BACKGROUND

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) is responsible 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 risk management is 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 in its programme support efforts.
UNDP’s Social and Environmental Standards (SES) (www.undp.org/ses) underpin the sustainable development results that UNDP supports. While UNDP’s SES provides a robust safeguards framework for the organization, sustained investment in Country Office capacities for integrating SES into the project and programme design and implementation is critical. UNDP has put a global SES Implementation Plan supported by regional and country office plans managed by the Regional Bureau.
The SES are an integral component of UNDP’s quality assurance and risk management approach to programming. To this end, UNDP has a global SES Team that is hosted by the BPPS and involves global and regional SES technical advisors matrixed to the Regional Bureaux or relevant GPN Teams. The SES Team provides advisory and oversight services to UNDP programming, aiming to fuel integration of SES into project design and guiding social and environmental risk assessment and management in compliance with the SES policy.
The UNDP Rome Centre for Climate and Energy (hereafter the Rome Centre) acts as the principal, integrated global platform for the strategic partnership between the Government of Italy (through the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security – IMEES or Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica - MASE in Italian) and UNDP for delivering on two critical policy areas: Youth Climate, and Climate Finance. One of the core tasks of the canter is to identify, finance, and implement country-level actions to reduce the energy access gap and boost the energy transition while supporting projects in developing economies to decarbonize and enhance climate resilience. This includes oversight of the design and implementation phase of projects (together with Country Offices and Regional Bureaus), as well as portfolio-level oversight and management.
The climate finance initiatives currently are PISTA (Platform for Investment Support and Technical Assistance) and Energy for Growth in Africa (E4G). Amongst other things, these initiatives engage in:
Project Origination, using several modalities (such as calls for proposals, innovation challenges, through national focal points doing on-the-ground consultations, etc).
Project Selection, to identify the projects that will be admitted to the pipeline of PISTA and E4G. Such projects may receive technical assistance in kind and/or in the form of grant resources to (a) further develop the project to achieve bankability and readiness for investment, and (b) be connected to financiers to mobilize the requisite financing.
Provision of Technical Assistance to enhance the technical, financial and operational viability of projects and their ability to attract financing.
Financial facilitation, for projects to mobilize resources by enabling connections to financiers. The financier may, as part of their funding approval mechanism, request UNDP’s support in addressing issues pertaining to social and environmental risks and safeguards.

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Experience with SES implementation and/or oversight and/or quality assurance in the context of climate and energy projects in a developing economy context, with strong social interface is required.
• Specialised experience on Environmental and Social Management Frameworks (ESMF), Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMP), Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) or Strategic Environmental and Social Assessments (SESA) is required.

DESIRED SKILLS IN ADDITION TO THE COMPETENCIES COVERED IN THE COMPETENCIES SECTION

• Demonstrated experience working on issues related to oversight and quality assurance of safeguards.
• Familiarity with UNDP (or other development partners) social and environmental standards and safeguards frameworks and policies.
• Experience with engaging with financial institutions in building social and environmental frameworks and in addressing issues pertaining to E&S risks and safeguards
• Experience with building and managing grievance mechanisms in case complaints or incidents.
• Experience in SES capacity-building and institutionalization.
• Experience in supporting advocacy efforts to raise awareness about the SES application

EDUCATION:

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Development Studies, Social or Environmental/Natural Sciences, Integrated Natural Resource Management, International Environmental Law or related field is required. Or

• A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas stated above, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree

RIGHT TO SELECT MULTIPLE CANDIDATES

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

PROVISION OF ADVISORY SUPPORT ON SES POLICY & ACCOUNTABILITY FRAMEWORK IN THE ROME CENTRE INITIATIVES:

• Lead and ensure that the UNDP Social and Environmental Standards are integrated into broader operational frameworks of the Rome Centre, including programming, procurement, monitoring and reporting mechanisms. (SES System Integration:)
• Regularly monitor and review major projects to ensure SES compliance. (SES Compliance Checks)
• Lead and ensure SES risks and issues are escalated where needed to senior management of the Rome Centre and the SES Global Team (Risk Escalation)