AIP Programme Officer - Water, Climate, and Knowledge Management

Global Water Partnership - Southern Africa (GWP-SA)

Pretoria, South Africa 🇿🇦

Reports to: Reports to the AU-AIP Programme Manager, with secondary reporting to the GWP Senior Water & Climate Specialist and the Senior Learning Specialist 

Location: Pretoria, South Africa or Remote as may be necessary

Duration: 2 years renewable subject to performance and funds availability

Contract type: Desirable full time, Independent Contractor may be agreed as an option

1. BACKGROUND TO THE CONTINENTAL AFRICA WATER INVESTMENT PROGRAMME

On 6 September 2023, African Heads of State and Government committed to supporting the implementation of the Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP), as part of the Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change.

The AIP was adopted during the 34th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) Summit of Heads of State and Government on 7 February 2021, as part of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) Priority Action Plan 2. The AU Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy (2022-2032) recognizes the AIP as a flagship initiative for transforming water systems.

Delivery of water investments across Africa is significantly below target to meet the continent’s growing social and economic needs. It is estimated that at least an additional US$30 billion per year by 2030 needs to be invested to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on water and sanitation. Currently, only US$10-US$19 billion is invested each year.

The AIP aims to close the water investment gap by mobilising at least an additional US$30 billion annually by 2030 and creating five million jobs towards the African Water Vision 2025 and SDG water-related targets.

1.1 AIP Implementation

The AIP is implemented by national governments, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), River Basin Organisations (RBOs), with technical backstopping by the AIP Secretariat hosted by the Global Water Partnership Africa Coordination Unit. AIP is implemented through five interrelated programmes and initiatives:

  1. High-level political commitment and leadership on water investments – The International High-Level Panel on Water Investments for Africa was established in 2022, comprising current and former Heads of State and global leaders. During 2023, the Panel developed and launched a report, Africa’s Rising Investment Tide, and an Africa Water Investment Action Plan with actionable pathways for countries to mobilise at least an additional US$30bn annually by 2030 for implementing the AIP.
  2. AIP-PIDA Water Investment Scorecard – to enhance mutual accountability, transparency, and efficiency of water finance and investments. The AIP-PIDA Water Investment Scorecard supports countries to track progress, set benchmarks, identify bottlenecks, and take action to meet Africa’s water investment needs. The Scorecard was adopted by AUDA-NEPAD as part of PIDA in February 2022. The Scorecard was developed and piloted in 10 countries in 2023, ahead of its roll out across AU Member States.
  3. Regional and national water investment programmes to close the water investment gap – The AIP supports AU Member States to develop national water investment programmes. Many African countries are extremely vulnerable to climate variability and climate change; and are further faced with weak institutional capacities, water infrastructure, and information systems to support water management. National water investment programmes address these gaps and are informed by insights from the AIP-PIDA Water Investment Scorecard.
  4. AIP International Blended Investment Mechanism to leverage public-private finance – The AIP will assess the need for an International Blended Investment Mechanism to support countries to leverage ODA (Official Development Assistance) and grant finance to de-risk priority water investments using a variety of innovative financial instruments and sources. These include sovereign wealth funds, guarantees, commercial finance, institutional investors and private equity investors, foundations, value-based impact investment, and climate finance.
  5. Gender equality and empowerment of women and girls in water investment through the AIP Gender Transformative Water Climate Development Program (AIP WACDEP-G) – The AIP WACDEP-G develops tools to assist governments in addressing systemic inequalities in decision-making, planning, and implementation of investments, by fostering a transformative approach in agencies, structures, and social relations. The AIP WACDEP-G was piloted in five countries during 2020-2024 and is expected to be expanded to many other countries in Africa.

2. SCOPE OF WORK: AIP PROGRAMME OFFICER – WATER, CLIMATE, AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT


The AIP Program Officer – Water, Climate, and Knowledge Management supports the AU-AIP Secretariat with the development and implementation of the AU’s continental knowledge management platform, bringing in lessons harnessed from among Africa’s Green Climate Fund Readiness projects as well as relevant global initiatives.

The Officer will also facilitate sharing lessons from the African context to the wider global audience. The Officer will do so, working closely with the AIP Senior Water & Climate Resilience Specialist and the Global Water Partnership (GWP) Senior Learning Specialist.

The AU’s Continental Knowledge Management Platform aims to enhance climate finance programming by fostering the development and dissemination of methods, frameworks, and information systems across African countries. The Officer will support the development of a sustainable, user-centric platform that leverages innovative financial instruments to support countries in accessing and implementing climate-resilient water projects effectively. The Officer will be expected to collaborate with IT experts to co-develop the IT infrastructure of the knowledge management platform.

The Officer will support the AIP in collaborating with GCF National Accredited Entities (DAEs), GCF international AEs, and the project developers for GCF co-investments on the continent. As relevant to the AU’s continental knowledge management platform, the Officer will also provide technical and knowledge management support to the AIP Water Investment Scorecard, AU-AIP GCF Multi-Country and National Readiness Projects, NDC implementation and enhancement, IDMP, APFM, WACDEP-G, and DRESS-EA to strengthen implementation, management and administration of the projects as well as scaling-up business development of GWP’s water and climate programmes.

Importantly, the Officer will also facilitate cross-regional learning exchanges across Africa as well as globally, and serve as the focal point in the AIP team for harvesting and disseminating knowledge.

3. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Supporting Project Delivery – Technical & Knowledge Management

  1. Support the AIP in all aspects of design, co-development, and co-implementation of a user-centric knowledge management platform as part of the AIP International Blended Water Investment Facility, including stakeholder engagement, IT aspects, and communications;
  2. Review and enhance the knowledge management and learning action plan to monitor and capture lessons learnt from the GCF Readiness Projects, as well as other priority projects in the GWP global climate portfolio in close collaboration with GWP’s Knowledge and Learning Team;
  3. Collaborate with the Senior Water and Climate Specialist and Senior Learning Specialist in the provision of knowledge management-related technical support to deliver knowledge and learning-related deliverables in GCF Readiness Projects under implementation;
  4. Develop pre- and post-training and workshop survey templates as well as other project management templates. Train Project Managers and RWP teams on administering such surveys/tools and analysing results, in the context of overall KM and learning objectives of the project;
  5. Support in the design of workshops and training materials to ensure effective delivery, uptake and retention of knowledge with a special focus on mainstreaming water-related guidelines, policies and other documents across both workshops and training materials;
  6. Support the Senior Water and Climate Specialist and project implementation units in the technical delivery or technical review of deliverables including providing inputs, specifically relating to GCF AU-AIP Multi-Country Readiness project, other national Readiness projects, AIP Water Investment Scorecard, NDC PAF, DRESS-EA, and other relevant projects in the Water and Climate Resilience Portfolio;
  7. Working with the Africa Coordination Unit, Regional Water Partnerships, the global climate team and communications teams, ensure that each project deliverables are edited, formatted, and finalized with logos of GWP as well as appropriate in-country institutions – before submission to relevant donors and uploading on appropriate GWP knowledge platforms;
  8. Review and assess the learning dimension from regional progress reports, to inform GCF Delivery Partner feedback to execution teams and for donor reporting;
  9. Any other tasks assigned by the Senior Water and Climate Specialist and Senior Learning Specialist around supporting project delivery;

Facilitating Cross-Region Learning Exchanges

  1. Design, facilitate, and harvest cross-region learning exchanges in close collaboration with the Senior Learning Specialist and project implementation units, amongst the countries that are part of the AU-AIP Multi-Country Readiness project as well as the broader GWP GCF Readiness portfolio;
  2. Develop and implement topical learning events across the broader water and climate resilience portfolio that can enhance project implementation as well as, where relevant, topical learning events for the AUC-targeted audiences, and internally for the GWP delivery network;
  3. Design, launch, manage, and grow a community of practice to facilitate knowledge exchange on GCF Readiness, with the support and in close collaboration with GWP’s Knowledge and Learning Team;

Harvesting and Disseminating Knowledge

  1. Develop learning resources from learning exchanges, project implementation experiences, and deliverables while connecting them to internal and external communications where relevant. This includes the development of integrated water resource management tools, case studies, internal learning briefs and others, working with the knowledge management and learning team as well as blogs, infographics, webpage updates working with the communications team;
  2. Track project deliverables and ensure that they are available on relevant platforms related to knowledge management and communications;
  3. Ensure close coordination of knowledge management, learning, and communications across the Water and Climate Resilience Programme, at regional and global levels, with a particular emphasis on supporting knowledge exchange and harnessing around related project deliverables between countries;
  4. Work closely with GWP’s Knowledge and Learning Team and support the development and operationalizing of climate-related communities of practice;
  5. Work closely with GWP’s Knowledge and Learning Team, participating in weekly coordination meetings and supporting embedding the GCF Readiness and the climate portfolio into the Knowledge and Learning Agenda and the IWRM Action Hub;
  6. Participate in monthly global climate coordination meetings regularly, and in GCF Readiness project implementation and proposal preparation meetings to support the knowledge management and learning agenda.

4. KEY DELIVERABLES 

The Officer is expected to prepare the following deliverables:

  • Knowledge Management and Learning Action Plan: A comprehensive action plan to monitor and capture lessons learnt from the AU-AIP GCF Readiness Project, as well as other priority projects in the GWP global climate portfolio to inform adaptive management of the programmatic activities that feed into the continental knowledge management platform;
  • Quarterly Cross-Region Learning Exchanges: Design, facilitate, and harvest knowledge from cross-regional learning exchanges around the development of the continental knowledge management platform and the associated pipeline development, strategic framework enhancement, and capacity-building activities;
  • Quarterly Learning Briefs: Eight Learning Briefs stemming from the Quarterly Cross-Regional Learning Exchanges;
  • Training and Capacity Building Materials: In collaboration with the IT, knowledge and learning teams, co-development of training modules, guides, and other materials to support the capacity-building activities related to the knowledge management platform and related technical activities;
  • Project Implementation Support: Contribute to project activity implementation on pipeline development, strategic framework enhancement, and capacity-building activities at continental and African sub-regional levels;
  • Donor Reporting: Support the AIP Secretariat team with the preparation of a bi-annual interim progress reports and a final project closure report.

5. REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS 

The Officer will report directly to the AU-AIP Programme Manager, with secondary reporting to the Senior Water & Climate Specialist and the Senior Learning Specialist at the Global Water Partnership. The Officer will work closely with GWP Africa and global climate teams, and GWP Africa and global knowledge management teams, under the overall guidance of the African Union Commission Directorate Blue for Economy and Sustainable Environment.

6. QUALIFICATIONS AND DESIRED EXPERIENCE

  • Master’s degree in sustainable development, climate change, water resources management, engineering, climate policy or related discipline;
  • Minimum 3 years of working experience in water and climate related areas at global and regional levels;
  • Demonstrated experience in knowledge management practices including facilitating exchanges, developing knowledge resources, and structuring learning for knowledge uptake and retention;
  • Experience of working on GCF Readiness processes and related support structures that support access to climate finance essential. Must demonstrate knowledge of needs, potential challenges, and best practice for implementing GCF Readiness projects at national level, implementation support from regional or continental-level, and oversight from Delivery Partner level;
  • Experience or familiarity with the GWP delivery network a significant advantage, to enable rapid operationalization of position;
  • Capability to multi-task across different projects and strategically connect them with high levels of organization and strong attention to detail;
  • Track-record of providing technical support in preparation of project deliverables;
  • Demonstrated IT skills, experience working with online platforms;
  • Excellent writing and presentation skills with the ability relay technical components in an easily understandable and relevant manner;
  • Fluency in English. Working knowledge of French is desirable but not required;
  • Ability to work in a multi-cultural team across different countries and time-zones.

7. SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS

Applicants meeting all the above requirements are invited to express their interest through submission of the following:

  • A one-page motivation letter addressing the requirements as stated above;
  • A Curriculum Vitae;
  • Three professional references who may be contacted if you are short-listed for the position.
  • Applications should be submitted through to the Bamboo HR online system: https://gwpsanpc.bamboohr.com/careers/87 
  • Requests for further information or clarification/questions can be directed to the following email address: Ahmed Khalid Eldaw Mohamed MohamedAK@africa-union.org, Joseph Mbinji joseph.mbinji@gwpsaf.org and Mark Naidoo mark.naidoo@gwpsaf.org
  • Applications should be submitted not later than 11 October 2024.

POSITION TYPE

ORGANIZATION TYPE

EXPERIENCE-LEVEL

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