Call for Environmental and Social Safeguards Experts
Call for Environmental and Social Safeguards Experts Songdo, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
The Green Climate Fund (“the GCF”) is a multilateral fund created to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change.
The GCF will contribute to the achievement of the ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In the context of sustainable development, the GCF will promote the paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change, taking into account the needs of those developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
The GCF is governed by a Board, composed of an equal number of members from developed and developing countries. The GCF is operated by an independent Secretariat headed by an Executive Director and pursues a country-driven approach in its operations.
The GCF is establishing a roster of Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS) Experts who will provide remote support to the Secretariat in the conduct of environmental and social due diligence, assessments, monitoring, and evaluation of projects and programmes proposed for funding. The GCF welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates.
Role
The ESS Experts will provide technical expertise to support the GCF Secretariat’s assessments of funding proposals and provide timely and appropriate recommendations for improving project and programme safeguards design and implementation. The ESS Experts will work closely with the GCF Secretariat through the Environmental Specialist and will provide substantive inputs on the environmental and social safeguards of proposed activities drawing from subject matter knowledge and experiences in various safeguards standards such as those from international financial institutions, UN agencies, and multilateral development banks and organizations. The ESS Experts will report to the Environmental Specialist and will work following the guidance from the Director of Country Programming and in close collaboration with the Gender and Social Specialist and ESS and Gender Associate Professional.
Duties and responsibilities
Under the guidance of the Environmental Specialist, the ESS Consultant will be responsible for but not limited to:
- Provide timely assessment and subject matter review on specific environmental and social safeguards issues related to a funding proposal as maybe assigned and based on specific terms and reference of assessment provided by the Secretariat;
- Provide recommendations for improving the safeguards design and implementation of projects and programmes; and Include in the assessments and recommendations, as maybe available, examples of best practices from similarly situated projects and programmes, country or location-specific safeguards considerations, citations of studies to provide further support to assessment findings and recommendations, references to specific applicable sections in the IFC Performance Standards, as the GCF interim ESS standards, including the IFC Guidance Notes on the Performance Standards and the general and industry-specific WBG Environmental, Health, and Safety Guidelines, and other relevant standards.
Required experience and qualifications
- An advanced degree or equivalent in environmental and social sciences, conservation studies, environmental health, anthropology, infrastructure design including those related to hydrology, coastal engineering, energy generation, labour relations and management, agriculture and natural resources, disaster management, occupational health and safety, land use, urban and country planning, land management, ESIAs, environmental law, economics, and policy development.
- Minimum 10 years of experience in environmental and social due diligence including designing, implementing, assessing, and monitoring safeguards of projects and programmes and the use of established safeguards standards particularly the IFC Performance Standards;
- Demonstrated capacity to provide concise, to-the-point, and thorough reports of assessments, recommendations, or project or programme due diligence or performance reviews;
- Previous experience working as a consultant, working remotely, for international organization or firm; and
- Demonstrated teamwork (ability to work with others to achieve more effective results), leadership (apply interpersonal influence to inspire others to move in a meaningful direction with competence and commitment), and conceptualization (developing viable solutions based on an understanding of institutional perspective and needs) skills.
Applications from women and nationals of developing countries are strongly encouraged.
Interested candidates are required to send an e-mail attaching their CV and a letter of interest in a single file to: roster@gcfund.org
File name: “[last name], [first name]” (e.g. Olsson, Anna) Subject line: “ESS Consultant Roster”
Please indicate your earliest availability to take up the assignment, and the required notice-period if employed.
Shortlisting will begin on 16 July 2017 (KST). Applicants who meet the requirements above will be added to the GCF ESS Consultant Roster. Depending on needs, candidates on the roster may be contacted to ascertain their availability, following which contractual arrangements on various durations will be made accordingly.
Upon submission of your application, you will receive an automatic e-mail acknowledging receipt of your application. Should you not receive a response, however, please check your spam/clutter mail before resubmitting your application. Please also ensure to use the correct spelling for the subject line of your email. Thank you.
