Overview
Serve as Chief Technical Advisor for a project strengthening climate services and early warning systems in Maldives. Provide technical support, capacity building, and knowledge transfer to national entities and partners.
Tasks Summary
- Serve as Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) for the project “Toward Risk-Aware and Climate-resilienT communities (TRACT) - Strengthening climate services and impact-based multi-hazard early warning in Maldives”.
- Lead and provide embedded technical support, capacity, and knowledge transfer to the national Executing Entity, National Meteorological and Hydrological Service (NMHS), Disaster Management Authority, and Technical Partners to ensure high, coherent technical quality and timely achievement of project targets and objectives related to Climate Information and Early Warning Systems (CIEWS).
- Provide management oversight, and, as necessary directly engage with major projects and teams with focus on CIEWS; demonstrates timely delivery of outputs in accordance with overall objectives and policies.
- Play a lead role in identifying technical issues and opportunities related to climate information services, early warning systems, observation networks and disaster risk management issues and develops well-reasoned, innovative approaches to deal with these issues.
- Provide implementation start-up support, project cycle management oversight including compliance with reporting requirements and project closure; monitors and analyzes programme/project development and implementation; reviews relevant documents and reports; identifies problems and issues to be addressed and initiates corrective actions; liaises with relevant parties; ensures follow-up actions to keep all components of the project implemented in a timely and logical fashion;
- Provide strategic technical guidance for the coherent implementation of the project in relation to government policies, relevant substantive guidelines, institutions, with a view to facilitate uptake of project results in accordance with approved funding proposals and relevant agreements.
- Ensure coherence and quality control across country-level CIEWS activities, while building capacity of junior staff and national counterparts in project management, reporting, and risk mitigation.
- Coordinate the project work with other UN agencies, and other relevant organizations in the countries and region that relate to climate information and multi-hazard early warning services; observations, monitoring, analysis and forecasting of climate and its impacts; dissemination and communication of risk information and early warning and related activities with a view to facilitate synergy and to share project experiences and lessons learned.
- Ensure that project activities are fully aligned with the provisions of relevant gender policies,action plans, and Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS) measures, with attention to compliance throughout implementation.
- Initiate and coordinate outreach activities (meetings, conferences) including proposing agenda topics, identifying participants, preparing documents and presentations, and follow-up.
- Lead and/or participate in field missions, including the provision of guidance to external consultants, government officials, and other parties, and drafting mission summaries.
- Contribute to the oversight of lessons learned procedures, ensuring that lessons learned are shared in a timely and appropriate manner.
- Collects and analyzes data to identify trends or patterns and provide insights through graphs, charts, tables and reports using data visualization methods to enable data-driven planning, decision making, presentation and reporting.
- Perform other duties as required.
Experience Requirements
- A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in project management related to climate information and/or early warning systems is required.
- Previous experience of working with government entities responsible for meteorology and disaster management, and other stakeholders in implementing CIEWS activities at country level is required.
- Previous experience in developing and/or implementing projects according to requirements of Global Funds or similar funding mechanisms is required.
- Demonstrated technical experience in strengthening climate information services, early warning systems and disaster risk reduction approaches is required.
- Experience in implementing CIEWS in Asia and the Pacific and/or Small Island Developing States (SIDS) is desirable.
- Two (2) years or more of experience in data analytics or related area is desirable.
Qualification Requirements
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in environment, climate change, meteorology, climatology or a similar related field is required.
- A first-level degree (Bachelor’s degree or equivalent) in the specified fields of studies with two (2) additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
- Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is desirable.
