Background

The Technical Advisor for the Poverty Environment Initiative and to the UNDP Timor-Leste Country Office will be working under the general guidance of the Senior Assistant Country Director of the Poverty Reduction and Environment Unit and of the PEI team in Bangkok. The position will be divided into components of Advisory role to Senior Management and Programme and Project staff in the UNDP country office and will also be developing project proposals working directly with national counterparts. This position will be supported by an international UNV to be supervised by the Technical Advisor.

Duties and Responsibilities

Development of a Project Document for the Poverty Environment Initiative in Timor-Leste, which will include a component on Environmental Public Awareness with UNV and Government of Timor-Leste:

• Establish credible and tangible linkages between poverty and environment (i.e., how environment impacts on health, livelihoods and vulnerability of the poor) in Timor-Leste;
• Establish the economic case for investing in environment, based on assessment of the contribution made by natural resources (in relevant sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry, water and tourism) towards pro poor economic growth;
• Raise the level of awareness on the linkages between environment and poverty amongst legislators, policy makers, development partners, civil society groups and private sector;
• Assess the commitment of the Government to address poverty environment issues in a serious and substantive manner;
• Understand (through a consultative process) the expected outcomes from addressing poverty environment issues and the corresponding limitations to achieving these outcomes;
• Map out support by development partners that contribute towards achieving these pro poor environmental outcomes;
• Formulate a Joint Programme Document for a potential PEI programme aimed at achieving the pro poor environmental outcomes;
• Develop a Public Awareness component to the PEI programme that will reinforce the activities indicated in the PEI programme, needs identified by the national counterparts, build-up on ongoing activities and identify pilot projects, together with UN Volunteers and other local partners;
• Coordinate and supervise the pilot demonstration projects on public awareness;
• Development of other related project proposals to further enhance the work of the Poverty Environment Initiative in Timor Leste.

Development of a Climate Change Mitigation project on the promotion of sustainable energy production from biomass to enhance access to energy services for the poor, including the development of a project document for GEF funding:

• Together with identified partners and based on concept note and previous projects implemented by UNDP and other entities, support the PRE Unit in coordinating the preparatory activities necessary for the formulation of a sustainable bioenergy project for financing from the Global Environment facility (GEF) and other sources;
• Plan and coordinate the work of all international and national consultants and facilitate of stakeholder consultation processes to generate inputs and comments form relevant stakeholders for the draft project document;
• Provide technical support to project consultants and follow up on key action points;
• Identify the implementing agency of the UNDP/GEF project, including it’s strengths, weaknesses and, in particular, its capacity needs; 
• Facilitate all activities for the preparation of project documents necessary for financing, including the UNDP/GEF project document and GEF CEO Endorsement Document.

Technical Advisory role for UNDP Timor-Leste Country Office Senior Management on key issues concerning the Environment in Timor-Leste:

• Assess emerging policies and development issues in Timor-Leste, to highlight potential environmental concerns or considerations for inclusion in UNDP Senior Management’s policy dialogues with GoTL;
• Keep abreast of trends and developments in the global environment sector, to identify and analyse issues, implications or opportunities of relevance for Timor-Leste, and provide appropriate policy advice to GoTL via UNDP Senior Management;
• Representing and representation of UNDP in high-level discussions with the GoTL on programmatic and thematic issues related to poverty and environment.

Technical Advisory role for ongoing projects when necessary:

• Support the project teams working under the Rio Conventions with technical expertise and facilitate access to resources that can support the activities of the projects;
• Together with the Programme Officers of the PRE Unit, support the National Directorate for International Environmental Affairs to consolidate the results of the on-going activities and identify synergies with national development policies, programmes and projects.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism  

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge and Learning Management:

• Shares knowledge and experience from within and outside the UN Country Team;
• Encourages UN staff to share knowledge;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills

Coordination Effectiveness:

• Ability to lead the design and implementation of UN programme activities, strengthening of strategic partnerships for UNDAF implementation;
• Ability to build and sustain effective partnerships with UN Agencies and main constituents, advocate effectively, communicate sensitively across different constituencies; 

Management and Leadership:

• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Leads teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills;
• Schedules activities to ensure optimum use of time and resources; monitors performance against development and other objectives and corrects deviations from the course;
• By ensuring that the project produces the results to the required standards of quality and within the specified constraints of time and cost, has the capacity to gather comprehensive information on complex problems or situations; evaluates information accurately and identifies key issues required to resolve problems;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates excellent oral and written communication skills;
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
• Manages conflict and stress, remaining composed and working as a mediator in crisis or antagonistic situations;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Advanced university degree in environment, natural resource management or related disciplines, and relevant experience working in developing countries on poverty reduction and environment issues;

Experience

• At least 7 years of professional experience in project development and management;
• International experience in advisory and/or representation roles;
• Proven experience working on poverty-environment linkages;
• Good knowledge of the Rio Conventions and on promoting access to energy in the context of poverty alleviation and climate change mitigation;
• Good knowledge of the GEF funding mechanisms and procedures;
• Experience in resource mobilisation activities with donors;
• Strong communication and inter-personal skills in a multi-cultural environment;
• Strong analytical and reporting skills;
• Previous experience working in Timor-Leste will be an asset.