UNDP Jobs - 51624- Re-advertisement -Technical Specialist

Re-advertisement -Technical Specialist

Location :

Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

04-Dec-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year with possibility of extension

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

Candidates who previously applied need not re-apply.

The Cambodia Climate Change Alliance (CCCA) is a comprehensive and innovative approach to address climate change in Cambodia. It includes a unified engagement point for development partners and a multi-donor financing facility to provide resources for climate change capacity building and implementation at national and sub-national level. The CCCA is anchored in the government’s National Climate Change Committee (NCCC), which is the mandated government coordinating and policy support entity for all aspects of the climate change response. The CCCA has been active since 2010, with significant results including the development of the Cambodia Climate Change Strategic Plan 2014-2023 (CCCSP) and corresponding strategic plans and actions plans in nine priority ministries and agencies, the successful operation of a grant facility (20 Government and NGO pilot projects supported in all areas of the climate change response), and increased visibility and knowledge of climate change, through knowledge products and advocacy events including two National Fora on Climate Change.

This new phase of the Cambodia Climate Change Alliance programme (2014-2019) builds on these initial achievements and aims to strengthen national systems and capacities to support the implementation and coordination of Cambodia’s climate change response, contributing to a greener, low carbon, climate resilient equitable, sustainable and knowledge-based society (the CCCSP vision).

The CCCA will contribute to the implementation of the CCCSP by focusing on three main drivers of change, which have a catalytic effect for the whole climate change response:

Strengthening the governance of climate change;
Orienting public and private, domestic and external resources in support of the CCCSP vision;
Developing human and technological capital for the climate change response.

The CCCA will remain closely aligned with the national institutions in charge of climate change, and be implemented by the Ministry of Environment, as chair of the National Climate Change Committee.

The CCCA will include a mix of technical and policy advisory support, and financial support, based on lessons learnt from the first phase of implementation. It will engage a broad range of stakeholders in line with their respective roles in the climate change response, and promote innovative partnerships between government, civil society, academia and the private sector.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Technical Specialist will work under the direct supervision of the CCCA Trust Fund Administrator with the overall guidance from the UNDP Deputy Country Director in charge of Programme. He or she will be based in the Climate Change Department of Ministry of Environment and provide guidance and advice to the project management on technical aspects of project implementation, with a main focus on planning, monitoring and evaluation of the climate change response, as well as knowledge management. The Technical Specialist will work closely with the national project manager and provide support in coordination of inputs of various stakeholders including NCCC, line ministries and agencies, sub-national authorities, academia, private sector and civil society. In addition, the Technical Specialist will provide support to design and implement a capacity development programme for counterpart staff in Ministry of Environment and line ministries, in the areas mentioned above.

Summary of key functions:

Effective and efficient advisory support to MOE/CCD and NCCC on planning, monitoring and evaluation of the climate change response, and the related capacity development programme;
Effective and efficient advisory support to MOE/CCD and NCCC on the establishment of a national knowledge management system for climate change, and the related capacity development programme;
Provide specialized policy and technical advice to MOE/CCD, the NCCC and UNDP management.

Effective and efficient advisory support to MOE/CCD and NCCC on planning, monitoring and evaluation of the climate change response, and the related capacity development programme:

Support MOE/CCD and the NCCC in establishing a national monitoring and evaluation framework for climate change, based on the guidance included in the CCCSP, and in consultation with Ministry of Planning. This includes the definition of clear roles and responsibilities for the various stakeholders, at national and sub-national levels;
Support MOE/CCD with the design of a comprehensive capacity development programme in support of this framework, including identification of potential national and international partnerships;
Support MOE/CCD with the coordination of capacity development support to this M&E framework, in order to ensure consistency of approach and avoid duplication of efforts;
Participate in the implementation of the framework through the provision of technical advice on planning tools, M&E indicators and tools, institutional arrangements and other technical advisory support required by MOE/CCD and other stakeholders;
Support MOE/CCD staff in ensuring that the focus of projects funded through CCCA is in line with the CCCSP and the relevant sectoral action plans, and provide technical advice on the M&E arrangements to ensure consistency with the national M&E framework;
Mentor designated MoE/CCD staff and focal points in concerned ministries and institutions to produce analysis of the M&E data as required by policy makers, ensuring a gradual transfer of skills;
Monitor the roll-out of the M&E framework and advise MOE/CCD on any delays, issues faced, and proposed actions to address these;
Contribute to drafting the CCCA annual/quarterly work plans and budgets and quarterly/annual progress reports as they relate to the planning, monitoring and evaluation of the climate change response;
Participate in the quality assurance of documents produced by MoE/CCD on the planning, monitoring and evaluation of the climate change response.

Effective and efficient advisory support to MOE/CCD and NCCC on the establishment of a national knowledge management system for climate change, and the related capacity development programme:

Support MOE/CCD and NCCC in designing a national knowledge management system on climate change, including identification of the various components of the system, stock-taking of available resources, definition of the roles of various stakeholders, mechanisms for quality assurance, knowledge-sharing, establishment of a national database, management of research and development activities, etc.
Advise MOE/CCD on the design of a capacity development programme to support the roll-out of this knowledge management system, including identification of potential national and international partnerships. This will include advisory support for the management of the partnership with the education sector (ministry of education, universities, research and informal education institutions);
Support MOE/CCD with the implementation of this knowledge management system, including consultations and capacity development support to the concerned stakeholders, management of partnerships, knowledge events and consultancy inputs, and mentoring of MOE/CCD staff in charge of the system;
Support MOE/CCD with the prioritization, design, drafting and quality assurance of key knowledge products, based on the needs expressed by climate change practitioners and policy-makers;
Support MOE/CCD with the establishment of a quality assurance mechanism for knowledge products developed by other stakeholders, including awareness and communication products;
Support MOE/CCD with the targeting and design of its grants for innovation and research, in line with national research and technological needs. Assist in the monitoring these research programmes and inclusion of their findings/recommendations in the knowledge management systems and in policy discussions;
Monitor the roll-out of the system and advise MOE/CCD on any delays, issues faced, and proposed actions to address these;
Contribute to drafting the CCCA annual/quarterly work plans and budgets and quarterly/annual progress reports as they relate to the national knowledge management system.

Provide specialized policy and technical advice to MOE/CCD, NCCC and UNDP management:

Based on lessons emerging from the M&E and knowledge management system, advise MoE/CCD and the NCCC on potential policy measures to strengthen the climate change response, both for the public and private sectors;
Provide support with the development of climate change sectoral strategic plans / action plans in remaining ministries, as required;
Support MoE/CCD to identify technical capacity gaps in relation to climate change adaptation/mitigation, and propose measures to address these gaps;
Upon request, provide advisory support to CCCA project management, MoE leadership and the UNDP Country Office on policy or institutional reform issues related to climate change and sustainable development.

Impact of Results:

The position will provide quality technical advisory support to the CCCA National Project Manager to ensure the delivery of specific outputs and outcomes of the CCCA (Phase 2), in accordance with UNDP policies and procedures and National Implementation Modality (NIM) procedures as described in UNDP Programme, Policies and Operations Procedures (POPPs) Guidelines; promote the mobilization of resources and partnership building to support the implementation of these outputs, improved capacity of the national counterparts; and mainstreaming climate change M&E and knowledge management into key sectoral institutions, leading to evidence-based policy making in the context of climate change.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

Promoting Ethics and Integrity / Creating Organizational Precedents;
Building support and political acumen;
Building staff competence, Creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
Building and promoting effective teams;
Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
Leveraging conflict in the interests of UNDP & setting standards;
Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking.

Functional Competencies:

Advocacy / Advancing Policy Oriented Agenda: analysis and creation of messages and strategies:

Creates effective advocacy strategies;
Contributes to the elaboration of advocacy strategies by identifying and prioritizing audiences and communication means;
Performs analysis of political situations and scenarios, and contributes to the formulation of institutional responses;
Uses the opportunity to bring forward and disseminate materials for advocacy work.

Building Strategic Partnerships: Identifying and building partnerships:

Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build strategic alliances relevant to UNDP’s mandate and strategic agenda;
Sensitizes UN Partners, donors and other international organizations to the UNDP’s strategic agenda, identifying areas for joint efforts;
Develops positive ties with civil society to build/strengthen UNDP’s mandate;
Identifies needs and interventions for capacity building of counterparts, clients and potential partners;
Displays initiative, sets challenging outputs for him/herself and willingly accepts new work assignments;
Takes responsibility for achieving agreed outputs within set deadlines and strives until successful outputs are achieved;
Promotes UNDP’s agenda in inter-agency meetings.

Innovation and Marketing new Approaches: Developing new approaches:

Seeks a broad range of perspectives in developing project proposals;
Generates for regional and innovative ideas and effective solutions to problems;
Looks at experience critically, drawing lessons, and building them into the design of new approaches;
Identifies new approaches and promotes their use in other situations;
Documents successes and uses them to project a positive image;
Creates an environment that fosters innovation and innovative thinking;
Makes the case for innovative ideas from the team with own supervisor.

Resource Mobilization: Implementing resource mobilization strategies:

Analyzes information on potential bilateral donors and national counterparts to recommend a strategic approach;
Identifies and compiles lessons learned;
Promotes and encourages country office action with local missions of donor countries as well as appropriate government authorities for increased contribution to UNDP resources, including cost sharing modalities;
Identifies country needs and develops proposals to be presented to donors and governments.

Promoting Organizational learning and Knowledge Sharing: Developing tools and mechanisms:

Makes the case for innovative ideas documenting successes and building them into the design of new approaches;
Identifies new approaches and strategies that promote the use of tools and mechanisms;
Develops and/or participates in the development of tools and mechanisms, including identifying new approaches to promote individual and organizational learning and knowledge sharing using formal and informal methodologies.

Job Knowledge and Technical Expertise: In-depth knowledge of the Subject-matter:

Understands more advanced aspects of primary area of specialization as well as the fundamental concepts of related disciplines;
Serves as internal consultant in the area of expertise and shares knowledge with staff;
Continues to seeks new and improved methods and systems for accomplishing the work of the unit;
Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally;
Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
Demonstrates comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and project management tools and utilizes these regularly in work assignments.

Global Leadership and Advocacy for UNDP’s Goals: Analysis and creation of messages and strategies:

Creates effective global advocacy messages/strategies;
Contributes to the elaboration of a global advocacy strategy by identifying and prioritizing audiences and messages;
Performed analysis of political situations and scenarios, and contributes to the formulation of institutional responses;
Uses the opportunity to bring forward and disseminate materials for global advocacy work and adapts it for use at country level.

Client Orientation: Contributing to positive outcomes for the client:

Anticipates client needs;
Works towards creating an enabling environment for a smooth relationship between the clients and service provider;
Demonstrates understanding of client’s perspective;
Keeps the client informed of problems or delays in the provision of services;
Uses discretion and flexibility in interpreting rules in order to meet client needs and achieve organizational goals more effectively;
Solicits feedback on service provision and quality.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree in Climate Change, Environment, Natural Resources, Economics, Public Administration, Physical Planning, Engineering or related discipline; Relevant PhD is an advantage.

Experience:

At least 7 years of experience supporting climate change response in developing countries;
Proven experience on M&E of climate change adaptation / mitigation, and establishment of knowledge management systems in developing countries, as well as a good understanding of global debates on these issues;
Proven experience in providing capacity development and advisory support to Government institutions in developing countries;
Experience in successful partnership building and resource mobilisation;
Good communication and computer skills, experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, good knowledge and experience in handling of web-based management systems;
Specialized expertise in climate change vulnerability mapping/analysis, and/or climate change awareness / education would be an advantage.

Language:

Fluency in spoken and written English;
Knowledge of Khmer language is a plus.

"Qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply."