Call for Interest - Technical Specialist (GEF) - Temporary Professional Officer (TPO)

This is a Call for Interest for a Temporary Professional Officer (TPO). A TPO is a short-term staff member for an initial duration of 12 months. The appointment of a short-term staff member carries no expectation of continuous employment or conversion to any other type of appointment with IFAD. Short-term appointments in the same Division/unit cannot exceed 18 cumulative months (including extensions).

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty and hunger. It does so by investing in rural people. IFAD finances programmes and projects that increase agricultural productivity and raise rural incomes, and advocates at the local, national and international level for policies that contribute to rural transformation. 

The Strategy and Knowledge Department (SKD) provides expert guidance on IFAD's strategic direction, thematic priorities and technical quality of IFAD’s operations. It plays a critical role in providing technical expertise to operational teams to enhance development effectiveness, by generating  and  disseminating IFAD’s development knowledge and evidence on strategic themes, and encouraging innovative application of cutting-edge global knowledge and evidence in IFAD investments to support countries tackle their most complex development challenges in fostering inclusive and sustainable rural transformation. SKD is composed of the (i) Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division (ECG); the (ii) Sustainable Production, Markets and Institutions Division (PMI); and the (iii) Research and Impact Assessment Division (RIA).

ECG takes the lead in mainstreaming cross-cutting themes of environment and climate, nutrition, gender, youth, and indigenous peoples and all related aspects of social inclusion into IFAD's portfolio, to strengthen the quality of IFAD’s operations and achieve improved impacts in these areas in an integrated manner. One of the pillars of this work is the preparation and implementation of the Social, Environment, and Climate Change Assessment Procedures (SECAP) for enhanced results.

The Temporary Professional Officer (Technical Specialist (GEF)) works works under the supervision of the Senior Climate Finance Specialist and overall strategic, policy and management guidance of the division Director. S/He works collaboratively with respective ECG regional and technical specialists (both Environment/Climate and Social Inclusion), PMI thematic Technical Specialists, Country Directors and other staff to ensure consistency, cohesion and synergy in the application of technical advice and provision of programme development support facilitating knowledge flows and resources mobilization.

Project support and Technical advice (50%) 

• Screen the GEF project ideas;
• Write sections of concept notes and project proposals, working closely with other relevant IFAD staff involved;
• Review the quality of PIFs and FPGs, providing systematic assessment of proposals vis a vis GEF requirements and suggesting ways of enhancing their quality;
• Support the PDT in responding to comments from GEF Sec and STAP; 
• Ensure the completeness and quality documentation in preparation for proposal submission and for reporting requirements of the approved projects along with GEF and IFAD project cycles;
• Provide guidance on key sources of information and tools for project teams when developing their GEF projects and programs; 
• Collaborate with a wide team across the ECC cluster, the SI cluster, PMI, RIA, country directors and country teams;
• Participate in country missions for formulation and implementation support of GEF projects as needed.

Corporate tasks to support the management of the GEF pipeline and portfolio development (30%)

• Contribute to the finalization of the IFAD strategy for GEF-8; 
• Support the finalisation of procedures for the elaboration and implementation of GEF, LDCF, and SCCF  projects;
• Coordinate with the M&E specialist in charge of AF/GCF/GEF to create/adjust IFAD’s systems to handle GEF project (interface, repository of information, dashboard, M&E, GIS);
• Review GEF policy and strategic documents and support the interdivisional review and the consolidation of comments; 
• Monitor IFAD GEF project pipeline, tracking key metrics and progress on project development;
• Support project teams in preparing reporting documents such as annual progress reports, and evaluations and in liaising with the finance divisions;
• Participate to the calls and meetings on GEF, with GEF as well as with countries when needed or other GEF agencies; 
• Support management of the funds mobilized by ECG for GEF project design and climate related activities. 

Knowledge Management (20%) 

• Contribute to the systematization of the lessons learnt related to the design and implementation of GEF project and develop guidance notes on specific topics as needed for IFAD GEF intervention;
• Participate in delivering GEF related trainings; 
• Contribute to the organisation of the inception workshops of IFAD-GEF projects, such as for instance by preparing and delivering –jointly with the other divisions involved- the presentation on the specific requirements of GEF projects to IFAD staff in the country, the national counterparts, the Executing Entities and the PMU;
• Provide technical inputs into relevant chapters in IFAD publications (CAR, RIDE, etc.); 
• Write technical blogs on GEF projects and themes to contribute to ECG and IFAD visibility; 
• Other relevant tasks as agreed with the Supervisor.

Education: 

• Level – Advanced university degree from an accredited institution in the field of specialization, e.g. Agriculture, Rural Development, Natural Resource Management, Environment, Economics, Social Sciences, Climate Change, etc.
• Degree must be an accredited institution listed on https://www.whed.net/home.php 

Work experience: 

• Minimum five (5) years of technical expertise in fields related to the GEF focal areas and trust funds (Land degradation, Biodiversity, Climate change mitigation, and climate change adaptation) and GEF policies and processes. 
• Skills in the design, review and implementation of environment and climate projects, coordination among different stakeholders, and identification of solutions to evolving issues.
• Ability to share technical guidance/knowledge at the peer level and with senior counterparts.

Languages: 

• Required English (4 – Excellent) 
• Desirable: French or Spanish (3 - Good) 

A Temporary Professional Officer (TPO) is a short-term staff member. The appointment of a short-term staff member carries no expectation of continuous employment or conversion to any other type of appointment with IFAD. The intital duration for this Call for Interest is 12 months. 

In general, an appointment of a short-term staff member may be renewed upon mutual agreement and satisfactory performance, provided however that short-term appointments granted by the same Division/unit shall not exceed 18 cumulative months (including extensions). In no case the total duration of short term appointments shall exceed 36 cumulative months (including extensions). Once the short-term staff member has completed the cumulative 36-month limit, that staff member may not be re-employed by the Fund on a short-term appointment. 

In the interest of making most cost-effective use of funds and resources, we are only able to respond to applicants who are short-listed for interview. Candidates who do not receive any feedback within three months should consider their application unsuccessful.

Candidates may be required to participate in interviews