Overview
The Chief Technical Advisor serves as the senior technical and programme support resource for biodiversity conservation and climate resilience portfolios, particularly GEF-funded projects. The role provides technical leadership and strategic advisory support to accelerate implementation, ensure technical quality, and address capacity and delivery bottlenecks.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide high-level technical leadership and strategic advice to Implementing Partners, UNDP and other Responsible Parties across all biodiversity and resilience projects.
- Provide hands-on advisory on ecosystem management, invasive species control, protected area governance, climate risk integration, ridge to reef approaches, and nature-based solutions.
- Provide technical leadership to PMUs in technical planning, adaptive management, risk mitigation, and quality assurance of project deliverables.
- Provide quality assurance of technical reports and consultants’ deliverables.
- Ensure integration of cross‑cutting areas (gender equality, social inclusion, human rights due diligence, stakeholder engagement).
- Ensure technical coherence and alignment with national policies, GEF focal area strategies, and global best practices.
- Work closely with PMU teams in executing annual workplans, budgets, procurement, monitoring & evaluation, and reporting.
- Support annual/multiyear planning (AWPs), budget revision, deliverables scheduling, risk management registers, and adaptive management.
- Support PMUs in ensuring that project activities are planned and executed in a timely manner with high technical standards and implemented to achieve defined indicators.
- Provide hands-on support to government counterparts for overcoming implementation bottlenecks, ensuring alignment with UNDP POPP procedures.
- Support the development of Terms of Reference, selection of technical experts, and oversight of consultant deliverables.
- Strengthen M&E systems consistent with GEF tracking tools and UNDP RBM, including baselines, indicators, field verification, and knowledge products.
- Support the management and monitoring of project risks and treatment actions.
- Support adherence to UNDP Social & Environmental Standards, risk screening and management, stakeholder engagement plans, grievance mechanisms, and information disclosure.
- Coordinate with PMUs to prepare quality reports (QPRs, PIRs, APRs) and results oriented knowledge outputs for national and regional audiences.
- Lead preparation of technical inputs for steering committee meetings, evaluations, and national reporting obligations.
- Provide technical and coordination support for the organization and implementation of mid-term and final project evaluations.
- Develop, design and technically quality assure knowledge products and communications products.
- Lead the development of project sustainability plans and exit strategies.
- Promote visibility of project successes through communication products and events.
- Strengthen technical and managerial capacities of government implementing partners through mentoring, on-the-job training, and workshops.
- Facilitate cross-project and cross-country knowledge sharing on biodiversity and climate resilience approaches, especially among Pacific SIDS.
- Document lessons learned and best practices for dissemination within UNDP and with partners.
- Foster strong working relationships with line ministries, national agencies, donors, civil society, private sector, and community stakeholders.
- Identify partnership and resource mobilization opportunities to scale up or replicate project interventions and support development of related concept notes and proposals.
- Oversee the preparation of donor briefings and presentations in support of resource mobilization efforts as appropriate.
- Participate in technical coordination fora related to biodiversity, ecosystem management, climate resilience, and related sectors.
Required Experience
- Minimum of 7 years (with master's degree) or 9 years (with bachelor's degree) of progressively responsible professional experience in biodiversity conservation, ecosystem management, climate resilience, or closely related technical areas.
- Proven experience providing technical advisory and implementation support for the implementation of donor-funded projects, including work planning, budgeting, monitoring and reporting.
- Proven experience supporting or working on a GEF-funded project.
- Experience in the use of computers, office software packages (MS Word Excel, etc), database packages.
- Experience working in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), preferably in the Pacific region.
- Experience working with UNDP project cycles, including ProDoc implementation, annual work planning, PIRs, APRs, and terminal evaluations.
- Working in the public sector, the United Nations and/or any other international organization and/or development agency.
- Country-level working experience, with regular engagement of national counterparts.
- Experience supporting resource mobilization efforts in biodiversity and resilience.
Qualifications
- An advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Natural or Physical Sciences, Ecology, Natural Resources Management, Environmental Management, Environmental Economics or a related field is required.
- Or A first-level university degree (Bachelor´s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with an additional 2 years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.
