Regional Policy Advisor on Climate Change, Europe and the CIS and Arab States

Summary of Key Function:

• Provide Climate Change Policy Advisory services
• Networking and partnerships
• Planning, implementing and reporting of project activities
• Under the joint supervision of Environment and Energy Regional Practice Leader for Europe and the CIS, the Regional Team Leader/Regional Technical Advisor for the Arab States, and the ICCPP Project Manager; and with technical guidance from the EEG Climate Change Policy Advisor, the climate change policy advisor will:

Provide Policy Advisory services

• Provide support to, and develop the capacity of, COs to engage in the climate change policy dialogue at national and regional level with key partners such as governments, donors, civil society.
• Provide substantive technical and intellectual inputs in order to support COs’ participation in the formulation of national low carbon and climate resilient development strategies and plans.
• Advise COs on ways to build capacity of governments in programming climate change related resources and provide advice on the effective use and management of different climate financing mechanisms.
• Develop technical and strategic position papers, presentations, advisory and briefing notes, as needed.
• Prepare regional inputs to policy briefs/position papers in collaboration with other practices that address links between climate change and other development concerns such as governance, private sector, poverty alleviation, gender, crisis prevention and recovery and capacity development.
• Provide climate change advisory services to colleagues from all practices of the regional centers and to officers in UNDP country offices. This includes reviewing key documents produced by other practices to ensure they account for and address climate change issues.

Networking and Partnerships

• Provide regular briefings to country offices, Regional bureaus and regional centers´ senior management and governments on the status of international climate change negotiations, forthcoming events in the region, major regional initiatives under way and climate change projects being implemented by UNDP and other UN organizations in the region. These inputs should contribute to the development and strengthening of common UN positions regarding climate change issues in the region.
• Support the Country Offices in the development of strategic and thematic partnerships with governmental agencies, UN agencies and other important actors in climate change.
• Lead public relations activities, identifying opportunities and promoting results to ensure ICCPP project activities remain relevant and linked to UNDP processes.
• Secure an adequate flow of information between the Regional Centers, BDP/EEG, and the Country Offices. This includes putting in place mechanisms to ensure that both the Senior Management and Practice Leaders at the Regional Centers, and COs, know about climate change related activities undertaken by BDP/EEG as well as by other UN bodies and major global and regional actors; and delivering information on national needs for policy support to BDP, EEG, RBEC, RBAS, Heads of the Regional Centers, and the ICCPP Project Manager.
• Keep abreast of developments in global climate change negotiations and timely inform the regional constituents of the ICCPP project, suggesting ways in which regional centers and country offices could support countries in the negotiation process.
• Keep the Regional Centers and Country Offices informed about the developments of international climate change negotiations, in close coordination with other information and knowledge management networks, both within and outside UNDP, the UN system and the donor and development community, providing policy advice as needed.
• Ensure an optimal flow of information about initiatives, projects, international climate negotiations, and related issues between the stakeholders of the project in the Europe and CIS and Arab States regions.
• Promote the use and improvement of knowledge management mechanisms put in place by BDP/EEG to share information about climate change related initiatives.
• Liaise and coordinate with development partners (i.e. government, NGOs) and donors, building strategic alliances.

Planning, implementing and reporting of the project’s activities

• Lead strategic planning for the regional activities outlined in the project document and taking into account the priorities reflected in the regional business plan;
• Supervise the work of the consultants hired for the project.
• Organize joint planning meetings involving the regional bureaus both in headquarters and regional centers, the EEG/BDP and country offices to develop a workplan and a corresponding budget plan with clearly stated indicators of progress for the region.
• Develop quarterly workplans and expenditure plans based on the agreed annual work plan. Monitor project progress against annual and quarterly workplan and budget plans, and report on activities and results achieved.
• Propose value-added project activities based upon internal discussions and identification of in-house best practices and capacities.
• Consolidate and synchronize ICCPP activities with nationally implemented activities.
• Support the ICCPP project manager in the coordination of activities and initiatives.

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
• Promotes 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.

Functional Competencies

• Demonstrated project management skills, development and operational effectiveness.
• Strong strategic and visioning capacity, enabling her/him to understand the needs of developing countries regarding how to mainstream climate change in their development paths, and how UNDP can address these in the most effective and synergistic way.
• Demonstrated solid knowledge and relevant experience in climate change policy.
• Has good oral communication skills and conflict resolution competency to manage inter-group dynamics and mediate conflicting interests of varied actors.
• Good written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of quality project reports.
• Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior and high ranking members of agencies and national institutions, government and non-government.

Leadership and Self-Management

• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
• Good team player, self starter, has ability to work under minimum supervision and maintain good relationships.

Experience and Education

• Masters degree in environment, energy, economics or a closely related field.
• At least 7 years of experience in all areas related to climate change (i.e. environmental/ climate economics, adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer, investments and financing, land use, land-use change and forestry), with a good understanding of the developing country context with respect to climate change.
• Excellent organizational and project implementation skills Minimum of 7 years of experience in Europe and CIS and/or the Arab States region Minimum 3 years of experience in the field of international climate negotiations, particularly from the developing country and region’s perspective.
• Work experience in an international organization.
• Excellent knowledge of English, as well as writing, presentation and communication skills. Fluency in Arabic and other languages (Russian, French) spoken in the regions is an asset
  Submission of Applications
• Qualified candidates may submit their application, including a letter of interest, complete Curriculum Vitae and an updated United Nations Personal History Form (P.11) (available on our website), via email to dgvas@unops.org. Kindly indicate the vacancy number and the post title in the subject line when applying by email.