GCF Readiness Implementation: NDA strengthening, country programming support and project pipeline development in Somalia Project Manager At Nile Basin Initiative

REPORTS TO: GWP Eastern Africa Regional Coordinator. Day to day reporting on GCF Readiness to the Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the President & Office of the Prime Minister, NDA – Directorate of Environment & Climate Change in the Office of the Prime Minister of Somalia

Duration: 15 April 2022 – 31 October 2023

Contract Type: Long-term consultancy contract

Language Required: English (fluency in Somali will be an added advantage)

Location: Mogadishu – Somalia

Application Deadline: 31 March 2022

1. Background

Somalia is a predominantly arid and semi-arid country, with an already high exposure to hydrometeorological extremes. Drought periods are common and often followed by severe floods, jeopardizing livelihoods, and human life. Climate change is expected to result in elevated average temperatures, along with decreases in total precipitation. Droughts are already increasing in frequency, intensity, and coverage. Somalia is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, particularly drought, floods, high temperatures and strong winds. This vulnerability is a result of multi-sectoral and inter-related challenges that affect Somalia´s development and social transformation. The increasing occurrence of climatic crises further compounds the fragile humanitarian situation created by environmental degradation and dwindling natural resources coupled with a protracted history of political and social unrest and a relatively high dependence on climate-sensitive economic sectors. Climate change, therefore, directly impacts lives and livelihoods, increases food insecurity, and drives large-scale displacement and irregular migration. This in turn puts further strain on the state’s already limited capacity to provide services. Levels of resilience are low.

In November 2021, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) approved a proposal for the Federal Republic of Somalia under the Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme. The Global Water Partnership Organisation (GWPO) is supporting the Federal Republic of Somalia as a Delivery Partner for this Readiness project, and is responsible for overall supervision of implementation of this grant in Somalia. The execution of the Readiness project activities will be undertaken under the Technical Advisory & Guidance and Financial Management of the GWP Eastern Africa (GWPEA) in Entebbe, Uganda, by a dedicated Project Management Unit (PMU) hosted at Soamlia’s Directorate of Environment & Climate Change in the Office of the Prime Minister, i.e. its GCF National Designated Authority (NDA).

It is against this background that GWPEA now calls for an interested and qualified individual to apply for the position of National Project Coordinator for the implementation of this GCF Readiness project, being based at Directorate of Environment & Climate Change in the Office of the Prime Minister, Somalia. The contract for this position is expected to be signed once the Bilateral Grant Agreement between GWPO and the GCF or its fiduciary agent for this Readiness project is signed, expected in March 2022.

1.1. Somalia GCF Readiness Project

The GCF Readiness project will be coordinated by Somalia’s Directorate of Environment & Climate Change, with on-ground activities executed under the Technical Advisory & Guidance and Financial Management of the GWP Eastern Africa (GWPEA), and in close collaboration with the Country Water Partnership Somalia.

This Readiness project is aims to address the following barriers preventing effective implementation of climate policy in Somalia:

1. Somalia’s NDA lacks the capacity – in terms of human resources, technical skills, and inter-sectoral co-ordination – to adequately play its role as the oversight body for GCF activities in the country,
2. A number of projects are being initiated in Somalia to tackle the impacts of climate change, but there is insufficient co-ordination amongst these projects and programmes,
3. Somalia does not have a GCF Country Programme that guides the strategic interactions between the GCF and Somalia,
4. Somalia has no approved national GCF Funding Proposals as a result of limited national capacity to develop a high-quality pipeline and insufficient stakeholder engagement on projects developed by external agencies,
5. Somalia’s NDA does not have a systematic approach to collecting, processing, and sharing best practices and lessons learned on climate change-related projects in the country.

The Readiness project will do so by targeting change in the following four areas:

1. the required processes and tools are in place to oversee GCF activities;
2. a well-developed Country Programme for strategic engagement with the GCF is prepared,
3. an initial pipeline of priority projects and hands-on experience in overseeing the development of GCF concept notes are developed;
4. an established knowledge management platform to collect, curate and disseminate best practices and lessons learned from GCF activities in-country is in place.

1.2. Global Water Partnership Southern Africa

The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is an intergovernmental organisation established in 1996 to support countries in their efforts to implement a more equitable and sustainable management of their water resources. The network spans 13 regions with over 3000 Partners organizations in 179 countries. The network has 68 accredited Country Water Partnerships and 13 Regional Water Partnerships. GWP’s global secretariat is the Global Water Partnership Organization (GWPO) based in Stockholm, Sweden. More information: http://www.gwp.org

GWP Eastern Africa (GWPEA) is one of the 13 regional arms of GWP and was launched in 2003. Over the years, GWPEA has grown rapidly into a regional network of over 300 Partner organizations concerned with water resources management. GWPEA Partners have formed nine (9) Country Water Partnerships (CWP), including CWP Somalia.

As Delivery Partner to Somalia for this GCF Readiness Project, GWP will implement activities in close coordination with its broader programmes in the region and in the country, including the NDC Partnership’s Climate Action Enhancement Package project (NDC CAEP), the Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP) and its sub-programme Water, Climate, Development, and Gender (AIP WACDEP-G).

2. National Project Coordinator

The National Project Coordinator will be responsible for the coordination and management of the Somalia Readiness project, as well as for the contribution and support to the execution of readiness deliverables. The National Project Coordinator will report to GWPEA Regional Coordinator on project deliverables and in compliance with terms of the grant agreement, and will work under the guidance of the NDA – Directorate of Environment & Climate Change in the Office of the Prime Minister of Somalia on day-to-day operations, and in close coordination with the CWP Somalia Executive Secretary.

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He/She will also closely collaborate with other GWPO, GWPEA and CWP Somalia staff, and will contribute as required to the development and implementation of other GWP Projects as they interface with the Readiness project.

Specific duties will include:

2.1 Project Coordination and management

§ Establish and maintain a close working relationship with the Directorate of Environment & Climate Change, CWP Somalia, and GWPEA,

§ Lead the execution of the project per the approved project proposal and manage the day-to-day activities of the project, coordinating among others long and short-term consultants,

§ Set up and organize, with the Directorate of Environment & Climate Change, the meetings of the Project Steering Committee (PSC) for the GCF Readiness project

§ Mobilize, under the guidance of the Directorate of Environment & Climate Change, partners and stakeholders to be engaged in project implementation

§ Establish relationships with relevant government and non-government actors such as organizations dealing with climate change adaptation, water, finance and planning,

§ Under the purview of Directorate of Environment & Climate Change, ensure implementation of Readiness project activities are coordinated among national actors (government, private sector, academia and research institutions) and other regional and international organizations based in the country – to take advantage of synergies and linkages among agencies and to avoid duplication of efforts and inefficiencies in resource use,

§ Facilitate policy level engagements with support from the Directorate of Environment & Climate Change and GWPEA,

§ Establish synergies with other on-going GWP programmes in the country and in the region, including NDC Partnership’s Climate Action Enhancement Package project (NDC CAEP), the Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP) and its sub-programme Water, Climate, Development, and Gender (AIP WACDEP-G),

§ Establish synergies with other on-going climate change programmes in the country, including other GCF-funded projects,

§ Prepare ToRs and supervise work of consultants that will be engaged during the implementation of the project,

§ Work with GWPO technical support team to ensure gender and social mainstreaming in all readiness outputs,

§ Prepare annual work plans and budgets for effective implementation of the project,

§ Work with GWPEA Secretariat to supervise administrative, logistics and financial support to project activities,

§ Develop required reporting materials (narrative, financial) on project activities with the support of GWP and GWP CEA,

§ Develop communication and advocacy material (news items, policy briefs, social media updates) with the support of GWP and GWP EA communication team.

2.2 Project Implementation

§ Contribute and support the implementation of the project outputs,

§ Lead/contribute to writing the technical reports when relevant to the NPC technical background,

§ Support the establishment of the Inter-Ministerial Technical Steering Committee and the organisation of its-bi-annual meetings,

§ Lead/contribute to the facilitation of stakeholders’ consultation workshops, and writing workshops reports,

§ Lead/contribute to the capacity building activities of the project,

§ Lead the enhancement of the knowledge sharing platform, including engagement with relevant stakeholders and conducting consultation workshops.

2.3 Project Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation

§ Prepare and submit to the PSC, GWPEA and GWPO monthly project implementation progress updates,

§ Prepare and submit to the Directorate of Environment & Climate Change, GWPEA, GWPO and PSC quarterly narrative and financial reports,

§ Prepare and submit to the Directorate of Environment & Climate Change, GWPEA, GWPO and the PSC annual narrative and financial reports,

§ Coordinate project evaluation and audit when requested by the Directorate of Environment & Climate Change and GWPEA,

§ Work closely with the Finance and Administration Units of the Nile Basin Initiative, GWP EA and GWPO.

2.4 Other duties

§ Contribute as required to the development of new and/or implementation of ongoing GWP Projects in Somalia as they interface/bring synergy to the Readiness project,

§ Participate to GWP (national, regional or global) coordination meetings ((physical and online) as relevant,

§ Carry out other duties related to the project as assigned by the Directorate of Environment & Climate Change

3. Reporting relationships

The Project Manager will:

§ Report to the Regional Coordinator of GWPEA on project deliverables and in compliance with terms of the grant agreement,

§ Work on day-to-day operation under the guidance of and be accountable on activity deliverables to the NDA – Directorate of Environment & Climate Change in the Office of the Prime Minister of Somalia,

§ Work closely with the Executive Secretary of the CWP Somalia on day-to-day operations,

§ Report on planning and implementation of activities and receives strategic and programmatic guidance from the PSC,

§ Work closely with other GWPO, GWP EA and CWP Somalia staff, among whom the global climate team, the network officer, the Finance and Administration and Knowledge Management and Communications teams at global and regional level, and as relevant GWPO staff.

2. Qualification and experience

Interested applicants are required to have the following qualifications and experiences at minimum:

§ Master’s degree in development planning, climate adaptation, climate policy, public policy, economics, climate finance, natural resources management, environmental management, or other related fields.

§ At least 5 years of relevant experience in the above areas with focus around policy analysis, stakeholder engagement and project management, with at least four (4) years of working experience in the country.

§ Demonstrated experience in coordinating consultants, events, multi-stakeholder platforms, etc.

§ Demonstrated understanding of Somalia’s national and regional context of development, climate change impacts, climate vulnerability, natural resources management, development (SDGs) and related issues.

§ Understanding of the institutional and policy environment around climate change and development in Somalia.

§ Knowledge of climate finance mechanisms such as GCF, GEF and others is an advantage.

§ Knowledge about gender mainstreaming in development planning and climate resilience is an advantage,

§ Excellent organisational and project management skills, with demonstrated ability to coordinate and manage multiple tasks.

§ Excellent written and oral communication skills in English language. Proficiency in Somali is an added advantage

§ Excellent analytical and writing skills.

§ Demonstrated teamwork skills and ability to work independently.