Country Engagement Specialist (Anglophone & Lusophone Africa)

WEC (Water & Energy Cluster) Background: 

The Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) portfolio, based in Vienna, and with offices based globally is part of the UNOPS Global Portfolio Office. The Portfolio has built strong partnerships and is effectively managing a portfolio of over 500 million USD over the last 15 years to support key initiatives with fund management, project implementation and administrative support. 

WEC effectively operationalizes partners' agendas with global approaches, as well as regional and country-specific activities focused on climate action, protection and conservation of the environment. Partners profit from WEC’s ability to operationalize and/or scale up their important substantive agendas, including in support of key multilateral environmental and climate agreements,  such as the Paris Agreement, the Cartagena Convention as well as the Sustainable Development Goals.

The NDC Partnership: 

The NDC Partnership is a global coalition of countries and institutions collaborating to drive transformational climate action through sustainable development. In 2015, the world endorsed the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Nations signal their commitments to the Paris Agreement through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) - each country’s strategy to cut its own greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience against the negative effects of a changing climate. The Partnership advances the goals of the Paris Agreement by bringing together nearly 200 countries and institutions in new ways to accelerate NDC implementation and enhance ambition over time. The Partnership’s work more than 140 partners supporting over 90 countries produces many examples of impact, lessons learned and ideas for the future. The Partnership is governed by a Steering Committee, co-chaired by two country representatives. The Partnership’s work is facilitated by a Support Unit based at World Resources Institute in Washington DC and the UNFCCC Secretariat in Bonn, Germany. UNOPS supports the NDC Partnership and its Support Unit through the Water, Environment and Climate (WEC).  

Under the overall guidance of the NDC Partnership Support Unit’s Regional Manager for the Anglophone and Lusophone Africa Region,  the incumbent will be the strategic single face to the assigned countries in their portfolio  to maximize the NDC Partnership Support Unit’s (SU) impact and effectiveness by: 1) identifying country needs to catalyze matchmaking to SU offerings, available support/funds and ideal partners, 2) continuously monitoring and optimizing the country engagement by collaborating with the Regional Manager to realize regional synergies and highlight opportunities and risks, 3) strengthening and building relationships with key stakeholders (country focal points, embassies, partners in country offices) for SU visibility and resource mobilization in coordination with Regional Manager, 4) sharing impact stories to showcase examples of positive outcomes of engaging in initiatives enabled by the SU, and 5) building and sharing in-depth knowledge of countries with the SU to jointly collaborate in shaping communications and knowledge products.

Lead country engagement and deliver matchmaking for country portfolio 

• Develop and maintain an in-depth understanding of the context of NDC implementation and international efforts to support it for all countries within their portfolio. 

• Supporting the overall request for support processes by providing guidance to focal points in identifying support priorities, filling up and preparing request for support forms, and supporting the development, preparation and packaging of concept notes, terms of references and budget plans that will be included in the Request for Support Letter (RSL) and/or Partnership Action Fund (PAF) calls for proposals (CFP) circulation.

• Conducting Quality Assurance and Quality Control of requests for support forms  prior to circulation to the membership. This activity may entail reviewing requests for support for countries outside the specialist’s own portfolio.

• Understand the offerings the Partnership has available to support NDC implementation planning and investment planning, and help countries connect with those opportunities. This includes, facilitating capacity – building for the usage of the NDC implementation plan online tool, supporting countries in procuring partner support, and introducing countries to the Partnership’s Climate Finance Investment Framework. 

• Match country needs to potential Partner members of the NDC Partnership services, making connections to the right form of support or fund (e.g. Partner’s own funds, TA Fund, and PAF, etc), with close guidance from the Regional Manager. 

• Supporting/leading exchanges and sharing information on available funding opportunities based on partner responses,  between NDC Partnership Support Unit, Government focal points, other government officials, as well as institutional and associate members of the Partnership.

• Provide technical support to and, as required, act as end-to-end owner of country technical and high-level workshops to enhance country ownership and awareness on NDCs, liaising effectively with other SU teams and following applicable internal guidance and from government focal points and the Regional Manager.

• Evaluate proposals submitted under PAF Calls for Proposals, other procurement aimed at supporting countries in their portfolio, and job applications for embedded advisors and facilitators.

• Supervise embedded advisors including in-country facilitators and other experts deliver.

• Reviewing and advising on embedded advisors /consultants deliverables and coordinating approval with the government, in line with the Support Unit’s processes.

• Build and strengthen relationships with country focal points, ensuring their understanding of NDC Partnership mechanisms and processes, arrangements for embedded advisory support and what is expected from member countries as members of the Partnership. 

• Build and strengthen in-country partner relationships with impactful engagements to understand their climate related agenda and funding priorities. 

• Lead in delivering timely comprehensive responses and preparing information resource materials on country-specific engagement progress and results, as requested by implementing partners of the NDC Partnership and across Support Unit teams.

• Strategically plan and report on country missions to ensure an impactful experience, ensuring the creation of mission announcements to relevant stakeholders, communications materials and post-mission scoping analysis reports in a seamless process to build and maintain momentum.

• Supporting/Representing the country engagement team in external meetings and events.

• Establish and sustain a strategically aligned relationship with the Regional Manager to anchor the regional strategy with country context and gain exposure to regional themes, synergies and opportunities.

Knowledge, collaboration and ownership 

• Proactively collaborate with  all Support Unit teams in agile ways to shape One SU solutions & maximize knowledge exchange either as day-to-day owners or contributors as agreed by the collaboration model and Service Catalogues. 

• Liaising with Knowledge and Learning counterparts, partners and other organizations, as appropriate, to provide guidance and inputs for the development of in-depth analyses to support scoping, engagement planning, results reporting and other knowledge products.

• Steer and guide NDC In-Country Facilitators to ensure proactive knowledge sharing of the dynamics of the government focal points and partners, effective coordination, communication and quality outputs, including advisory and guidance to new in-country facilitators.

• Regularly provide feedback – during check-ins, mandatory office hours, and team meetings - to the Regional Manager and Country Engagement Management on country engagement successful practices and processes, and on challenges. 

• Upon request, participating in, or contributing to, internal and external meetings, workshops, conferences, and other dissemination activities (COPs, Peer-to-Peer exchanges, regional meetings). 

 
Information management 

• Build, update and systematically capture country insights in dedicated systems to serve as input for impact stories and knowledge products.

• Ensure information on contact details of focal points (FP) and day-to-day persons of countries and partner members are upto-date, and that new contact points receive proper on-boarding to the NDC Partnership, its core service offerings and processes. 

• Ensuring SU tools are up to date in relation with the context of countries under their portfolio, including inputs and updates to Monday.com boards, and archiving and updating of SharePoint folders, NDC Partnership and affiliated websites. 

• Developing and co-authoring blog posts, presentations deck, talking points, infographics, brochures, and other online and offline communications materials.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• UNOPS evaluates all applications based on the skills, qualifications and experience requirements outlined in the vacancy announcement. We are committed to considering all candidates in a fair and transparent manner, and we value diverse perspectives and experiences, including those of women, indigenous and racialized communities, individuals with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.



• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

• 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 ( they take around 4 hours to complete)  in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. Refreshers or new mandatory courses may be required during your contract. Please note that you will not receive any compensation for taking courses and refreshers. For more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.