Senior Climate Smart Agriculture Advisor (Home based Retainer) - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The UNOPS Global Portfolios Office (GPO) brings together diverse expertise to help partners deliver impact worldwide. With hubs in New York, Geneva, and Vienna, and expert teams operating globally, GPO leads multi-regional initiatives that advance sustainable development, climate action, and peacebuilding - including in some of the world’s most challenging environments. By leveraging our collective expertise and global networks, GPO supports UNOPS’ strategic priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals across more than 130 countries. We work closely with major global partners - including governments, international financial institutions, and UN agencies - to deliver a wide range of services, such as project management, fund management, hosting services, and HR support.

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WEC Background  

The Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) portfolio, based in Vienna, and with offices based globally is part of the UNOPS Global Portfolio Office. The Portfolio has built strong partnerships and is effectively managing a portfolio of over 500 million USD over the last 15 years to support key initiatives with fund management, project implementation and administrative support.  

 WEC effectively operationalizes partners' agendas with global approaches, as well as regional and country-specific activities focused on climate action, protection and conservation of the environment. Partners profit from WEC’s ability to operationalize and/or scale up their important substantive agendas, including in support of key multilateral environmental and climate agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, the Cartagena Convention as well as the Sustainable Development Goals.  

The NDC Partnership

The NDC Partnership is a global coalition, bringing together more than 260 members, including more than 140 countries, developed and developing, and more than 110 institutions to deliver on ambitious climate action that helps achieve the Paris Agreement and drive sustainable development. Governments identify their NDC implementation priorities and the type of support that is needed to translate them into actionable policies and programs. Based on these requests, the membership offers a tailored package of expertise, technical assistance and funding. This collaborative response provides developing countries with efficient access to a wide range of resources to adapt to and mitigate climate change and foster more equitable and sustainable development. The NDC Partnership Support Unit is jointly hosted by the World Resources Institute (WRI), the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC). For this project, the Consultant will be contracted through UNOPS.

Agriculture remains the backbone of Ethiopia’s economy and a primary source of livelihoods, employment, food security, and rural income. At the same time, the sector is highly exposed to climate risks, including erratic rainfall, drought, floods, land degradation, declining soil fertility, pest and disease pressure, and rising temperatures. These stresses threaten crop and livestock productivity, weaken household resilience, and increase pressure on ecosystems and natural resources.

The Government of Ethiopia has identified climate-smart agriculture as a priority pathway for advancing food security, resilience, low-emission development, and sustainable natural resource management. Despite this strong policy direction, major implementation challenges remain. Priority interventions are often not translated into finance-ready investment packages; opportunities for climate finance are not systematically tracked and pursued; institutional capacity for fundraising, proposal preparation, and investment planning remains limited; and implementation systems need stronger coordination, reporting, and technical backstopping. There is also a need to strengthen the ability of agricultural institutions to package projects that meet the requirements of climate funds, development partners, and private investors.

The Advisor will work closely with senior government leadership, regional bureaus, and key partners to translate Ethiopia’s NDC and CSA priorities into finance-ready projects, while providing technical backstopping for implementation across crops, livestock, rangeland and soil and water management, irrigation, agroforestry, and resilient value chains. A strong emphasis is placed on capacity building, system strengthening, and improving coordination, monitoring, and learning within the agriculture sector.

The Senior Advisor will report directly to the NDCPCountry Engagement Specialist and maintain a close working relationship with the State Minister of Agriculture, or another designated senior official within the Ministry of Agriculture, and relevant Ministry departments and units responsible for climate action, planning, extension, project development, and implementation. Collaboration will also extend to the Ministry of Planning and Development, specifically the Climate Policy, Analysis and Mainstreaming CEO and their team, as well as the NDCP In-Country Facilitator, Climate finance and Climate policy advisors team, with participation in joint planning and review sessions. 

• This is a retainer national vacancy / position for twelve 12 months, maximum of 220 working days, with possibility of an extension depending on satisfactory performance and on availability of funds. 

• This is a Home based position, meaning that the incumbent will not work from a UNOPS office but from the government facilities. Therefore, the incumbent will need to use his/her own laptop and software. 

• As this is a Local Position, in order to be eligible, the incumbent should be a national of Ethiopia or have a valid residence permit in the country.

• Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

The Senior Climate-Smart Agriculture Advisor will provide strategic and technical support to help the Ministry of Agriculture mobilize climate finance, develop high-quality investment pipelines and project concept notes, strengthen institutional capacity, and support implementation of agriculture-related climate priorities under Ethiopia’s Nationally Determined Contribution and related plans.

The Consultant will report to UNOPS, while day-to-day oversight of the assignment will be provided by the department within the Ministry of Agriculture in which he or she is embedded. The Advisor will also work in close coordination with the Ministry of Planning and Development, the NDC Partnership In-Country Facilitator, and other relevant partners to ensure alignment and effective delivery of the assignment. More specifically, the incumbent will perform the following functions:

Climate Finance Mobilization 

• Identify, screen, and prioritize climate-smart agriculture investment opportunities related to crops, livestock, soil and water management, agroforestry, irrigation, digital advisory services, and resilient value chains.
• Prepare and refine high-quality concept notes, project proposals, and investment packages for submission to climate funds, development banks, bilateral partners, philanthropic institutions, and relevant private investors.
• Coordinate bankable project proposal development, including problem analysis, theory of change, results frameworks, budgets, financing plans, implementation arrangements, safeguards inputs, gender considerations, risk assessments, and monitoring frameworks.
• Prepare climate finance strategies, donor engagement plans, funding opportunity trackers, investor outreach materials, and partnership notes to mobilize support for priority agriculture interventions.

Capacity Building and Strategic and Technical Support 

• Strengthen the Ministry’s capacity to prepare investment plans, project pipelines, concept notes, full project proposals, and financing strategies aligned with agriculture priorities, the Nationally Determined Contribution, and national development plans.
• Provide strategic advice on implementation of agriculture-related climate priorities and climate-smart agriculture commitments, and support refinement of sector strategies, investment priorities, and implementation approaches.
• Design and deliver practical in-house training, coaching, and mentoring for Ministry staff, Regional bureaus, extension systems, and other relevant institutions on climate finance, proposal development, donor engagement, and investment planning.
• Improve institutional systems for project development, coordination, monitoring, reporting, verification, and knowledge management within the agriculture sector.   
• Develop practical tools, templates, guidance notes, and standard operating procedures to improve the quality and consistency of project preparation and climate finance engagement.                                                                                                          
• Advise on integration of climate-smart agriculture, and climate resilient included in the Sector NDC implementation Plan into agricultural policies, programs, and sector planning documents.
• Provide technical backstopping to accelerate implementation of priority climate-smart agriculture interventions and support the Ministry to scale up practical lessons from ongoing initiatives, including those supported by the Netherlands Government.

Stakeholder engagement and Coordination 

• Support stronger collaboration among the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Planning and Development, the Ministry of Finance, Regional Bureaus of Agriculture and the Private Sector actors on Climate Resilient Agriculture, markets and value chains development. 
• Promote stronger engagement with private sector actors, financial institutions, agribusinesses, service providers, and cooperatives to strengthen climate-smart agriculture value chains and financing opportunities.
• Regularly update the relevant teams and sector coordinators within the Netherlands Embassy on assignment progress, opportunities for alignment with ongoing Netherlands-supported initiatives, key financing opportunities, and policy or strategic developments affecting the sector.
• Work closely with the NDC Partnership In-Country Facilitator and relevant climate finance and climate policy advisors to ensure alignment, coordination, and follow-up on support provided to the Ministry

Other Related Tasks 

• Undertake field missions, consultations, reviews, and technical backstopping tasks needed to accelerate implementation of priority climate-smart agriculture interventions.
• Support preparation of briefs, presentations, and decision notes for Ministry leadership and key stakeholders.
• Carry out any other related strategic or technical tasks requested by Ministry leadership that are consistent with the purpose of the assignment.     

Required

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Conservation Agriculture, Land and Water Resource Management, Irrigation water management, Agronomy, Livestock, Climate Change Agriculture, Project Planning, Public Policy, or another closely related field.
• Bachelor's degree in related discipline with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience (7 total) may be accepted instead of an advanced university degree.

Desired

• PhD in Agriculture, Agronomy, Integrated watershed management, soil and water Conservation, agroforestry, development, climate-smart integrated watershed/catchment management, and rangeland development and management

Required

• At least 5  years of progressively responsible professional experience in climate-smart agriculture, climate risk management, nature-based solutions (NbS), climate finance, agricultural investment planning, project preparation, fundraising, or closely related areas 
• Proven experience developing agricultural investment plans and project proposals contributing to national CSA strategies (including the NDC), and climate risk management. 
• Good knowledge of climate-smart agriculture approaches, value chains, irrigation, soil and water management and participatory rangelands improvements and livestock related resilient development initiatives in developing-country contexts
• Strong understanding of climate finance architecture and donor requirements, with practical experience engaging multilateral climate funds, development banks, bilateral partners, philanthropic organizations, or private investors.

Desired

• Expertise in promoting climate-smart agriculture technologies and experience engaging private-sector actors to scale technologies, partnerships, and agri-value chains and market development.
• Strong analytical, writing, coordination, negotiation, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Practical experience working within Government Organizations and/or Federal Ministries

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