Country Engagement Specialist (Anglophone & Lusophone Africa)

Lead country engagement and deliver matchmaking for country portfolio 

• Develop and maintain an in-depth understanding of the context of NDC implementation and international efforts to support it for all countries within their portfolio. 

• Supporting the overall request for support processes by providing guidance to focal points in identifying support priorities, filling up and preparing request for support forms, and supporting the development, preparation and packaging of concept notes, terms of references and budget plans that will be included in the Request for Support Letter (RSL) and/or Partnership Action Fund (PAF) calls for proposals (CFP) circulation.

• Conducting Quality Assurance and Quality Control of requests for support forms  prior to circulation to the membership. This activity may entail reviewing requests for support for countries outside the specialist’s own portfolio.

• Understand the offerings the Partnership has available to support NDC implementation planning and investment planning, and help countries connect with those opportunities. This includes, facilitating capacity – building for the usage of the NDC implementation plan online tool, supporting countries in procuring partner support, and introducing countries to the Partnership’s Climate Finance Investment Framework. 

• Match country needs to potential Partner members of the NDC Partnership services, making connections to the right form of support or fund (e.g. Partner’s own funds, TA Fund, and PAF, etc), with close guidance from the Regional Manager. 

• Supporting/leading exchanges and sharing information on available funding opportunities based on partner responses,  between NDC Partnership Support Unit, Government focal points, other government officials, as well as institutional and associate members of the Partnership.

• Provide technical support to and, as required, act as end-to-end owner of country technical and high-level workshops to enhance country ownership and awareness on NDCs, liaising effectively with other SU teams and following applicable internal guidance and from government focal points and the Regional Manager.

• Evaluate proposals submitted under PAF Calls for Proposals, other procurement aimed at supporting countries in their portfolio, and job applications for embedded advisors and facilitators.

• Supervise embedded advisors including in-country facilitators and other experts deliver.

• Reviewing and advising on embedded advisors /consultants deliverables and coordinating approval with the government, in line with the Support Unit’s processes.

• Build and strengthen relationships with country focal points, ensuring their understanding of NDC Partnership mechanisms and processes, arrangements for embedded advisory support and what is expected from member countries as members of the Partnership. 

• Build and strengthen in-country partner relationships with impactful engagements to understand their climate related agenda and funding priorities. 

• Lead in delivering timely comprehensive responses and preparing information resource materials on country-specific engagement progress and results, as requested by implementing partners of the NDC Partnership and across Support Unit teams.

• Strategically plan and report on country missions to ensure an impactful experience, ensuring the creation of mission announcements to relevant stakeholders, communications materials and post-mission scoping analysis reports in a seamless process to build and maintain momentum.

• Supporting/Representing the country engagement team in external meetings and events.

• Establish and sustain a strategically aligned relationship with the Regional Manager to anchor the regional strategy with country context and gain exposure to regional themes, synergies and opportunities.

Knowledge, collaboration and ownership 

• Proactively collaborate with  all Support Unit teams in agile ways to shape One SU solutions & maximize knowledge exchange either as day-to-day owners or contributors as agreed by the collaboration model and Service Catalogues. 

• Liaising with Knowledge and Learning counterparts, partners and other organizations, as appropriate, to provide guidance and inputs for the development of in-depth analyses to support scoping, engagement planning, results reporting and other knowledge products.

• Steer and guide NDC In-Country Facilitators to ensure proactive knowledge sharing of the dynamics of the government focal points and partners, effective coordination, communication and quality outputs, including advisory and guidance to new in-country facilitators.

• Regularly provide feedback – during check-ins, mandatory office hours, and team meetings - to the Regional Manager and Country Engagement Management on country engagement successful practices and processes, and on challenges. 

• Upon request, participating in, or contributing to, internal and external meetings, workshops, conferences, and other dissemination activities (COPs, Peer-to-Peer exchanges, regional meetings). 

  Information management 

• Build, update and systematically capture country insights in dedicated systems to serve as input for impact stories and knowledge products.

• Ensure information on contact details of focal points (FP) and day-to-day persons of countries and partner members are upto-date, and that new contact points receive proper on-boarding to the NDC Partnership, its core service offerings and processes. 

• Ensuring SU tools are up to date in relation with the context of countries under their portfolio, including inputs and updates to Monday.com boards, and archiving and updating of SharePoint folders, NDC Partnership and affiliated websites. 

• Developing and co-authoring blog posts, presentations deck, talking points, infographics, brochures, and other online and offline communications materials.