Climate Change Specialist

Details

Mission and objectives

The UN Resident Coordinator Office (RCO) is responsible for coordinating UN engagements with counterparts in the UAE, working closely with a wide spectrum of partners, such as government partners, private sector entities, and academia. The Resident Coordinator (RC) system aims to bring together the different UN agencies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of operational activities at the country level. The Resident Coordinator, as the designated representative of the UN Secretary-General, leads the UN Country Team in identifying how it can best collaborate with the UAE Government for the advancement of the country’s sustainable development and humanitarian goals and SDG implementation by mobilizing the full range of mandates and expertise of the UN system. This coordination promotes more strategic support for national plans and priorities and development strategies. Advancing the climate agenda is the defining challenge of our lifetime, given the accelerating irreversible changes affecting millions of persons and species, cascading their lives into disarray, and increasing global humanitarian needs. The primary multilateral mechanism to address this challenge is centered through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and its annual Conference of Parties (COP) which facilitates dialogue around the convention’s implementation. The COP process presents an exceptional opportunity for the UN system to support of accelerating the implementation of the climate agenda, capitalizing on its global presence, expertise, and capabilities, and renewed mandates to deepen engagement on the climate agenda.

Context

The 2018 General Assembly-mandated reform of the United Nations development system involved a set of far-reaching changes in the way the UN development system works to reposition the United Nations development system to deliver on the 2030 Agenda. Specifically, the reform involved a reinvigorated Resident Coordinator system with an independent and empowered Resident Coordinator and RCO at its centre. The Resident Coordinator is the highest-ranking development representative of the UN system in a country and leads the United Nations Country Team to deliver collective responses on the mutually agreed priorities in a country. This position is therefore intended to support the UN’s vision for a deeper and more coordinated engagement in the lead up to COP28 and the subsequent year of the UAE’s COP Presidency (November 2023- November 2024), accelerating progress on the climate agenda, the commitments made during COP 28, and reflecting the ideals of the United Nations development system reform. The UNV will be required to work closely with UN system focal points, the UAE government counterparts, and other relevant stakeholders.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the Head of the Resident Coordinator Office, and in the context of the UN’s support for climate action and the road to COP 28, the UN Volunteer will support the following: • Document and identify new opportunities for UN engagement in climate action, with a particular focus on partnerships around inclusion and innovation. • Facilitate connections between UN entities and potential partners toward new programming and partnerships. • Assist in the deepening of the thematic dialogue to generate practical policy and programmatic climate solutions. • Monitor and document UAE Government priorities and initiatives with regard to climate action and the COP 28 process. • Establish and maintain relationships with key partners and stakeholders who have overlap-ping strategic interests with the UN in the field of climate action. • Assist the inclusion of the widest spectrum of stakeholders in COP dialogue. • Support and provide input to reporting requirements in relation to COP activities and events. • Other related tasks. In the second year of the assignment, the JPO will support the UN’s initiatives associated with the UAE’s COP Presidency and its overall climate action and environment portfolio, and the implementation of commitments made at COP 28.