Country Lead - RESIslands Initiative (Cabo Verde)

Organizational Context

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) is implementing the RESIslands Project, a multi-country initiative focused on strengthening climate risk management and resilience for African Island States. This role is embedded within the National Designated Authority (NDA) of Cabo Verde, reporting to the UNECA Program Coordinator and collaborating with national and international partners to ensure project alignment and effective implementation.

Job Purpose

The Country Lead will serve as the primary in-country focal point for the RESIslands Project in Cabo Verde, ensuring its effective and well-coordinated implementation. This involves facilitating strong stakeholder engagement, aligning project activities with national priorities and regional agendas, and supporting institutional strengthening and capacity building. The role contributes to enhancing decision-making for climate resilience by supporting multi-hazard risk assessments and promoting knowledge sharing, ultimately benefiting vulnerable island populations by improving their protection against climate change impacts.

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include serving as the in-country focal point and facilitator for all RESIslands activities, ensuring alignment with national priorities and regional agendas. The role involves organizing and convening national workshops, consultations, and training events, and liaising with various national stakeholders including government ministries, local authorities, and civil society. The Country Lead will provide technical assistance for country-level deliverables, conduct assessments, and manage local logistics and procurement. Additionally, the role requires preparing technical progress reports, monitoring outputs against work plans, collecting data for knowledge management tools, and engaging national institutions to ensure the post-project uptake of project platforms and tools.

Work Experience

A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in climate resilience, institutional development, or project coordination is required. Prior experience leading donor-funded climate or development projects, working with governments, and engaging in national or regional climate/environment/risk management initiatives is desirable. Experience with data collection, analysis, and reporting is an asset.

Skills

Stakeholder engagement, project facilitation, institutional strengthening, capacity building, technical assistance, logistics management, procurement, reporting, monitoring, data collection and analysis, knowledge management, and understanding of climate resilience and risk management.

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