Program Senior Officer And Climate Finance Advisor, Tonga

INTRODUCTION TO GGGI

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. To learn more please visit about GGGI web page.

GGGI is supporting Tonga to pursue inclusive green growth and build resilience to climate change with a focus on increasing renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, including for the transport sector, and reducing dependence on fossil fuels, as well as enhancing infrastructure, improving energy security, where access to climate finance is a critical and essential component to enable these transformations.  To this end, the program is engaged in these key sectors, and is actively supporting access to funding to help execute these ambitions.

GGGI has substantially contributed to the development and is supporting early implementation of the Tonga Energy Road Map (TERM), which was supported and taken forward to an enhanced version.  Similarly, through the Climate Finance Access Network (CFAN), GGGI is cultivating in the Pacific a network of highly trained climate finance advisors, to build the capacity to: (1) identify the sources and instruments for delivering climate finance; (2) establish relationships with climate finance providers; and (3) structure financing for mitigation and adaptation investments.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Senior Program Officer oversees developing substantive inputs and analyses to the development, delivery, and assessment of work programs and activities in Tonga, with a focus on program management, government stakeholder coordination, donor engagement, and climate finance mobilization. The Senior Program Officer will plan and organize program activities across green growth planning, project development and management, capacity building and country specific knowledge development for effective result deliveries under biannual/annual program plans and maintain effective program reporting and communication internally and externally in line with GGGI corporate policies, standards, and protocols.

The Senior Program Officer, under the supervision of the Fiji, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Tonga Country Representative, provides day-to-day technical support internally as well as to relevant government counterparts and development partners in the context of GGGI’s program in Tonga. With direction from the Pacific Green Investment Services Lead, the Senior Program Officer will lead the delivery of climate finance programs in Tonga, including the identification and development of investment proposals and enhancement of climate finance access, absorption and implementation capacity.

PURPOSE

• Analyzes dynamic contexts, assesses issues and identifies opportunities in the evolving green growth needs & priorities of Tonga and integrates them into design and implementation of national program plans and activities.
• Supports access to climate finance; international and domestic sources of public and private finance, and to support Tonga in structuring finance for investment in their host country’s priority mitigation and adaptation projects.
• Formulates projects within the context of GGGI’s Strategic outcomes, the country biennial/annual work program and Country Planning Framework and aligns activities with GGGI’s core values and corporate vision and objectives.
• Captures the essence and needs of the country within key sectors and ensures optimal progress, showing immediate results and actions on the ground as well as ability to focus on longer term outcomes.
• Manages and implements specific projects, monitors budget, completes reporting, and seeks strategic direction from the Country Representative.
• Provides direction to junior Tonga staff to support implementation of project activities
• Develops result reporting of program activities internally and externally for timely reporting and communications on all matters.

ENGAGEMENT

• Advises Country Team and other GGGI staff with evidence and data driven substantive inputs and analyses on program activity development, implementation, and assessment.
• Collaborates with other country teams, units, and divisions of GGGI on identified joint activity opportunities to ensure integrated delivery as “One GGGI.”
• Maintains active professional relations, both formal and informal with the counterpart government ministries, including the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communications (MEIDECC), and other sectoral government ministries and departments, the private sector, and other key local stakeholders.
• Promotes green growth and the GGGI methodology with the donor community, regional organizations, and other stakeholders.
• Identifies and advises GGGI on opportunities for engagement in the national context, demonstrating effective adaptation of the GGGI approach.
• Facilitates in-depth and effective stakeholder dialogues both internally and externally to support  GGGI and Government of Tonga work.
• Deploys strategies to secure collaboration/garner buy-in and support from a diverse range of stakeholders to ensure local ownership of the outputs.
• Works with climate finance stakeholders to ensure building of capacity in-country through knowledge transfer to government officials.
• Develops business cases, investment documentation, identifies and analyzes project opportunities, competitive strengths and weaknesses of projects and their sponsors.
• Serves as an active member of the CFAN community, including representing CFAN at events and external meetings, and advancing CFAN’s value-add through peer-to-peer learning, knowledge exchange, and cohort activities.
• Conduct climate finance workshops for civil servants, ensuring lasting capacity in-country through knowledge transfer to government officials

DELIVERY

• Undertake project lead responsibilities, including coordinating and managing project consultants, and to ensure project outputs are delivered according to required standards.
• Coordinate program activities including policy consultation and validation meetings & workshops, capacity building programs based on yearly/ biannual work programs and budget plans.
• Develop result reporting of program activities and facilitate internal and external communications, including periodic updates to the government on GGGI administered projects, as required,
• Capture lessons learned in project management to support refinement/improvement of existing policies and procedures.
• Independently organizes activities for output delivery with tight deadlines.
• Maintains close communication with the Pacific Regional Director, Country Representative, Pacific Green Investment Services Lead, the broader Pacific team and the technical divisions in HQ on relevant topics to ensure their participation in program delivery for quality outputs.
• Builds support and understanding working closely with national and regional counterparts for application of green growth in development planning.
• Effective and efficient management and ability to adapt project cycles in anticipation of multiple challenges and bottlenecks in service delivery.
• Monitors the planning of resources and timeframes relevant to projects and ensures timely delivery of outputs to the Government of Tonga.
• Provides assistance to Government of Tonga to access, absorb and implement climate finance by identifying proposals (new and-or existing ones), including navigating the wide range and variety of financing sources, and engaging stakeholders to fulfil funding proposal requirements, and assessing financial instruments to structure investments (also considering domestic resources where/when possible, to enhance country ownership).
• Deliver all the technical assistance required for green investment projects to be originated, progressed, accelerated and funded, including pre-feasibility assessments, and contributing to accelerating and adding across the green investment project pipeline, underpinned by effective coordination with all relevant national and international stakeholders.
• Perform financial, economic, and regulatory analysis throughout project concept and design stages in collaboration with the country teams and government counterparts, including analyzing financial data and using financial projections to design and recommend suitable financial structures.

REQUIREMENTS

QUALIFICATIONS

• Advanced academic degree in the field of engineering, science, social sciences, finance, business administration or economics and/or a combination of engineering, science, social science, business administration, finance or economics.
• At least seven years relevant experience in policy, planning, techno-economic analysis and/or project implementation in the climate change-development space, combined with 3-5 years working in climate finance, preferably for financial institution or development agency.
• Experience accessing and structuring finance for climate investments.
• Experience in the sustainable transport sector, energy, renewable energy, energy efficiency and-or rural electrification sectors would be an advantage.
• Experience in identification, design, preparation and/or implementation of climate change mitigation and-or adaption projects.
• Experience in day-to-day engagement with Government ministries and agencies.
• Experience in engaging with private sector actors, including investors and banks and other stakeholders (NGOs, civil society) would be an advantage.
• Experience of requirements and procedures of international financing institutions, bilateral donors/organizations, or multilateral organizations.
• Experience applying participatory approaches, gender, environmental and social inclusion safeguards.
• Experience working in SIDS or developing countries. Experience in the Pacific and/or Tonga is an advantage.
• Overall understanding of the concept of green growth and climate change vulnerability in the context of small island countries.
• Fluency in English and excellent report writing skills are essential.
• Fluency in Tongan is an advantage

FUNCTIONAL

• Leadership, teamwork, and creative problem-solving abilities
• Ability to work independently while following agreed work plans and instructions.
• Excellent multi-cultural literacy and interest in being a part of an international team working in an evolving and entrepreneurial environment.
• Excellent communication (both written and oral), ICT and facilitation skills.
• Problem solver, able to find and implement solutions.
• Innovative thinker, able to see opportunities across different sectors/disciplines.
• Anticipate and provide necessary technical and content-based support.
• Willingness and ability to travel.
• Applies sufficient technical skills to acquire relevant information/knowledge from a variety of sources which are often difficult to access, in support of delivery of a good quality output.
• Demonstrated ability to formulate concept notes and project proposals in compliance with requirements of various climate finance funds.
• Knowledge of and experience in adhering to internationally agreed environmental and social safeguards (ESS) and gender-sensitive design requirements.

CORPORATE

• Understand and actively supports GGGI’s mission, vision, and values.
• Promote the best use of public resources.
• Promote an organizational culture of trust, transparency, respect, and partnership.
• Process and share information easily.
• Manage emotions and stress positively, builds rapport and resolves conflict easily.
• Promote creativity and innovation among staff and consultants.
• Be able to lead and manage a project independently, while knowing when to seek advice and liaise closely with the Pacific Regional Representative to make sound decisions.

WORKING CONDITIONS

The Senior Program Officer is an X9, international grade level in GGGI’s salary scale. For X9 International grade, the base salary starts from USD 77,904. Determination of base salary is subject to candidate’s experience, academic background and internal equity. GGGI provides 15% of base salary towards retirement plan/long-term savings, 27 days of annual leave, and private health insurance that covers dental and vision.

GGGI is committed to providing a work environment that is sufficiently flexible to accommodate diverse life-cycle challenges and assist Staff members to achieve a better balance between work and personal/family commitments, thus ensuring high performance, long-term productivity, and well-being of Staff members.

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