Community Management Support 2 at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Duties and Responsibilities

• UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. Its mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action. UNEP's Ecosystem Division works with international and national partners, providing technical assistance and capacity development for the implementation of environmental policy, and strengthening the environmental management capacity of developing countries and countries with economies in transition.
• The loss of forest, and the accompanying loss of ecosystems and the services they provide, threatens the security and livelihoods of local communities, reduces access to clean water, decreases soil productivity and accounts for 12 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, it has become apparent that the most significant threat to the world’s remaining forests is conversion for commercial agriculture – whether from large-scale operations or smallholder farmers – as well as other non-forest use. Many of the environmental benefits of intact forest are unpriced ‘externalities’, resulting in the market mispricing natural forest assets. By converting forest to land and then producing tradeable commodities that the market can price, land users are able to take advantage of this perceived arbitrage opportunity. Anticipated global economic growth and changing diets will strengthen the demand for agricultural commodities and place additional pressure on forests in the foreseeable future, meaning that the pressure will get even bigger than it is today without a changing paradigm how land is managed and agricultural commodities are produced. The challenge is to advance sustainable land use by developing business models that can manage sustainable commodity production while also maintaining forests and forest ecosystem services.
• Against that background, UNEP initiated a new Climate Finance Unit in the Ecosystem Division to proactively help unlock and (re)direct public and private capital towards sustainable land use, including deforestation-free soft commodity production, stimulate land restoration and sustainable forest management. As part of its mandate, the Climate Finance Unit contributes to the UN Decade on Ecosystems Restoration by providing technical and strategic expertise to help unlock public and private finance to scale restoration interventions
• Against that backdrop, the Unit is now focusing on growing a global pipeline of promising ecosystem restoration enterprises through a menu of tailored business-focused training programs providing expertise and guidance on business planning, business models and financial viability.
• This novel area of work falls within the Climate for Nature Branch of the UNEP’s Ecosystem Division.
• Under the technical supervision of the CFU’s Business Analytics team Lead and the overall guidance of the Head of the Climate Finance Unit, the consultant will provide community management capacity to support the pilot deployment of the Restoration Explorer training program in Kenya.

The consultant will work directly with various team members in the Climate Finance Unit team, and report to the Head of the Climate Finance Unit.

• The consultant will provide local inputs in the development of marketing materials, provide insights to workshop schedule, propose additional content to predefined materials that can provide additional guidance for beneficiaries.
• The consultant will organize workshop training preparations ahead of workshop delivery to participants and take minutes of training preparation meetings.
• The consultant will propose and reach out to relevant participants.
• The consultant will provide organize logistical coordination on workshop days in order to ensure the agenda is followed in a timely manner.
• The consultant will participate in weekly calls with the UNEP CFU team ahead of the workshop training and take minutes of such meetings.
• The consultant will provide local inputs in the communication with participants about workshop logistics, and engage the participants to facilitate a sense of community between the participants.
• The consultant will be responsible for note taking during the training workshop to ensure all feedback from participants is noted and feeds into the learnings of this activity.
• The consultant will distribute and ensure the completion of the pre and post-tests to demonstrate increase in knowledge in the form of one-page questionnaires administered before and after the trainings.

Qualifications/special Skills

• A first-level university degree in business administration, management, economics or related fields is required.
• Three (3) years of relevant and verifiable experience with managing, coordinating or supporting communities of practice is required.
• Strong organizational and coordination skills, good writing, interpersonal and communication skills is required
• Ability to demonstrate great attention to detail and an affinity with analyzing data and making quick decisions based on that data to improve outcomes is required
• Comfortable with technology tools such as online platforms, Trello, Slack, Google Drive, or willing to learn them quickly is required
• Knowledge of the UN system, or other international and multi-cultural working environments, is desirable. Experience advising entrepreneurs is preferred.

Languages

• Fluency in oral and written English is required, knowledge of other official UN languages is optional.