View Vacancy - International Climate Fund - Programme Coordinator

Main purpose of job:

To support delivery of the UK International Climate Fund (ICF) activities in Colombia. This will inlude a particular responsibility for the administration of different ICF’s programmes, which are used to deliver projects to support our broader objectives. The jobholder will provide a full range of administrative and contractual support for the ICF team in Colombia, including leading on communications, organising meetings, visits and events, representing the team to both Colombian and British stakeholders, and managing contractual and hiring processes when required.

The UK ICF is a £5.8bn portfolio of Official Development Assistance activity (covering the period 2016-21) which includes innovative private sector pilot projects and innovative financial approaches to shift conditions and perceptions of risk in investments in low carbon activities in developing countries, including support to implement National Determined Contributions (NDCs, as agreed at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015) through meaningful policy frameworks and investable plans that provide a credible pipeline of projects for investors.

The UK Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has £2bn of international climate finance to support mitigation activities. We are developing different flagship programmes in Colombia to support its NDC implementation, including:

a)     Amazon Vision: Colombian strategy that seeks to reach zero net deforestation in the Amazon region by 2020. This goal will be reached through five pillars: environmental governance, the sustainability of the sectors of development, agri-environmental activities, indigenous governance and enabling conditions.

b)     BioCarbon Fund: it promotes the reduction of greenhouse gases caused by the agricultural and forestry sector in developing countries, and the growth of best land use and sustainable agricultural policies and practices. In Colombia it focuses in the Orinoquía region.

c)     Sustainable Cattle-Ranching Project: it seeks to reduce effective greenhouse gas emissions, improve the living conditions of small rural producers, protect the local forests and increase biodiversity in cattle-ranching farms, promoting silvopastoral systems.

d)     Partnerships for Forests – P4F: an initiative that seeks to catalyze investments where the public and private sectors, civil society and local communities can achieve a shared profit of sustainable forest management and its derivative uses.

e)     Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA) 2020 – Colombia Chapter: global public-private partnership in which partners take voluntary actions, individually and collectively, to reduce tropical deforestation associated with the productive chains of raw materials like palm oil, soy, beef, and paper pulp. The UK participates in this platform as a founding member of the Colombia chapter.

f)      Sustainable Infrastructure Programme to support emissions reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement by providing climate finance for low-carbon infrastructure projects.

g)     Technical assistance programme to improve the effectiveness of key institutions (public, private, civil society) to deliver accelerated emission reductions, leveraging the skills and expertise developed in the UK over decades of experience to make its transition to a low-carbon economy.

BEIS Ministers have said they want to build deep relationships with strategic climate partners, taking a country view of our UK climate finance and related climate and forests programming, tailoring our programmes to country needs, and building an ambitious plan for joint climate action in that country.

The UK is looking to deepen its relationship with Colombia on climate, bringing to bear our skills and expertise from decades of low carbon leadership to support Colombia to deliver its climate change and green growth plans.

This new position is an exciting opportunity to be at the heart of a growing area of UK – Colombia collaboration. The post holder will be required to support the development of a vision for how to grow the UK-Colombia climate relationship, and will provide oversight of relevant climate finance programming, working closely with ICF local posts in the British Embassy in Colombia.

Roles and responsibilities:

The jobholder will support ICF local posts in the British Embassy in Colombia and will work daily with both Colombian and UK organisations with the aim of supporting the effective development and implementation of ICF’s future plans and programmes in Colombia.

The jobholder will coordinate with other Embassy teams, including Prosperity, Economic Diplomacy, DIT and Political, to ensure programmes are coherent with other UK government work, and to identify where UK ICF programming can be leveraged to support broader Embassy objectives.

As required, the jobholder will provide support through management activities for the delivery of specific ICF programmes (60%) and support the implementation roadmap of the UK-Colombia partnership on climate change and green growth (40%).

The jobholder will lead the communications strategy for ICF and broader environmental engagement in Colombia, working closely with the Embassy’s Press team to maximise opportunities to promote UK activity through traditional and social media.

Routine tasks will include co-ordinating meetings, arranging travel and logistics, developing contractual and programme management activities, developing technical documents and explaining the ICF’s programmes to potential applicants and partners, while managing expectations.

Other responsibilities will include:

• Writing documents such as concept notes and business cases for the ICF C4 staff
• Delivering secondary benefits from the ICF portfolio (leveraging private sector finance), working closely with the DIT team
• Managing the operational and administrative tasks to strengthen UK-Colombia partnership on climate change and green growth.
• Supporting the preparation of briefings for the Ambassador and senior officials
• Drafting monthly highlight reports and develop critical political economic analysis of relevant trends, challenges and opportunities across the different areas of the ICF portfolio
• Seeking support from potential UK and Colombian partners by coordinating discussions and facilitating negotiations between them
• Building trust and maintaining relationships with different stakeholders
• Representing the Embassy at external meetings and accompanying UK visitors in Colombia to meetings.
• Monitoring the investment of UK environmental stakeholders in Colombia
• Responding to incoming queries on the ICF
• Translation of relevant documents to and from English
• Performing basic research for the drafting of briefing documents and background papers
• Drafting of formal letters
• Production of an annual activity report to highlight ICF activity in Colombia each financial year
• Follow up outcomes on ICF programmes
• Organising meetings, workshops, events and travel itineraries when required by the ICF staff on Post

The role is an excellent opportunity to learn about and engage in diplomatic work in the international cooperation for development area. Previous experience in the environmental sector is desired, although familiarity with Colombian government structures, either national or regional, and/or knowledge of Colombia’s Environmental Framework is an advantage.

The role would suit somebody with a genuine interest in environmental issues as a tool for meeting Colombia’s sustainable development challenges, who can build close working relationships with individuals at all levels, and who enjoy working with a wide range of stakeholders to deliver a positive outcome.

Essential on arrival: Education to degree level. At least 3 years of experience in Colombia’s environmental sector and a broad knowledge of global environmental issues, trends and platforms. Experience in programme management and administrative skills.