Background
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UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
Central Africa is home to the second largest tropical rainforest in the world. Forest loss is accelerating despite ongoing efforts, as government action alone has not been sufficient to establish an effective balance between the interests of the forest and of economic development.
On this basis, a coalition of willing donors – Norway, European Union, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, and South Korea – together with Central African partner countries – Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Gabon – have entered in 2015 into a collaborative partnership to establish in partnership with the United Nations, the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI). The objective of this initiative is to recognize and preserve the value of the forests in the region to mitigate climate change, reduce poverty, and contribute to sustainable development. This objective will be attained through the implementation of country-led, national scale REDD+ and Low Emissions Development (LED) investment frameworks that include policy reforms and measures to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and promote sustainable development.
The CAFI Trust Fund is the principal means to implement the Central African Forest Initiative. It is administered by the MPTF-Office (http://mptf.undp.org/factsheet/fund/AFI00). As per the updated Fund Terms of Reference and the direct cost Secretariat project document, the UNDP Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTFO) is hosting the CAFI Secretariat providing the secretariat administrative services under the oversight of the CAFI Executive Board and other participating UN organizations (UNDP, UNCDF, FAO, UN-Habitat, UNFPA, and UNEP).
Established by the Executive Board, the CAFI Secretariat was created to support the fund management coupled with policy and programmatic dialogue and portfolio administration, strongly based on result-based management and solid reporting methods. The CAFI Secretariat operates across most of its country of scope, namely DRC, Cameroon, Republic of Congo and Gabon; and its headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland.
Cameroon signed the CAFI Declaration in 2015 with an Expression of Interest launched in 2023 to mobilize a round of investments in the country ranging from approximately USD 60 millions of dollars of investment. The expectation is that this will be accompanied by the signature of a Letter of Intent (LOI) and respective policy milestones. Additionally, important steps have been taken to advance the such partnership aimed at supporting the acceleration of Cameroon’s green economy, thus reducing the impact of Cameroonian value chains on deforestation while making Cameroon-produced goods more competitive in international markets and enhancing food security for the population.
Position Purpose:
Under the supervision of the Chief Policy Dialogue and Country Engagement, the Technical Specialist (Partnerships) will facilitate the CAFI Executive Board and Secretariat with the engagement of national partners on a shared vision for the partnership, and in the planning, implementation and monitoring of LOI. He/she will advise the related governance bodies via stakeholder engagements, support in policy development and dialogue. He/ she will facilitate the monitoring of the implementation of the partnership in collaboration with the programming team, anticipating and mitigating policy related risks to the partnership (such as breaches of the LOI) and organize the regular reviews with Cameroon partners. He/she will provide intellectual and practical solutions in partnership, policy development, advocacy to properly position the Trust Fund within the Country and with the designated partners.
UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.
Duties and Responsibilities
Contributes to the development, manages, and implements CAFI`s country engagement process in Cameroon, including liaison and coordination with relevant officials internal and external to CAFI and in both strategic and tactical levels.
- Support the leadership in the political and technical engagements to develop and monitor the implementation of the LoI, multilateral and bilateral agreements with the relevant stakeholders.
- Coordinate all stakeholder engagement efforts in Cameroon under with the supervision of the Chief Policy Dialogue and Country Engagement, to determine and document opportunities for initiating a strategic dialogue.
- Facilitate dialogue and advocacy mechanisms, forums, south-south cooperation, political and technical exchanges.
- Design and deliver strategic investments and engagement opportunities with donors and Cameroon government partners to optimize programme efficiency.
- Develop, update and implement the CAFI strategy on stakeholder engagement/participation (Cameroon chapter).
- Prepare and coordinate stakeholder meetings such as preparing briefing notes/presentations, agendas and annotated agendas, compiling meeting documentation, preparing and coordinating correspondence, quality control of reproduction and distribution of documents, minutes and reports.
- Identify innovative opportunities to strengthen existing country and regionally led initiatives, platforms and mechanisms that support CAFI`s mandate and be forward leaning supporting complementarity of efforts.
- Identify and anticipate Cameroon policy related risks and proposes solutions to the Head of Secretariat and the Executive Board.
- Contribute to the Cameroon chapter of the CAFI`s programme risk management plan, including its mitigation actions.
- Establish indicators of monitoring and evaluation and information tools such as the stakeholder database and the stakeholder meetings preparations guidelines, in cooperation with the M&E Specialist.
- Coordinate country engagement with relevant multilateral initiatives (International Financial Institutions, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, the Central African Forest Commission, etc).
- Coordinate the preparation of generic and country-specific background material, as well as other inputs that are supportive of conducting the strategic dialogue.
- Maintain a system to track progress in strategic dialogues in Cameroon and document their outcomes for proper reporting.
Facilitate the implementation of CAFI`s engagement process in Cameroon and oversee the policy dialogue of the LOI
- Identify key engagement areas, develop engagement plans (mapping of actors for different topics, identify how to engage them in the process) to maximize CAFI`s programme strategies and interventions.
- Collaborate within the technical and political outreach efforts with all stakeholders (line ministries, prime minister’s office, president’s office, Resident Coordinator’s office, implementing organizations and non-state actors).
- Research and analysis of information to donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation.
- Produce papers, policy briefs, and notes with strategic analysis and policy recommendations. Generates survey initiatives; designs data collection tools; reviews, analyses, interprets responses, identifies problems/issues and prepares conclusions.
- Supervise the work of the staff and consultants in charge of country specific policy dialogue in Cameroon.
- Develop texts of the agreements and identification of solutions to outstanding negotiating position between CAFI and Cameroon.
- Participate the development and operationalization of country level policy dialogue mechanism for inter-ministerial coordination and for dialogue with development partners and participate therein on behalf of CAFI
- Participate and represent CAFI in the different development partner coordination mechanisms (general and sectoral) in Cameroon to identify relevant points, issues and topics for CAFI’s consideration/action or for the consideration/action of the partner coordination group.
- Oversee the development of milestone monitoring matrices further to the existing LOI.
- Oversee the organization of the annual partnership reviews in-country and other ad hoc coordination meetings as required by national circumstances.
Advise the executive management of the CAFI Secretariat and ensure liaison with other sub-teams within the CAFI Secretariat such as Operations, M&E, Programming, Communications
- Mobilize partnership engagement for strategic interventions such as Expressions of Interests, specific projects, Fast-Tracks, etc.
- Advise the CAFI communications team on defensive and proactive policy dialogue related communications.
- Oversee the development and presentation of policy dialogue related topics to the Executive Board during its meetings.
- Provide input and identify resource mobilization strategies and opportunities led by the Head of Secretariat and the Chief Policy Dialogue and Country Engagement.
- Advise programming team on policy support programs and vice versa obtains input from programmes for policy dialogue.
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: None
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:
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
Business Management – Portfolio Management
- Ability to select, prioritize and control the organization as programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimizing return on investment
Business Direction & Strategy – Negotiation and Influence
- Ability to reach an understanding, persuade others, resolve points of difference, gain advantage in the outcome of dialogue, negotiates mutually acceptable solutions through compromise and creates win-win situations.
Partnership management – 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 objectives
2030 Agenda: Planet – Nature, Climate and Energy
- Climate and Forests: REDD+/UNFCCC and access to emission reduction results-based payments (GCF or carbon markets)
2030 Agenda: Planet – Nature, Climate and Energy
- Climate and Forests: Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
2030 Agenda: Planet – Nature, Climate and Energy
- Climate Change Policies: UNFCCC Policy, planning and reporting
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Public Administration, International Relations, Economics, Social Sciences, Environment or any related field or a first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the above field of study, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree
Experience:
- Minimum of 7 years (with master’s degree) or 9 years (with bachelor’s degree) of extensive work experience mobilizing policy dialogue and/or partnerships for development policy planning in complex settings, as experience on environmental programmes is required.
- Solid experience and technical knowledge in climate and forest area, with a knowledge of Central Africa as an advantage.
- Strong theoretical and practical experience with the political dynamics of Central African countries is highly desired.
- Experience of development aid coordination is an asset.
- Demonstrated experience in resource mobilization is an advantage.
- Field experience in stakeholder engagement in one of the CAFI countries required.
- Experience with political engagement with government counterparts, in at least one CAFI country required.
- Experience in working with development partners is desired.
- Experience with leading staff in international settings required.
Language Requirement
- Fluency in English and French required.
Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.
Disclaimer
Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment.
UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.
Applicant information about UNDP rosters
Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.
Non-discrimination
UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
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