Team Leader (Deputy Director -FSTU) at UNDP 53 views0 applications

Background

As part of achieving the Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy’s goals for the forest sector, targets set in the NFSDP and REDD+ Implementation Plan, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change (MEFCC) is setting up a Forest Sector Transformation Unit (FSTU). The FSTU is aimed to bring about transformational change in the forest sector through initiating innovative approaches and guide implementation, compile lessons/challenges for adoption, promote engagement with private sector and CSOs in forest sector/REDD+ undertaking. Moreover, the FSTU will analyze the policy environment and the roles of the forest sector in achieving the CRGE objectives.

The FSTU focuses on supporting implementation of forestry initiatives under the REDD+ Implementation Plan with the MEFCC of Ethiopia as well as building a broader portfolio of initiatives with the public, private sector and civil society that will impact both afforestation/reforestation as well as forest protection in Ethiopia. These programmes include introduction and implementation of innovative approaches and cross-cutting initiatives, and establishment of systems that would bring about transformational change in the forest sector. Across these, the FSTU engages public, private and non-governmental stakeholders to support assessment of the policy environment, advance strategic priorities, manage and strengthen implementation capacity, and assess innovative models. The structure and function of Forest Sector Transformation Unit is focused on quick, pioneering and results-oriented support to a range of partners in the forest sector. The programme is financed by Government of Norway through the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ethiopia.

The Deputy Director (Forest Sector Transformation Unit) will work with the Director (Forest Sector Transformation Unit), other staff of the FSTU and relevant directorates in MEFCC in building the FSTU team and set up the core strategies, approaches, processes, systems, and tools.  The Deputy Director will primarily focus on driving the core business of the FSTU, which is to support execution of Ethiopia’s forestry initiatives and build a pipeline of new – mainly commercially viable – forestry projects.

The Deputy Director (Forest Sector Transformation Unit) will be a strong strategic thinker and leader with the ability to solve problems, seek out innovation, manage and support teams, and identify and manage pipeline of projects. In this role, he/she will be supporting implementation and designing of programs that will help fulfill the goals of one of the most ambitious forest sector transformations plan of the country.  The Deputy Director (Forest Sector Transformation Unit) will be focusing on developing and designing of programs for the Forest Sector Transformation Unit, including innovations and partnerships that will enable Ethiopia to achieve its forest sector development goals and to support delivery of programs within MEFCC. He/she will support the Director (Forest Sector Transformation Unit) in building, coaching and mentoring a management team that will work on the incubation of new ideas and project management support to help drive project execution. An important element of the role is to continuously build the capability and transfer skills to other staff to ensure high standards of professionalism, discipline and focus on outcomes.

Duties and Responsibilities

Support the set-up of Forest Sector Transformation Unit:

    Facilitate and support recruitment of key staff;

    Actively engage in the development of FSTU’s strategy, approaches, and core processes (e.g. implementation approaches, monitoring, reporting mechanisms and portfolio management);

    Develop program management guideline, targets and deliverables;

    Build a larger team, as required, to execute on the programs defined;

    Lead preparation of coordination of feasibility study and selection of pilot areas of interventions;

Spearhead the FSTU initiatives:

    Works closely with REDD+ partners to ensure coordination and complementarity in the design and implementation of national programmes, in synergy with regional and international initiatives;

    Manages, monitors and coordinates the activities of the FSTU, ensuring the implementation of activities according to the proposed activity and budget planning;

    Elaborates annual work plans and ensure their validation during the project steering committee meetings;

    Provides technical support/analysis to various assessments, studies and initiatives and provides technical backstopping to field projects;

    Organizes and implement all follow-up meetings identified in the programme document (meetings with partners, steering committee meetings, etc.);

Provides technical inputs and coordination for FSTU under REDD+ Investment project;

    Ensures technical linkage with other forestry related initiatives for consistent and coordinated REDD+ Investment programme implementation;

•     Identifies approaches of forest management and restoration at country level, draws lessons learnt and helps share information and knowledge among stakeholders;
•     Contributes to the development of tools, methods and approaches for the REDD+ Investment implementation;
•     Provides REDD+ specific technical programming, implementation and monitoring support to partner entities.
•     Supports collaboration and partnerships with other REDD+ agencies, actors and initiatives in the country.
• Supports REDD+ related resource mobilization and project development activities;
•     Supporting the REDD+ implementation in Ethiopia’s through tracking of milestones, capability-building activities, and ‘secondments’ of personnel from the FSTU into project teams to accelerate implementation
•     Provision of guidance and direction for the team leaders to provide technical and implementation support to the regional project offices
•     Building a portfolio of new private-sector and civil-society partnerships and programs that will accelerate achievement of Ethiopia’s forestry sector goals/ targets contained in the NFSDP

Lead scale-up activities of the FSTU:

•     Portfolio management across forest sector projects, including piloting and scaling-up new private-sector and civil-society partnership identified, identifying success factors for fast redeployment in other projects, and managing overall portfolio performance and risk;
•     Provision of support for ongoing programs under the REDD+ Plan/ Scaling up of Afforestation/Reforestation, at both the federal and regional level;
•     Establishing and operationalization of a coordination mechanism between existing and future REDD+ activities;
•     Challenging and motivating colleagues, implementation teams, and MEFCC colleagues to create truly aspiration targets and provide the support required to achieve these;
•     Coaching, mentoring & transfer of knowledge to equip stakeholders with the necessary skills;
•     Compile other countries experiences and contextualize from the Ethiopian perspective;
•     Monitoring of results across forest sector initiatives and reporting of those results to key stakeholders (those mentioned above and others);
•     Developing innovative pipelines and creation of appropriate enabling environment initiatives and roadmaps which will enable Ethiopia to reach its forestry goals;
•     Coordination of cost-benefit analysis up to innovative pilots;
•     Supporting mobilization of additional funds from development partners and the private sector.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

•     Ability to make new and useful ideas work;
•     Building support and political acumen;
•     Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
•     Building and promoting effective teams;
•     Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
•     Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
•     Fair and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies:

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise: In-depth knowledge of the subject-matter:

•     Understands more advanced aspects of primary area of specialization as well as the fundamental concepts of related disciplines;
•     Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally;
•     Demonstrates comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and project management tools and utilizes these regularly in work assignments.

Results-Based Programme Development and Management: Contributing to results through primary research and analysis:

•     Researches linkages across programme/projects activities to identify critical points of integration;
•     Monitors specific stages of programme/projects implementation;
•     Assesses project performance to identify success factors and incorporates best practices into project work;
•     Analyses country situation to identify opportunities for project development and helps drafting proposals;
•     Participates in the formulation of project proposals.

Building Strategic Partnerships: Identifying and building partnerships:

•     Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build strategic alliances relevant to UNDP’s mandate and strategic agenda;
•     Identifies needs and interventions for capacity building of counterparts, clients and potential partners;
•     Promotes UNDP’s agenda in inter-agency meetings.
• Client Orientation: Contributing to positive outcomes for the client:

    Anticipates client needs;

    Works towards creating an enabling environment for a smooth relationship between the clients and service provider;

    Demonstrates understanding of client’s perspective;

    Solicits feedback on service provision and quality.

Innovations and marketing new approaches:

    Developing new approaches seeks a broad range of perspectives in developing project proposals;

    Generates innovative ideas and effective solutions to problems;

    Identifies new approaches and promotes their use in other situations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

    M.A./M.Sc. or B.A./B.Sc. Degree in economics, forestry, project management, or related areas.

Experience:

    Minimum 7 years of experience with M.A./M.Sc. Degree (or 9 years with B.A./B.Sc. Degree) in managing complex projects or organisations, including private sector exposure;

     Sound technical and business knowledge and familiarity with market analysis in the forest industry;

    Experience related to private sector engagement, including with multi-stakeholder platforms and in working with private sector companies;

    Experience in establishing partnerships and networks with partners in the private sector;

     Project delivery, project management and project risk management experience;

    Prior experience in management of donor funded projects.

Language Requirements:

    Fluency in English.

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