The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 45 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

The Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) is a mechanism to integrate climate change into local authorities’ planning and budgeting through the regular intergovernmental fiscal transfer system using performance-based grants in a participatory and gender sensitive manner, increase awareness and capacities to respond to climate change at the local level including through ecosystem-based solutions, and increase the quality and number of local investments that address climate change. LoCAL combines performance-based climate resilience grants (PBCRGs), which ensure programming and verification of change expenditures at the local level, with technical and capacity-building support. It uses the grants and demonstration effect to trigger further flows for local climate action including global climate finance and national fiscal transfers. LoCAL also aims to support private finance for small and medium businesses and municipal finance and public-private partnerships. LoCAL is currently active in 18 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, with another 20 countries preparing to join (at the design stage).

Cambodia, alongside Bhutan, were the first countries selected by UNCDF to pilot PBCRGs more than a decade ago; their efforts served to validate the approach. The LoCAL programme in Cambodia, called Local Governments Climate Change (LGCC), aims to demonstrate the role of local governments in fostering climate change resilience and identify practical ways to mainstream climate change resilience into subnational planning and finance systems. The programme was piloted initially within 3 districts in the Takeo Province, in 2011, and later expanded to 32 districts in 8 provinces across the country. Since its inception in Cambodia, Overall, 538 adaptation measures have been financed through PBCRGs.

The NCDD Secretariat (NCDD-S), with support from UNCDF, gained direct access to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in 2019 and has been supported to submit a GCF Funding Proposal building on the PBCRGs and covering up to 15 districts. UNCDF continues to provide support to Cambodia in mobilizing additional resources for scaling up PBCRGs nationwide.

Within this programme context, UNCDF is seeking a Climate Change Specialist, NPSA10 to contribute to the effective delivery of the Programme’s activities in Cambodia.

The Climate Change Specialist works under the overall supervision of the LoCAL Global Programme Manager, P-5, based in Kampala, Uganda and reports to the Programme Management Specialist, based in Bangkok, Thailand. The incumbent works in close collaboration with other LTF and LoCAL colleagues in the regional office/HQ based and country and across the region. This position will be based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The Climate Change Specialist will provide policy, regulatory and technical advice to the national and subnational counterparts in relation to the LoCAL programme activities, with a focus on the integration of climate change and environmental sustainability into public planning and budgeting systems at sub-national level, in a gender responsive and inclusive manner.

The Climate Change Specialist will also be responsible for providing technical, policy, and programming implementation and oversight, and knowledge and capacity development services for the effective deployment of LoCAL programmatic activities, for providing operational advice to the LoCAL Facility, and is also expected to contribute to LoCAL’s resource mobilization activities on an ongoing basis.

Summary of key functions:

• Programme management and implementation.
• Policy outreach, partnership building and resource mobilization
• Policy, regulatory and technical advice to government counterparts and key stakeholders
• Coordination with government counterparts, UN system and development partners
• Knowledge management and communication

Programme management and implementation:

• Oversee the day-to-day implementation of selected LoCAL activities, with a focus on climate change and environmental sustainability.
• Lead delivery and achievement of objectives by working with implementing partners’ project related activities.
• Ensure the integrity of LoCAL Annual Work Plan, budget, financial resources, review of budget requirements, delivery and the consistent application or rules and regulations.
• Provide effective programme and project design, supervision, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, reporting and completion of assigned LoCAL activities, in close collaboration with the UNDP, UNRCO, the LoCAL Facility Manager and the LoCAL Facility (global);
• Contribute to the management of the risk log of the project.
• Identification and sourcing of technical expertise and support, including assisting with the preparation of TORs, identification and evaluation of experts and reviewing reports.
• Contribute to the preparation and timely submission of comprehensive and quality technical and financial reports in line with contractual agreements, including semi-annual reporting.
• Ensuring the timely and effective management of the activities as scheduled.

Policy Outreach, partnership building and resource mobilization:

• Develop strategies to mobilize additional resources based on programme requirements and new opportunities.
• Maintain close working relationships with key national and subnational institutions and other key stakeholders at various levels in order to support the quality of the execution of the PBCRGS and its key results areas.
• Negotiate on co-operation with UNDP, the UN system, Government, bilateral development agencies, and other technical partners to identify and develop synergies with relevant in-country projects and technical partnerships for LoCAL with a focus on policy and capacity development for climate change mainstreaming and climate finance.
• Build effective and efficient partnerships at the operational level with national counterparts and financial and technical partners.
• Organize consultative meetings, seminars and workshops to drive analytical and policy work of the Programme.

Policy, regulatory and technical advice to government counterparts and key stakeholders:

• Ensure adequate provision of technical, policy and regulatory assistance and advice to national and subnational governments in the field of adaptation planning/programming, climate finance, climate change issues and environmental sustainability, climate change mainstreaming into planning, budgeting, investment plans, implementation, and monitoring of adaptation measures (performance assessments), in particular in the context of public financial management, good governance and decentralization;
• Provide technical advice and capacity building support (“learning by doing”) for the piloting and establishment of a local information system for adaptation and of a climate risk assessments for subnational adaptation (including projections and mapping) addressing hazards, vulnerabilities and exposure of local governments in relation to climate change including desk review, data collection, preliminary design of the system, analytical writing, piloting, consultation and validation and gradual deployment of the local climate information system;
• Ensure the strengthening of capacities, institutions and systems with a focus on local level adaptation mainstreaming and the strengthening of public financial management systems for climate change (e.g. by facilitating and undertaking capacity needs assessments; the development of capacity building programmes; the organization of training workshops; and on-the-job learning);
• Maintain close working relationships with NCDD-S, Ministry of Finance, National Development Agency (NDA), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) focal points and other key stakeholders at various levels in order to support the quality of the execution of the PBCRGS and its key results areas, to expand the mechanism in Cambodia, in close coordination with senior management and other team members.
• Strengthen the quality of the monitoring and evaluation and reporting of LoCAL in line with UNCDF standards and requirements, as well as with the ‘Assessing Climate Change Adaptation Framework’ (e.g. preparation and monitoring of the annual work plan, organization and participation in M&E field missions, proposing corrective measures, contribution to the preparation of annual reports);
• Provide technical advice and capacity building support (“learning by doing”) for the integration of environment and climate change issues in the local government development and investment plans and budgets that foster job creation, gender equality and green and climate resilient local economies.
• Provide technical advice and capacity building support for the adequate integration and costing of environment and climate considerations (e.g. specifications, cost estimations, etc) in the investments delivered in the context of the Programme.
• Lead the technical dialogue and provision of policy and technical advisory services to national and local government counterparts in relation to climate change information and assessments, climate mainstreaming, climate finance and (direct) access to international climate finance (e.g. through development of GCF funding proposals).

Coordination with government counterparts, UN system and development partners:

• Serve as the UNCDF focal point in working groups and steering committees on the issue of environment and climate change and related sectors and provide inputs for conducive policy and regulatory environment.
• Manage UNCDF’s commitments within the UN Results reporting matrix, ensures effective application of results -based management tools, monitors initiative work plans, programme effectiveness and achievement of results.
• Coordinates and provides substantive contributions from UNCDF on LoCAL mechanism in the CCA and UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), promotes thematic and sectoral synergies and coordination of programme activities and execution with development partners in Cambodia and any other assigned LoCAL country in the region.
• Coordinate closely with development partners and UNRCO on LoCAL development and delivery, identifies approaches and modalities to achieve development targets by ensuring synergies and coordination between UNCDF LoCAL global programme and development partners in Cambodia (or any other assigned LoCAL country), as well as provide technical, policy and programmatic advice to the UNRCO on relevant themes.

Knowledge management and communication:

• Identify key knowledge constraints and organize learning, knowledge exchange, training, workshops, etc. to build the awareness and capacities on relevant themes (i.e. climate change, local climate risk assessments, environmental sustainability, mainstreaming, in support of women and youth employment, etc.);
• Contribute to the implementation of the Communication and Visibility Plan of the Programme, in collaboration with Programme team, partners and technical consultants.
• Identify, collect and disseminate best practices and lesson learned from the Programme in areas of specialty.
• Manage the process of convening national and regional stakeholders to share lessons learned on selected themes.
• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization. Additional information on LoCAL can be found here https://www.uncdf.org/local/homepage.

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact.
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems.
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences.
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands.
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results.
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration.
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

External Relations & Advocacy

Communication

• Advocacy strategy: Ability to create and implement advocacy strategies which lead to impactful change.

Partnership management

• Multi-stakeholder engagement and funding: Knowledge and ability to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships and remove any obstacles to resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder funding platforms.
• Strategic engagement: Ability to capture and sustain attention, interest and agreement of high-level, influential policy and decision makers and secure their buy-in of high-level vision and objective.

Programme and Policy

2030 Agenda: Planet

• Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery: Climate Risk Management Disaster and Climate Risk Governance
• Nature, Climate and Energy Climate Change Policies: Climate Finance

Partnership management

• Multi-stakeholder engagement and funding: Knowledge and ability to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships and remove any obstacles to resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder funding platforms.

Business Direction & Strategy

• System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.