Senior Programme Officer (Analyst)

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world.  UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace building, humanitarian and development projects. Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.

The Senior Programme Officer (Analyst) is part of the Sustainable Development Cluster (SDC) under the New York Service Cluster  (NYSC) SDC through its Development and Special Initiatives Portfolio (DSIP) is supporting project “Climate Action Team” CAT signed with the Executive Office of the Secretary General  (EOGS)

The 2019 Climate Action Summit mobilized significant public momentum and new commitments from Member States, private sector and subnational governments to turn the page on the climate change crisis. Such commitments identified new catalytic solutions and coalitions necessary to bend the emissions curve before 2030 – from the transformation of the world’s energy, transport, urban and natural ecosystems to the revamping of the world’s financial systems.

After the Summit, climate change remains at the top of the Secretary-General's priorities and one of the core priorities of the Decade of Action to Deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. In the context of the Decade, 2020 and 2021 are “make or break” years for climate action and the transformations needed for the world to truly adopt a sustainable, low emission development trajectory and to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. It is vital that we build upon the momentum from the 2019 Climate Action Summit to raise climate ambition including the enhancement of Nationally Determined Contributions and development of long term strategies consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement; promote the acceleration of the shift towards a clean energy future across all sectors of the economy and the global financial system; mobilize public and private finance for adaptation and resilience building especially for the most vulnerable; and elevate our commitment to biodiversity.

• Delivering on climate ambition including ensuring the submission of strengthened national determined contributions particularly from the major emitters as well as longer term strategies to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
• Securing concrete and verifiable commitments on climate finance
• Mainstreaming climate change (portfolio shifts to low emission investments, embedding climate risk factors in investment decision-making and carbon pricing) within financial markets and firms;
• Developing and implementing a targeted strategy for a a coal phase-out;
• Strengthening and delivering the Climate Action Summit commitments and coalitions and incubating new commitments and coalitions related to energy transition, transportation, urban and local climate action, nature-based solutions and climate resilience;
• Enhancing UN system support to countries to deliver on the climate and environment-related Sustainable Development Goals – from water scarcity to industrial innovation and sustainable urbanization;
• Provision of up-to-date analytics and policy guidance for the Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General, UN leadership and Member States.
• Designing and executing a cross-UN global communications campaign and movement focused on SG and UN leadership on climate action at all levels, and messaging and storytelling to build political will, elevate local solutions and mobilize individual actions.

In order to deliver the level of ambition needed, the new team will be led by an Assistant Secretary-General, who will provide thought leadership and coordination of the team’s deliverables.

This is a position in UNOPS for supporting projects carried out for or in the United Nations Secretariat. The incumbent of this position will be a staff member of UNOPS under its full responsibility.

• Develop regular policy briefs and technical reports for senior management on climate action, including trends and gaps related to climate science, NDC ambition, climate finance and the 100 billion commitment, and resilience and adaptation.
• With input from the team develop briefs that inform the SG, DSG and ASG’s support to climate negotiations throughout 2020; in said briefs, design and analyze an array of existing and potential policy scenarios.
• On an ongoing basis, conduct research and analysis related to climate policy, identifying and assessing emerging policy and research priorities and gaps and quantifying environmental and economic market trends.
• With guidance and direction of the Assistant Secretary-General and in collaboration with the team, initiate a knowledge management system that acts as a one stop shop for policy and research knowledge, publications including major reports, data analysis, infographics and other visuals.
• Develop a monitoring matrix to measure team progress and results.
• Cultivate and maintain working relationships with leading climate and sustainable development think tanks.
• Coordinate the work of research and data analysis consultants.
• Conduct other research

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree), preferably in International Relations, Public Policy,  Public Relations, Environment, Climate or related areas is required. 
• Two (2) additional years of relevant work experience, in combination with a relevant first-level university (bachelor’s degree or equivalent), may substitute for the requirement of a master’s degree
  
  

Contract type: Temporary Staff Appointment
Contract level: P-5
Contract duration: Until 31 March 2022

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.