Climate Change Specialist

Organizational Setting

The Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment (OCB) works to ensure that countries and stakeholders respond to the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. OCB provides a cross organizational coordination role on issues related to climate change, biodiversity and the environment and is the focal point for major multilateral environmental agreements including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The Office also assists FAO Members in their responses to the interlinked challenges of food security, climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation including through facilitating access to climate and environmental financing (such as the GEF and the GCF). In addition, OCB hosts the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Programme, the Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as well as FAO’s work on environmental safeguards.

The position is located under the Climate Change workstream in OCB, which maintains relations with the UNFCCC and coordinates FAO’s engagement in the United Nations climate change conferences.

Reporting Lines

The Climate Change Specialist will work under the overall supervision of the relevant Climate Change team leader and the direct supervision of an Officer of the team, as appropriate. When activities are carried out in countries, the consultant will be required to work in close collaboration with the relevant FAO Representation and Regional or Country Office.

Technical Focus

Support implementation, knowledge development, training and dissemination of FAO’s portfolio of support to countries and partners on climate change through the provision of technical expertise on climate change and agrifood systems.

Tasks And Responsibilities

The Climate Change Specialist will support FAO, national counterparts and partners in the climate change programme of work including country-level activities. Work will include support in: concept note development: economic, market or value chain analysis; knowledge sharing and generation; capacity building, and further development of activities under the climate change programme. The focus of the support will be primarily on the implementation of ongoing projects and programmes within OCB’s portfolio. Specific tasks will be related to areas of work of different OCB teams working on climate, including:

• Supporting governments and international institutions in their commitments under the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement;
• Performing climate change adaptation/mitigation/transparency analyses of nationally determined contributions (NDCs); long term strategies (LTS), National Adaptation Plans (NAP) and projects such as GEF and GCF;
• Performing financial and market analysis and assessments that contribute to the development of ongoing projects and programmes;
• Conducting value chain analysis of specific agricultural commodities, contributing to the development of ongoing projects and programmes;
• Writing project concept notes, project proposals and other relevant documents that contribute to the development of ongoing and future projects and programmes;
• Knowledge generation and dissemination of materials related to climate change and agrifood systems;
• Supporting the development of training materials and organizing workshops, contribution to the dissemination of information materials;
• Review of relevant programme documents;
• Participation in country missions related to the programme of work;
• Technical support for the organization of meetings and work shops;
• Any other duties related to the programme of work as required.
  
  

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in climate change, economics, international relations, agrifood systems or a closely related field;
• At least 1 year (category C), 5 years (category B) or 10 years (category A) of relevant work experience in climate change and food systems in one or more following areas:
• Climate policy and analysis
• Climate Risk assessment
• Private sector engagement
• Food security and nutrition
• Project development
• Climate finance
• Economics of climate change
• Voluntary Carbon Market mechanisms
• Gender and social inclusion
• Working knowledge of English, French or Spanish and limited knowledge of one of the other two or Arabic, Chinese, Russian. For PSA.SBS working knowledge of English.
  
  

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
  
  

Selection Criteria

• Extent and relevance of experience in one or more of the following technical areas: climate change and agriculture policy analysis, climate finance, project development (including GEF, GCF, etc.), and climate investment plans.
• Extent and relevance of experience in identification of information and data for analysis of climate change and agrifood systems contexts, including country level information, agrifood system context, environmental context and policy documents;
• Extent and relevance of experience in partnerships, knowledge dissemination, knowledge exchange platforms.
• Extent of relevance of experience in managing partnerships with government, non-government organizations and/or private sector companies, funds, platforms and mechanisms is desirable.
• Research and analytical skills, and the ability to gather information from different sources and present effectively both orally and in writing.
• Knowledge of FAO tools and activities on climate change is considered an asset.
• Knowledge of additional UN official languages, Spanish and French in particular, is considered an asset.
  
  

Call For Expressions Of Interest - Vacancy Announcement

Job Posting

02/Jul/2024

Closure Date

01/Aug/2024, 11:59:00 PM

Organizational Unit

OCB

Job Type

Non-staff opportunities

Type of Requisition

Consultant / PSA (Personal Services Agreement)

Grade Level

N/A

Primary Location

Italy-Rome

Duration

Up to 11 months

Post Number

N/A

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on date and time settings of your personal device

• FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture.
• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and person with disabilities are encouraged to apply;
• Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO's values
• FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination
• All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
• All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality