Climate Change Specialist

Climate Change programmes contribute to enhancing/building resilience of the communities through adaptation and mitigation to CC at local level and simultaneously mainstreaming these two aspects into national and sectoral policies. 

The main focus during the last years has been on building the capacities at different levels including communities, technical agencies and governments.

In response to national decision processes and the prioritization of interventions by the countries, the UN is implementing activities mainly in the areas of: renewable energies, water management, coastal protection, food security, health, agriculture, forestry, climate information systems and tourism. The total budget for the adaptation portfolio in the MCO is around 500MUSD. 

The multi sector nature of Climate Change impacts requires developing interventions in an integrated fashion. In this sense, UNDP’s programmes on Climate Change have brought together a wide range of government agencies and partners to work in coordination, demonstrating effectiveness of a comprehensive response by all sectors of the economy to CC.  

In this general context, the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) project is the largest project in the MCO, with a total budget over $ 20 million USD coming from SCCF through GEF and Aus AID. This project is the first of its kind in the region and it is building the fundamental institutional and technical structures to implement adaptation and mitigation strategies and up-scale successful options.

• Specific implementation support for the Pacific adaptation to Climate Change project, PACC+ component;
• Implementation oversight support, including overseeing UNDP’s knowledge and capacity development services for the overall Environment and Energy portfolio;
• Policy advise on climate change.

Direct implementation support for the PACC project (60%): 

• Provide overall operational and technical support for the delivery of PACC and PACC+ working in close collaboration with the Regional Project management unit at SPREP;  
• Provide support to the timely and quality delivery of quarterly reports from the 4 countries with specific allocation in PACC+;  
• Support the monitoring and evaluation of the project;  
• Support the identification of up-scaling opportunities and strategies in all PACC countries based on the results and recommendations of the Mid Term Evaluation;  
• Support knowledge management activities;  
• Ensure and strengthen the linkages between PACC and PACC+ components further than the implementation of adaptation options on the ground;  
• Enhance linkages in policy mainstreaming and knowledge management

• Support strategic planning, coordination and implementation of all Samoa MCO supported climate change adaptation projects; 
• Support the RR through provision of policy and technical notes on CC and CC negotiations issues and state of the art innovations in the area of adaptation;
• Oversee implementation progress on all UNDP supported projects and liaise with Implementing Partners; 
• Liaise with other teams in the office including Programmes and Operations as well as coordinate with UNDP Implementing Partners , and multilateral and bilateral donors and civil society to support successful implementation of projects;
• Contribute to identifying new strategic programming opportunities and partnerships in the area of low emission climate resilient development (LECRD);
• Participate in cross-substantive area technical dialogue, common strategic visioning, mainstreaming, programming and other collaboration within the regional team;
• Contribute to identifying strategic policy development support and guidance;
• Support the development of strategic UNDP policy position papers and internal briefing notes.

Effective Management/Delivery of CC Portfolio:

• Support the achievement of timely and effective management of projects’ delivery focusing on achievement of programme results through:
• Monitor current year and cumulative expenditure status and oversee achievement of key financial milestones such as budget revisions, financial closure and the like;
• Coordinate with Implementing Partners to ensure timely and quality submission of work plans, financial and substantive reports on annual and quarterly basis;
• Facilitate information gathering and preparation of annual project implementation reviews and external evaluations;
• Oversee the identification of any exceptions or irregularities and act to rectify these immediately;
• Identify any recurrent problems or trends and identify and suggest remedies and solutions such as training, guidelines, etc;
• Provide management with advice relating to strategic direction of project implementation;
• Provide day to day oversight of the Energy and Environment programme portfolio. 

• Assisting with the provision of timely quality information and technical advice on policies of SOFs (mainly GEF and AF) and activities to national partners to enable the preparation of projects;
• Support the design, preparation, submission and approval of concept ideas/project proposals on behalf of the Government of Samoa through UNDP to vertical and bilateral;
• Liaise with potential agencies and institutions that UNDP should partner with in the context of delivering integrated results at the country level.

• Assist with inception, contracting and start-up of programmes/projects;
• Supporting programme/project implementation partners in implementation, monitoring, evaluation, troubleshooting and adaptive management;
• Liaise with Implementing Partners to internalize lessons from evaluations in E&E projects and programmes in countries covered by the Samoa MCO;
• Participate in country level and as required regional retreats, focal area retreats, regional strategic planning, pipeline management exercises, etc;
• Promote Gender equity/empowerment in adaptation and LECRD related programming opportunities.

• Evaluate, capture, codify, synthesize lessons and stimulate the uptake of best practices and knowledge emerging from the E&E portfolio;
• Apply cutting edge thinking, methodologies and lessons learnt from across the world to programmes and projects being implemented in Samoa and other countries;
• Respond to queries on programme/project progress, impacts and lessons;
• Develop and carrying out a personal learning plan (5%).

• Support governments in their preparations for and substantive engagement with the UNFCCC negotiations across the key negotiation themes including climate finance;
• Support the improved capacity of governments & other stakeholders to integrate climate change concerns into development planning and policy processes at the national, sub-national and/or sectoral levels and implement these policies;
• Enhance climate change mainstreaming in UN/DP portfolio & programming;
• UNDP’s knowledge management and communication of impact results in the area of climate change policy enhanced.

• Ability to efficiently cover the implementation of GEF and AF projects;
• Ability to advise on the development and implementation of climate change adaptation projects;
• Demonstrated understanding of the implications of climate change on key sectors and ability to provide guidance on the integration of climate risk management and, development of long term and medium term responses to climate change;
• Ability to work with multiple stakeholders across a wide range of disciplines.

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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 favouritism.

Functional Competencies: 

Knowledge Management and Learning 

• Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;  
• In-depth practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues;  
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;  
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UNDP.  

Development and Operational Effectiveness 

• Ability to lead strategic planning, change processes, results-based management and reporting;  
• Ability to lead formulation, oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;  
• Ability to apply development theory to the specific country context to identify creative, practical approaches to overcome challenging situations.  

Management and Leadership 

• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;  
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;  
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;  
• Effective leadership, mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills;  
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;  
• Remains calm, in control and good humoured even under pressure;  
• Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.

• Masters degree in Environmental Sciences, Development Economics, Energy, Public Finance, Environmental Law or other closely-related field.

• At least 5 years of relevant experience preferably in the area of climate change and natural resources management, vulnerability mapping, governance, community based development programmes, or closely related fields:
• Familiarity with GEF and UNDP project implementation modalities, regulations and rules; 
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• Commitment to team work and to working across disciplines;
• Skills in facilitation and coordination, entrepreneurial spirit and demonstrated ability to work in an independent manner;
• Strong analytical, writing, communication and advocacy skills;
• IT literacy, familiarity with e-presentation techniques and ability to operate with on-line web-based applications;
• Excellent drafting ability and presentation  and communication skills, both oral and written; ability to explain complex issues to UNDP staff and external partners;
• Experience in the policy development processes associated with climate change;
• Work experience in an international organization is an advantage, as is knowledge of UNDP policies and procedures;
• Previous experience with GEF mechanisms will be an asset.

Language  Requirements:

• Excellent knowledge of the English language, with exceptional writing, presentation and communication skills;
• Fluency in French or Spanish including excellent writing skills is an asset;
• Proficiency in other UN languages is an asset.