and Programme Implementation:

• Offer technical support to the two assigned countries (Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal) under the SCALA programme, ensuring a tailored approach to meet their unique climatic challenges, particularly in land use and agriculture. This involves devising strategic plans, providing high-level policy advice, and identifying innovative adaptation solutions that align with each country’s specific needs and priorities.
• Engage deeply in analytical work to uncover critical policy issues and gaps, thereby enhancing policies and practices that underpin climate resilience and sustainable agriculture.

Partnership Development and Liaison:

• For the two countries (Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal), liaise with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other pivotal agencies, fostering programmatic and operational synergies across the board. This role entails maintaining dynamic communication channels with government bodies, private sector stakeholders, and international partners to bolster the Programme’s objectives.
• Catalyze regional exchanges, technical assistance ventures, and resource mobilization activities by cultivating strategic partnerships. This includes creating platforms for dialogue, sharing innovative practices, and securing support from a broad spectrum of stakeholders.

Quality Assurance and Synergy Creation:

• Ensure the impeccable quality and timely delivery of all Programme deliverables across the two SCALA countries (Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal). Oversee the integration of Programme activities with other strategic climate and development initiatives, such as the NDC Support Programme, Climate Promise, and various international funding mechanisms, to amplify impact and foster cohesion across environmental and development goals.

Advisory Support and Project Development:

• Provide expert advisory services on scaling up climate investments, particularly in the realms of land use and agriculture for the whole SCALA Programme and the NAP portfolio, when needed. This entails conducting cutting-edge research, drafting analytical pieces and policy briefs, and offering guidance on innovative financing and private sector engagement strategies.
• Provide advisory support on project development, and, as such, advice on project design, guide on information needs, propose financing mechanisms, and review project idea and concept notes.

Knowledge Management and Capacity Building:

• Champion knowledge management initiatives by generating and disseminating vital knowledge products, such as technical guides, toolkits, and success stories. This role is instrumental in enhancing the Programme’s learning environment, sharing lessons learned, and showcasing achievements in climate finance and adaptation strategies.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of capacity-building programs aimed at bolstering national and regional capabilities in climate adaptation, thereby ensuring that governments and communities are better equipped to face climate challenges.

High-Level Advocacy and Representation

• Craft and provide critical technical inputs for briefings and speeches for UNDP officials at high levels, ensuring that the Programme’s objectives and achievements are effectively communicated to a global audience. This involves representing the Programme in various forums, advocating for robust climate action, and engaging with key stakeholders to elevate the dialogue on climate resilience.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in environmental economics, agriculture economics, rural development, international development or other closely related fields.
• Bachelor’s degree in the above-mentioned fields with additional 2 years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of Master’s degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years (with Master’s degree) or 9 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of experience in climate change, agriculture and/or rural development project management and implementation, and policy support.

Required Skills:

• Sound understanding and experience of sustainable human development, rural development, climate change adaptation, vulnerability and impacts of climate change and other related sustainable human development issues demonstrated through work experience is required.
• Demonstrated experience in implementing agriculture and climate change projects in Africa is required.
• Demonstrated experience in project development and investment strategies is required.

Desired Skills:

• Experience in supporting developing countries and especially African countries governments in a technical advisory role, project development role or other related functions is an asset.
• Knowledge and experience of UNDP and/or UN agency and/or other development organizations is an asset.
• Experience with donors (bilateral, multilateral banks and others) is an asset.
• Experience in designing large scale projects on agriculture and climate change in an asset.

Languages:

• Excellent writing, editing, and oral communication skills in English.
• Proficiency in French is required.
• Proficiency in Spanish is an asset.

Source: https://estm.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1/requisitions/job/18244