Programme officer (FTC programme)

Background

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the focus of the political process to address Climate Change. The Convention secretariat supports the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol by a range of activities, including substantive and organizational support to meetings of the Parties.
The Finance, Technology and Capacity-building (FTC) programme supports the mobilization of financial resources, international cooperation on technology development and transfer, capacity-building; and education, training and public awareness to enable enhanced action by Parties related to climate change.

Functions to be performed

Under the direct supervision of the Team Leader of the Finance subprogramme, the incumbent provides support to the Unit in facilitating technical and substantive support relating to financial cooperation in the area of Climate Change. The incumbent also provides support to the Unit in following up activities of relevant international financial institutions and other relevant sources of funding for activities to address climate change; and outreaching and liaising with multilateral development banks, United Nations agencies, intergovernmental organizations, non governmental organizations. The duties include:

1. Intergovernmental support related to cooperation under the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol on investment and financing to address climate change by:
- Drafting specified inputs for technical papers, annotations, speaking notes, options for consideration, background papers on various issues relating to investment and financing to address climate change, especially related to adaptation, technology and mitigation;
- Identifying and analysing trends, sources of funding, patterns, risks and strategies and presenting information gathered.

2. Provide technical support by:
- Assisting in assessing, identifying and developing options to address future investment and financing needs of developing countries as they relate to adaptation , technology and mitigation for the purposes of fulfilling their commitments under the Convention;
- Analysing information, initiatives and experiences from multilateral and bilateral funding sources on climate change and international financial institutions and presenting information gathered;
- Contributing towards the programme of work by developing policies and strategies related to support to developing countries to access financial resources for climate change, including for mitigation, adaptation and enabling activities;
- complementarities among different financing options for climate change i.e. financial engineering;
- Advising on emerging issues and preparing concept papers and other substantive documents related to strategies for cooperation on finance addressing climate change.

3. Provide technical cooperation by:
- Representing the secretariat at international, regional and national conferences, workshops, meetings and seminars;
- Supporting efforts to strengthen cooperation with UN and other international bodies, Parties, IGOs, NGOs and stakeholders;
- Contributing to the development of strategies with interested actors to enhance the understanding of cooperation on finance addressing climate change.

4. Performs other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Requirements

- First level university degree in economics or international affairs, preferably including development economics or environmental economics, environmental science or a related discipline.
- At least five years relevant working experience, of which one to two years should have been in an international environment.
- Fluency in English. Working knowledge of French and/or other UN languages desirable