Principal Technical Advisor on Climate Finance Coordination to Somalia NDA

Reports To: AU-AIP Program Manager and the Somalia National Designated Authority representative

Location: Mogadishu, Somalia

Duration: 18 months

Contract Type: Full-time staff member, locally-based

Application Deadline: 11 November 2024

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.

AIP Implementation

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

1. International High-level Panel on Water Investments for Africa: 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: the Scorecard enhances 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: the AIP supports AU Member States in developing national water investment programmes to close the water investment gap. Many African countries are extremely vulnerable to climate variability and climate change and have 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 Facility: the AIP will assess the need for an International Blended Investment Facility 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 instruments and sources include sovereign wealth funds, guarantees, commercial finance, institutional investors and private equity investors, foundations, value-based impact investment, and climate finance.

5. AIP Gender Transformative Water Climate Development Program (AIP WACDEP-G) – The AIP WACDEP-G develops tools to assist governments in addressing systemic gender 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 African countries during 2020-2024 and will be expanded across Africa.

SOMALIA: ACCESS TO CLIMATE FINANCE

Increasing access to climate finance is a key strategy for Somalia to systematically address its urgent climate change impacts, the majority of which are experienced via water. Somalia’s NDC estimates that it needs US$48.5 billion over 10 years for adaptation interventions in eight sectors (agriculture and food security, water resources management and public health, disaster preparedness and management, marine environment, energy, forestry, human settlements, and infrastructure). Mitigation interventions will cost around USD7 billion over the same period. To put NDC figures into context, climate-related development finance flowing to Somalia in 2020 was US$285 million, out of US$3.4 billion total development assistance in 2020.

Total climate-related development finance flowing to Somalia over the past 20 years added up to US$1.5 billion. The difference between the current flows of roughly US$300 million per year to the estimated needed US$5 billion a year demonstrates the full scale of the climate finance gap that Somalia faces.

Somalia’s limited flows of climate finance are attributed to capacity constraints, including institutional, technical and policy constraints. Somalia prioritizes addressing these capacity constraints, including as guided by a Readiness Needs Assessment, so that it may raise the significant adaptation and mitigation investment finance that it requires.

PRINCIPAL TECHNICAL ADVISOR ON CLIMATE FINANCE COORDINATION TO SOMALIA NDA

The Somalia Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) serves as the country’s focal point and coordinating entity, or National Designated Authority (NDA), to the UNFCCC financial mechanisms.

In alignment with Somalia’s focus on strategically accessing and implementing climate finance, MOECC will be hosting a dedicated and agile Access to Climate Finance Team to support the country take a systems view to planning and coordinating its engagement with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Global Environment Fund (GEF), and Adaptation Fund (AF). The objective is to mobilise resources at scale for gender-transformative adaptation and mitigation.

The Access to Climate Finance Team supporting the NDA will comprise of a Principal Technical Advisor, three Senior Climate Finance Advisors, and three Climate Finance Assistant Advisors. 

The three Senior Climate Finance Advisors and three Climate Finance Assistant Advisors will operate within a matrix system. Each Senior Advisor and Assistant Advisor will have the dual responsibility of (1) tracking one vertical climate fund and the supporting the NDA with coordinating the country’s engagement with that fund (fund-facing), and (2) tracking one aspect of Somalia’s readiness to access climate finance (country-facing). The dual responsibility stemming from the matrix system is summarised below:

Fund-facing responsibility versus the Country-facing responsibility to strengthen readiness to access climate finance:

• Green Climate Fund: Capacity development & knowledge management
• Adaptation Fund: Strategic frameworks
• Global Environmental Facility: Pipeline development

The Principal Technical Advisor on Climate Finance Coordination will lead this Access to Climate Finance Team and be responsible for coordination within the team to ensure that it is fit for purpose to support the NDA in accessing international climate finance strategically and systematically.

The Principal Technical Advisor will oversee and guide the team so that it works in coordination with MOECC officials in their mandated roles including those designated as operational focal points to the three funds, and interacts with cross-sectoral coordination mechanisms for climate action in Somalia comprised of government. These mechanisms include the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning, as well as development partners. The Principal Technical Advisor will advise the highest decision-makers within MOECC on strategic and operational matters related to mobilizing GCF, GEF, and AF resources for NDC and NAP enhancement and implementation.

The Principal Technical Advisor will be seconded to the NDA office in Somalia, and will report directly to a designated representative of the MOECC as well as the AIP Programme Manager in the AIP Secretariat.

SCOPE OF WORK AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Principal Technical Advisor will prepare and implement workplans for the Access to Climate Finance Team in the NDA’s office. S/he will oversee the work of the Senior Climate Finance Advisors and relevant support staff in line with the needs of respective climate finance focal points.  As the overall coordinator for the personnel within the Access to Climate Finance Team, the Principal Technical Advisor is expected to manage human and other resources to build Somalia’s climate finance pipeline, support monitoring and evaluation of climate adaptation and mitigation measures, represent Somalia’s country priorities towards Accredited and Implementing Entities, and ensure that NDA operational procedures concerning the three climate funds are done.

NDA engagement and coordination to enable access to climate finance

• Prepare, implement, and report on workplans for the Access to Climate Finance Team’s support to the NDA’s office;
• Oversee the work of the Senior Climate Finance Advisors and support staff to ensure that the Access to Climate Finance Team effectively supports the NDA’s office;

• Mobilize the NDA’s office within MOECC to develop and implement a systems-level engagement, coordination, and communication strategy on climate finance availability and programming – particularly related to the GCF, AF, and GEF – in order to create awareness and promote participation in climate change actions by all key stakeholders;

• Engage with representatives of MOECC, other line Ministries and government departments, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning, all in-country coordination mechanisms including the Inter-Ministerial Technical Committee, Sectoral Working Groups for GCF programming, Accredited Entities to the climate funds, development partners, international financiers, civil society, academia and private sector stakeholders in the development of Somalia’s climate finance pipeline;
• Support the NDA to operationalize the coordination mechanism for pipeline prioritization and programming for the GCF, AF, and GEF;

• Lead support to NDA for implementation and enhancement of the GCF country programme, as well as engagement strategies and pipelines for the AF and GEF, based on analysis of climate impacts, vulnerability sectors, priority country needs, and particularities of requirements for concessional financing;
• Support the NDA to identify potential Direct Access Entities and National Implementing Entities in alignment with Somalia’s overall climate finance programme pipeline;

• Support the respective climate funds focal points to prepare their engagements with the funds, as aligned to the NDA’s systems-level engagement and communications strategy for access to climate finance; 

• Ensure the implementation of NDA office procedures and protocols including the No-Objection Procedure and NDA Operational Manual;

• Engage with and report to the AIP National Technical Coordinator on the implementation of GCF Readiness and AIP activities in Somalia.

Sustainability of NDA’s office

• Engage with the respective climate finance focal points, and with wider MOECC officials, to identify resourcing needs for advancing Somalia’s country climate finance pipeline;
• In integration with the processes around the implementation and enhancement of the NDC and NAP, identify resources that are aligned to the delivery of the NDA’s mandate in the country to coordinate and enable access to climate finance for climate resilient investments;

• Lead preparation of an NDA office sustainability plan that outlines the various resource needs of the NDA – including human, financial, administrative and political – and the proposed financial and non-financial commitments to maintain these resources, to ensure that the NDA office continues to effectively enable, coordinate, and monitor access to climate finance;
• Identify potential barriers or roadblocks in the effective implementation of NDA activities, supporting the NDA to maintain and be guided by a risk register;
• Lead ad-hoc activities as required by the designated representative of MOECC, the NDA focal points for the climate funds, or the AIP Program Manager related to strengthening the sustainability of the NDA’s office.

Analysis, tools, and policy frameworks to enable effective NDA operations

• Conduct an assessment of needs for analyses, tools, procedures, and strategic frameworks required by the NDA’s office to effectively discharge its mandate of enabling, coordinating, and monitoring access to climate finance, including engagement with the private sector;
• Advise MOECC on priority actions to address gaps emerging from the needs assessment including via ongoing and future GCF Readiness projects, as well as other relevant initiatives supported by other climate funds and development partners;
• Advise MOECC on an appropriate mechanism – in the immediate and medium-term timeframes – for tracking (measuring, reporting, and verifying) international and private climate finance flows to support Somalia in undertaking a systems-level pipeline planning and inform the work of the respective climate funds focal points;
• Remain accountable for technical assessments and analytical products developed by the Senior Climate Finance Advisors and support staff, and present them for use by the NDA during planning processes and specific global, continental, national events;
• Ensure an effective mechanism for appraisal of projects to facilitate resource mobilization from the GCF and other major climate funding sources, including through mobilization of the Sectoral Working Groups.
• Ensure MOECC integrates gender-transformative approaches to strategic planning and operations for pipeline development and programming.

Capacity building for access to climate finance

• Create awareness and build capacity of key stakeholders on the role of the NDA and support developing gender transformative climate change projects in the water sector and other priority sectors to enhance access to climate finance;
• Build capacity of key stakeholders in the development, implementation and review of readiness support programmes in order enhance capacity to access climate finance for investments that address climate change effects;
• Ensure effective vetting and capacity-building support of potential Direct Access Entities and National Implementing Entities to facilitate accreditation.

Knowledge management

• Establish a knowledge management system that facilitates effective documentation and sharing of experiences, lessons on the NDA support and implementation of climate change initiatives including access to climate finance at national level.

Monitoring and evaluation

• Advise MOECC on establishing a Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRC) system across different sectors in the country to track the reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and strengthening of adaptive capacity or resilience;
• Ensure the NDA develops and implements a robust monitoring and evaluation framework and system of climate change programmes and projects to assess performance and impact at national and sub-national levels;
• Advise NDA on workflow management to monitor, evaluate and enhance performance and achieve the NDA goals and objectives related to access to climate funds.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS

The Principal Technical Advisor on Climate Finance Coordination will report directly to the designated representative of the Ministry of Environment. The Principal Advisor will have a secondary reporting line to the AIP Programme Manager. The Principal Advisor will work in close coordination with the AU-AIP National Technical Coordinator for Somalia.

QUALIFICATIONS AND DESIRED EXPERIENCE

• Masters or higher-level degree in finance, MBA, sustainable development, climate change and any other related professions;
• 15 years or more of relevant experience including working with the Somali government;   
• Management experience in government;
• Deep familiarity with international conventions on climate change including the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement and related financing mechanisms;
• Deep knowledge of Somalia’s policy framework on climate change including but not limited to the Nationally Determined Contributions, National Adaptation Plan and Climate Finance policy;
• Demonstrated ability to develop and manage relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders and partners, including government entities, private businesses, investors, NGOs, and international organizations;
• Demonstrated ability for diplomatic engagements with senior government officials;
• Demonstrated ability of leading and managing a team with measurable results delivered;

• Fluency in both written and spoken English and Somali. Arabic an advantage. 

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/97 
• Requests for further information or clarification/questions can be directed to the following email address:  Mark Naidoo mark.naidoo@gwpsaf.org
• Applications should be submitted not later than 11 November 2024.