Terms of Reference
Temporary Appointment
Snr Project Officer, Greening and Sustainability (P4)
Global Mobility and Infrastructure Service/ DFAM
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a Temporary full-time position within the Global Mobility and Infrastructure Service, in Nairobi, Kenya.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a global United Nations organization which mandate is to protect and assist refugees and other persons of its concern world-wide and to seek durable solutions to their plight; UNHCR is present in 134 countries with offices in 546 locations.
Title: Senior Project Officer, Greening and Sustainability
Duty Station: Nairobi, Kenya
Duration: 1 year
Contract Type: Temporary Appointment
Closing date: 15 March 2021
Start date: 15 April 2021
Organisational context
In 2007, the UN Climate Neutral Strategy was developed, and organizations committed to move their respective organizations to climate neutrality. Since then, UNHCR has continuously improved its efforts in promoting the careful use of energy resources by refugees, host communities, partner organizations and as a priority by UNHCR itself. In 2019, UNHCR developed its Global Strategy for Sustainable Energy 2019-2024 which aims to enable persons of concern to UNHCR to meet their energy needs in a safe and sustainable manner. It also launched the Clean Energy Challenge and is currently working on a first comprehensive Strategic Framework on Climate Action.
In 2020, UNHCR developed a new internal Greening and Sustainability strategy in order to improve its environmental performance, climate compatibility and resource efficiency. The UNHCR Greening and Sustainability strategy focuses on three main areas:
Green Box: measure global energy consumption of UNHCR offices in order to migrate from fossil fuels to renewable energy
Procure and install electricity meters in all UNHCR offices; create centrally managed dashboard with real-time data; carry out energy audits of all UNHCR offices; and prepare business cases for each UNHCR office to identify alternative energy options..
Green Fund: Develop innovative financing model to migrate UNHCR offices from fossil fuels to renewable energy
Establish internal UNHCR Green Revolving Fund to convert UNHCR Operations from diesel to renewable energy; use the Fund to procure from private sector independent power producers through Power Purchase Agreements; aim to achieve positive carbon impact and positive financial impact to budget (cost effective).
Green Data: Implement dynamic technology platform for real-time monitoring and data visualization
Establish systems and policies for real-time, high quality data collection of GHG emissions, energy, waste and water across UNHCR; create data warehouse and dashboards for easy monitoring, reporting and decision-making.
The position
The Senior Project Officer¿s position is located within the Global Mobility and Infrastructure Service (GMIS), in the Division of Financial and Administrative Management (DFAM). DFAM contributes to safeguarding the financial resources entrusted to UNHCR by maintaining and improving the financial and administrative systems, policies and procedures and promoting cost-effective and transparent use of these resources. GMIS is a new service within DFAM which merges four functions: global fleet management, global travel, global facilities management and global asset management. Greening the Blue is one of GMIS main cross-functional projects.
Under the supervision of the GMIS Chief, the Senior Project Officer supports UNHCR to implement the Greening the Blue strategy and manages the relating projects. S/he provides global content leadership on issues related to Greening the Blue and ensures coordination and partnerships development with relevant stakeholders. The incumbent supports the development of tools and the creation and translation of global policy and standards into practice. S/he also advocates for financial and human resource allocation to support the project and showcases successful innovative financing approaches for their expansion through public and private sector partners in close collaboration with Private partnerships and Philanthropy Section – Innovative Financing and GMIS Senior Finance Officer.
The assigned responsibilities of this post hence include regular liaisons with Senior Management of UNHCR such as Directors and Representatives and a variety of staff at Headquarters and in the field, as well as within the UN system, relevant networks and relevant partners.
The incumbent of this post must have a good knowledge of the UN Financial Regulations and Rules and other financial and administrative management (including innovative financing) practices.
Duties and responsibilities
Under the supervision of the Chief, GMIS, the Senior Project Officer will assume the following key functions:
– Define the strategy, milestones, indicators and timeline for the green box, green fund, and green data projects,
– Provide financial management, monitoring and coordination of green box; green fund; and green data project activities as well as on-time delivery of project outputs within agreed budget and quality standards;
– Support the implementation within operations: provide support on project implementation design, monitoring and evaluation of project activities as well as accurate and timely reporting;
– Provide financial management, monitoring and coordination of relevant project activities, and the delivery of project outputs within agreed time, budget and quality standards;
– Develop and coordinate UNHCR-wide environmental policy to guide UNHCR Offices on internal UNHCR carbon emission sources such as travel, facilities and fleet management, waste and water management, and building management, provide technical support to Operations on initiatives;
– Create UNHCR-wide Environmental Management System (EMS) as part of UNHCR¿s management system to develop and implement UNHCR-wide environmental policies, procedures and help streamline environmental deliberations and activities;
– Develop a protocol to reduce footprint of UNHCR high level global meetings like Global Refugee Forum, ExCom, Standing Committee, etc. and strive towards climate neutral meetings.
– Strengthen strategic partnerships with UN Agencies/inter-agency coordination, governments, private sector, NGOs and CSO;
– Represent UNHCR in relevant inter-agencies activities, group, task teams, fora and meetings such as Issue Management Group (IMG) on Environmental Sustainability Management, the UN Environmental Programme (SUN), the Environment Management Group (EMG), etc.;
– Develop effective communication channels between all key stakeholders and promote the sharing of information on Greening the blue-related activities throughout UNHCR internally and externally;
– Work closely with the Senior Innovative Financing counterparts and GMIS Senior Finance Officer to develop innovative financing approaches relating to Greening the Blue;
– Manage contractual and partnership relationships in compliance with UN/UNHCR rules and regulations;
– Work with Regional Bureaus and Divisions to develop capacity building activities including developing training plans and training material, as well as knowledge-sharing webinars and workshops to discuss lessons learned from Greening the Blue projects;
– Contribute to an effective, high quality Greening the Blue team, foster a collaborative working environment with UNHCR colleagues, contribute to a client-oriented approach that values proactivity, continuous improvement, innovation, high performance and cost effectiveness.
– Propose innovative solutions and improvement opportunities to make UNHCR travel, fleet and building services more environmentally friendly and cost-efficient;
– Perform other duties as required.
Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required
Years of Experience / Degree Level
For P4/NOD – 9 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 8 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 7 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree
Field(s) of Education:
Environmental Studies; Environmental Engineering; Environmental Science; Economics: Business Administration; Finance; or other closely relevant field.
Relevant Job Experience
Essential
At least 9 years relevant experience in managing projects, preferably relating to sustainability initiatives, development, climate change or related topics with demonstrable skills in carrying out stakeholder¿s coordination – Experience working in humanitarian settings, and/or for the UN or other humanitarian/development agencies preferred.
Desirable
Broad understanding of climate change narrative and initiatives geared towards mitigation of impacts.
Knowledge of renewable energy, including financial, regulatory and/or policy frameworks, renewable energy financial management renewable energy business development (including business planning, entrepreneurship development). Experience of cost recovery systems, metering, energy audits and comparative analyses of fuel and energy systems
Location
The successful candidate will be based with the team in Nairobi Kenya.
Conditions
The Temporary Appointment is for one year and expected start date 15 April 2021. It is a full-time role.
The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.
Please note that UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing, training or any other fees).
