UNOPS

The UNOPS Global Portfolios Office (GPO) brings together diverse expertise to help partners deliver impact worldwide. With hubs in New York, Geneva, and Vienna, and expert teams operating globally, GPO leads multi-regional initiatives that advance sustainable development, climate action, and peacebuilding - including in some of the world’s most challenging environments. By leveraging our collective expertise and global networks, GPO supports UNOPS’ strategic priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals across more than 130 countries. We work closely with major global partners - including governments, international financial institutions, and UN agencies - to deliver a wide range of services, such as project management, fund management, hosting services, and HR support.

As part of the Global Portfolios Office, UNOPS Geneva provides comprehensive solutions in secretariat hosting, operational support, and fund management. We manage global programmes, including the Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) Portfolio, offering project management, procurement, HR, and financial services. Geneva hosts the secretariats of eight global partnerships focused on health (RBM, Stop TB, ATscale), nutrition (SUN), water/sanitation (SHF), humanitarian leadership (GELI), urban development (Cities Alliance), and disaster displacement (PDD). We also provide fund management for EIF and UN Water, and operational support to Geneva-based partners like the Global Fund and UNHCR. The EU-UNOPS Lives in Dignity (LiD) Grant Facility is also based here.

WEC Background:

The Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) portfolio, based in Vienna, and with offices based globally, is part of the UNOPS Global Portfolio Office. The Portfolio has built strong partnerships and is effectively managing a portfolio of over 500 million USD over the last 15 years to support key initiatives with fund management, project implementation and administrative support.  

 WEC effectively operationalizes partners' agendas with global approaches, as well as regional and country specific activities focused on climate action, protection and conservation of the environment. Partners profit from WEC’s ability to operationalize and/or scale up their important substantive agendas, including in support of key multilateral environmental and climate agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, the Cartagena Convention as well as the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The NDC Partnership:

The NDC Partnership is a global coalition, bringing together more than 250 members, including more than 130 countries, developed and developing, and more than 110 institutions to deliver on ambitious climate action that helps achieve the Paris Agreement and drive sustainable development. Governments identify their NDC implementation priorities and the type of support that is needed to translate them into actionable policies and programs. Based on these requests, the membership offers a tailored package of expertise, technical assistance and funding. This collaborative response provides developing countries with efficient access to a wide range of resources to adapt to and mitigate climate change and foster more equitable and sustainable development. The NDC Partnership Support Unit is jointly hosted by the World Resources Institute (WRI), the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC). For this project, the Consultant will be contracted through UNOPS.

The Government of Rwanda, through the work of the Taskforce on Access to Climate Finance, has identified two key areas of intervention that will accelerate the mobilization of resources necessary to achieve national climate goals, including those that form Rwanda’s commitment to the Paris Agreement. These interventions include (i) the need to streamline Technical Assistance and (ii) the need to transition away from projects and promote investment planning to implement programs that demonstrate long term impacts and sustainability.  

In October 2021, the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and Green Fund – FONERWA launched the NDC implementation framework, which includes NDC action priorities in line with the Green Growth and Climate Resilient Strategy (GGCRS) and its long-term vision to make Rwanda a developed, low carbon and climate resilient economy by 2050. The NDC implementation Framework was later updated in 2024 to reflect the current climate finance flow that also takes into account the linkage between projects and the GGCRS Programs of Action (PoA). The GGCRS integrates the NDC, the SDGs, as well as other key national development policies and strategies informing the country’s low carbon development, such as the National Environment and Climate Change Policy enacted in 2019 and the National Strategy for Transformation (NST -2) with the goal of achieving a climate resilient nation with a clean and healthy environment.   

The successful implementation of GGCRS requires a transformational change in access to climate finance at the national and local levels based on a programmatic and coordinated approach that builds on other existing program-based initiatives. Climate financing of programs aims to catalyze more systemic change at national and sub-national levels through increasing efficiency through cross sector coordination. This in turn requires country ownership for entities to program larger sums under one investment. Importantly, this approach presents the potential for enhanced access to resources to foster integrated, and multi-sector results towards strategic and sustainable climate responsive impact. Such an approach also aims to encourage collaboration among fund providers to coordinate and harmonize delivery of climate finance in a way that optimizes their climate commitments, benefits and impacts.   

The GGCRS, updated in 2023, is responsive to emerging trends and climate challenges, and serves as an implementation-ready, reliable instrument for program financing that meets long term climate and green growth targets by 2050, with associated milestones in 2030 and 2035. As a result, the updated GGCRS is structured to successfully deliver climate compatible results basing on programmatic planning and investments.  

In this context, the Rwanda Ministry of Environment (MoE) through the Rwanda Green Fund (FONERWA), in collaboration with other national institutions and development partners, seeks support to develop a pipeline of investment plans tailored to the programs of action within the Green Growth Climate Resilience Strategy (GGCRS) and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).    

The position will report to the NDCP Partnerships Development Specialist and support the FONERWA, MOE and MINECOFIN.

*This is a retainer national vacancy / position for twelve 12 months, maximum of 220 working days, with possibility of an extension depending on satisfactory performance and on availability of funds. 

**This is a Homebased position, meaning that the incumbent will not work from a UNOPS office but from  the government facilities. Therefore, the incumbent will need to use his/her own laptop and software. 

***As this is a Local Position, in order to be eligible, the incumbent should be a national of Rwanda or have a valid residence permit in the country. 

****Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

To support access to climate finance through a programmatic approach, the Government of Rwanda requested technical support from the NDC Partnership for developing systemic and programmatic responses that mobilize finance for climate action. This support will work from existing pipelines and priorities for action, including the NDC implementation framework, the GGCRS programs of action and previously developed investment plans. In response to this request, the NDC Partnership is hiring an embedded advisor to support Rwanda in this process to coordinate sectors and development partners in developing investment plans with specific roles as outlined below. This advisor position will collaborate closely with FONERWA and the Ministry of Environment, with support from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN). The person will also coordinate directly with the NDC Partnership’s in-country facilitator supporting the Ministry of Environment.

Required

• Master's degree or equivalent in finance, economics, environment, natural sciences, or another related area or any other relevant field of study with 7 years of relevant experience.

• Bachelor’s degree with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience (9 total) may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.

  
  

Required

• At least 7 years of relevant working experience in the areas of climate change and climate finance  
• Experience with results-based management and logical frameworks  
• Proven experience leading other experts in the field of climate finance, environment and other related fields.
• Demonstrated experience in resource mobilization for environmental and natural resources management and climate adaptation and mitigation.  
• Demonstrated experience in organizing stakeholder capacity building workshops and producing knowledge products.   
• Demonstrated skills and experience in policy support, research and analysis, training, capacity building and institutional strengthening particularly in the area of environmental management and climate change  
• Proven skills and applications in Microsoft office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)    
• Good understanding of planning processes and stakeholders of Rwanda   

Desired

• Experience in providing oversight and managing stakeholders at national, regional and international levels 
• Experience with developing climate finance flow frameworks to support decision making. 
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills 

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes. 
• Please note that UNOPS will at no stage of the recruitment process request candidates to make payments of any kind.
• Applications to vacancies must be received before midnight Copenhagen time (CET) on the closing date of the announcement. Applications received after the closing date will not be considered. 
• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments. 
• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 
• UNOPS evaluates all applications based on the skills, qualifications and experience requirements outlined in the vacancy announcement. We are committed to considering all candidates in a fair and transparent manner, and we value diverse perspectives and experiences, including those of women, indigenous and racialized communities, individuals with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.
• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process. If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few mandatory courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. Refreshers or new mandatory courses may be required during your contract. Please note that you will not receive any compensation for taking courses and refreshers. For more information on a retainer contract here. 
• For more details about the contract types, please click here.
• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda. 
• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.