Result of Service

Working under the guidance of the projects Global Coordinator and in close engagement with government focal points, NDC Partnership teams, and national and international implementing partners, the Advisor will: o Lead the strategic and technical direction of the projects regional portfolio in Africa and the Middle East. o Promote coherence, quality assurance, and results orientation across country workplans, deliverables, and advisory products. o Provide senior technical input, review, validation, and strategic recommendations to strengthen countries readiness and delivery of NDC investment and implementation priorities. o Serve as UNEPs senior technical focal point for Africa and the Middle East within the NDC Act and Invest project, facilitating alignment among partners and counterparts, and recommending course-corrections as needed to keep interventions responsive to national priorities and emerging opportunities.

Work Location

Home-based

Expected duration

12 months

Duties and Responsibilities

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the international environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. The NDC Act & Invest Initiative is a global programme led by UNEP and currently funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and the NDC Partnerships Partnership Action Fund (PAF) multi-donor trust fund. It is designed to help countries raise their climate ambition and translate their new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted in 2025 into actionable, investable plans. Building on lessons learned from the NDC Action project implementation and previous NDC cycles, the initiative addresses critical gaps in policy alignment, financing, and implementation. It brings together governments, development partners, and the private sector to develop coherent, science-based, and finance-ready NDC frameworks. Structured around three interconnected workstreams, fostering G20+ ambition and action, piloting policy and planning alignment, and providing deep-dive support to enhance NDC investability, the programme aims to bridge the gap between climate commitments and tangible implementation. By aligning national strategies, strengthening enabling environments, and working collaboratively with key partners, including the NDC Partnership, GIZ, UNDPs Climate Promise, UNFCCC, multilateral development banks (MDBs), development finance institutions (DFIs), and private sector actors. NDC Act & Invest seeks to make the next generation of NDCs both more ambitious and more achievable, accelerating progress toward the 1.5C goal and enhancing global resilience. The NDC Act & Invest team, based within the Mitigation Branch in Paris, is responsible for the global management and overall coordination of the initiative across partner countries, in line with UNEPs delivery model. The team also acts as the main liaison between UNEP and the NDC Partnership, coordinating UNEPs responses to country support requests shared through the Partnership, identifying and applying for additional funding where appropriate, and consolidating implementation and progress reporting. In addition, the team maintains close coordination with related projects under the IKI Programme to ensure coherence and synergies across projects. Overall purpose: Working under the guidance of the projects Global Coordinator and in close engagement with government focal points, NDC Partnership teams, and national and international implementing partners, the Advisor will: o Lead the strategic and technical direction of the projects regional portfolio in Africa and the Middle East. o Promote coherence, quality assurance, and results orientation across country workplans, deliverables, and advisory products. o Provide senior technical input, review, validation, and strategic recommendations to strengthen countries readiness and delivery of NDC investment and implementation priorities. o Serve as UNEPs senior technical focal point for Africa and the Middle East within the NDC Act and Invest project, facilitating alignment among partners and counterparts, and recommending course-corrections as needed to keep interventions responsive to national priorities and emerging opportunities. Geographic and programmatic coverage: The Advisor will support a regional portfolio. The portfolio is expected to include priority engagement countries (including Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Senegal) and targeted advisory support to additional countries (including Mali, Niger, Mauritania, The Gambia, Seychelles, Namibia, and Liberia). The country portfolio may evolve over time based on: o Country demand and requests channeled through the NDC Partnership and other partners. o Donor priorities and available funding windows by 2030. o UNEP strategic positioning and regional synergies. Scope of work and responsibilities: A. Technical leadership for UNEPs regional NDC support portfolio: The Advisor will support UNEPs regional NDC technical assistance portfolio under NDC Act & Invest and related UNEP collaboration mechanisms (including UNEP/UNEP-CCC partnership modalities where applicable), in coordination with the NDC Partnership and other national, financial and technical implementing partners. Focus areas include: o Strengthening NDC ambition (including NDC 3.0 and subsequent iterations). Enhancing policy coherence and integration across planning instruments. Improving private investment readiness and project pipeline quality. Supporting implementation capacity at national and sub-national levels. B. NDC Act & Invest IKI earmarked support: Under NDC Act & Invest, IKI earmarked funding has been mobilized for country requests through the NDC Partnership. Current engagement streams include: Kenya: 1) Provide strategic and technical advisory support to the design and delivery of support on sub-national climate investment frameworks (county-level frameworks) to attract and structure private sector participation. 2) Strengthen coordination between national and sub-national institutions, support identification and prioritization of climate investment opportunities, recommend approaches to de-risk private capital, and guide development of financing models aligned with Kenyas NDC and relevant legal/policy frameworks (Climate Change Act). Senegal: 1)Provide senior technical and advisory support for technical assistance on capacity building for formulation and preparation of project proposals, addressing key capacity gaps that constrain access to climate finance. 2) Support national and sub-national stakeholders to identify, structure, and manage climate-resilient investments aligned with Senegals NDC3.0 and national development strategies, with emphasis on generating high-quality, finance-ready proposals. Tanzania: 1) Lead senior technical advisory support and quality assurance for support on mainstreaming the NDC and LT-LEDS in national planning processes, including integration into national planning frameworks and related investment planning processes. Morocco: 1) Lead UNEPs strategic and technical advisory support to Moroccos request on NDC 3.0 implementation and investment plan development, including: guiding the development of a prioritized, finance-ready pipeline of NDC projects across priority sectors (energy, industry, agriculture, water, waste, etc.), quality assurance of investment/implementation planning outputs; preparation/review of project fact sheets and concept notes to strengthen investment readiness and engagement with financiers. C. Direct engagement under NDC Act & Invest Workstreams 2 and 3 : – Workstream 2 on Policy and planning alignment: collaborate with the Government of Morocco (and other countries as relevant) to strengthen integration and coherence across planning instruments, including NDC, LT-LEDS, NAP, sectoral plans, and national…