UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.
Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provide technical advice to Country Offices; advocate for UNDP corporate messages, represent UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, and engage in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response and ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programming. BPPS also assists UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data-driven, including in programming support efforts, in order to achieve higher quality development results through integrated approaches that link results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working.
Tackling climate change is critical to a sustainable future and to ensure that efforts to date to advance Agenda 2030 are not rolled back. People’s lives and livelihoods around the world are threatened by food and water scarcity, extreme weather events and climate-change induced displacement. The annual average economic losses from climate-related disasters are in hundreds of billions of dollars. UNDP has made climate change a top priority, advocating for bold climate action needed to achieve resilient, low-carbon pathways that are aligned with the global goals of the Paris Agreement. Working in over 170 countries and territories, UNDP is uniquely placed to work with all sectors of society to help mobilize the institutions and resources required to support countries define and implement their climate action plans under the the Paris Agreement, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
The NDC Support Programme is a UNDP flagship project delivered by, and embedded within, the GPN. The Programme, launched in November 2017 with funded from the European Commission and the governments of Germany and Spain, provides technical and financial assistance to nearly 40 countries to implement their NDCs and design more ambitious climate targets that are aligned with national sustainable development priorities. The Programme is a key initiative under UNDP’s strategy to support NDC implementation and enhancement at the global level, which also builds on UNDP’s larger support to countries on climate change. The Programme also provides the foundation for UNDP’s ambition Climate Promise through which at least 100 countries will be supported to submit enhanced NDCs in 2020. The NDC Support Programme is playing an integral role in delivering the Climate Promise by providing dedicated technical assistance and quality assurance to more than 60 Country Offices on definition of their Promise workplans, as well as leading capacity development efforts of Country Offices and guiding thematic teams within the GPN on how to substantively engage in NDC revision efforts. Lastly, the Programme is also generating evidence on good practices and country examples that provide learning and/or help elevate ambitious leaders.
The Climate Change Specialist will be based in HQ and ensure that the NDC Support Programme can both deliver on its existing obligations to donors, while also contributing substantively to UNDP’s Climate Promise. S/he is responsible for contributing to the following:
Research and Evidence
Strategic Communications