Technical Specialist - Programme

The Central African region is home to the second largest tropical rainforest in the world, is sucking out about 1.5 billion tons of CO2 of the atmosphere or 4% of the world’s emissions every year and provides a habitat to more than 10,000 plant and animal species. Forest loss is accelerating despite ongoing efforts, as government action alone has not been enough to establish an effective balance between the interests of the forest and of economic development. On this basis, a coalition of donors – the European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of France, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Korea – together with Central African partner countries – Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Gabon – have decided to enter into a collaborative partnership to establish the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI). 

CAFI’s objective is to recognize and preserve the value of the forests in the region to mitigate climate change, reduce poverty, and contribute to sustainable development. This objective will be attained through the implementation of country-led, national scale REDD+ and Low Emissions Development (LED) investment frameworks that include policy reforms and measures to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and promote sustainable development. The CAFI Trust Fund is the principal means to implement the Central African Forest Initiative. It is administered by the MPTF-O, that also provides the Secretariat services.

In Gabon, the CAFI portfolio is currently composed of 8 programmes totalling 48 million USD, spanning 6 sectors.  Additionally, a historic results-based payment agreement was signed in 2019, making Gabon the first high forest cover and low deforestation (HFLD) country in Africa to be able to claim payments for emission reductions and removals.  To date over 180M USD has been committed in investments and results-based payments for Gabon.    

The CAFI Trust Fund is the principal means to implement the Central African Forest Initiative. It is administered by the MPTF-Office (http://mptf.undp.org/factsheet/fund/AFI00). As per the updated Fund Terms of Reference and the direct cost Secretariat project document, the  UNDP Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTFO) is hosting the CAFI Secretariat providing the secretariat administrative services under the oversight of the CAFI Executive Board and other participating UN organizations (UNDP, UNCDF, FAO, UN-Habitat, UNFPA, and UNEP). 

The management of the CAFI Trust Fund is carried out at three levels: 

• The Executive Board (EB), supported by the Secretariat, is responsible for overall coordination with CAFI Partner Countries and decisions regarding the allocation of resources from the CAFI Fund; 
• UNDP MPTFO is responsible for administering the CAFI Fund; and 
• UN agencies, the World Bank, bilateral cooperation agencies and international non-governmental organizations serve as Implementing Organizations to assist CAFI Partner Countries to implement NIFs that have been endorsed by the CAFI Board. 

The Technical Specialist will play a key role in the orientation, coordination, and communication of CAFI activities in Gabon, acting as the national focal point for the secretariat to the government and implementing organizations (accredited agency and government implementation entities), as well as facilitate CAFI secretariat engagement with other national and regional initiatives (CBFP, etc.)  The Technical Specialist will lead CAFI programmes via cross-programme synergy development, national stakeholder engagement, and disseminating/communicating lessons learned.

UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.

• Serve as the national focal point for the secretariat to the government and partner institutions.
• Establish and maintain a strategic understanding of and engagement with all the relevant institutions, including establishing contact and developing strategic partnerships with government institutions, donors, NGOs, the private sector, academia, civil society, and other stakeholders and beneficiaries at the national, regional, and local levels.
• Participate in meetings with CAFI donors and partners, prepare and deliver presentations of project results, and follow up with relevant counterparts if requested by the supervisor.

• Facilitate dialogue between the Gabon government and the CAFI Secretariat by leading discussions and proposing draft language regarding proposed political commitments and milestones, governance bodies and monitoring mechanisms for the partnership.
• Enable and strengthen the policy dialogue between CAFI and the Gabon government by organising meetings and initiating outreach, as appropriate. 

• Support the representation of CAFI, upon consultation and approval from the Gabon Technical Specialist (Programme and Partnership), at different meetings and workshops and communicate on CAFI at the country level, including on CAFI objectives, programmes and progress.
• Collect and analyse comments received from stakeholders, including from CAFI donors (embassies, etc.), government (ministers and ministers’ offices), implementing organisations, civil society organisations and private sector.

• Reviews and take due diligence on the annual work planning/target setting for CAFI portfolio in Gabon including supporting with review of workplans, keeps track of deadlines and flags bottlenecks.
• Promote effective coordination and communication among CAFI supported programmes and partners.
• Facilitate CAFI programme operations through identification of institutional capacity building opportunities to deliver outcomes as defined in programme documents where appropriate;
• Coordinate and participate in quality control mechanisms, seeking to improve the technical quality of the project outputs, products, publications, and policy discussions.

• Enable, with support from CAFI Secretariat experts, the development of standardised models for innovative financial support mechanisms to support Gabon’s sustainable development objectives whilst reducing and avoiding negative impacts on forests.   

• Coordinate, under overall leadership of the Technical Specialist (Programmes and Partnership) for Gabon), along with implementation entities to mobilize additional expertise as needed
• Organize trainings for partner personnel to enhance their technical capacities on matters of programme thematic priority.
• Identify, evaluate, synthesize, and document lessons learned and best practices directly linked to Gabon CAFI programmes and activities. 
• Contribute to the development of knowledge sharing materials and respond to related queries.
• Contribute substantively to knowledge networks and communities of practice within the thematic area of the project.
• Respond to questions about programme progress, impacts, and lessons learned.

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in environment, ecology, forestry, business management, law, economy, or related field is required, or
• A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with additional 2 years of qualifying experience, will be given due consideration in lieu of Master’s degree.  

 Experience, Knowledge, and Skills 

• Minimum 5 years (with Master´s degree) or 7 years (with Bachelor´s degree) of professional experience in the field of natural resource management, development economy and/or climate change policy in Central Africa is required.
• Experience in working with development partners at a minimum head of country office level is an asset.
• Demonstrated work experience in partnership agreements and programming modalities of the UN, the World Bank or other development cooperation institutions is required.
• Demonstrated direct experience with development assistance policies and procedures, including programmes in the sectors covered by CAFI’s mandate is required.
• Proven experience with political engagement with government counterparts, at a minimum with DG level is desired.
• Proven experience in the management of complex multi-stakeholder processes and the engagement of various groups of stakeholders including constituencies from local communities, civil society, and private sector is desired.
• Fluency in both French and English is required.

Expected Demonstration of Competencies

Achieve Results:

Think Innovatively:

Learn Continuously

Adapt with Agility 

Project Quality Assurance; RBM standards and practices for programming.

V. Keywords

Policy

Partnerships Management

Multi-stakeholder Management

Strategic Communication

Knowledge Management