Coordinator - Climate Africa Special Fund (CDSF) at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/19/089
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Grade: PL2
Position N°: 50095956

The Complex

• The Vice Presidency for ‘Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth’ is a Sector Complex focusing on the Bank’s Ten Years Strategy of transitioning Africa to green growth and the High 5s priority of “Light up and Power Africa”.
• The role of the Bank’s Power Energy Climate and Green Growth Vice Presidency is to oversee strategy and policy development in the energy systems space; provide deep technical expertise to the regions; develop new, innovative financing instruments; and build alignment and represent the Bank with external stakeholders in the fields of climate finance, climate change and green growth.

The Hiring Department
The Climate Change and Green Growth Department has broad objectives of:

• Mainstreaming climate change and green growth into Bank’s High 5s’ operations;
• Monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the Bank’s climate change interventions through the Bank’s Climate Change Action Plan and the Bank’s Green Growth Framework;
• Managing access to the growing number of sources of Green and Climate Finance for all Operational Vice Presidencies within the Bank;
• Assisting African countries to develop and implement their NDCs as well as to increase their access to global climate finance; and
• Leading all efforts within the Bank focused on minimizing and reversing the effects of Climate Change on the continent.
• The Department consists of two divisions, Climate and Green Growth Division, and Climate Finance Division and a Special Fund, the ClimDev-Special Fund.

The Hiring Division

• The Climate Information for Development in Africa (Climdev-Africa) initiative was established as a partnership between the Bank, UNECA and the AUC in 2008 and endorsed by African Union Heads of State and Government. The ClimDev-Africa Special Fund (CDSF) forms one of the three elements of ClimDev-Africa, the others being the African Climate Policy Center at UNECA, and the Climate Change and Desertification Control Unit at the AUC.
• The ClimDev-Africa Special Fund (CDSF) in the Climate Change and Green Growth Department is a demand-led Fund that finances investment activities on the ground across Africa for the generation and use of climate information for climate-resilient development. The ultimate goal of the CDSF is to ensure that development policies and practices in Africa take full account of climate risks and opportunities at all levels through: : i) strengthening the scientific and institutional capacities of regional and national climate centres to generate, widely disseminate and use reliable and high quality climate information for development in Africa; ii) Enhance the capacity of policy makers and policy support institutions through the generation of quality analysis and evidence on climate change and its implications for Africa; and iii) support the implementation of adaptation and resilience practices that demonstrate the value of mainstreaming climate information and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in development planning and practices.
• The African Development Bank manages the CDSF in close collaboration with the other pan-African institutions, the AUC and the UNECA. The ClimDev-Africa Program Steering Committee (CDSC) provides the general policy direction and technical oversight over the CDSF.

The Position

• As Coordinator of the CDSF, the job holder, will manage the Fund in order to ensure its smooth and efficient functioning, that African countries, the civil society, private sector and non-governmental organizations have efficient and predictable access to climate funds offered by the CDSF to deliver climate information services to the African continent.
• The Coordinator will lead efforts to mobilize resources for the Fund and build partnerships with existing initiatives on climate information services for Africa.
• The CDSF will support African nations in adapting to climate change and implementing their commitments to the Paris Agreement and be instrumental in building capacity to enable the Bank to channel funds to achieve the High 5s and achieve its climate finance target of USD25 billion from 2020 and 2025.

Duties and responsibilities
Under the overall supervision and general guidance of the Director – Climate Change and Green Growth Department, the Coordinator of the ClimDev-Africa Special Fund will perform the following tasks:

• Manage a Team of project staff to deliver the objectives of the CDSF
• Coordinate the technical and fiduciary appraisal of proposals submitted to CDSF in collaboration with other relevant Bank departments;;
• Coordinate the processing of the CDSF projects through the ClimDev Steering Committee (CDSC) and in collaboration with other relevant Bank departments;
• Monitor the performance of the projects in the portfolio and ensure that project completion reports are prepared for each activity financed by the Fund;
• Lead the overall CDSF portfolio performance against the disbursement and other targets set out in its results management framework
• Lead the CDSF engagement with and report to the Fund’s donors and CDSC in collaboration with other relevant Bank departments;
• Prepare the CDSF’s annual work programme and budget; producing annual reports and other relevant communications on the progress of the CDSF;
• Coordinate with external institutions and stakeholders including the EU Delegation, the Nordic Fund and Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA);
• Organise workshops and outreach events to raise awareness and advance the objectives of the CDSF;
• Participate in relevant international forums on Climate Change and Disaster Risk to highlight the work of CDSF.
• Lead Bank’s efforts in mobilizing additional funds  for CDSF in collaboration with other relevant Bank departments by liaising with Donors and other Funding Mechanisms;
• Develop and implement a strong communications strategy for the CDSF
• Develop and review the operational manual, results management framework, and other relevant frameworks to ensure the smooth and efficient operation of the Fund ;
• Manage and account for disbursement of administrative funds;
• Maintain relationships with national governments, Regional Economic Communities, civil society, and private sector actors as well as external partners (e.g. World Bank, World Meteorological Organisation, Green Climate Fund), and ensure coordination with relevant regional development partner-funded projects/programmes;
• Lead Bank’s efforts in providing advice on Climate Risk Management and Adaptation, Disaster Risk Financing, and Disaster resilience including analysis of disaster prevention and disaster response measures, adaptation financing needs and mechanisms to enhance access to climate financing by African Governments and institutions.
• Provide deep climate finance and disaster risk expertise to the regions in the application of Climate and Disaster Risk funds to projects.
• Maintain a healthy pipeline of eligible projects for CDSF funding
  

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Master’s degree or its equivalent in Environmental Science, Climatology, Meteorology, Natural Resource Management, Environmental Economics or related fields. A PhD in any of the aforementioned disciplines will be an added advantage.
• A minimum of eight (8) years’ experience in designing and implementing programs and projects that integrate climate information services, climate change mitigation and adaptation.
• Must have a minimum of 5 years of leadership experience.
• Must have demonstrable experience in attracting climate finance and in trust fund management,
• A deep knowledge of the procedures of multilateral development agencies and regional organizations tasked with addressing climate change in Africa.
• Experience in developing and using climate change models and integrating them into national development policies.
• Good understanding of the status of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and the Regional Climate Centers (RCCs) in Africa as well as continental and global initiatives relating to climate information.
• Experience in working with African Ministerial bodies (African Ministerial Conference on Meteorology (AMCOMET), African Minister’s Council on Water (AMCOW), African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) etc), donor and other development partner agencies.
• Further experience in procurement, financial accounting and reporting, green and inclusive growth accounting and reporting and portfolio management.
• Proven analytical skills and presentation of views on complex climate adaptation/mitigation and disaster risk reduction issues in a diligent and effective manner.
• Excellent technical skills in Climate Change and deep knowledge of the various climate change conventions and disaster risk frameworks.
• Familiarity with the work of Africa’s Hydromet centres on the delivery of climate and weather services for development.
• Proven track-record on resource mobilization for climate services and climate information initiatives.
• Excellent data analytical skills and interpretation. She/he must have ability to write clearly and concisely, and have sound quantitative skills (managing, analysing and interpreting data).
• Computer literacy in Microsoft packages/Office (MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel), GIS and SPSS is an asset.