Climate Resilience Specialist

In 2021, UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa launched timbuktoo, a multi-pronged initiative aimed to galvanize African youth as entrepreneurs, innovators, and problem solvers. The initiative is focused on supporting and growing innovative, scalable, and impactful entrepreneurship by African young people, while relying on a springboard of partners who together contribute meaningfully to building an African youth innovation and startup ecosystem. The timbuktoo approach is anchored in seeking, nurturing, and building African solutions forwarded by Africa’s youth that directly address one or more of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). timbuktoo is an explosive new entrant into UNDP Africa’s ambition to transform the African continent by harnessing on the African people themselves, particularly its ambitious, vibrant, youth, as the key to its development and path out of poverty. To achieve this bold ambition timbuktoo utilizes a hub and spoke model composed of 10 thematic nodes and University Innovation Pods (UniPods). University Innovation Pods (UniPods) are a groundbreaking initiative under timbuktoo located in a top technical public university with the objective of supporting youth innovation at the critical time in their life cycle, at ideation and prototyping. UniPods offer a unique blend of high-tech maker spaces, design labs, and technology transfer offices, providing a comprehensive environment for young innovators to develop their ideas, create prototypes, and receive guidance on market entry and intellectual property protection

Positioned within the Sustainable Energy, Environment and Climate Change (SEEDCC) Unit, strengthening resilience in the agricultural sector is central to achieving Rwanda’s updated national climate commitments. As a key pillar of the economy and a primary source of livelihoods, agriculture remains highly vulnerable to climate variability and shocks. Transforming the sector through climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is therefore essential to sustain economic growth, reduce poverty, and ensure long-term food security. The UN Volunteer will serve as a technical expert and key catalyst for this transformation, dedicated specifically to bridging the financing gap for agricultural adaptation. The core mandate of this role is to translate broad climate resilience strategies into structured, bankable CSA projects. By actively engaging stakeholders and aggressively pursuing climate finance, from vertical funds (e.g. Adaptation Fund), bilateral donors, and private sector investors, the Specialist will mobilize the critical resources needed to scale up nature-positive agricultural practices, promote green value chains, and build the resilience of vulnerable farming communities.

Under the direct supervision of the Head of SEEDCC, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:
• Drive Resource Mobilization for CSA: Lead the drafting of high-quality funding proposals, concept notes, and investment pitches specifically targeting climate finance for climate-smart agriculture and sustainable land management.
• Develop Bankable Projects: Identify and structure green financing opportunities and de-risking mechanisms to attract private sector investment into climate-resilient agricultural value chains.
• Technical Design: Provide technical inputs into the design and implementation of CSA interventions (e.g., agroforestry, drought-resistant varieties, climate information services, efficient irrigation).
• Donor & Stakeholder Engagement: Cultivate strategic partnerships with key stakeholders (such as Ministry of Agriculture, environment agencies, agri-businesses, and development partners) to leverage co-financing for CSA.
• Impact Reporting: Monitor the impact of agricultural resilience projects and prepare compelling donor reports that demonstrate the return on investment in CSA.