Project Coordination Expert at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

The incumbent will be reporting to the UNEP’s Africa Regional Coordinator for Science-Policy and perform the following duties:

Enhanced capacity development support services provided to National Statistics Offices (NSOs) and National Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) of African countries on environmental statistics and digital innovation with a focus on the following:

• Perform capacity needs assessments for Africa region’s environmental data and statistics, including survey initiatives; design of data collection tools; review, analyze and interpret responses, identify problems/issues, and prepare conclusions for action and follow-ups.
• Plan and facilitate capacity development training and workshops and assisting in developing action plans environmental statistics and digital innovation.
• Provide adequate technical backstopping on environmental dimensions of SDGs to Member States and other partners at the regional and country levels.
• Contribute to the documentation and dissemination of lessons learned, and other milestones, during the dispensation of capacity development interventions for national institutions.
• Support the coordination of activities related to budget and funding (project preparation and submissions, progress reports and financial statements) and other related documentations.

Strengthened delivery of evidence-based national development and/or transformation of national frameworks and long-term development strategies in Africa, with a focus on:

• Support the production of National Environment Summaries (NES) and Sustainability Gap reports to aid countries and stakeholders’ access to the latest, open, and practicable environmental data and statistics.
• Contribute to capacity development support on digital innovations and platforms for widening access and dissemination of NES and Sustainability Gap reports.
• Research and provide various written outputs, e.g., draft background papers, analysis, sections of reports and studies and inputs to publications.
• Participate in field missions, including provision of guidance to external consultants, government officials and other parties and draft mission summaries.
• Assist in the planning, organizing, and servicing of ad hoc expert group and technical meetings, policy dialogues, development seminars, and needed technical reporting.
• Enhanced capacity of UN Country Teams (UNCTs), UNEP’s UNCT Focal Points, and other country-level and regional environmental stakeholders through the integration of environmental dimensions of SDGs in their respective Common Country Analysis (CCAs) and UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks (UNSDCF).
• Support UNCTs and other country partners to suitably integrate environmental dimensions of SDGs in national development planning, prioritization, and programming processes.
• Participate in the development and maintenance of environmental data and statistics platforms and repositories for enriching environmental facets of CCA and UNSDCF processes.
• Aid in the undertaking of outreach activities; conduct of training workshops and seminars; make presentations on assigned topics/activities, especially relating to CCA and UNSDCF.
• Assist in science-policy issues, including the review and analysis of issues and trends, preparation of evaluations or other research activities and studies, that may be requested by UNCTs from time to time.
• Perform any other UNCT-related tasks that may be required periodically.

Qualifications/special skills

• Advanced university degree (at least master’s degree or equivalent) in environmental management, sustainable development, ecology, international relations, or related field.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in project and/or programme management, or related tasks is required.
• At least two years of experience in contributing to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals and liaising with the UN Country Teams (UNCTs) on national development and programming processes, including in the context of African Union’s Agenda 2063 and UN Regional Collaborative Platforms (RCP), is required.
• Experience in working with multi-partner projects and/or programmes for the United Nations or comparable international organizations, including in providing in-depth analytics, monitoring projects and drafting progress reports, is desirable.
• Experience in content management, collaborative and project management systems, and use of enterprise resource planning tools and intranet, is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is an advantage.