Principal / Senior Climate Finance Specialists (ADRiFi), AHFR at African Development Bank - AfDB

Position Number: 50104961 / 50104962
Location: Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
Position Grade: PL4 / PL5

The Complex

• The Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on two of the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy High 5s priorities of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.
• The complex objectives are (i) to develop, policy and strategy; (ii) provide deep sector expertise to the Regional Directorates by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions; and (iii) develop new financing instruments.
• The Vice President acts as the spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

The Hiring Department / Division:

• The core mandate of Agriculture Finance and Rural Development (AHFR) Department is to develop the strategy of the Bank related to agricultural and rural finance, and rural development, represent the Bank with external stakeholders, provide sector expertise to the regions by gathering experts who can be consulted by operations and closing the financing gap for private sector-led development of agricultural value chains. AHFR is to mobilize and deploy the required expertise and, provide support to the design and implementation of agricultural finance and rural development operations for key commodity value chains. AHFR is structured into two Divisions: (i) Agriculture and Rural Finance Division; and (ii) Rural Infrastructure Development Division.
• The Africa Disaster Risk Financing (ADRiFi) programme is coordinated from the Front Office of AHFR by a Coordinating Unit (CU) as a Special Initiative, to support Regional Member Countries (RMCs) to enhance their resilience and response to climate shocks by improving the management of climate disaster risks.

ADRiFi Coordinating Unit

• The Africa Disaster Risk Financing (ADRiFi) programme was established by the African Development Bank (the Bank) in response to requests from RMCs for support in managing disaster risks, including paying insurance premiums for various disaster risks including drought, floods and tropical cyclone.
• The overall goal of ADRiFi is to enhance the resilience and response to climate shocks in RMCs by improving the management of climate disaster risks.
• The ADRiFi Coordinating Unit (CU) was proposed and approved by the Bank’s Board as part of the agreement with donors to establish a Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) to support programme implementation.  

The Position

• The purpose of Climate Finance Specialist job is to facilitate discussions with the Regional Member Countries (RMCs) to initiate the design, development, implementation and management of climate disaster risks through the implementation of the ADRIFI Programme.
• It will also support project portfolio management including facilitating disbursements and procurement for the respective ADRiFi country projects.

Key Functions
Under the direct supervision of the Programme Coordinator, Africa Disaster Risk Financing (ADRiFi) programme, the Climate Finance Specialist assignment will include, but not limited, to the following:

• Lead appraisal missions / teams to design complex disaster risk management country projects for Board approval.
• Facilitate the elaboration of Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) strategies in countries participating in ADRiFi implementation to galvanize funds from various sources including national budgets to address respective layers of climate-related risks.
• Train and sensitize policy makers and decision makers for the implementation of DRF strategies in respective countries.
• Contribute to the design of new DRF instruments, such as Catastrophic Bonds that can be used by participating countries in financing disaster risks.
• Facilitate development of risk profiles, designing early warning systems and elaboration of contingency plans in the countries, and support the preparation of Final Implementation Plans (FIPs) for operationalizing activities following disaster, insurance payout and supporting victims of disasters, such as smallholder farmers, rural women and children.
• Liaise with implementing partners for all technical matters related to risk assessment, product design, insurance premium calculation.
• Asses the overall climate finance architecture in respective countries, including government budgets, international donors, lending agencies, and for the management of disaster risks.
• Review and analyse the various national provisions that govern the funding and management of climate change related activities in respective countries.
• Propose plans for mobilization of new and additional resources for climate investment in respective countries.
• Perform other duties assigned by the Director, Agricultural Finance and Rural Development and/or the Programme Coordinator, Africa Disaster Risk Financing (ADRiFi) programme.

Competencies (Skills, Experience and Knowledge)

• Hold at least a Master's Degree in Environmental Science, Climate Change Management, Agriculture, Economics, Finance or any discipline that is relevant to the assignment;
• Have a minimum of six (6) years (for the PL4 role) or five (5) years (for the PL5 role), of relevant professional experience in Environmental Science, Climate Change Management, Agriculture Finance or any discipline that is relevant to the assignment;
• Demonstrated depth of understanding of climate change financing as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation measures;
• Proven ability to manage and deliver products in a timely manner and handle multiple tasks simultaneously;
• Expertise and substantial experience in one or more key areas of public financial management, in particular budget management;
• Strong expertise and knowledge of institutional change, the challenges of policy reform and capacity development, particularly in Africa, and demonstrated leadership, project management and team working skills;
• Experience in fragile states and knowledge of international development agency practices would be desirable;
• Experience of sovereign disaster risk financing in either a developed or developing country context desire;
• Excellent working knowledge of insurance products and institutional structures for large insurance / cat risk insurance programs;
• Ability to fit in an international and multi-cultural environment;
• Excellent presentation skills;
• Ability to communicate orally and in writing effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language; and
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).