Background

The Green Climate Fund (“GCF”) is a multilateral fund created to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change.
GCF will contribute to the achievement of the ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In the context of sustainable development, GCF will promote the paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change, taking into account the needs of those developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

GCF is governed by a Board, composed of an equal representation of developed and developing countries. The Fund is operated by an independent Secretariat headed by an Executive Director.

The Fund seeks to recruit a ‘Programme and Technical Consultant’ – Southeast Asia subregion to carry out the tasks, duties and responsibilities, deliver the set deliverables and provide support to the hiring unit as detailed below. The consultant will join GCF team on remote basis. The assignment is for an initial 180 days over a 12 months-month period.

Role
The Consultant will work with the Southeast Asia subregional team to support developing countries to identify their institutional readiness needs (in terms of accessing GCF finances), identify action plans to address these needs through GCF readiness funds and supporting GCF National Designated Authorities (NDAs), Direct Access Entities (DAEs) and national Delivery Partners to develop high quality GCF proposals. The consultant also will support the development of guidance and knowledge products; contribute to strengthening results; and support the country engagement processes towards the delivery of Country Programmes. The majority of support will be through virtual support to countries in Southeast Asia, however if needed, the Consultant is expected to travel to countries to provide in-country co-development support. The consultant will work under the guidance of the Sub-Regional Lead of Southeast Asia.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant will be responsible for duties below as assigned by the Sub-Regional Lead based on actual needs, but not limited to:

• Provide advice, guidance, and clarifications to NDAs and focal points, to Accredited Entities and Delivery partners, and to other relevant stakeholders on GCF policies, procedures, and templates related to enhancing pipeline development and readiness opportunities with the GCF;
• Support and/or lead national level capacity assessments of developing country government institutions (i.e. NDA, Finance institutions, GCF Direct Access Entities) to identify readiness needs to engage with the GCF/access climate change finance;
• Undertake missions to the relevant countries as and when required to address pipeline development, Readiness-related requests of the countries;
• Prepare Statement of Work agreed between NDA (of target country) and GCF;
• Lead the development of readiness proposal (or reviews and records of inputs made into a draft readiness proposal), and where applicable development of an action plan;
• Review of Concept Notes and Funding Proposals that are submitted to the Regional Desk and advise the relevant entities on how to advance it through the pipeline;
• Contribute to and/or develop briefing notes, background papers, and/or other materials liaising with appropriate stakeholders to inform national processes, strategies, and/or GCF-led initiatives;
• Contribute towards building the Regional Desk’s knowledge of countries and the region through knowledge-sharing opportunities, activities, and/or deliverables that could deepen the national and regional understanding and decision-making capacity of Secretariat-based staff;
• Support development of Country Programs, helping NDAs and partners apply the Country Programme Guidance note, review drafts and work with Secretariat teams to ensure timely reviews and processing;
• Contribute to consultative processes with the country of pipeline development and readiness support;
• Other relevant deliverables that will be mutually agreed between the Sub-Regional Lead and the Consultant.

Overall performance would also be assessed annually and be linked directly to:

• Client satisfaction ratings (NDAs and Direct Access Entities);
• Number of supported readiness proposals submitted to GCF Secretariat and approved within a contract period (1 year);
• Quality of deliverables (i.e. Readiness assessments, Readiness proposals and reviews, Readiness action plans) as determined by clients and the subregional lead;
• National level capacity assessments of developing country government institutions (ie NDA, Finance institutions, GCF Direct Access Entities) to identify readiness needs to engage with the GCF/access climate change finance.
• Statement of Work agreed between NDA (of target country) and GCF, and in the case that travel becomes possible, mission reports at the conclusion of GCF missions.
• First draft readiness proposal (or reviews and records of inputs made into a draft readiness proposal), and where applicable an action plan.
• Review of Funding Proposals and Concept Notes that are submitted to the Regional Desk and advise the relevant entities on how to advance it in the pipeline.
• Other relevant deliverables that will be mutually agreed between the Subregional Lead and the Consultant.

Required Experience and Qualifications

• Post-graduate degree, with a preference for the fields of developmental studies, climate change or climate finance.
• At least 10 years of experience in institutional strengthening and proposal development in developing countries, in the field of climate change.
• Institutional strengthening at the government level, government diplomacy.
• Proposal development – particularly in the field of climate change capacity building, mitigation as well as adaptation.
• Project management/implementation experience (including preparing logframes and monitoring of projects) on climate change projects in developing countries
• Excellent understanding of the regional and countries’ economic, political, and social contexts;
• Proven experience in developing countries and/or in a multilateral programming environment, coupled with experience in deploying climate financing instruments in different sectors.
• Experience in Southeast Asia and preference for a consultant who is based/available during working hours in the Southeast Asia time zones.

Necessary skills:

• Excellent levels of oral and written communication (English)
• Computer literacy
• Ability to work independently
• Experience in working across cultures and in multi-cultural international environments

Applications from women and nationals of developing countries are strongly encouraged.
Please indicate your earliest availability to take up the assignment.
Closing date for applications is 12 January 2025, 11:59 PM (KST). Applications submitted after the closing date may not be considered.