INTRODUCTION TO GGGI

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. To learn more please visit about GGGI web page.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Project: Public Policy Analyst to Develop a Tonga Climate Finance Strategy (for integration into Tonga’s wider policy frameworks)
• Duty Station: Tonga
• Contract Duration: 6 months
• Consultant Level: Experienced Policy and/or Climate Finance Specialist
• Total Fees: USD 24,000

The Government of Tonga (GOT) seeks to increase its access to climate finance to enhance its resilience to climate change, which poses a severe threat to its people, economy, and environment. As a small island developing state (SIDS), Tonga is highly vulnerable to rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and coastal erosion—threats that endanger livelihoods, infrastructure, and food security. Expanding access to climate finance will enable the country to implement adaptation and mitigation projects, strengthen disaster preparedness, and transition towards a more sustainable, low-carbon economy. Additionally, securing funding from international climate finance mechanisms—such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Adaptation Fund—will support Tonga’s commitments under the Paris Agreement and its national climate strategies, ensuring that development remains resilient and inclusive despite escalating climate risks.

However, Tonga has faced significant barriers in attracting climate finance due to challenges such as limited technical capacity, complex funding requirements, and high transaction costs. The stringent fiduciary, environmental, and social safeguards required by major climate funds make it difficult for Tonga to develop competitive project proposals. Furthermore, global climate finance allocations often prioritise mitigation over adaptation, despite Tonga’s urgent need for resilience-building initiatives. Competition with larger, better-resourced countries further exacerbates these challenges, limiting Tonga’s ability to secure the funding it requires.

To overcome these barriers, the GOT aims to develop a comprehensive climate finance strategy and integrate climate finance into Tonga’s broader development frameworks, including but not limited to the new Tonga Strategic Development Framework 2025-2035 (TSDF3), Tonga’s Aid Management Policy and Tonga’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

Integrating climate finance into the Tonga’s overarching policy and development frameworks will ensure a systematic and strategic approach to resource mobilisation. Embedding climate finance considerations across these frameworks will align funding opportunities with national priorities, improve coordination between government agencies and development partners, and create an enabling environment for sustainable climate investments. Ultimately, this will allow Tonga to scale up its adaptation and mitigation efforts, enhance resilience, and secure a more sustainable and climate-resilient future for its people and economy.

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)—a treaty-based, intergovernmental organisation dedicated to promoting strong, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth—is supporting the GOT to develop its climate finance strategy and to integrate it into Tonga’s broader development frameworks. To do this, GGGI is seeking to hire a qualified consultant that will work in close collaboration with the GOT and GGGI to develop a Climate Finance Strategy that can be embedded into Tonga’s wider policy frameworks including into the new Tonga Strategic Development Framework 2025-2035 (TSDF3), Tonga’s Aid Management Policy and Tonga’s third Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC3).

The project is being implemented as part of the Low Emission Climate Resilient Development (LECRD) Programme, which is a programme funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAI), that aims to support Pacific Island countries (PICs) in transitioning to low-emission, climate-resilient development.

The objective of the assignment is to develop and draft a Climate Finance Strategy (CFS) for the GOT and to support the GOT, GGGI and another consultant (a Senior Public Policy Expert) to integrate climate finance into the new Tonga Strategic Development Framework 2025-2035 (TSDF3), Tonga’s Aid Management Policy, Tonga’s third Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC3) and other major climate change, sustainable development and project financing policies. The developed CFS will establish clear priorities for funding and will identify the mechanisms and capacity building needed to mobilise and improve access to diverse sources of climate finance.

In turn, this is expected to strengthen institutional capacity, enhance coordination, and streamline the country’s approach to accessing climate finance.

The consultant will be required to work in close collaboration with GGGI and the Tongan Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Climate Change and Communications (MEIDECC), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the National Planning Unit (NPU).

The Consultant is also expected to work closely and collaboratively with a Senior Public Policy Expert and GGGI NDC Consultants that will, in parallel, be leading the development of the new TSDF3 and NDC3 documents to help them integrate climate finance into both of these documents.

The consultant is expected to carry out the following tasks:

1. Develop a report on the current state of Tonga’s approach to climate finance.

a) Lead a literature review of Tonga’s existing strategic development framework, climate change and development finance policy environment by reviewing, at minimum, the following documents:

• • • Second Tonga Sustainable Development Framework (TSDF2);
    • Tonga’s Aid Management Policy 2016;
    • Tonga’s Second Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC2);
    • Government Priority Agenda 2022 (GPA);
    • Public Finance Management Reform Roadmap;
    • Tonga Energy Road Map 2022-2035 (TERMPLUS);
    • National Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Policy 2019-2025 (WEGET); and
    • Tonga’s Joint National Action Plan on Climate Change and disaster risk management (JNAP);

b) Identify what existing ‘climate finance strategies’, priorities, strategic linkages, hierarchies and inter-relationships exist in Tonga

c) Undertake stakeholder consultations with policy makers and key stakeholders across line ministries, private sector and non-governmental organization’s. These consultations should aim to validate the findings of the literature review.

d) Identify any ‘implicit’ or organizational realities that impact Tonga’s approach to climate finance; and identify gaps or underserved priorities.

e) Review existing global trends in climate finance policy approaches, where possible, comparing and contrasting approaches particularly those taken regionally and in comparative Small Island Developing States. In this review identify the extent to which climate finance flows are appropriately targeting vulnerable groups, women and other marginalized groups.

f) Consolidate the findings of the review stage into a report outlining the current state of Tonga’s approach to climate finance. This report should identify any issues, conflicting policy and/or improvements to the structure or content of the policies that currently frame Tonga’s approach. The report should also provide specific recommendations for incorporating a cohesive and more effective climate finance strategy into the TSDF3, NDC3 and updated Aid Management Policy (all scheduled for completion in 2025).

2. Develop First Draft of Tonga’s Climate Finance Strategy (CFS)

a) Develop a first draft of the Tonga Climate Finance Strategy (CFS) drawing on the findings from the review and stakeholder consultation. The CFS should:

• • Ensure alignment of the terminology and structure of the “One Process Tool” (OPT)[1].
  • Uses clear and simple language that is easily understandable to a general audience.
  • Clearly articulate the connections and alignments between international, regional, and national priorities.
  • Contain a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) section that should outline the framework for tracking the effectiveness, impact, and efficiency of climate finance initiatives. It should include key performance indicators (KPIs), data collection and reporting mechanisms, evaluation methodologies, feedback loops for adaptive management, and learning processes to ensure continuous improvement and alignment with national and international climate finance objectives. Contain Tonga’s priorities, timelines and approach to investment.
  • Summarise how the TSDF3, NDC3 and Aid Management Policy are interrelated and outline how climate finance flows occur.
  • Provide guidance on mechanisms for mobilizing and accessing diverse sources of climate finance, including international funds, private sector investments, and domestic resources; and
  • provide guidance on how accessing climate finance can be incorporated into key government corporate strategies and policies.

3. Consult and Validate the Climate Finance Strategy

a) Support the Senior Public Policy Expert undertake stakeholder validation of the CFS and collect feedback and direction from key stakeholders on the recommendations incorporating a cohesive and more effective climate finance strategy into the TSDF3, NDC3 and updated Aid Management Policy (ideally during the validation of these documents).

b) Participate in stakeholder consultations that are undergoing with the development of the TSDF3 and NDC3, providing technical advice on the incorporation of climate finance themes where appropriate.

c) Draft a Stakeholder validation report setting out the views and opinions of different stakeholders, where appropriate disaggregating findings by different stakeholder groups including women, youth and other marginalized groups.

4. Finalise the Tonga Climate Finance Strategy as an integrated policy within the TSDFIII

a) Refine the draft CFS to address key feedback form consultations and validation exercises

b) Ensure consistency with the “One Process Tool” (OPT) and maintain clear, accessible language

c) Clarify investment priorities, timelines, and mechanisms for accessing climate finance

d) Ensure strong connections between policy frameworks, including TSDF3, NDC3, and the updated Aid Management Policy

5. Support the integration of climate finance into broader policy frameworks

e) Support the Senior Public Policy Expert, who will be drafting the Third Tonga Strategic Development Framework (TSDF3), to incorporate the Climate Finance Strategy (CFS) for Tonga into that framework.

f) Support the Senior Public Policy Expert to draft relevant sections or guidelines for the incorporation of the Climate Finance Strategy themes/goals or approaches into the updated Aid Management Policy.

g) Support the Senior Public Policy Expert to deliver a Stakeholder Validation and Review Workshop to present the First draft of the TSDF3 with integrated Climate Finance Strategy

1) Deliverables, Timeline and Payment Schedule:

Note – No additional travel expenses will be covered by GGGI for the execution of the consultancy.

2) Reporting Arrangements:

The consultant’s work progress will be monitored primarily through periodic review meetings with the Government Focal Point – Director of Planning and GGGI’s Senior Progamme Manager in Tonga with progress reviewed by the Tonga Climate Change Steering Committee (TCCSC) who meet once a quarter. The final review and approval of activities and deliverables under the contract will be made by this Steering Committee in collaboration with the GGGI project team.

3) Reporting Requirements:

1. All relevant technical data, reports, and other documents prepared from the start to the end of the assignment shall be attached to the Final Report and shall be logged in GGGI templates that will be provided to the consultant.
2. All outputs must be in English, in accordance with GGGI’s formatting requirements and editable format that is readable by a Microsoft Office application. Where relevant, the consultant shall also provide sets of raw data, research materials, and meeting notes related to the contractual objective.
3. The final report must be approved by the GGGI with the agreement of the TCCSC. The Consultant shall consider the comments and necessary revisions proposed. Within 14 days from the receipt of the comments or modification proposal from the GGGI, the Consultant shall prepare and submit the final versions of the report

The consultant shall have the following educational qualifications, experience and competencies:

• Master’s Degree or higher in Regulation and Governance, Sustainable Development, Climate Change, Public Policy, or a related field.
• At least 5 years of experience in climate finance and policy development or international development, preferably in SIDS or Pacific regions.
• Proven experience in designing, implementing, or evaluating national or regional climate finance strategies, policies, or action plans.
• Experience conducting policy reviews and aligning national frameworks with international climate commitments (e.g., Paris Agreement, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), SDGs).
• Understanding of public finance management, national budgeting processes, and the role of aid and external financing in Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
• Experience supporting governments in integrating climate finance into broader financial and economic policies.
• Experience working collaboratively with government agencies, development partners, private sector stakeholders, and civil society.
• Experience conducting high-level stakeholder consultations, validation workshops, and participatory policy development.
• Ability to facilitate technical discussions and translate complex climate finance concepts into actionable policy recommendations.
• Strong knowledge of public policy reform and design.
• Excellent communication and cultural sensitivity skills for engaging diverse stakeholders.
• High level of organization and project management skills with the ability to manage multiple tasks.
• Fluency in English with strong writing and presentation skills; knowledge of Tongan is not mandatory but would be considered a plus.
• Prior experience working in the Pacific region in a similar assignment will be an asset.

Date to close is Korean Standard Time (KST). Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered Application. Cover Letter, and CV must be sent in English. A consortium, or a firm may not be engaged for the individual consultant assignment.