Partnerships Development Senior Manager (Regional Manager – NDC Partnership – Latin America and the Caribbean)

The position holder will be based either in Washington DC, USA or Latin America and the Caribbean region. Applicants are encouraged to specify their desired duty station in the cover letter.

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.

UNOPS Water and Energy Cluster (WEC) supports the design and management of multi-stakeholder initiatives by providing services in financial and grant management, procurement, human resources, and project management. The cluster has supported projects in the areas of water resource management, climate change adaptation, mitigation and transparency, energy access and distribution, and environmental conservation under the Paris Agreement. The WEC has also supported operations and financial management services, in Vienna, the rest of the ECR region, and beyond. The main partners include UN agencies, bilateral agreements (with the Nordics, Germany, and Italy), the Green Climate Fund, and several NGOs (such as CIFF and CWF).

The NDC Partnership is a global coalition of countries and institutions collaborating to drive transformational climate action through sustainable development. In 2015, the world endorsed the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Nations signal their commitments to the Paris Agreement through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)—each country’s strategy to cut its own greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience against the negative effects of a changing climate. The Partnership advances the goals of the Paris Agreement by bringing together nearly 200 countries and institutions in new ways to accelerate NDC implementation and enhance ambition over time. The Partnership’s work through 120 partners supporting almost 80 countries produces many examples of impact, lessons learned and ideas for the future. The Partnership is governed by a Steering Committee, co-chaired by two country representatives. UNOPS support to the NDC Partnership is provided through the Water and Energy Cluster (WEC).

Scope of Responsibilities:

Reporting to the Team Leader, the incumbent will coordinate the regional activities of the Partnership as well as the application of the country engagement and the knowledge strategies of the Partnership to drive implementation of NDCs in member countries.

A special focus of the role will be placed on establishing and sustaining good working relationships between the governmental focal points of the member countries, implementing partner’s focal points and the Supporting Unit, in order to advance the communication, coordination and implementation under the NDC Partnership.

The work will be conducted in accordance with the NDC Partnership Work Program 2021-2025 and its M&E Framework, Annual Work Plans, Country Engagement Strategy, Gender Strategy and Youth Engagement Plan.

Functional responsibilities

1. Country Support

• Function as the entry point of NDC Partnership SU in countries, liaising with other SU teams or implementing partners as appropriate;
• Inform and reach out to potential member countries and implementing partners about the NDC Partnership value addition, methodology, instrument and membership procedures;
• Support onboarding of new countries as members, according to their needs;
• Evaluate and make recommendations to Support Unit (SU) for the engagement in the NDC Partnership of member countries within the region;
• Identify and lead communication with key government stakeholders from the member countries the NDC Partnership’s country focal points;
• Facilitate the on-the-ground support to member countries throughout the engagement process;
• Participate in key national meetings relevant to the activities of the NDC Partnership and prepare analysis of their results;
• Oversee country engagement teams (outlined in the current Division of Labour of the NDC Partnership), work distribution and monitor deadlines. Advise SU Directors on country progress and team performance. Identify potential challenges and provide recommendations of overcoming them;
• Guide country engagement teams to contribute to the knowledge management system to ensure effective and up-to-date mapping of the NDC implementation at country level (i.e. institutional frameworks, country progress tracking, key stakeholders’ activities.);
• Coordinate the development of and maintain an adequate mapping of the relevant policy and institutional frameworks relevant for NDC implementation in each of the active countries. Develop and maintain a detailed knowledge of the country’s progress of NDC implementation and the various factors (e.g., political, economic, social, etc.) likely to influence future progress, including key stakeholders to the process.;
• Coordinate the development of and maintain an adequate mapping of all support activities, including technical and financial, relevant to the implementation of NDCs, their actors and initiatives in each of the active countries;
• Identify implementing partners with presence and interest in active countries and coordinate closely with them to generate alliances around NDC Partnership activities including, but not restricted to (i) leading country engagement scoping, (ii) mobilizing resources for Partnership Plan implementation, (iii) becoming in-country facilitators, (iv) conduct knowledge and learning activities;
• Support the establishment and implementation of the Partnership’s most recent instruments, i.e. the Partnership Action Fund (PAF), the Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP) and the Economic Advisors on post COVID 19 recovery.
• Work collaboratively with implementing partners, to craft coordinated responses to requests from member countries to assist their NDC implementation, including supporting the facilitation of country-level dialogues and other events or meetings when requested by members; and
• Identify and make recommendations to SU Directors for targeted support in consultations with government counterparts and implementation partners.

2. Regional and Global Engagement

• Develop and maintain an adequate mapping of all regional institutions and support activities relevant for NDC implementation;
• Raise awareness of the NDC Partnership amongst stakeholders in the region and cultivate new relationships with relevant countries and organizations;
• Identify potential alliances with regional institutions for the conduction of joint activities related to country engagement, knowledge and learning and other SU-led tasks;
• Identify opportunities to enhance coordination amongst programs supporting NDC implementation at a regional and national level;
• Represent the NDC Partnership SU in regional and at times global fora, meetings and activities which are relevant to the implementation of NDCs; and
• Identify, in coordination with the focal point for the NDC Partnership in the UNFCCC secretariat, potential collaboration opportunities that could lead synergies with the UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centres’ work.

3. Programme Development

• Provide insights to the SU teams and management regarding emerging trends and needs within NDC implementation in the region;
• Monitor progress of in-country engagements and share emerging lessons with the Knowledge & Learning Team to contribute to the development of associated knowledge products;
• Guide country teams to contribute to NDC Partnership SU reports or events related to individual countries or the region; and
• Reach out with UNFCCC teams, through the UNFCCC Focal Point, to collaborate in national and regional activities such as support requests from countries, sharing lessons and best practices, providing information and other ad-hoc tasks.

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in environmental science, climate change, public policy, international relations or a related field is required.
• A Bachelor´s degree in combination with an additional two years of experience at the professional level may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.

Experience and requirements:

• A minimum of 7 years of experience (or more depending on academic credentials) in international development or climate change/environmental/ natural resource economics, policy, or a related field is required.
• Within these 7 years, at least three (3) years of experience in the target region are required.
• Demonstrated experience with conducting environmental or development cooperation work is required.
• Demonstrated skills in managing and aligning diverse groups of stakeholders, including development agencies, non-state actors / civil society, financial institutions, the private sector, and others, are essential.
• Willingness and availability to travel up to 60% of the time is required.

Language:

• Full working knowledge of English and Spanish is required.
• Working knowledge of relevant regional languages is an advantage.

Contract type: ICA Contract level: ICS-11 – subject to nationality IICA or LICA contract will be issued. Contract duration: Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance

For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link: https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx