Regional Advisor Sustainable Environments (P-5), East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, Bangkok, Thailand

For every child... UNICEF seeks a dynamic environment and climate champion and leader to act as its authoritative Adviser on strategies, policies, approaches, best practices and knowledge on climate change, urbanization, sustainable energy and other environmental issues.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

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For every Child, a Future  …

The dual effects of climate change and urbanization in East Asia and Pacific are imminent and urgent. Consequences due to both issues affect the poor disproportionately, making this is an equity issue, with children and young people often being the most vulnerable and affected. UNICEF has identified four priorities on climate change and children that should inform its programme work and operations: 1) Advocacy and accountability- using UNICEF’s influence, reach and expertise – including the generation of evidence to support governments’ efforts to reach their ambitious commitments, to help develop more ambitious programmes that protect children from the impact of climate change and strengthen engagement of young people in actions related to climate change; 2) Climate change adaptation through resilient development- developing programmes that support children and their families to overcome disasters and reduce the risk posed by these before they happen; 3) Climate change mitigation- supporting communities to transition to a low-carbon development pathway and 4) Greening UNICEF operations.

In addition, other global trends are interacting with climate and environment. Chief among them are urbanization and demographics. More than half of the world’s children live in cities, a ratio that will rise to 70 per cent in this region by 2030. The majority of the world’s greenhouse gases and waste are generated by cities, and it is increasingly clear that the poorest urban children are disproportionately affected by environmental hazards, including air pollution and urban waste. Meanwhile, programming for children in urban settings is an area of expertise that is needed in the region, which will require developing new partnerships and approaches.

How can you make a difference?

As Regional Advisor, Sustainable Environments, for East Asia and Pacific Region and working under overall guidance of  the Deputy Regional Director and in close collaboration with on technical issues to the Senior Advisor, Climate and Environment, based in the Division for Data Research and Policy, UNICEF Headquarters - the incumbent is responsible for :

• Regional advisory services and technical support on strategic planning
• Support to country offices on program development and planning
• Regional program monitoring and assessment
• Advocacy, networking and partnership building
• Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

Key functions and accountabilities include the following:

1. Regional advisory services and technical support on strategic planning

• Advise key national government officials, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners on policies, strategies, approaches and best practices on climate change, sustainable energy and other environmental issues to support program development planning, management, implementation and delivery of results.
• Participate in regional/country program planning, preparation and review to provide advice on formulation, design, management, enhancement and communication of climate change, sustainable energy and other environmental policy, including setting priorities and results-based management goals.
• Participate in regional key events and strategic discussions to influence policy discussions and agenda setting on climate change, sustainable energy and other environmental issues.
• Develop and/or recommend regional program policies, strategies and approaches. Lead and/or organize regional strategic discussions and planning on climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and other environmental programming issues.
• Work with the regional team to ensure inclusion of climate change, sustainable energy and other environmental issues across UNICEF’s work, including but not limited to WASH, Health, Education, Social Inclusion, Nutrition, Urban, Disaster Risk Reduction, and humanitarian situations.
• In cooperation with the regional chief of operations, provide guidance and technical advice to Country Offices to green their operations.

2.  Support to country offices on program development and planning

• Collaborate with Regional Management/Country Office teams throughout all stages of programming to provide technical support to program preparation, implementation and monitoring for results.

• Tailored support to country offices that champion climate change and/or programming in urban settings.

• Provide policy guidance and technical support to national external partners/internal colleagues to develop national policies/strategies for UNICEF assisted programs.

• Contribute to the planning and conduct/update of situation analysis to ensure that current and evidence based data on climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and other environmental issues, are available to guide UNICEF’s strategic policy advocacy, intervention and development efforts on child rights.
• Manage and coordinate technical support around climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and other environmental issues ensuring it is well planned, monitored, and implemented in a timely fashion so as to adequately support scale-up and delivery. Ensure risk analysis and risk management are embedded into overall management of the support, in close consultation with UNICEF programme sections, Cooperating Partners, and governments.

• Keep abreast of national/regional/international development priorities on climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and environmental policy to leverage UNICEF’s position and competencies with donors, national governments, communities and constituents to advocate/promote interventions and policies related to climate change, sustainable energy and other environmental issues affecting children.

• Provide technical advice to facilitate the inclusion of climate change, sustainable energy, issues related to the urban environment, and other environmental issues in the Country Programme and to ensure alignment of programs goals with the overall UNICEF’s Strategic Plan.

• Consult and collaborate with national/global colleagues/partners/allies to develop a partnerships framework to address specific needs and to leverage resources for enhancing/scaling up initiatives to address climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and other environmental issues, and child-responsive and sustainable urban development affecting children
• Evaluate/facilitate synergy, integration, coherence, and harmonization of programs and projects with UNICEF Strategic Plans and priorities, donors’ development strategies/policies, national priorities/competencies and UN System development interventions/initiatives.

3. Regional program monitoring and assessment

• Ensure effective and efficient monitoring and evaluation of different country programmes within the region. Ensure that climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and other environment related initiatives enhance policy dialogue, planning, supervision, technical advice, management, training, research and support; and monitoring and evaluation

• Collaborate with HQ Advisers, Regional/Country Monitoring and Evaluation Advisers/Officers to establish benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators and measurement to assess/strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results on climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and other environment related initiatives.
• Participate in major monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual sector reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine and to provide advice on required action/interventions to achieve results.
• Assess CO’s monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths/weaknesses in program and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Submit/share assessments on climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and other environment related initiatives, in country offices highlighting critical issues and suggestions for enhancing performance and delivery of sustainable results.
• Monitor progress made with greening UNICEF’s operations

4.  Advocacy, networking and partnership building

• Establish effective partnerships with Government, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, civil society and local leaders, the private sector, foundations, academia and other UN agencies to support sustained and proactive commitment to the Convention of the Rights of the Child and to achieve global UN agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and the Sendai DRR Framework.

• Collaborate with/advise country offices in the region to develop strategies and implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and support resource mobilization for climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and other environment related initiatives.

• Participate and/or represent UNICEF (as delegated/designated) in key events/meetings and in inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and other environmental issues to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are clearly articulated and fully considered/integrated in the UNDAF process in development planning and agenda setting. Collaborate with regional inter-agency partners/colleagues UNDAF planning and preparation of related programs and projects

5.  Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Promote critical thinking and introduce technological and program innovations, approaches and good practices in the region for climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and other environment related initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services.

• Keep abreast of, research, benchmark, introduce and implement best and cutting edge practices in the region related to climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and other environmental issues.

• Identify, assess, vet and disseminate a roster of qualified experts and highly recognized institutions for easy access and use by stakeholders

• Lead and/or develop policies and procedures and introduce innovation and best practices to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programs and projects.
• Lead/plan/implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders to promote sustainable results on climate change, sustainable energy, the urban environment and other environmental issues related programing, advocacy and technical support.
• Lead knowledge exchange including collecting and sharing best practices and lessons learned on greening UNICEF’s operations

To qualify as a Champion for every Child you will have…

Advanced university degree in environment, energy or climate change, or other relevant disciplines. Qualifications in urban development or planning is strongly preferred.

A minimum of ten (10) years of relevant work experience focused on developing countries, related to development cooperation in any of the following areas: climate change adaptation,  environment, air pollution, sustainable energy or urbanization.

Experience in managing programmes/projects related to the above programmatic areas in developing countries is required.

Proven experience in successfully developing, formulating and overseeing the implementation of adaptation and low carbon development projects for the GEF/LDCF/SCCF, Adaptation Fund, and/or other sources of climate finance is required

Knowledge of climate change impacts, climate risk assessments, and adaptation solutions is required.

Knowledge of greenhouse gas emissions and low carbon development solutions, especially related to sustainable energy is required.

Knowledge of sustainable urban development solutions, is required.

Familiar with children's rights and gender in the context of climate change adaptation and low carbon development and/or natural resources management.

Experience with greening the operations of an organization is an asset.

Excellent analytical and writing skills, advocacy and presentational skills is required

Fluency in English (written and verbal) is required.  Knowledge of another official UN language  is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…
Our core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.  You will also have desirable leadership competencies in delivering results, engaging and nurturing, self awareness, managing complexity and change, partnerships for impact and innovation and risk taking. 

To view our competency framework, please click here. 

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.