Technical Specialist- Partnerships And Policy [open To Internal And External Applicants]

Organizational Context

The Central African region, home to the world's second-largest tropical rainforest, faces accelerating forest loss. The Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) is a partnership between donors and Central African countries to preserve forests, mitigate climate change, reduce poverty, and promote sustainable development through national-scale REDD+ and Low Emissions Development frameworks. The CAFI Trust Fund, administered by the UNDP Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office, implements these objectives.

Job Purpose

The Technical Specialist will serve as the national focal point for the CAFI Secretariat in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This role is crucial for orienting, coordinating, and communicating CAFI activities, acting as the primary liaison between the secretariat, the government, and implementing organizations. The specialist will facilitate engagement with other national and regional initiatives, lead CAFI programs through synergy development, manage national stakeholder engagement, and disseminate lessons learned. The position contributes to achieving CAFI's objectives of preserving forests, mitigating climate change, and promoting sustainable development in the DRC by strengthening policy dialogue and partnership agreements.

Responsibilities

The Technical Specialist will manage and implement CAFI's country engagement process in DRC, serving as the national focal point and coordinating stakeholder engagement. This includes establishing strategic partnerships with government, donors, NGOs, the private sector, academia, and civil society, and facilitating dialogue and advocacy mechanisms. The role involves supporting country engagement with multilateral and regional initiatives, preparing presentations, and identifying opportunities to strengthen synergies between existing initiatives. The specialist will also support the development and implementation of partnership agreements, conduct research, and represent CAFI in coordination mechanisms. Additionally, the role involves supporting the CAFI Secretariat's executive management, ensuring effective communication, quality control of project outputs, and contributing to resource mobilization. Advisory services will be provided to strengthen policy dialogue, develop knowledge products, and build advocacy networks.

Work Experience

A minimum of 5 years of professional experience (with a Master's degree) or 7 years (with a Bachelor's degree) is required in natural resource management, development economics, or climate change policy in Central Africa. Demonstrated experience with partnership agreements, UN/World Bank programming modalities, and development assistance policies is essential. Experience with senior-level development partners and political engagement with government counterparts is desired.

Skills

Policy development and implementation, Partnership management, Stakeholder engagement, Strategic communication, Knowledge management, Project management, Climate change policy, Natural resource management, Development economics, French and English fluency.

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