Climate Change Senior Officer

at Global Green Growth Institute
Location Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, United Republic of
Date Posted November 24, 2022
Category Management
NGO
Job Type Contract
Currency TZS

Description

Climate Change Senior Officer

The Senior Officer will be embedded within the EAC Secretariat, with a dual reporting line to the Director of Productive Sectors through the Principal Environment and Natural Resources Officer of the EAC Secretariat and the Country Representative GGGI Uganda as the GGGI coordinator of this assignment.

 

PURPOSE

 

The Climate Change Senior Officer is managing a joint effort of the EAC, the NDC Partnership and GGGI to enhance the capacity of the EAC Secretariat, to coordinate and support Partner States in the implementation of regional NDC priorities in a manner consistent with the pillars of integration. The Senior Officer will also need to mobilize climate finance through implementation of the regional NDC Roadmap and Implementation plan,and will work in close collaboration with the NDC Partnership Support Unit.

The Senior Officer will be responsible for the successful quality delivery in line with the agreed outputs (Annex attached).

BACKGROUND TO THE EAC AND THE POSITION

 

The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of six (6) Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. Guided by the EAC Vision 2050, Africa’s Agenda 2063, and the 2030 SDG Agenda, the EAC developed its Sixth Development Strategy for the period 2021/22– 2025/26, whose overall goal is to transform the East African Community into a stable, competitive and sustainable lower-middle income region by 2030.  To achieve this regional development and socioeconomic transformation, the Strategy recognizes that Partner States should target to attain 100 per cent access to health services, access to education and literacy, complete adaptation to climate change and resilience, and progressive and expeditious attainment of industrial solution to EAC peoples’ needs. Priority areas of intervention will be centred on the implementation of COVID 19 recovery plans, climate change management and green growth; Agricultural transformation; Industrial integration; Strengthened governance; among others.

 

The Sixth Development Strategy, and specifically, the increased prioritization of climate change management is concurrent with Partner States’ publication of updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Five Partner States have recently updated their first NDCs – with Rwanda being the first African country to update its NDC. South Sudan also submitted her first interim NDC. With enhanced NDC ambitions, Partner States and the EAC Secretariat need a significant boost in their implementation capacities to meet their commitments.

 

Whereas several programmes and sources have emerged to support partners states including by establishing Embedded Climate Change Experts especially under the NDC Partnership, to coordinate climate action and enhance access to climate finance at the country level, there is little attention to regional integration organisations like the EAC Secretariat. At the Secretariat level, support to countries will be guided by the EAC NDC road map for implementation of NDCs adopted in 2018, to be updated to reflect the new priorities outlined in the updated NDCs. It is therefore very critical to enhance the capacity of EAC to support Partner States and coordinate other regional programmes i.e. review and implement the EAC Climate Change Policy and Strategy, development of EAC Climate Change Bill.

 

As part of its effort to support Partner States to turn their climate change priorities into action, the EAC Secretariat joined the NDC Partnership – a global coalition of countries and institutions working to mobilize support and achieve ambitious climate goals while enhancing sustainable development, in 2018, to explore strategic regional collaboration to support Partners States to coordinate and implement their NDCs. The EAC appreciates the approach of NDC Partnership planning which enhances coordination among members of the partnership, for resource mobilization at country level – since implementation of NDCs happen at countries.  However, it could be more strategic to translate the individual country plans into a Regional NDC Implementation plan as a tool towards operationalizing the EAC Regional NDC Road Map and regional climate finance mobilization and access strategy; and facilitate peer to peer exchange events to track NDC implementation progress.

 

The EAC Secretariat is also collaborating with the UNFCCC Secretariat to develop a regional Climate Finance strategy that is intended to increase access and mobilization of climate finance from all sources, in order to implement EAC’s enhanced NDCs – requiring a five-fold increase in the current flows from international public sources.

 

ENGAGEMENT

 

This position will have to coordinate with three entities including the EAC, NDC Partnership and GGGI;

  • Advise the EAC secretariat on a day-to-day basis on climate change matters, specifically related to coordination of the EAC Partner States' NDCs.
  • Work with NDC partnership team of experts placed in EAC Partner States in coordinating and implementing the roadmap and implementation plan
  • Engage and lean on GGGI experts in HQ and in the region especially in Rwanda and Uganda as well as from the GGGI Regional Office.
  • Lead the engagement with government counterparts, negotiation MOUs and bring in Burundi, Tanzania and South Sudan in the NDC Partnership.
  • Assist EAC and ensure it is registered as a member of GGGI.
  • Engage with key stakeholders, nurture a strong network and maintain active professional relations to capture and integrate their changing needs and manage stakeholder expectations.
  • Advise about possible opportunities, risks and in-depth technical knowledge of green project finance and finance instruments to unlock green investment at the global and national level.
  • Closely collaborate with the team, identify issues, develop solutions and necessary mitigation measurements and/or adjustments to the program
  • Strong relationships with key officials in the governments and other relevant public and private institutions and ensure all stakeholders are and remain satisfied with GGGI’s service delivery, contributing positively to GGGI’s, EAC and the NDC-Partnership’s reputation. Provide high quality climate change/ finance/investment technical advice to EAC and ensuring buy-in from all stakeholders.

 

DELIVERY

 

  • Contribute to activities related to EAC NDC Roadmap 2021-2026 and EAC NDC Implementation Plan 2021-2026
  • Conduct and identify a capacity needs assessment of the EAC Member Countries and capacity building plan covering NDCs implementation and Climate Finance.
  • Coordinate the organization and delivery of capacity building workshops and knowledge sharing and events on NDCs implementation.
  • Identify, assess, and formulate action plans for the EAC/Regional strategies as well as regional NDC related programmes or projects
  • Oversee the planning, identify opportunities for innovation and new cooperation and project opportunities
  • Assist in the finalization of the accreditation processes to both the Adaptation Fund and potentially start for the Green Climate Fund.
  • Ensure accurate validation of risk analysis and M&E to be able to flag and advice upon any necessary deviations from the original workplan
  • Prepare the monthly and quarterly reporting of progress of the EAC Regional NDCs Implementation Plan and the Road Map and ensure accuracy of data
  • Participate in any other relevant activities deemed necessary for the development of GGGI, EAC and NDCs

 

REQUIREMENTS
QUALIFICATIONS

 

  • Master’s degree in relevant field or equivalent experience this could be Climate Change, Environmental Science, Environmental Economics, Climate Finance, and Natural Resource Management.
  • Preferably 7-10 years of related experience in at least one of the EAC countries. Experience in more than one EAC country is a plus.
  • Fluent in English is a must, an additional EAC language is an advantage.

 

Please note that as being able to write in an analytical and structured manner is key to this position. A written test of 2 hours will take place prior to the verbal interviews. On average about 4-5 candidates are selected to the written assignment and only 3 candidates are shortlisted for an interview.

 

FUNCTIONAL

 

  • Technical knowledge of climate change, mitigation, adaptation and/or climate financing
  • Experience with the development and structuring of both project proposals and investment projects, ideally in relation to climate change projects
  • Demonstrated knowledge of NDC framework and policies, modalities and procedures, including reporting requirements and guidelines
  • Demonstrated project and policy experience in various EAC member countries
  • Analytical, problem-solving, and strategic skills
  • Demonstrated ability to build collaborative working relationships with government counterparts
  • Demonstrated capacity to facilitate in-depth, outcome oriented, stakeholder dialogues
  • Knowledge of environmental and social safeguards
  • Commitment to gender equality
  • Previous experience with the management of donor funded activities
  • Strong managerial and leadership skills, notably planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling, problem solving and decision-making
  • Collaboration: Works cooperatively as part of a team; works collaboratively with peers across organizational boundaries based on a genuine interest in and an accurate understanding of others and their individual perspectives and concerns;
  • Organizational Commitment: Is willing to commit to an organization whose mission is to support implementation of NDCs, the Paris Agreement and SDGs and is open to diversity, and to align her/his own behaviour with the organization’s needs and intrinsic values, acting with integrity in ways that promote the organization’s mission, policies and rules.
  • Good oral and written communication skills, report writing, facilitation and negotiations skills; proficiency in Microsoft Office and statistical software.

 

CORPORATE

 

  • Understand and actively supports GGGI’s mission, vision, and values.
  • Promote the optimum use of public resources
  • Promote an organizational culture of trust, transparency, respect, and partnership.
  • Process and share information easily.
  • Manage emotions and stress positively, builds rapport and resolves conflict easily.
  • Promote creativity and innovation among staff.
  • Be able to lead where needed and provide solutions to project-level challenge.

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