Background
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP: we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories. 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.
Office/Unit/Project Description
UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
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.
UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.
The central purpose of the Rome Centre is to ensure the effective implementation and further development of the strategic partnership between UNDP and the government of Italy across the objectives of sustainable development and in doing so advancing the broader partnership between UNDP and G7 and G20 countries.
The Rome Centre focuses on the critical policy areas of youth engagement in climate action, energy for development and climate finance. These objectives are pursued through the effective implementation of three initial main programmes:
- The Italy-UNDP Energy Partnership
- Youth4Climate
- Platform for Investment Support and Technical Assistance (PISTA)
The Italy-UNDP Energy Partnership aims to promote access to sustainable energy in developing countries, contributing to SDG7. The goal of the partnership is to assist partner countries in unlocking finance to scale up the diffusion of clean energy solutions, increase access to energy and boost the energy transition. The Partnership is now in its pilot phase, and it focuses on a set of 8 countries in Africa: Algeria, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Mozambique, Zambia, Eswatini and Comoros. Overall, the Partnership aims to foster the mobilization of public and private capital toward projects aligned with the international policy agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. It does so by connecting UNDP’s capacity and connections in emerging economies and developing countries with the public-private ecosystem of Italy and other G7 countries, in the crucial sector of energy.
Youth4Climate promotes youth engagement in climate action, contributing to SDG13. Youth4Climate supports the implementation of youth-led and youth-inclusive solutions to environmental and climate challenges, both financially and through capacity development. It also gives young people around the world who are committed to fighting climate change a platform to engage with policymakers and global leaders.
The Platform for Investment Support and Technical Assistance (PISTA), aims to mobilise finance for climate, energy, and environment. Specifically, PISTA aims to originate projects that contribute to the decarbonization efforts of developing economies and to their transition to climate-resilient economies, and it aims to catalyse international financial resources toward these initiatives. Matching impactful projects with investors and capital providers goes hand in hand with the engagement with financial institutions – both institutional and private – at Italian and global level.
The Rome Centre also has a broader mandate to engage with the Italian ecosystem as a whole, which involves close collaboration with key actors in the public and private sector, with the aim to effectively mobilize financial resources for development objectives. To guarantee the effective implementation of the Rome Centre’s workplan, and indeed to ensure the strategic and long-term impact of both its programmes, the Centre will develop broader strategic partnerships and reinforce the overall collaboration with Italy and other meaningful partners.
Delivering on its programmes, the Rome Centre will provide support to the international cooperation efforts of Italy, and it will support UNDP’s global policy initiatives. Recognizing that change will be disruptive, UNDP will work to ensure that such transitions are just, and that their impact on vulnerable people is understood and duly mitigated.
Duties and Responsibilities
Timely implementation of the Youth4Climate Model Innovation Challenge Awards and efficient support to the implementation of the YFC workplan
- Design of the annual Youth4Climate Call for Solutions in consultation with youth, partners, and UNDP experts, including the identification of priority focus areas, formulation of challenges, preparation of Call for Proposal guidelines, ToRs and application materials;
- Identification of the most effective ways of supporting youth during the application process and design of learning offers;
- Work with UNDP staff and partners to organize the selection of Model Innovation Challenge Fund winners;
- Oversight of the Call for Solutions evaluation process, including coordination of reviewers and panelists and compiling documentation including a detailed evaluation report;
- Management of the award process in coordination with the UNDP Rome Centre operations team. This may involve coordination of supplier registration, contract preparation, and timely payment delivery among others;
- Creation of a project monitoring framework and its coordination, including ensuring connections are made between awardees and UNDP Country Offices, that deliverables are collected and stored effectively, etc.
- Provide feedback to management, participate in drafting concept notes or related project documents.
Ensure Effective Project Monitoring and Reporting
- Track financial delivery of awards and report on financial expenditures to Youth4Climate donors and for UNDP purposes;
- Ensure administrative requirements, budgets and use of financial resources are managed and executed in a timely and appropriate manner and within UNDP and donor rules and regulations;
- Support the YFC Coordinator with monitoring of the selected initiatives, including communication with selected initiatives, review of submitted progress reports and on-site monitoring visits;
- Oversee the YFC awardee and experts’ performance evaluations;
- Ensure timely reporting by Youth4Climate awardees and consolidate insights into narrative reports.
Develop and Maintain Partnerships
- Develop and maintain strong relationships and strategic linkages with country, regional, and global stakeholders (youth constituencies, governments, UN agencies, private sector, NGOs) who can contribute to driving youth-inclusive climate policy and practice.
- Develop and maintain stakeholder mapping and analysis to identify stakeholder needs and how best to leverage their participation and/or strengthen their engagement. Prepare substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation and opportunities for joint initiatives. Make recommendations to the management team on activities with potential for scale-up, replicability and synergies.
Facilitate Knowledge Sharing and Communication
- Document and package insights on youth-led climate action based on 2,000+ solutions received from young people;
- In coordination with the Youth4Climate communication focal point, design a communication strategy for collecting and sharing Youth4Climate awardees’ stories and lessons learned;
- Ensure internal knowledge sharing with UNDP global, regional and country teams and with partners on how they can leverage Youth4Climate-identified solutions in their programming.
- In coordination with YFC Team leader facilitate and prepare webinars and workshops;
- Participate in relevant international and regional events, networks and processes;
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization
Institutional Arrangement
The Youth4Climate Analyst will work under the direct supervision of the Youth4Climate Programme Coordinator.
Competencies
| Core | |
| Achieve Results: | LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline |
| Think Innovatively: | LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements |
| Learn Continuously: | LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback |
| Adapt with Agility: | LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible |
| Act with Determination: | LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident |
| Engage and Partner: | LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships |
| Enable Diversity and Inclusion: | LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination |
Cross-Functional & Technical competencies | Thematic Area | Name | Definition | | Business Direction & Strategy | Systems 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 Direction & Strategy | Effective Decision Making | - Ability to take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with one’s authority, area of expertise and resources.
| | Business Management | Project Management | - Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals.
| | Business Management | Communication | - Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience
- Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.
| | Business Management | Monitoring | - Ability to proide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results.
| | Digital & Innovation | Solutions mapping | - Ability to engage and build rapport with vulnerable communities and get consent, facilitate participatory processes and navigate intricate power relations and cultural dynamics. Having the sensitivity and ability to identify grassroots solutions, capacities, assets, coping strategies that impacted communities have developed or used to address (emerging) development challenges. Being able to understand these solutions from a people’s perspective and learn about the conditions that enable or prevent communities from developing such grassroots solutions or coping mechanisms. Understand how solutions and needs are paired, and how grassroots solutions can be used as an entry point to identify unaddressed or unmet development challenges and how to use these insights to inform policy design. Ability to reverse engineer solutions, understanding what aspects (artefactual, principles, conditions, configuration) can be scaled and how, being able to assess their potential to be transferred to other domains, regions or contexts and build a case for that. Ability to appreciate and integrate various sources of knowledge (academic, experiential, observational, traditional, indigenous) in problem solving processes. Set up structures and processes to collect ideas, solutions and facilitate matchmaking between supply and demand of solutions.
| | Procurement | Contract management | - Knowledge of contract management concepts, principles and methods, and ability to apply this to strategic and/or practical situations.
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Required Skills and Experience
| Min. Education requirements | - Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Business Administration, Public Administration, Economics, Political Sciences, Development Studies, Social Sciences or related field
OR - A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with additional 2 years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of a Master’s degree.
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| Min. years of relevant work experience | - Minimum of 2 years (with Master’s degree) or 4 years (with a Bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience in project management and/or innovation management in the context of sustainable development programming is required.
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| Required skills | - Experience in contract management and monitoring
- Demonstrated understanding of the needs of youth
- Experience and good knowledge of data collection and analysis
- Proven experience in communication and storytelling
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| Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section | - Experience in climate change policy and programming is desirable
- Experience in project reporting and partnership modalities, particularly in a UNDP context, is an advantage
- Experience in youth entrepreneurship and start up development is an advantage
- Experience in running innovation challenges, particularly in a UNDP context, is a strong advantage.
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| Required Language(s) | Fluent oral and written communication skills in English are required. Working knowledge of another UN language is an asset. |
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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