Result of Service

CERF’s climate action account is fully set up and recognized by partners, including donors.

Work Location

New York

Expected duration

6 Months

Duties and Responsibilities

CERF is a global humanitarian fund with a funding target of $1 billion annually. It is one of the fastest and most effective ways to support rapid humanitarian response for people affected by natural disasters and armed conflict. CERF receives voluntary contributions year-round to provide immediate funding for life-saving humanitarian action anywhere in the world. At COP28, CERF launched a climate action account. Already, between one quarter and one third of CERF allocations go toward climate-related disasters, mostly drought, floods and storms. Since 2020, CERF has disbursed more than $90 million for anticipatory action, mostly ahead of predictable climate shocks. To support its response to climate disasters and the new climate action account, including with regard to anticipatory action, the CERF secretariat is seeking to recruit a consultant focused on Climate and Anticipatory Action to contribute dedicated expertise and knowledge, and to coordinate and lead this work in 2024. The CERF climate action account is the Division Director’s top priority for this year. This position is located in the CERF programme unit, which has developed the following value statement: The CERF secretariat is the steward of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for life-saving humanitarian action each year and we recognize the magnitude of this task. We take pride in our work and strive for professionalism, speed and efficiency, always putting people affected by humanitarian emergencies first and sup-porting country teams. Within the programme unit and beyond, we value diversity and show empathy, respect and kindness. We assume positive intent (API) and care about others’ well-being. We value teamwork and collaboration, looking left and right to help each other and flexibly back each other up. We share information in full transparency, and we share our diverse knowledge and expertise. Each team member is responsible for their own area of work, which they are empowered to lead and coordinate. Each team member is encouraged to voice their views and opinions and to provide inputs for decision-making, especially when this contradicts the majority view. It is ok to disagree, but we do so thoughtfully, listening to each other’s arguments and trying to find the best solution. We always look for ways to learn, innovate and improve the way we work. Everybody who wants comes together in a weekly huddle to talk about what goes well and what doesn’t and to talk about things other than work. Duties and Responsibilities: The consultant (Climate and Anticipatory Action) reports to either a Programme Officer or Window Lead in the CERF Programme Unit. Within delegated authority, the consultant will be responsible for the following duties: • As lead for CERF’s new climate action account, coordinate all work around the promotion and implementation of the CERF climate action account and support the transition to more regular and predictable work-flows around the account’s management. • Liaise with relevant colleagues to follow up on and implement action points from senior-level meetings on the climate account. • Engage with senior managers in other parts of OCHA headquarters, including HFSA, the Climate Team, DRS and SCB, to coordinate cross-entity work in support of the climate action account. • Develop documents, such as summaries or FAQs, and develop presentations and talking points for briefings to donors and potential donors interested in the CERF climate action account. • Based on the consultant’s expertise, identify indicators that are relevant to climate resilience, and/or introduce new relevant indicators, to be added to the list of pooled fund standard indicators and integrated into the pooled fund grant management system. • Conduct in-depth research on the climate action work by other organizations, donors and national governments across the humanitarian, climate and development environments, to identify best practices and CERF’s niche in the climate action landscape. • Integrate questions relevant to climate action and resilience into CERF and joined pooled fund templates and guidance, then gather, consolidate and analyze information collected via the templates. • Improve the way the CERF climate action account is represented on the CERF website by drafting text and other elements for the website. • Develop a concept note, guidance and templates for a $10 million thematic envelope on climate action for CERF’s second allocation round to underfunded emergencies in 2024, facilitate linked partner consultations and webinars on the envelope implementation, and report on the implementation of this envelope in 2025. • Link the CERF climate action account to OCHA’s work on anticipatory action, ensuring that OCHA’s anticipatory action portfolio benefits from the climate action account. Work implies frequent collaboration with the following: • Personnel at all levels within OCHA in New York, Geneva, country and regional offices • Counterparts in other UN agencies, NGOs and research institutions

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in international relations, development or a related field is required. A first-level degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Languages

English and French are working languages in the United Nations. For this job opening, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN official language is desirable.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.