Background

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

  1. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
  2. A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the positio

Office/Unit/Project Description:

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.

Energy is one of UNDP’s six signature solutions – alongside poverty and inequality, governance, resilience, environment, and gender equality - to support countries towards three directions of change: structural transformation, leaving no one behind and resilience.

As per UNDP’s new Strategic Plan 2022-2025, the first objective of UNDP is increasing energy access for those furthest behind. By speeding up investment in distributed renewable energy solutions, especially for those hardest to reach and in crisis contexts, it aims to increase access to clean and affordable energy for 500 million people.

Second, UNDP will work to accelerate the transition to renewable energy through systems changes that support inclusive, green economies, particularly in countries with low levels of renewable energy generation or poor energy-efficiency improvement rates. This work will capitalize on technological gains, clean energy innovations and new business models in the energy sector.

The central purpose of the Rome Centre is to ensure the effective implementation and further development of the strategic partnership between the Italian Ministry of Ecological Transition (MITE) and UNDP.

The initial phase of the activities will run from 2022 to 2025 gearing up – among other initiatives – to the Italian Presidency of the G7 in 2024. The goals of the partnership are linked to 2030 as a crucial year for global climate and sustainability goals. The partnership – in this initial phase will focus on the critical policy areas of climate action, youth engagement and energy transition. These objectives will be advance through the rapid, effective and sustainable implementation of two main programmes.

  • The Youth for Climate Programme
  • The Italy-UNDP Energy Partnership

Furthermore, to guarantee the effective implementation of The Youth for Climate Programme and The Italy-UNDP Energy Partnership, and indeed to ensure the strategic and long term impact of both these programmes and the broader partnership, the Centre will be strengthened to support the development of broader strategic partnerships.

Delivering on the Italy-UNDP Partnership, the Centre will provide support to the international cooperation efforts (strategic objectives) of Italy and 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.

The Policy Specialist will report to the Coordinator of the Rome Centre for climate action and energy transitionS/he will work collaboratively with a number of key staff across Bureaus and Units.

Institutional Arrangement:

  • The Policy Specialist will be provided office space at the UNDP Rome Centre in Rome, Italy.
  • The Policy Specialist will report to, and be directly supervised by the Coordinator of the Rome centre for climate action and energy transition.
  • The Policy Specialist will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment.
  • Given the global scope of the work to be undertaken during this assignment, the Policy Specialist is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability taking into consideration different time zones.
  • Given the scope of the work the Policy Specialist is expected to travel frequently to HQ and in the countries that will be interested by the activities of the Italy-UNDP Partnership.

 

 

Duties and Responsibilities

The Rome Centre for Climate Action and Energy Transition requires the support of the Policy Specialist in the field of climate change and sustainable energy to deliver on the activities described below. The scope of work over the course of the period will vary depending on the specific assignment and region. 

A. Operationalization of the Italy-UNDP Energy Partnership:

  • Coordinate the development and operationalization of the Italy-UNDP Energy Partnership, by contributing to and organizing management meetings, supervising Rome centre for climate action and energy transition team members, and support the Coordinator of the Rome centre for climate action and energy transition with the management of the Work Plan and annual budget for the Rome centre for climate action and energy transition;
  • Provide strategic inputs in the development of the Rome centre for climate action and energy transition, in line with UNDP’s new Strategic Offer, and working closely with relevant BPPS and regional teams;
  • Provide advice to technical and policy teams on the activities, outreach and implementation of the Rome centre for climate action and energy transition;
  • Support the organization and reporting for, as appropriate, regular meetings with donors, partners, and other key stakeholders;
  • Facilitate collaboration and support the coordination within the broader BPPS and Global Policy Network and Regional Bureaux to ensure programmatic integration and delivery of integrated results on energy for sustainable development;
  • Overseeing the operational management of the Rome centre for climate action and energy transition, in collaboration with operational support teams, including procurement and a roster of experts (consultants);
  • Support the engagement with funding partners to contribute to the achievement of results associated with UNDP’s Energy Promise;
  • Maintaining strong relationships with existing partners and provide support to the engagement with new partners.
  • Prepare and deliver regular presentations on the Rome centre for climate action and energy transition (key activities and progress) to senior management, technical teams, and external audiences (e.g., public webinars, engagements with countries, and partner events, etc.)

B. Technical Services to Country Offices and Member Countries:

Oversee the coordination of the Services to be deployed by the Rome centre for climate action and energy transition;

  • Support the assessment, management and monitoring of country requests, including providing technical inputs and contribute to the Task Teams to be established in response to the requests;
  • Coordinate as necessary with relevant UNDP regional offices;
  • Support the internal coordination within UNDP;
  • Contribute, and coordinate as requested, substantive inputs for energy programming outputs (e.g. work-plans, project documents, inception missions, workshops, technical working papers, methodologies);
  • Provides substantive inputs for HQ policy briefs/position papers prepared in collaboration with other practices that address links between energy and development concerns;
  • Prepare and provide technical inputs to strategic documents, briefing notes and speeches;
  • Support the quality assurance of the Rome centre for climate action and energy transition services;
  • Support the coordination of UNDP’s work to assist countries, regional bureaus, and regional hubs in designing energy policies and projects to close the energy access gap and foster low carbon growth in the context of their sustainable development efforts.

Competencies

Core

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 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning

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:

Thematic Area

Name

Definition

Business Management

Partnerships Management

Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies

Business Management

Portfolio Management

Ability to select, prioritize, and control the organization’s 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 Management

Operations Management

Ability to effectively plan, organize, and oversee the Organization’s business processes in order to convert its assets into the best results in the most efficient manner.

Knowledge of relevant concepts and mechanisms

2030 Agenda: Planet

Nature, Climate and Energy

Climate Change Adaptation: Embedding adaptation into development policy/planning/decision making

Partnership management

 

Emerging partnerships

 

Ability to engage with emerging partners, develop and manage a strategy and develop approaches to developing and managing these new strategic partnerships

Engagement & Effectiveness

Effectiveness Development

Development Partnership Architecture

Required Skills and Experience

Minimum Qualifications of the Successful IPSA:

Min. Academic Education

  • Master’s degree (or equivalent) in international relations, economics, business administration, social sciences, or related disciplines;
  • Bachelor’s Degree in international relations, economics, business administration, social sciences, or related discipline.

Min. years of relevant Work experience

  • Master’s degree with 5 years, or a Bachelor’s degree with 7 years, of relevant professional work experience in the fields of policy and project management  and proven professional and academic experiences  in the fields of climate change and sustainable energy.

Required skills and competencies

  • Demonstrated presentation, research and writing skills
  • Experience in coordinating multiple workstreams and activities (e.g., program work plans, stakeholder engagements, coordination of partners etc.)
  • Experience with project management cycle
  • Experience working with developing country contexts;
  • Experience with technical review of sustainable energy and/or climate change projects.

Desired additional skills and competencies

  • Experience in providing operational and project/programme management support for projects/programmes related to sustainable energy and climate change;
  • Experience in providing policy inputs and analysis in the field of climate change and sustainable energy and overall, in the priority areas of the SDG 7 and 13
  • Experience in the field of public-private partnership and in managing relations with governments, international institutions and donors (working experience with actors such as IRENA, Sustainable Energy for All and European Commission will be an asset)
  • Experience at a professional level in a large international or governmental organization, experience working with multilateral organizations;
  • Experience and previous attendance to climate change and sustainable energy international summits will be an asset (Conference of the Parties on Climate Changes COP UNFCCC etc)
  •  Experience in coordinating multiple stakeholders working at country level (Ex. Country offices, delegations or representative offices in Africa will be an asset)
  • Experience in managing relations with African stakeholders will be an asset

Required Language(s) (at working level)

  • Excellent command of written and spoken English, French
  • Working knowledge of Italian is desirable.