Climate Adaptation Expert

Background 

The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) is implementing a program that seeks to improve the performance of organizations working on climate adaptation for a sustainable climate adaptation ecosystem on the continent.  The overall expected outcome of the program is to have a strong group of Africa-based and African-led organizations capable of shaping Africa's response to climate change through effective policy dialogue, advocacy and use of a common voice for awareness-raising and policy influence. 

ACBF seeks to recruit a Climate Adaptation Expert to provide technical guidance and support to the Program. Operating under the overall guidance of the Director of Programs and the direct supervision of the Program Coordinator, the Climate Adaptation Expert (CAE) will be primarily responsible for providing high quality technical, policy, programming, and implementation support, as well as for providing knowledge and capacity development services to ACBF and supported organizations. The CAE will also spur innovation, strategic leadership, dialogue and advocacy. S/he will support all stages of the program, which include the selection of organizations to be supported, capacity needs assessment, implementation of capacity improvement plans, monitoring of program activities, and knowledge generation and sharing. The CAE will also contribute to the building of the capacity of the supported organizations and developing and maintaining active climate adaptation knowledge and information networks in Sub-Saharan Africa.  S/he will actively participate in entrenching a culture of learning and quality improvement within the program and assist with monitoring and evaluation of program performance. 

Duties and Responsibilities 

1. Provide Technical Guidance 

1. Coordinate an in-depth scoping of the climate change ecosystem, covering Sub-SaharanAfrica. 

2. Coordinate a situation analysis of the climate change and adaptation ecosystem of Africa, exploring the situation, challenges, gaps and opportunities, to identify current gaps and inform the level of adaptation interventions required. 

3. Coordinate the review and analysis of the existing African and global climate change/adaptation frameworks/agendas, research and development, innovation, policy/advocacy, paying attention to the milestones made to date in driving the climate adaptation agenda for Africa with a view to strengthening leadership and representation capacity. 

4. Provide guidance for the mapping and profiling of climate change/adaptation actors and their roles(i.e., donors, governments, international NGOs, private sector organizations and CSOs) in Africa. 

5. Lead ACBF’s effort in exploring the opportunities and challenges of global phenomena such as digital transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic on the service delivery of the organizations in the climate change/adaptation ecosystem. 

6. Support the identification and recruitment of top-rated program consultants and experts to complement ACBF’s internal capacity for conducting work on specific activities and objectives of the program and for ensuring proper delivery of technical services and submission of technical and other reports. 

7. Contribute to enhancing gender mainstreaming in climate adaptation interventions and policy formulation processes. 

8. Provide input in the development of a monitoring and evaluation framework to enable organizations to regularly track and report on their progress on the implementation of climate adaptation commitments. 

2.   Support the Capacity Needs Assessment (CNA) of supported organizations and the development of Capacity Improvement Plans (CIPs) 

i. Support the coordination of the Capacity Needs Assessment (CNA) for each supported organization to uncover its organizational and skills gaps to enhance the organization’s performance in climate adaptation. For each supported organization, the CNA process will involve the following: 

• Conducting a general analysis to understand the mandate of the organization including its clients and stakeholders with a view to increasing adaptive capacity and decrease vulnerability.
• Reviewing the organizational performance in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, sustainability, and gender responsiveness.
• Identifying and assessing key operational processes within the organization.
• Identifying and prioritizing the identified capacity gaps.
• Developing a customized Capacity Improvement Plan, including a change management plan, and the related budget. 

ii. Support the coordination and supervision of the development and implementation of customized performance improvement plans to address prioritized capacity challenges and gaps and evaluation of the program outcomes. 

3. Support Strategic Partnerships and Knowledge Management 

1. Coordinate the development of policy briefs using findings from the CNAs to inform policy formulation and facilitate the dissemination of the policy briefs. 

2. Integrate and promote knowledge sharing throughout the entire program using information from CNAs and CIP outcomes to facilitate exchange of results generated, success stories and lessons learned. 

3. Establish and coordinate network of all the supported organizations, linking them with peer organizations, climate change/adaptation forums and networks and securing opportunities for their participation in climate adaptation capacity building events. 

4. Coordinate the production of knowledge products as informed by the findings of any research and scoping exercises emanating from this program to inform future programs and/or advancements in climate adaptation from which other organizations can learn.

5. Develop a process and mechanism to ensure sustainability of climate adaptation related training programs by designing accessible climate adaptation training materials.

6. Organize peer-to-peer workshops for the supported organizations to facilitate knowledge exchange and learning and integrate the key lessons and recommendations from such exchanges.

7. Support the flow of information on the strategic initiatives, trends and international climate negotiations to supported organizations.

8. Establish and maintain contacts with other relevant programs in Sub-Saharan Africa, encouraging exchange on good practices. 

4. Perform any other duties assigned by the supervisor. 

Required Qualifications, Experience and Competencies 

Selection will be competitive based on the following candidate profile: 

• Advanced university degree in Ecology, Climate Science, Eco-Hydrology, Environmental Science, natural resource economics or a related discipline from a recognized university.
• Minimum of 8 years of relevant progressive professional experience in climate adaptation planning and processes, and ecosystem-based adaptation issues.
• Strong research background and ability to glean relevant information, key recommendations from various documents, and policy documents to produce quality technical reports and quality knowledge management products.
• A good understanding of climate change agreements with demonstrated ability to facilitate policy dialogue with officials at the highest levels of government, civil society, international organizations, and the private sector.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, both oral and written, proven ability to prepare reports clearly and concisely, present, discuss and defend issues, findings, and recommendations
• Proven experience in the design and implementation of organizational capacity development interventions, and experience in project management will be an added advantage.
• English and French are the working languages of ACBF. For this position, fluency in oral and written English is required. Good working knowledge of French is an added advantage.
• Ability to effectively use software programs such as Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and Outlook. Experience with project management in ERP systems would be an asset. 

Core Competencies 

• Planning and organizing
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Communication
• Respect for organizational, intercultural, and ethical values
• Learning and Innovation

Values - ACBF staff subscribes to the following Values: 

Communication, Recognition, Excellence, Accountability and Modern.

Please note, only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted. 

We strongly encourage qualified female candidates to apply. 

ACBF is a smoke-free environment.