Programme Management Support Officer – Climate Finance At UNOPS

UNOPS ECR is host to several projects, including the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD), a state-led initiative to follow up on the work started by the Nansen Initiative on cross-border disaster-displacement and to implement the recommendations of the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda. The overall objective of PDD is:

To support States and other stakeholders to strengthen the protection of persons displaced across borders in the context of disasters and the adverse effects of climate change, and to prevent or reduce disaster displacement risks in countries of origin.

To work towards this objective, the Steering Group of the PDD has set the following four strategic priorities based on the recommendations of the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda for the period 2019-2022:

1. Support integrated implementation of global policy frameworks on human mobility, climate change action and disaster risk reduction that are relevant for disaster displaced persons;
2. Promote policy and normative development to address gaps in the protection of persons at risk of displacement or displaced across borders;
3. Facilitate exchange of knowledge and strengthen capacity at the national and regional levels to implement effective practices and instruments that can prevent, reduce and address disaster displacement;
4. Strengthen evidence and data on disaster displacement and its impacts.

Specific Project Context

The Parties to the UNFCCC have acknowledged that loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change should be addressed as a global policy and operational priority. In the face of impacts that cannot be avoided through mitigation and adaptation efforts, countries and communities will require targeted actions and support to avert, minimize and address related loss and damage.

Displacement, migration and planned relocations are increasingly frequent consequences of climate- related slow- and sudden-onset events, one of the main ways through which loss and damage will manifest. Moving, especially when in unplanned or poorly managed manners, often multiplies and extends the risks people face and the economic and non-economic impacts they will suffer. As such, human mobility is the focus of a dedicated work stream under the UNFCCC mechanism focusing on loss and damage (i.e. the Warsaw International Mechanism), notably through the work of the Task Force on Displacement (TFD). Established by the Paris Agreement, in 2018 the TFD has developed a set of recommendations for integrated approaches to avert, minimize and address displacement related to the adverse impacts of climate change, highlighting needed actions by Member States and other stakeholders.

Building on these recommendations, the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD), a State-led initiative working towards better protection for people displaced across borders in the context of disasters and climate change, has developed a global approach to promoting measures that help avert, minimize and address loss and damage intersecting with displacement and human mobility. This approach builds on the identification of 5 areas of work that can help translate global priorities into national implementation, namely: 1) the development of new knowledge on displacement and loss and damage; 2) the assessment of potential future displacement; 3) improved preparedness for disaster displacement; 4) the integration of displacement in all relevant planning and policymaking; and 5) improved access to finance. This approach is now being put into practice in a global project on “Action and Support to Avert, Minimize and Address Displacement Related to the Adverse Impacts of Climate Change” (i.e. PAMAD).

As part of PAMAD, PDD has selected 4 countries that are facing diverse human mobility implications due to climate change impacts, namely Bangladesh, Guatemala, Fiji and Kenya. In collaboration with governmental, international and non-governmental actors in each country, recognised global priorities have been translated into national approaches, through the development of country-specific implementation strategies and workplans. IOM is now partnering with PDD to lead the roll-out of these national plans and the piloting of a diverse set of measures that can test different operational, policy and financial models to work at the intersection of loss and damage and human mobility. In Fiji, this work focuses specifically on supporting the Government with actions to:

• Improve capacities and procedures around planned relocations; and
• Improve the government’s ability to access and manage relevant funding streams.

Reporting to and under the guidance of the PAMAD Programme Manager, in close coordination with the Climate Adaptation Specialist in the Climate Division, and in collaboration with the PDD’s Regional Advisor for the Pacific (based in Suva, Fiji), as part of the execution of this assignment, the Programme Management Support Officer – Climate Finance will be responsible for providing effective and efficient project support to Climate Change Division of the Government of Fiji on matters related to climate financing.

The incumbent will provide support in strengthening the capacity of the Climate Change Division of the Government of Fiji to access and manage funding related to climate change, loss and damage, and disaster risk management, including by:

1. Contributing to the finalization of the accreditation process for the Adaptation Fund.
2. Supporting the Programme Manager to maintain donor relations and advocacy efforts to fundraise in accordance with the Climate Relocation of Communities Trust Fund Act 2019, as well as contributing to the management and disbursement of relevant resources in the context of ongoing planned relocation of at-risk communities.
3. Monitoring bilateral, multilateral, international and private sector donors and identifying opportunities for funding activities related to climate change adaptation and loss and damage in Fiji, related procedures and technical requirements.
4. Preparing communication and coordination of fundraising and project development efforts around climate change, disaster risk management, and human mobility, across different relevant institutions of the Fijian Government, and in particular between the CCD and NDMO.
5. Assisting to identify opportunities for projects and activities on loss and damage and mobility in Fiji, and drafting proposals coherently with the requirements by donors and partners.
6. Consolidating and disseminating information on funding opportunities with other members of the government, including providing support to organize (and participate in) awareness-raising and capacity building events and activities, or developing targeted products and materials (e.g. periodic internal communications).
7. Consolidating information on lessons learned, challenges encountered, effective approaches and communicating it regularly to PDD, including through direct participation in relevant virtual and physical events and meetings engaging national, regional and global audiences as needed.
8. Contributing to analyzing the support provided through this position, and the benefits brought to the Government of Fiji. Compiling and sharing relevant information with the PAMAD Programme manager, as well as with other PDD colleagues involved in relevant work in other project countries.
9. Performing any other duties as may be assigned by the supervisor,

Regular communication with the project manager and the PDD regional advisor on all the listed activities will be a core responsibility of the incumbent. Promoting coordination across relevant governmental structures is also an essential component of this ToR.