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 provides technical advice to Country Offices, advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government, and civil society dialogues, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.

BPPS’s Hubs on Nature, Climate, Energy and Waste, with the support of the Vertical Fund Programme Support, Oversight and Compliance Unit, works with governments, civil society, and private sector partners to integrate nature, climate, energy and waste related concerns into national and sector planning and inclusive growth policies, support country obligations under Multilateral Environmental Agreements, and oversee the implementation of the UN’s largest portfolio of in-country programming nature, climate change, energy and waste.

The newly established UNDP Climate Hub is the arrowhead of UNDP’s commitment to the “Climate Promise” that aims to support programming countries designing and implementing ambitious National Determined Contributions, with climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions fully embedded in the national development planning and budgetary processes. The Climate Hub will build on UNDP’s existing over USD 4 billion country-level climate portfolio on Climate Change Policies and Strategies, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Change mitigation, Climate and Forests, covering over 142 countries, as well as on UNDP’s Nature portfolio, UNDP’s Sustainable Finance Hub, and UNDP’s Digital offer.

The UNDP Climate Hub is responsible for:

• Thought leadership on Climate and be the custodian of UNDP policy positions on Climate;
• Strategy and vision formulation;
• Pipeline development in coordination with the other hubs and the Vertical Fund Programme Support, Oversight and Compliance Unit;
• Provision of integrated policy and programme support to Country Offices;
• Global engagement, advocacy in collaboration with BERA;
• Integration across thematic areas;
• Strategic Partnerships development and resource mobilization;
• Lead and Support global flagship initiatives and partnerships on Climate;
• Serve as focal point with relevant UN coordination mechanisms and Conventions (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change);
• Cross-organization knowledge and learning; and
• Innovation.

The Regional Climate Specialist will report to the Regional Team Leader for the Nature, Climate, Energy and Waste Hubs based at the Regional Hub for Arab States in Amman, Jordan. S/he will work collaboratively with global team members of the Climate Hub in UNDP Headquarters, other regional specialists across Nature, Climate, Energy and Waste thematic areas based at the Regional Hub, and key staff across other Bureaus and Units including the Regional Bureau for Arab States.

Position Purpose

UNDP’s policy and programme support on climate change focuses on policy coherence and agenda setting in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change and the SDGs, capacity building for implementation of national NDC climate plans and national NAP adaptation plans, and policy and technical support to scale up local results through Regional Hubs and Country Offices. Under the supervision of the Regional Team Leader for Nature, Climate, Energy and Waste Hubs in the Regional Hub for Arab States, and the overall guidance of the BPPS Climate Hub Director, the Regional Climate Specialist is responsible for contributing policy and programme advisory services to Country Offices and utilizing the products and tools relevant to the thematic area of Climate Change. S/he acts in response to requests from country offices and in collaboration with other members of the regional team. Working to ensure the execution of quality and coherent policy and programme advisory services within their region as well as alignment with UNDPs Strategic Plan and the global workplans of the Climate Hub, the Regional Specialist advances the mission of the UNDP to scale up climate action and increases the credibility and recognition in this thematic area.

The Regional Climate Specialist will be based in UNDP’s Regional Hub in Amman, Jordan and will be expected to travel.  The Regional Climate Specialist may be periodically redeployed, in accordance with capability, consent, and due process, to a different duty station as needed.

• Support policy coherence among regional, national, and sub-national programming on climate change. This work will draw on the extensive efforts under Climate Promise, GEF and GCF funded programming, and other ongoing initiatives under UNDP’s climate change portfolio;
• Conduct relevant analysis and guidance and prepare initial drafts of technical policy advice and programme support documents that responds to country office needs in the Arab region;
• Support country offices in integrating policy advice in country programme frameworks and projects;
• Prepare materials to support the application of integrated multi-disciplinary approaches, including through participation in integrated task teams, to meet policy and programming needs in line with corporate guidance and standards;
• Provide support to roll out and application of relevant risk management tools across country typologies;
• Incorporate gender equality and human rights’-based approach in policy and programming work; and
• Support UNDP SURGE activities for country offices.

Policy Research and Development:

• Liaise with the activities under the Climate Promise to support the policy, institutional and budgetary frameworks for countries in the region to address NDC and NAP implementation opportunities;
• Conduct analysis of data, case evidence, and research findings to distill relevant lessons from climate change projects and programmes to support policy development and innovation in the region;
• Review and assess policies in climate change with the objective to identify gaps and opportunities for development of new policies and to guide the overall team priorities and workplans;
• Contribute to development of guidance in climate change in the Arab region, and related tools for the implementation of global policy standards, including coordinating testing and rolling out of tools and methodologies;
• Take part in the process of analyzing, improving, and adapting policies for different contexts on key emerging policy agendas based on policy initiatives designed;
  Provide context input to support the quality assurance of policy services and foster policy innovation in climate change to enhance programme delivery.

Policy Positioning and Representation:

• Conduct research and analysis and draft materials to support mobilizing, fostering, and strengthening strategic partnerships with UN entities and other relevant bodies;
• Draft and aid in the development of briefings and speeches, as applicable, especially for country-specific meetings;
• Prepare materials to aid in advocating the importance of the thematic area in various fora, including academia and civil society, with a view to deepen related political commitment and related reforms; and
• Support team’s engagement in UN interagency coordination in relevant policy areas by providing research insight in climate change.

Partnerships and Resource Mobilization:

• Undertake research for partnership building and resource mobilization, developing first draft of papers and marketing materials, and participating in relevant country-focused external meetings, in line with the Climate Hub’s partnership and resource mobilization strategy;
• Perform analysis and research to support the implementation of regional partnership strategies with UN and external partner institutions, including governments, private sector, academia, NGOs, and CSOs; and
• Participate in relevant external meetings, including resource mobilization, partnership and advocacy activities with UN partners, permanent missions, and external stakeholders.

Knowledge Management:

• Keep an up-to-date library of knowledge related to the thematic area at region-specific level and proactively share documents with team members and respond to their specific requests for information;
• Provide inputs, case studies, statistics and other region-specific knowledge into UNDP reports, databases, and other mechanisms; and
• Contribute to the development and review of knowledge products in close coordination with the Climate Hub in HQ and the regional team by analyzing and sharing lessons learnt and programme evaluation results.

Achieve Results:

• Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work

Think Innovatively:

• Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking

Learn Continuously:

• Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning

Adapt with Agility:

• Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process

Act with Determination:

• Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously

Engage and Partner:

• Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion:

• Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making

Cross-Functional & Technical:

2030 Agenda: Planet – Nature, Climate and Energy:

• Climate Change Policies: Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)

Business management – Customer Satisfaction/Client Management:

• Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers’ needs.
• Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy.
• Look for ways to add value beyond clients’ immediate requests.
• Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns.

Business management – Project management:

• Ability to plan, organize, prioritize, and control resources, procedures, and protocols to achieve specific goals.

Business management – Communication:

• Ability to communicate in a clear, concise, and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience.
• Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.

Business management – Resource management:

• Ability to allocate and use resources in a strategic or tactical way in line with principles of accountability and integrity.

Business management – Monitoring:

• Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results.

Business management – Partnership management:

• Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust, and mutual understanding