View Vacancy - ICF - Technical Assistance Programme Coordinator

The UK International Climate Fund (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 under the ICF.

The British Embassy in Colombia plans to undertake an ICF – Technical Assistance Programme (TAP) from 2018 until 2021. The programme is funded by BEIS and is committed to improve the effectiveness of key institutions (public, private, civil society) in a number of strategically important middle-income countries, including Colombia, so that they can deliver accelerated emission reductions. We will seek to do this in part by leveraging the skills and expertise developed in the UK over decades of experience with our own transition to low-carbon.

This new position is an exciting opportunity to be at the heart of a growing area of UK-Colombia collaboration. The successful candidate will play an important role in shaping the TAP and delivering programme outputs. The role will help develop and take on day to day responsibility for delivering a portfolio of technical assistance initiatives to support Colombia to make a successful transition to a low carbon economy in line with its NDC, and engaging external stakeholders including UK and Colombian government agencies, private sector institutions, think-tanks, academics and NGOs, among other relevant stakeholders. As a result of the programme’s piloting phase, it is expected that the Project Coordinator will need to be comfortable working flexibly across multiple and evolving work streams over the programme lifecycle.

The role will report to the ICF TAP lead in the British Embassy, work closely with Economic, Prosperity and International Trade sections across the Embassy, as well as liaise with other relevant FCO sections, to ensure successful delivery of TAP.

This position is advertised on a fixed-term basis for one (1) year. Subject to confirmation of future funding, it is expected that the position could be extended.

Roles and responsibilities:

Programme monitoring, implementing and reporting

• Manage the successful implementation of the TAP (including its pilot phase), provide quality assurance, ensure the delivery of activities to schedule and budget. This includes arranging public calls for bids for technical assistance project proposals, check and develop activity based budgets, and check implementer expenses.
• Monitor and evaluate projects on a regular basis, including ongoing financial and contractual management and monitoring of risks and significant outcomes. Take responsibility for co-ordinating and delivering project evaluations, assessing progress against project deliverables and policy impact;
• Summarise and report achievements and potential gaps within the TAP project portfolio;
• Analyse market information in consultation with senior managers and policy leads to produce clear and accurate reports for Colombia and UK use.
• Support policy leads in implementing, managing and monitoring quality projects which deliver high impact against programme criteria.

To develop external and internal stakeholder relationships in support of the design and implementation of TAP project portfolio

• Managing and strengthening the Embassy’s network of UK-Colombia climate contacts to identify capacity building and policy influencing opportunities for TAP. Engage with these contacts, as required.
• Engage with potential Colombian and foreign implementation partners, including government departments, research institutes, consultants, academia and NGOs both in Colombia and the UK, at national and local levels, to build a clear picture of delivery requirements and capabilities.
• Build and use an extensive network of contacts to promote positive relationships between internal and external stakeholders and ensure there are clear lines of communication that keep ICF-Colombia TAP projects on track, on time and in line with ICF overall goals and ambitions.
• Undertake occasional field trips in Colombia to engage with local stakeholders, as required, and potentially in the UK to support activities.
• Support the TAP team to design proposals, and ensure successful overall programme delivery.

Supporting policy direction, programme development and outreach

• Undertake analysis of Colombia’s NDC developments and government priorities, in order to help identify key opportunities for the ICF-Colombia TAP, as Colombia advances different sectoral climate change efforts.

• Support the TAP team in engagement with the Colombia and UK private sector to understand their priorities in order to feed into the development of the programme.
• Provide support and ideas for the outreach and public face of the ICF-Colombia TAP.

Language requirements:

Advanced. All candidates must be able to conduct business in both English (C1 level – CEF) and Spanish (C1 level CEF). Occasional requirement to help visitors with interpretation in meetings. Occasional requirement to help visitors with interpretation in meetings.

Essential qualifications, skills and experience

• Graduated from environmental sciences, public policy, international development, international business/relations or related courses, with demonstrated academic excellence, and at least 2 years of experience on a related field/activity to this job description and able to demonstrate strong interpersonal, communication and relationship skills;
  
• Solid knowledge of Colombian climate change/green growth policy and relates institutional frameworks;
  
• Experience in project and programme management including: designing new projects, setting specific outputs, outcomes and indicators, monitoring and evaluating of project expenditure, identifying risks and project outcomes
  
• Proven track record in policy or business analysis, maintaining and building effective networks with influencing external stakeholders in both public and private sectors, including government departments, financial institutions, think tanks and NGOs
  
• A team player. Strong interpersonal skills to engage with different embassy sections and UK government stakeholders
  
• Ability to work well and have a flexible approach to work whilst under pressure;
  
• Fluent in spoken and written English
  
• Excellent IT skills, including Windows Office Excel, Word and Power Point