UNDP Jobs - 37126- Junior Professional Officer (JPO)

Junior Professional Officer (JPO) - Energy and Climate Change Analyst

Location :

Kampala, UGANDA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

01-Aug-2013

Application Deadline :

17-May-13 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-2

Duration of Initial Contract :

One-year fixed-term appointment, renewable at least once

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

One-year fixed-term appointment, renewable at least once

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The Government of Uganda and UNDP approved the Country Program Action Plan (CPAP: 2010-2014) to guide the implementation of UNDP support to interventions geared towards achieving objectives of the National Development Plan. Several interventions will address the key challenges to growth and poverty reduction, particularly environment/natural resources degradation, the negative impacts of climate change and disaster risks at both national and local levels. Projects have been developed to operationalize the CPAP through capacity building at the policy/institutional level and pilot initiatives to address issues at district and community levels. In all cases, UNDP works with line ministries as implementing partners to achieve project objectives. The UNDP Country Office is seeking to engage a program officer who will be responsible for ensuring continuous provision of technical backstopping, monitoring and reporting on program implementation, undertaking relevant actions to ensure the synchronization of projects activities with other activities in the country office portfolio of energy and climate change. The Programme officer will support energy and climate change components of the following projects:

Enabling environment for sustainable land management (SLM) to overcome land degradation in the cattle corridor of Uganda project. This is a Global Environment Facility funded project with co-financing from Norway through UNDP Dry Lands Development Centre and UNDP core resources.
Territorial Approach to Climate change project (TACC) for Mbale region project funded by the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (DFID), UNDP core resources and the Royal Danish Development Agency (DANIDA).
Improving policies and strategies for sustainable environment, natural resources and climate risk management project funded by UNDP Core resources.
Strengthening sustainable environment and natural resource management, climate change adaptation and mitigation project in Uganda project funded by UNDP Core resources.
Ecosystem Based Adaptation Programme for Mountain Ecosystems project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) through UNEP
Low Emission Capacity Building Project. European Union funded project is implemented by the Climate Change Unit in the Ministry of Water and Environment.
Addressing barriers to the adoption of improved charcoal production technologies and related sustainable land management practices through an integrated approach project. funded by the Global Environment Facility
Strengthening climate information and early warning systems in Eastern and Southern Africa for climate resilient development and adaptation to climate change Uganda project with financing from the GEF Least Developed Countries Climate Fund (LDCF)
The Joint UNDP-UNCDF CleanStart initiative aimed at supporting low income households in Uganda to access clean energy through microfinance
UNDP-South-South Energy Initiative with the aim to support Southern oil and gas producing countries to manage their hydrocarbon resources and achieve equitable and sustainable development
UN-Sustainable Energy for All Initiative Country Support Project being developed in partnership with EU and Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.

For more details please visit the JPOSC web-site: www.jposc.org

Duties and Responsibilities

Support to program implementation and Management (50%)
Support to Resource mobilization (30%)
Facilitate knowledge building and sharing as required by UNDP (20%)

Under the overall guidance of senior management and direct supervision of the Team Leader Energy and Environment Unit, the Junior Program Officer will oversee the implementation of climate change and Energy related projects and undertake the following tasks:

Define solutions that ultimately increase UNDP’s capacity to manage climate change projects and projects targeting increased access to energy in collaboration with other agencies and national partners for the period 2013-2015
Liaise with relevant stakeholders to ensure smooth integration of climate change and energy access related initiatives into UNDP operations
Participate in relevant meetings on climate change and energy access to guide decision making by UNDP CO.
Facilitate linkages between climate change mainstreaming and poverty -environment initiative activities in Uganda and similar activities in other countries to identify opportunities for sharing lessons learned between countries and resource mobilization.
Backstop formulation, research and fundraising initiatives for climate change and access to energy related projects, and ensure that issues of climate risk are taken into account, overlaps are avoided and synergies are fostered between projects , as appropriate
Disseminate information / ensure regular communication on UNDP Climate change and energy access related initiatives to stakeholders at national and regional level as appropriate
Provide technical support to UNDP and collaborating agencies on issues of climate change adaptation and mitigation and energy access.
Support UNDP to accomplish its role in the UN Joint programming on Climate change and DRR as contribution to the country UNDAF.

Competencies

Core competences

Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity
Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
Self-development, initiative-taking
Acting as a team player and facilitating team work
Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
Creating synergies through self-control
Managing conflict
Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member.
Informed and transparent decision making

Functional competences

Identifies and communicates relevant information for a variety of audiences for advocating UNDP’s mandate
Assesses project performance to identify success factors and incorporates best practices into project work
Monitors specific stages of projects/programme implementation
Maintains an established network of contacts for general information sharing and to remain up-to-date on partnership related issues
Generates new ideas and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things
Analyzes information/databases on potential and actual donors
Generates new ideas and approaches, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things
Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of a professional discipline or technical specialty relating to the position
Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning
Identifies and communicates relevant information for advocacy for UNDP’s goals for a variety of audiences
Researches potential solutions to internal and external client needs and reports back in a timely, succinct and appropriate fashion
Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines

Required Skills and Experience

Education requirements:

Master’s degree or equivalent in environment /natural resources management with research capacity

Work experience:

Minimum 2 years of professional/technical working experience in climate, energy and development related programs /projects especially regarding environment/natural resources management, energy and climate change adaptation/mitigation, working with central/local govts , civil society organizations and development partners
Demonstrated experience with programming and project design, as well as capacity development skills

Language requirements:

Fluency in English and Danish with excellent writing and spoken skills. Knowledge of other official UN languages would be considered as an asset

Nationality:

This position is open exclusively to Danish and other European Union nationals, as well as permanent residents of Denmark

FC: 18000