The Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) portfolio, based in Vienna, and with offices based globally is part of the UNOPS Global Portfolio Office. The Portfolio has built strong partnerships and is effectively managing a portfolio of over USD 500 million (over the last 15 years) to support key initiatives with fund management, project implementation and administrative support. WEC effectively operationalizes partners' agendas with global approaches, as well as regional and country specific activities focused on climate action, protection and conservation of the environment. Partners profit from WEC’s ability to operationalize and/or scale up their important substantive agendas, including in support of key multilateral environmental and climate agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, the Cartagena Convention as well as the Sustainable Development Goals.
Initiative for Climate Action Transparency
The Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) was created at the time of adoption of the Paris Agreement to help developing countries build transparency frameworks for effective, evidence-based climate policies and actions that can contribute to the global transformation required and help mobilize the financing and support to enable implementation. The Initiative works with over 50 developing countries ranging from large countries, like Nigeria, to small islands, such as Fiji.
ICAT provides countries with tailored support and practical tools and methodologies to build robust transparency frameworks needed for effective climate action in sync with national development priorities. Through regional hubs and direct country engagement, the projects ICAT supports relate to:
● Develop NDC tracking frameworks
● Assess greenhouse gas and/or sustainable development impacts of sectoral policies
● Build frameworks to analyze projections of greenhouse gas emissions and removals
● Develop monitoring frameworks for just transitions
● Develop the M&E adaptation actions
● Build climate finance transparency frameworks; and/or
● Aggregate or integrate greenhouse gas impacts of subnational and non-State actions
To support these areas, ICAT offers a suite of practical, open-source tools and methodologies to provide effective support to the transparency efforts of countries around the world.
ICAT is an unincorporated multi-stakeholder partnership steered by the Donor Steering Committee (DSC), confirmed by its donors, Austria; Canada; the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF); Germany; and Italy; and includes the UNFCCC Secretariat as the dedicated UN body with a climate change policy mandate, and UNOPS as an ex-officio member. The Initiative is hosted by UNOPS on behalf of the DSC. Within UNOPS, the ICAT Secretariat manages ICAT’s day-to-day activities, coordinating and guiding the work of the implementing partners.
Under the direct supervision of the Project management support, Senior Officer, the incumbent will be responsible for collecting, analyzing and visualizing data as a part of ICAT’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Uptake (MELU) framework. The framework aims to capture the impact of ICAT’s work in countries.
The incumbent may also be asked to conduct background research related to different aspects of ICAT’s work and activities, in particular in relation to the work progress in developing climate action transparency frameworks implemented together with the ICAT beneficiary countries. The research findings will be used by the Secretariat as input for ICAT’s impact assessment and other planning activities, and for material to be used for outreach purposes.
Training components and learning elements
The incumbent will have full access, for his/her thesis research, to ICAT’s project files, in particular to files and products developed in the context of the implemented activities at the country level.
The incumbent will have the opportunity to join the ICAT Secretariat meetings, including any relevant high-level meetings, and get exposure to key stakeholders involved with climate action and transparency, such as other UN agencies (UNFCCC, UNEP, UNDP, UNU), several country and multi-partner donors, international non-governmental organizations and representatives from country beneficiaries.
The incumbent will also have full access to UNOPS intranet, the Project ERP system and the Communities of Practice (COPs) in Project Management, Gender Mainstreaming, Innovation and Research, Sustainable Infrastructure, etc.
**This is an internship position and below are additional requirements for the incumbent**.
Provide confirmation that they are fit specifically for the duty station conditions, as certified by a medical practitioner. Interns are responsible for receiving clearance from a medical doctor.
Responsible for abiding by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.
Responsible for arranging their own travel and securing any necessary visas.
1.MELU Reporting
2.Grants Management Support
Assist maintenance of dashboards used for Grants management; and
Assist the review of Grant Agreements and Grant Agreement Amendments.
3.Research support
Assist with background research on aspects related to the work of ICAT, in particular analyzing the role ICAT plays globally in supporting countries to build their institutional transparency infrastructure. Assistance will also be required for research on specific topics related to the countries covered by ICAT, with a focus on their GHG emissions and climate policies and actions in a global, regional and national perspective, in particular, the importance of their NDCs, the sectors covered by ICAT work, and other parameters;
Assist analysis and assessment of the different ICAT transparency initiatives and their contribution and impact on ICAT countries’ climate policies and actions aimed at contributing to the implementation of transparency frameworks and further enhancing of their NDCs;
Assist on compiling metrics used by countries as part of the climate action MRV, besides emissions data;
Assist the preparation of statistical charts, tables and reports, extracting data from various sources to contribute to the preparation of background papers and outreach material;
Assist the preparation of background research for the preparation of meeting notes and draft work plans for ICAT projects; and
Perform other duties as required based on ICAT Secretariat’s needs.
Education
The incumbent should be enrolled in a university programme such as Bachelor or Masters preferably related to climate change, development studies, and/or environmental management
OR have graduated from such studies within three (3) years prior to the applications date of the internship
Experience
Proficiency in Microsoft Office/Google Suite is required, including knowledge of the advanced functions of Excel.
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