Programme and Technical Consultant - MENA

The Green Climate Fund (“GCF”) is a multilateral fund created to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change. 
GCF will contribute to the achievement of the ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In the context of sustainable development, GCF will promote the paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change, taking into account the needs of those developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. 
GCF is governed by a Board, composed of an equal representation of developed and developing countries. The Fund is operated by an independent Secretariat headed by an Executive Director. 
The Fund seeks to recruit a Readiness and programming Consultant – Middel East and North Africa-MENA (Consultant) to carry out the tasks, duties and responsibilities, deliver the set deliverables and provide support to the hiring unit as detailed below. The consultant will join GCF team on remote basis. The assignment is for an initial 180 days over a 12-month period.
 

Role 
The Consultant will work with the GCF relevant Regional desk to support developing countries to identify their institutional readiness needs (in terms of accessing GCF finances), identify action plans to address these needs through GCF readiness funds and supporting GCF National Designated Authorities (NDAs), Direct Access Entities (DAEs) and national Delivery Partners to develop good quality GCF Funding proposals and Readiness proposals for all five Readiness Objectives. This will be mostly done remotely through virtual support to countries in MENA region, however if needed, the Consultant is expected to travel to countries to provide in country co-development support. The Consultant will provide technical support; facilitating stakeholders discussions to support the developing of the GCF project proposals.

Duties and Responsibilities 
The Consultant will be responsible for but not limited to: 

• Provide advice, guidance, and clarifications to NDAs and focal points, to Accredited Entities and Delivery partners, and to other relevant stakeholders on GCF policies, procedures, and templates related to enhancing pipeline development and readiness opportunities with the GCF;
• Support and/or lead national level capacity assessments of developing country government institutions (i.e. NDA, Finance institutions, GCF Direct Access Entities) to identify readiness needs to engage with the GCF/access climate change finance;
• Undertake missions to the relevant countries as and when required to address pipeline development, Readiness-related requests of the countries, sometimes as part or larger GCF missions;
• Prepare Statement of Work agreed between NDA (of target country) and GCF, and in the case that travel becomes possible, submit mission reports at the conclusion of GCF missions;
• Lead the development of first draft readiness proposal (or reviews and records of inputs made into a draft readiness proposal), and where applicable an action plan;
• Review of Funding Proposals Concept Notes that are submitted to the Regional Desk as Deliverables of Readiness Proposals and advise the relevant entities on how to advance them in the pipeline;
• Contribute to and/or develop briefing notes, background papers, and/or other materials liaising with appropriate stakeholders to inform national processes, strategies, and/or GCF-led initiatives;
• Contribute towards building the MENA Regional Desk’s knowledge of countries and the region through knowledge-sharing opportunities, activities, and/or deliverables that could deepen the national and regional understanding and decision-making capacity of Secretariat-based staff;
• Other relevant deliverables that will be mutually agreed between the Regional Manager and the Consultant 
• Support development of country programs, helping NDAs and partners apply the Guidance note, review drafts and work with secretariat teams to ensure timely reviews and processing. 
• Contribute to consultative processes with the country of pipeline development and readiness support. 

Overall Performance would also be assessed annually and be linked directly to: 
•    Client satisfaction ratings (NDAs and Direct Access Entities)
•    Number of supported readiness proposals submitted to GCF Secretariat and approved within a contract period (1 year)
•    Quality of deliverables (i.e. Readiness assessments, Readiness proposals and reviews, Readiness action plans as determined by clients) and the Regional Manager for MENA.

Required Experience and Qualifications 

• Post-graduate degree, with a preference for the fields of developmental studies, climate change or climate finance.
• At least 7-10 years of experience in institutional strengthening and proposal development in developing countries, in the field of climate change.
• A minimum of 7 years of experience with a master’s degree or 10 years with a bachelor’s degree, or an equivalent combination of education and work experience. 
• Institutional strengthening at the government level
• Proposal development – particularly in the field of climate change capacity building, mitigation, adaptation
• Project management/implementation on climate change projects in developing countries
• Monitoring and evaluation experience
• Experience in Middel East and North Africa region
• Experience in working in climate change development/inter-governmental organization
• Strong networks with government and private sector actors as well as other relevant stakeholders of the GCF involved in climate change responses in the MENA region;
• Excellent understanding of the regional and countries’ economic, political, and social contexts;
• Government diplomacy 
• Proven experience in developing countries and/or in a multilateral programming environment, coupled with experience in deploying climate financing instruments. 
• In-depth knowledge of countries covered by the role, coupled with extensive sectoral programme management experience. 

Necessary skills:

• Excellent levels of oral and written communication (English)
• Computer literacy
• Ability to work independently
• Experience in working across cultures and in multi-cultural international environments
• Language Requirements: English and Arabic

• Applications from women and nationals of developing countries are strongly encouraged. 
• Please indicate your earliest availability to take up the assignment. 
• Closing date for applications is 29 July 2024, 11:59 PM (KST). Applications submitted after the closing date may not be considered.