Background

The Republic of Moldova has undergone a profound socio-economic transformation since gaining independence in 1991. While the country has achieved sustained economic growth over the past decade, its economy remains relatively undiversified and highly vulnerable to external shocks, particularly those induced by climate variability. Agriculture continues to play a central role in Moldova’s economy, employing a significant portion of the population and contributing substantially to GDP. However, this sector is especially sensitive to climate extremes such as droughts, floods, and temperature fluctuations, which are becoming more frequent and severe.

Over the past 130 years, Moldova’s climate has become markedly warmer and drier. Scientific assessments and long-term meteorological data indicate a trend toward a semi-arid climate, with projections showing further reductions in precipitation and increased evaporation rates. These changes pose serious risks to water availability, agricultural productivity, forest health, public health, and infrastructure resilience. Moldova ranks among the most climate-vulnerable countries in Europe, and the medium- to long-term impacts of climate change are expected to intensify across social, environmental, and economic dimensions.

Despite these challenges, Moldova has demonstrated strong political commitment to climate action. The country submitted its third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0) in 2025, informed by the outcomes of the first global stocktake. It sets ambitious, legally binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 71% by 2030 and 75% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels, aiming for climate neutrality by 2050. It includes strong methane reduction goals and integrates adaptation priorities across agriculture, energy, forestry, health, transport, and water. The strategy is aligned with EU climate goals and Moldova’s accession process, supported by laws and national programs such as the Low Emissions Development Programme (LEDP) 2030 and National Climate Change Adaptation Programme (NCCAP) 2030. Significant investments are planned in renewable energy, energy efficiency, public infrastructure, and forest expansion. Moldova emphasizes a just transition, gender-responsive planning, and inclusive stakeholder engagement. The country has established robust monitoring and reporting systems and is preparing for participation in international carbon markets.

Importantly, Moldova’s climate policy framework emphasizes inclusive and equitable climate action, prioritizing the involvement of vulnerable groups such as women, local communities, and low-income communities in decision-making and benefit-sharing. This approach reflects Moldova’s commitment to a just transition, ensuring that climate resilience efforts do not exacerbate existing inequalities and that the benefits of climate investment are shared broadly across society.

Institutionally, the Ministry of Environment (MoE) serves as the National Designated Authority (NDA) for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and is responsible for environmental protection, climate change policy, and natural resource management. The National Commission on Climate Change (NCCC), chaired by the Prime Minister, is mandated to coordinate climate policy implementation across sectors. However, both the MoE and NCCC face capacity constraints that limit their ability to effectively plan, coordinate, and monitor climate action.

To address these challenges, the GCF Readiness grant aims to strengthen Moldova’s institutional architecture for climate governance, enhance technical capacities, and improve knowledge management systems. The project will support the operationalization of the NDA and NCCC, mainstream climate priorities into national and sectoral policies, and develop a pipeline of bankable climate finance proposals. It will also promote the development and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned to inform future programming.

The Readiness support specifically targets four critical barriers:

1. Limited capacity for coordination of climate action – including weak inter-institutional mechanisms and under-resourced climate governance bodies.
2. Insufficient planning and mainstreaming of climate action – with climate risks not adequately integrated into national and sectoral development strategies or budgets.
3. Limited financing, funding, and budgeting for climate action – with a heavy reliance on external donor support and limited capacity to develop bankable proposals.
4. Inadequate data, knowledge, and information management – including outdated climate data, weak dissemination platforms, and limited access to evidence-based decision-making tools.

By overcoming these barriers, the project will contribute to Moldova’s ability to meet its national, regional, and global climate commitments, while building long-term resilience and sustainable development pathways. To support the implementation of Moldova’s climate commitments, targeted capacity building is essential across institutions, sectors, and communities. The Readiness grant includes several outputs that directly address institutional strengthening, gender-responsive planning, and climate-resilient technologies.

To promote climate knowledge sharing, stakeholder engagement, and evidence-based decision-making in the Republic of Moldova, the Climate Change Information and Knowledge Management Platform (www.clima.gov.md) was developed with support from the NAP-2 Project. Designed as a dynamic hub for climate-related data, insights, and lessons learned, the platform requires regular updates and enhancements to remain relevant and responsive to stakeholder needs. 

The continuous maintenance of CCIKMP is essential to ensure that it remains a reliable, secure, and up-to-date national digital resource for climate information, policy documents, data, and knowledge products. As the primary platform supporting Moldova’s climate governance processes, including NDC implementation, adaptation planning, and stakeholder coordination, the portal must operate without interruptions and provide a seamless user experience to government institutions, development partners, researchers, and the public. Regular technical upkeep is crucial to prevent system failures, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, data loss, and outdated content or functionalities that could compromise decision-making processes and undermine trust in the platform. Given the portal’s expanding role in hosting real-time and high-value data, integrating sectoral updates, and supporting national reporting obligations, dedicated maintenance is required to ensure its sustained performance, interoperability, and relevance. 

Maintaining the CCIKMP is therefore not only a technical necessity but also a strategic investment in strengthening Moldova’s climate resilience and institutional capacity.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of this assignment is to support the continuous, secure, and efficient operation of the CCIKMP by providing comprehensive technical support, system administration, and performance optimization. The Analyst will provide support for maintaining high system reliability through proactive monitoring of server uptime, response times, and overall portal functionality, while identifying and resolving performance bottlenecks and software errors. He/she will assist the platform safeguarding by implementing and updating security measures, managing access rights, and conducting regular vulnerability assessments. The Analyst will ensure that the CMS core, plugins, and integrations remain fully updated and compatible, while managing systematic backup and recovery processes to protect data integrity. Furthermore, the Analyst will facilitate addressing technical issues reported by users in a timely manner, maintain clear documentation of interventions, and oversee hosting and domain-related requirements to prevent service disruptions. 

Competencies

The Analyst shall have the following responsibilities:

System Monitoring & Performance Optimization

• Monitor server uptime, response times, and overall portal performance.
• Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks (e.g., slow page loads, broken links).
• Optimize backend processes and database queries for efficiency.

Security Management

• Implement and regularly update security protocols (e.g., SSL certificates, firewalls).
• Conduct vulnerability assessments and patch known issues.
• Ensure protection against malware, unauthorized access, and data breaches.

Software & Plugin Updates

• Keep the CMS (Strapi) and all plugins/modules up to date.
• Test updates in a staging environment before deploying to production.
• Ensure compatibility with existing features and integrations.

Backup & Recovery

• Set up automated weekly backups of the portal and its database.
• Test backup restoration procedures regularly to ensure data integrity.
• Maintain secure off-site or cloud-based backup storage.

Bug Fixes & Issue Resolution

• Respond promptly to reported technical issues from users or stakeholders.
• Document and resolve bugs in code, layout, or functionality.
• Maintain a log of issues and resolutions for transparency and future reference.

Hosting & Domain Management

• Monitor bandwidth and storage usage to prevent service interruptions.

By the end of the assignment, the Climate Change Information and Knowledge Management Platform (CCIKMP) operates as a secure, stable, and high-performing national digital platform, providing uninterrupted access to reliable and up-to-date climate information. System performance and availability are consistently maintained, with all CMS components, plugins, and integrations fully updated and compatible. Robust cybersecurity, backup, and recovery mechanisms ensure data integrity and continuity. Technical issues are addressed promptly through a structured incident management process. Overall, the sustained operation of the CCIKMP strengthens evidence-based decision-making, coordination, and transparency in support of NDC implementation and national climate governance.

Institutional Arrangements

The Analyst will work under the supervision of the Project Manager and the Climate Change, Environment and Energy Programme Specialist and will ensure the provision of development services and products commensurate with the scope of the Programme and assigned area of responsibility of the highest quality and standards to national and local counterparts and clients through applying HRBA and GE approaches. To execute the duties the Analyst will work in close cooperation with the Ministry of Environment (system owner), the State Hydrometeorological Service (system holder), and the other relevant authorities.He/she is expected to obtain written approval for all adaptive (non-routine) tasks prior to implementation. Adaptive maintenance tasks (new functionalities, integrations, or data migrations) will be performed only upon written request and approval by the beneficiary.

The incumbent is expected to exercise full compliance with UNDP programming, financial, procurement and administrative rules, regulations, policies and strategies, as well as implementation of the effective internal control systems.

Competencies

Core

Achieve Results: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline.

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements.

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback.

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible.

Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident.

Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships.

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination.

Cross-Functional & Technical Competencies 

Business Development - Knowledge Facilitation:  

• Ability to animate individuals and groups, internally and externally, and to design and facilitate activities, to share and exchange knowledge, information and ideas. 
• Knowledge of tools and approaches to stimulate active participation, contribution, and exchange.

Business Management - Customer Satisfaction/Client Management: 

• Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs. 
• Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy.
• Look for ways to add value beyond clients' immediate requests. Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.

Business Management - Communication: 

• Communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience. 
• Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels. 

Business Management - Monitoring & Evaluation:

• Ability to systematically monitor results of strategies, programmes, and activities with a view to make sure that they are being implemented effectively. 
• Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback and reporting on the consistency or discrepancy between planned activities and programme management and results. 
• Ability to make independent judgment of the management and results of strategies, programmes and activities based on set criteria and benchmark, keeping in mind the needs and concerns of client, current and upcoming. 
• Knowledge and understanding of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, concepts, methodologies, systems, processes, and tools. 
• Ability to make an independent judgement based on set criteria and benchmarks. 
• Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.

Digital - Design thinking: 

• Solving problems by putting people at the centre, visualising ideas and making them tangible in order to improve them through and iterative process of developing and testing. 
• Strong empathy skills, being able to put yourself "in someone else's shoes", understand needs, abilities, preferences, motivations, (everyday) experiences from different perspectives as well as their cultural, social, economical and political contexts. 
• Ability to identify and challenge assumptions, (cognitive and social) biases and dominant mental models by generating new perspectives and frames that help redefine the problem, solution and opportunity space. 
• Being able to work with incomplete information, ambiguity and opposing views, needs and constraints and synthesise them into solutions that are viable, technically feasible and useful.

Digital - Solutions mapping:

• Ability to engage and build rapport with vulnerable communities and get consent, facilitate participatory processes and navigate intricate power relations and cultural dynamics. 
• Having the sensitivity and ability to identify grassroots solutions, capacities, assets, coping strategies that impacted communities have developed or used to address (emerging) development challenges. 
• Being able to understand these solutions from a people's perspective and learn about the conditions that enable or prevent communities from developing such grassroots solutions or coping mechanisms. 
• Understand how solutions and needs are paired, and how grassroots solutions can be used as an entry point to identify unaddressed or unmet development challenges and how to use these insights to inform policy design. 
• Ability to reverse engineer solutions, understanding what aspects (artefactual, principles, conditions, configuration) can be scaled and how, being able to assess their potential to be transferred to other domains, regions or contexts and build a case for that. 
• Ability to appreciate and integrate various sources of knowledge (academic, experiential, observational, traditional, indigenous) in problem-solving processes. 
• Set up structures and processes to collect ideas, solutions and facilitate matchmaking between supply and demand of solutions.

2030 Agenda: Planet - Climate:

• Climate Strategies and Policy: Policy and Institutional Building.

Required Skills and Experience

Minimum education requirements:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s Degree) in ICT, Computer Sciences, Computer Engineering, System Analysis or another relevant field; OR
• A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s Degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Minimum years of relevant work experience:

• Applicants with a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant field of study are not required to have professional work experience.
• Applicants with a Bachelor’s degree are required to have a minimum of two (2) years of documented professional experience in administration, maintenance, and continuous improvement of web-based platforms and content management systems (CMS), including performance monitoring, optimization, and troubleshooting.

Desired skills:

• Proven experience in CMS administration, software updates, and backup and recovery management, ensuring system integrity and continuity.
• Advanced knowledge in developing and administering applications based on Node.js, with proven experience in using and managing Node.js-based CMSs (e.g., Strapi, Payload CMS, KeystoneJS), as well as solid skills in PostgreSQL database administration.
• Demonstrated experience in planning and managing routine and preventive maintenance activities independently.
• Demonstrated experience in coordinating with hosting providers and managing domain, SSL certificates, and server resources.
• Experience in maintaining or developing governmental or public-sector digital platforms, preferably related to environment, or data systems.

Required Languages:

• Fluency in Romanian and English is required.
• Working knowledge of one or more additional languages relevant for Moldova, including Bulgarian, Gagauzian, Romani, Russian, Ukrainian or sign language, is an asset.

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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