Duties and Responsibilities
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the international environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. The NDC Act & Invest Initiative is a global programme led by UNEP and currently funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and the NDC Partnership’s Partnership Action Fund (PAF) multi-donor trust fund. It is designed to help countries raise their climate ambition and translate their new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted in 2025 into actionable, investable plans. Building on lessons learned from the NDC Action project implementation and previous NDC cycles, the initiative addresses critical gaps in policy alignment, financing, and implementation. It brings together governments, development partners, and the private sector to develop coherent, science-based, and finance-ready NDC frameworks. Structured around three interconnected workstreams, fostering G20+ ambition and action, piloting policy and planning alignment, and providing deep-dive support to enhance NDC investability, the programme aims to bridge the gap between climate commitments and tangible implementation. By aligning national strategies, strengthening enabling environments, and working collaboratively with key partners, including the NDC Partnership, GIZ, UNDP’s Climate Promise, UNFCCC, multilateral development banks (MDBs), development finance institutions (DFIs), and private sector actors. NDC Act & Invest seeks to make the next generation of NDCs both more ambitious and more achievable, accelerating progress toward the 1.5°C goal and enhancing global resilience. The NDC Act & Invest team, based within the Mitigation Branch in Paris, is responsible for the global management and overall coordination of the initiative across partner countries, in line with UNEP’s delivery model. The team also acts as the main liaison between UNEP and the NDC Partnership, coordinating UNEP’s responses to country support requests shared through the Partnership, identifying and applying for additional funding where appropriate, and consolidating implementation and progress reporting. In addition, the team maintains close coordination with related projects under the IKI Programme to ensure coherence and synergies across projects. Overall purpose: Working under the guidance of the project’s Global Coordinator and in close engagement with government focal points, NDC Partnership teams, and national and international implementing partners, the Advisor will: o Lead the strategic and technical direction of the project’s regional portfolio in Africa and the Middle East. o Promote coherence, quality assurance, and results orientation across country workplans, deliverables, and advisory products. o Provide senior technical input, review, validation, and strategic recommendations to strengthen countries’ readiness and delivery of NDC investment and implementation priorities. o Serve as UNEP’s senior technical focal point for Africa and the Middle East within the NDC Act and Invest project, facilitating alignment among partners and counterparts, and recommending course-corrections as needed to keep interventions responsive to national priorities and emerging opportunities. Geographic and programmatic coverage: The Advisor will support a regional portfolio. The portfolio is expected to include priority engagement countries (including Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Senegal) and targeted advisory support to additional countries (including Mali, Niger, Mauritania, The Gambia, Seychelles, Namibia, and Liberia). The country portfolio may evolve over time based on: o Country demand and requests channeled through the NDC Partnership and other partners. o Donor priorities and available funding windows by 2030. o UNEP strategic positioning and regional synergies. Scope of work and responsibilities: A. Technical leadership for UNEP’s regional NDC support portfolio: The Advisor will support UNEP’s regional NDC technical assistance portfolio under NDC Act & Invest and related UNEP collaboration mechanisms (including UNEP/UNEP-CCC partnership modalities where applicable), in coordination with the NDC Partnership and other national, financial and technical implementing partners. Focus areas include: o Strengthening NDC ambition (including NDC 3.0 and subsequent iterations). Enhancing policy coherence and integration across planning instruments. Improving private investment readiness and project pipeline quality. Supporting implementation capacity at national and sub-national levels. B. NDC Act & Invest – IKI earmarked support: Under NDC Act & Invest, IKI earmarked funding has been mobilized for country requests through the NDC Partnership. Current engagement streams include: Kenya: 1) Provide strategic and technical advisory support to the design and delivery of support on sub-national climate investment frameworks (county-level frameworks) to attract and structure private sector participation. 2) Strengthen coordination between national and sub-national institutions, support identification and prioritization of climate investment opportunities, recommend approaches to de-risk private capital, and guide development of financing models aligned with Kenya’s NDC and relevant legal/policy frameworks (Climate Change Act). Senegal: 1)Provide senior technical and advisory support for technical assistance on capacity building for formulation and preparation of project proposals, addressing key capacity gaps that constrain access to climate finance. 2) Support national and sub-national stakeholders to identify, structure, and manage climate-resilient investments aligned with Senegal’s NDC3.0 and national development strategies, with emphasis on generating high-quality, finance-ready proposals. Tanzania: 1) Lead senior technical advisory support and quality assurance for support on mainstreaming the NDC and LT-LEDS in national planning processes, including integration into national planning frameworks and related investment planning processes. Morocco: 1) Lead UNEP’s strategic and technical advisory support to Morocco’s request on NDC 3.0 implementation and investment plan development, including: guiding the development of a prioritized, finance-ready pipeline of NDC projects across priority sectors (energy, industry, agriculture, water, waste, etc.), quality assurance of investment/implementation planning outputs; preparation/review of project fact sheets and concept notes to strengthen investment readiness and engagement with financiers. C. Direct engagement under NDC Act & Invest Workstreams 2 and 3 : - Workstream 2 on Policy and planning alignment: collaborate with the Government of Morocco (and other countries as relevant) to strengthen integration and coherence across planning instruments, including NDC, LT-LEDS, NAP, sectoral plans, and national development/planning frameworks. - Workstream 3 on NDC investability support: Support Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria (and other countries in Africa and Middle East as relevant) to define and operationalize investability support aligned with national priorities and investment frameworks. Facilitate coordination with the NDC Partnership and relevant financial institutions (MDBs/DFIs, national financial institutions, and private sector actors) to strengthen pipelines and financing pathways. D. Oversight and effective implementation of PAF-funded support Lead and provide senior technical advisory support and quality assurance to PAF-funded projects and processes, consistent with national timelines and workplans. Current indicative engagements include: - Niger: lead and provide senior technical advisory support to Niger’s NDC 3.0 update process, ensuring alignment with national priorities and sector strategies and strengthening implementation and investment pathways. - Mauritania: lead the technical review of the current NDC 2.0 and provide advisory support to development of the next NDC iteration, consistent with national development objectives and emerging priorities. - The Gambia: provide strategic and technical advisory support to NDC 3.0 updating and alignment with the Long-Term Strategy (LTS) and relevant policy frameworks. - Liberia: provide technical and quality assurance for revising the NDC 3.0 Implementation Plan and developing/updating the NDC Investment Plan, aligned with current NDC targets and national policies. - Morocco: Provide strategic advisory support to strengthen NDC investment planning, support preparation of a GCF Project Preparation Facility (PPF) submission package (as applicable) and advise on opportunities to develop a Nature-Based Solutions project pipeline. - Morocco (ADA / agriculture): provide strategic and technical advisory support to collaboration with the Moroccan Agency for Agricultural Development (ADA) to strengthen climate finance access for NDC implementation in the agriculture sector. - Mali: Provide technical leadership and quality assurance for work on environmental taxation as a lever for NDC 3.0 implementation and sustainable finance. - Seychelles: Provide advisory support to strengthen governance and decision-making arrangements to implement the updated NDC and advance climate-resilient policy development. - Namibia: Provide technical guidance and quality assurance for developing the LT-LEDS, ensuring alignment with the NDC and national development/climate targets. E. Cross-cutting and strategic responsibilities: The Advisor will: o Identify and support mobilization of additional funding and partnerships aligned with objectives and country needs, including leading/technical input to proposals for relevant calls (e.g., IKI, Loss and Damage-related calls, Mitigation Action Facility, and other aligned funding mechanisms as they arise). o Provide regular, structured updates to UNEP’s global coordination team on portfolio progress, emerging issues, and recommendations for course correction. o Contribute to cross-country knowledge sharing by synthesizing lessons learned, success stories, and good practices across countries and regions. o Represent UNEP in high-level and technical meetings with partner countries and relevant regional fora, ensuring visibility and alignment of NDC Act & Invest efforts with partners and other ongoing initiatives. o Maintain regular technical liaison between UNEP, national counterparts, and implementing partners supporting LT-LEDS and NDC processes, ensuring timely exchange of information and alignment on technical priorities (without assuming day-to-day operational coordination responsibilities). o Lead preparation, review, and finalization of Terms of Reference (ToRs) for experts, studies, field missions, and workshops, ensuring consistency with country priorities, timelines, and project objectives. o Facilitate cross-country learning and South–South exchange, capturing and packaging best practices and innovative approaches. o Contribute to administrative follow-up of activities (procurement coordination, reporting inputs, deliverable tracking) in collaboration with UNEP administrative/programme teams. o Contribute to internal and external reporting, donor progress summaries, and lessons-learned products. F. Other responsibilities: o Time permitting, the Advisor may be requested to contribute to other climate-change-related assignments at national, regional, or global levels in support of UNEP’s Climate Change Division, including technical missions, high-level events, analytical inputs, and briefings.
Qualifications/special skills
c. Key competencies Required / desired competencies include: o Demonstrated experience preparing policy and strategy reports for national governments and conducting technical reviews of national reports and relevant international documents. o Experience with development and/or implementation processes of public policies related to NDCs in African countries is required. o Strong cross-sectoral experience is desirable. o Experience cooperating with Ministries of Environment and/or Finance and/or National Planning Ministries in African countries is highly desirable. o Languages: Fluency in spoken and written English and French is required, fluency in spoken Arabic is desirable. o A university degree (Master’s degree) in environmental sciences, natural sciences, sustainable development, public policy, economics, public administration, engineering, or a related field is required. o A minimum of ten (10) years of combined full-time and part-time professional experience (paid or unpaid) relevant to climate change policy, green economy, sustainable development, environment/development projects, and/or work with or in developing countries is required. o Seven (7) years of relevant professional experience in climate change policy, energy transition, adaptation, climate finance, and/or environmental management. o Demonstrated experience preparing policy and strategy reports for national governments and conducting technical reviews of national reports and relevant international documents. o Experience with development and/or implementation processes of public policies related to NDCs in African countries is required. o Strong cross-sectoral experience is desirable. o Experience cooperating with Ministries of Environment and/or Finance and/or National Planning Ministries in African countries is highly desirable.
