Programme Specialist

UNICEF’s vision for every child in the Philippines is intimately linked to the realization of several Sustainable Development Goals and the promise to leave no one behind.  By 2030, we want to see that no child in the Philippines suffers from hunger; that every child has access to good health services, quality education opportunities, clean water, and toilets; and children grow up protected and develop in an inclusive, just and peaceful society.

Since its establishment, UNICEF has been helping the Philippine government to strengthen national policies, programmes and services to ensure that all Filipino children enjoy their rights. UNICEF supports the Government to extend the coverage and implementation of policies and legislation that benefit children and the most disadvantaged; to support the implementation of positive budget reforms and leverage the considerable fiscal space; to innovate and adapt national programmes to support inclusivity and relevance in diverse remote rural areas, impoverished urban areas, hazard and conflict-prone areas; and to strengthen national capacity to monitor change for children.

As an impartial partner, we are mandated to work with both state and non-state actors to protect the rights and promote the wellbeing of every child. We have successfully worked through many Government reforms in the Philippines, and we continue to work with the national government, its different agencies, and departments, and with local government units and authorities, including the Bangsamoro Transition Authority in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

UNICEF’s capacity, technical skills and structure allow us to work effectively with policy and decision-makers and be among the first responders to humanitarian crisis. It allows us to assess and respond quickly to the priorities and needs of communities in the most remote and underserved areas of the country. 

UNICEF’s geographic priority areas in the Philippines include Northern Samar, Western Samar, Zamboanga del Norte and BARMM, Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The Programme Specialist for Climate Change provides technical guidance and management support throughout the country programme processes, to facilitate the administration and achievement of climate change and environment related results in the country programme. In coordination with the Emergency DRR specialist and with support from the DRR Participation Programme Officer and relevant climate and environment advisors of UNICEF EAPRO and HQ offices, the Programme Specialist for Climate Change will specifically support UNICEF engagement on environment and climate for and with children across nutrition, WASH, health, education, child protection and social policy programme components to deliver climate resilient social services.

The Programme Specialist for Climate Change will contribute to the objective of the current country programme 2024-2028 in improving Government capacity to implement effective child focused, shock- and gender-responsive programmes to protect all children from social, climate and environmental risks.

Under the supervision of the Chief of WASH-Climate Environment and Resilience (CER), the post shall undertake the following tasks:

Managerial Leadership on climate change and environment :

• Establish the annual work plan, determining priorities and performance measurements.
• Monitor workplan implementation, to ensure that climate change output results are achieved to schedule and performance standards.
• Establish the annual workplan outputs, activities and developmental priorities of the Climate Environment Resilience section staff.
• Substantively lead cross-sectoral integration of climate change, environment and development of effective programmatic response at all levels from strategy development to design and costing specific interventions.
• Serve as climate and environment resource person for the Country Office (CO) and provide targeted technical assistance to help ensure impactful climate and environmental actions of UNICEF in the whole country programming
• Liaise and build effective programmatic partnerships with other stakeholders active in climate change and environmental sustainability at country level for programmatic coordination, lessons learned and good practices. Coordinate and participate in regional events.
• Participate in relevant United Nations and partners climate change working groups to ensure linkages/ knowledge exchange with regional and global stakeholders.

Programme development and mainstreaming of climate change and environmental issues across UNICEF Country Programme:

• Prepare Climate Change inputs for the situation analysis.
• Work with colleagues and partners to discuss strategies and methodologies for the achievement of Climate Change output results in the country programme.
• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes and ensure integration, coherence and harmonization of Climate Change with other UNICEF sectors, for the achievement of Climate resilient social sector results.
• Identify objectives, actions and best practices for protecting children from climate change and environmental risk globally and locally and provide necessary technical assistance and capacity development to staff and partners for their adoption.
• Provide technical guidance to programme sections on mainstreaming climate resilience into all programme areas and provide support to countries in identifying opportunities for integrating child climate actions in the national policy and strategy frameworks (such as Nationally determined contributions, National Adaptation Plan, etc) as well as sector specific plans.
• Ensure that UNICEF engagement in the area of climate and environment is well coordinated within and outside UNICEF, and that UNICEF progressively integrates climate resilience into programs and develop funding proposals that are based on sound risk assessments and strong climate rationale.

Data, evidence and knowledge generation on climate change and environmental issues at country level, and implications for sectors and programming :

• Coordinate identification and addressing of gaps in the evidence base around the impact of climate change on child rights across nutrition, WASH, health, education, child protection and social policy programmes, to deliver climate resilient social services.
• Provide comprehensive and current data and evidence to inform climate change policy and programme development, planning, management, and implementation.
• Keep abreast of global, regional and national climate change trends and developments, for maximum efficiency and effectiveness in climate change programme design, management and implementation.
• At national level, map and maintain overall knowledge on the policies and regulatory frameworks, institutions, programmatic activities and partnerships relevant to child rights realization from the perspective of environment and climate.

 Advocacy, partnership and resource mobilization for accelerating child-centered climate actions and finance :

• Establish strong working relationships with relevant ministries and government counterparts in priority countries aimed at supporting national climate change priorities and Support communication, dissemination of evidence, and awareness raising regarding climate change, environmental degradation and child rights and provide grounded inputs into key national climate and environment policy dialogues.
• Identify partners and entry points for strategic engagement and policy advocacy regarding climate change impact on children for engagement, including through UNICEF Field Office.
• Establish close collaboration with national authorities, NGOs community groups, other partners and children themselves to keep abreast with climate-related initiatives and efforts, collect information, identify problems and constraints, and advocate for tangible solutions for children.
• Support the development of platforms and opportunities that empower children as agents of change with an active role in addressing climate-related risks by exercising their views, opinions and concerns, identifying and working on solutions, and promoting environmentally sustainable lifestyles.
• Identify funding opportunities and support UNICEF programmes in accessing climate related funding from existing and emerging sources, including public private partnerships, innovative climate finance and leveraging of non-financial contributions for climate aims.
• Develop concept notes for fundraising for climate change adaptation and mitigation proposals as well as inputs to proposals from all programmes as needed.

Results-based monitoring and reporting on UNIC actions in the region :

• Coordinate and be ultimately responsible for effective knowledge management systems (data collection, monitoring, report generation, evaluation and tasks related to documenting the programme process with partners) regarding UNICEF PCO environment and climate action.
• Ensure that child-focused environment and climate action are appropriately integrated into results-based programme work plans, progress against set objectives and targets is monitored and jointly reviewed with the Government to ensure achievement of quality and sustainable results.
• Prepare inputs to annual reports, results in assessments and specific programme/project and reports in order to update management, partners, and allies, including relevant briefs and reports for decision-making purposes by UNICEF management.

 Innovation knowledge management and capacity building :

• Lead the development, implementation, monitoring and documentation of Climate Change action research and innovation (technical or systems).
• Prepare learning/knowledge products, covering innovative approaches and good practices, to support overall Climate Change sectors development.
• Create and deliver learning opportunities for UNICEF Climate Environment Resilience team, to ensure our sector capacity remains up to date with latest developments.
• Contribute to the systematic assessment of Climate Change sector capacity gap analysis, in collaboration with government and other stakeholders, and support the design of initiative to strengthen capacities systematically.
• Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders.
• If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: Download File Specific JD NOC Climate Change Fin Signed.pdf

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum requirements:

Education:

• An advanced university degree in one of the following fields in environment, climate science, social and economic development public health, social sciences, behavior change communication, or another relevant technical field.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible professional work experience at the national level in programme/project development, focused on areas related to development cooperation in climate change adaptation and mitigation, environment, or socio-economic development.
• Experience in managing Multi-Partite and cross sector partnerships, monitoring programmatic accomplishments and financial utilization.

Skills: 

• Experience/skills in drafting/writing, editing, and presenting various programme documents, briefs, and a variety of communication materials for different target audiences is a must.
• Strong skills in computer applications; especially Word, Excel, and Power Point
• Language Requirements:
• Fluency in English and Pilipino both oral and written is required

Source:  https://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/573527