Duties and Responsibilities
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) leads the United for Efficiency (U4E) initiative, which was launched in 2014 to help developing and emerging markets quickly and comprehensively transition to energy-efficient lighting, room air conditioners, household refrigerators, electric motors and transformers. A well-designed set of policies can help transform these markets by enabling them to leapfrog past outdated technologies to superior, cost-effective alternatives. The initiative is funded by various multilateral funds, overseas development aid programmes and the philanthropic community with in-kind support from partners, including industry, international organizations and civil society. In national and regional projects around the world, U4E promotes an Integrated Policy Approach that includes minimum energy performance standards (MEPS); product labelling and communications; financial mechanisms; market monitoring, verification of product performance and enforcement of regulations (MVE); and environmentally sound management (ESM) and safe handling of products. Neighboring countries are encouraged to align policies and collaborate whenever practicable. When working together, countries can lower administrative and compliance costs by minimizing duplicative testing, coordinating inspection of products as they cross borders, requiring the same information on product labels, and so on. U4E has a diverse and growing portfolio of activities around the world. U4E (United for Efficiency) has a diverse and growing portfolio of global activities in energy efficiency and sustainable cooling. U4E seeks an Energy Efficiency Specialist to support the coordination and implementation of projects spanning Southeast Asia, emerging regions, and global initiatives with a focus on sustainable cooling, energy efficiency, and emerging areas such as sustainable data centres while supporting projects funded by the Clean Cooling Collaborative (CCC), Global Environment Facility (GEF), and other donors. Furthermore, the consultant will be responsible for the following specific tasks: • Support the Project Manager in planning, implementing, and completing ongoing, new and potential U4E projects, including: o The U4E activities in Southeast Asia particularly regional activities and country focus - Malaysia and Singapore. o The development of MEPS for Commercial Refrigeration Equipment (CRE) in Malaysia. o The upcoming project in Advancing ASEAN Cooling Strategy with various international partners and organizations. o Preparation and submission of the Small-Scale Funding Agreement (SSFA) between UNEP/U4E and various partners including drafting scope, deliverables, and timelines. o Preparation and submission of donor agreements with project donors / funders, to formalize funding for U4E cooling activities and related deliverables. o Contribute to U4E’s emerging focus on sustainable data centres by supporting project planning, technical assessments, and donor proposal development. o Liaise with governments, technical experts, and funding partners to advance policy, investment, and capacity-building initiatives including the development of the funding proposal on sustainable and energy-efficient data centres, and the GEF-funded cooling proposal development for ASEAN and other emerging regions. o Support regional coordination for the implementation of the upcoming project - ASEAN Cooling Strategy (Task Force establishment, refrigerator MEPS harmonization, and HEPS promotion for RACs). o Support in responding various requests from other regions such as Product Registration Systems (PRS) and also potential UNEP’s cross division project serving as the liaison between U4E, UNEP regional offices, and national counterparts. o Ensure effective coordination, timely delivery of outputs, and consistent alignment with U4E’s global objectives and donor expectations. • Project execution and partnerships support including gathering information, organizing calls, securing commitments, developing content, reviewing draft materials, reporting progress, preparing and maintaining workplans, organizing events, reporting results and similar for market transformation projects at national and regional levels on energy-efficient appliances and equipment. • Act as the primary liaison between U4E and other stakeholders such as national ministries, government agencies, regional bodies, private sectors entities, NGOs and other relevant stakeholders. • Facilitating consultations and discussions with multi-stakeholders, supporting the organization of regional workshops, meetings and capacity-building sessions, and providing technical assistance in reviewing and implementing MEPS and labeling policies in the region. • Strengthen existing partnerships and identify new collaboration opportunities to enhance the impact of U4E’s sustainable cooling and energy efficiency initiatives worldwide. • Support the preparation and consolidation of reports for internal and external audiences, including reporting in IPMR and per donor requirements and UNEP management information requests. • Write and advise on request for funding proposals, leading the drafting and completing submission and negotiation with donors in consultation with target governments and potential project partner organizations based on the needs identified in target regions. • Represent the project teams at relevant workshops and consultations. • Develop content and assist in effective outreach of project outputs, through close coordination with design and communications team. • Coordinate with the communications team in developing news stories and social media posts for the ongoing/upcoming project events like workshops, webinar, etc. • Capturing progress and key findings for use in reporting, outreach and promotion of U4E activities. • Support other UN agencies on communication deliverables and contribute to broader UN system messaging on energy efficiency and climate action based on U4E projects • Coordinate with UNEP divisions to ensure harmonized reporting and consistency of project data. • Serve as the U4E SharePoint Focal Point, managing the team’s SharePoint site with support from IT, including user access, permissions, capacity oversight, organization and clean-up of files, and ensuring all team members have the appropriate access to effectively use the platform. • Conducting outreach to current and potential project partners and stakeholders, fostering and enhancing partnerships. • Tracking timely submission of deliverables and financial information and compiling and submitting information for reporting. • Planning and hosting meetings, events and calls internally and externally - sending meeting invitation, reserving meeting rooms, preparing agendas and materials, taking meeting notes on key findings, distributed meeting notes to the participants post meeting and taking action on related tasks; • Maintain accurate documentation and ensure that knowledge products, meeting notes, and records of key decisions are well organized for reference and future use; and • Other tasks as assigned.
Qualifications/special skills
• A bachelor’s degree in policy, business, accounting or international economics related with a minimum of seven years of professional experience in stakeholder management, regulatory compliance and project management particularly in Southeast Asia region • Two or more years’ of experience in energy efficiency particularly energy policy and international development programmes; • Two or more years’ experience in coordinating projects on energy-efficient lighting, appliances, and/or equipment and, developing funding proposals; • Experience in coordinating regional harmonization efforts/strategies in developing countries involving a large range of stakeholders; • Experience in developing and building coalitions to support existing activities and proposals for new activities; • Basic familiarity with appliance technologies and opportunities for improving performance and excellent written and oral communications skills on energy or environmental related topic; • Practical experience within a UN agency is an advantage; • Excellent record in collaborating with a team, and ability to adapt to meeting varying needs as a project evolve; • Experience in developing and building coalitions to support existing activities and proposals for new activities;
