The British Embassy in Ethiopia is responsible for the UK government’s efforts to promote sustainable development and support climate resilience in Ethiopia and deepen bilateral ties between the UK and Ethiopia. The British Embassy is committed to promoting economic reform and growth, investing in human capital, improving resilience to humanitarian shocks and tackling global challenges such as climate change.
This is a really exciting time to join the British Embassy, 18 months out from COP32 in Ethiopia. This role will be central to supporting the UK’s partnership with Ethiopia on COP32, building on our global leadership on climate finance and experience hosting COP26. As Climate and Nature Programme and Policy Officer, you will play a central role in delivering the Embassy’s bilateral Climate and Nature Strategy and supporting the UK’s objectives in the lead up to and delivery of COP32.
The role sits within the Climate, Economic, Trade and Investment Team (CETI), which leads the Embassy’s efforts on macro-economic reform, investment and climate change, including COP32. You will be managed by the Head of Climate and Nature, alongside the Energy and Infrastructure Adviser. This role will also be part of the Embassy’s COP32 Unit.
The role combines high quality technical policy advice with programme leadership and management. The jobholder will support the design, delivery and oversight of a portfolio of climate and nature programmes with a budget of >£1million. The jobholder will ensure they are evidence based, strategically coherent and deliver value for money in line with FCDO programme management frameworks, while also directly supporting COP32 priorities.
The role will provide technical advice on priority climate and nature issues, with a particular focus COP32 priorities, climate finance, carbon markets, forest policy and international climate negotiations. The jobholder will exercise sound judgement in commissioning and undertaking analysis, synthesising complex evidence and translating it into clear, policy relevant written and oral advice for Embassy leadership, the COP32 Unit, FCDO headquarters and external partners.
The jobholder will build deep relationships and convene stakeholders across government, development partners and the private sector in support of COP32. This includes running the secretariat for the Climate Finance Taskforce under the CRGE Forum, supporting climate diplomacy, and building capability and coherence across the Embassy on climate and nature issues in preparation for COP32.
Roles and responsibilities:
Lead and coordinate delivery of priorities under the Embassy’s Climate and Nature Strategy. In particular, this will include delivery of the FCDO’s Carbon Accelerator Fund (>£1m UK investment per annum).
Support and advance UK climate diplomacy and policy engagement with the Government of Ethiopia and international partners, including preparation for, delivery of and follow up from COP32. This means maintaining a strong network of strategic relationships and partnerships in support of COP32, including at ministerial level, with national institutions, think tanks, NGOs, multilateral organisations and other donor partners. The job holder will also provide timely, high quality input into COP32 related ministerial and senior official briefings, correspondence and visit programmes.
Provide high quality, technical advice on climate and nature policy, with a strong understanding of the Ethiopian context and relevance to COP32, including: o Climate finance, including multilateral instruments such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Adaptation Fund (AF) and Global Environment Facility (GEF); o Carbon markets, trends and developments, including a detailed understanding of Article 6 mechanisms and voluntary carbon markets; o Forest management, livelihoods and international forest policy, and their relevance for climate mitigation and adaptation; o Climate diplomacy and international climate negotiations, including the COP process.
Manage programme suppliers and delivery partners, holding them to account for performance, compliance and delivery of results in line with FCDO frameworks. The jobholder will also lead programme monitoring, evaluation and learning on climate issues, in particular tracking the UK International Climate Finance (ICF) spend for Ethiopia.
Run the secretariat for the Climate Finance Taskforce under the CRGE Forum, including expanding and managing membership, coordinating meetings, shaping agendas and driving follow up actions, with a clear focus on advancing COP32 relevant outcomes.
Build capability and a shared understanding across the Embassy on climate and nature issues, particularly in the context of COP32, including through internal briefings, guidance and knowledge sharing.
Work collaboratively across the Embassy, with a flexible and adaptive approach to support on urgent business of the day, to make the Embassy a great place to work. For example, providing support for meetings and logistics.
Essential qualifications, skills and experience
English and Amaric (fluent written and oral)
Experience of working on climate and nature policy issues, including climate finance and carbon markets.
Strong experience in relationship-building, establishing robust networks and managing partners or stakeholders.
Excellent inter-personal and team working skills, with an ability to multi-task, work flexibly and adapt to emerging issues.
Strong understanding of Ethiopian climate and nature policies and architecture.
Excellent analytical and data analysis skills, and good experience presenting information in clear information products using relevant IT packages.
A proven ability to communicate clearly and confidently, verbally and in writing.
Desirable qualifications, skills and experience
Familiarity with programme delivery or project management is desirable.
Required behaviours
Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Seeing the Big Picture.
Other benefits and conditions of employment
Resources managed (staff and expenditure):
The British Embassy Ethiopia wants to support all staff in their professional development. We would be happy to support successful applicants in their climate career development, including working towards acceditation as an FCDO climate advisor.
Additional information
Please ensure that your application is authentically written based on your own experiences. If AI tools are used, their usage must only be limited to specific tasks such as ensuring formatting consistency and keyword relevance. The core content, personal narratives, and responses to behaviour and skill-based questions must genuinely reflect your professional journey, experiences, and achievements. We place great importance on originality and individual effort throughout the application process. Any form of plagiarism will result in immediate disqualification.
The British Embassy will never request any payment or fees to apply for a position
The base salary is subject to tax and other statutory deductions
Employees recruited locally by the British Embassy in Addis Ababa are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law in Ethiopia.
All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in the country of the vacancy with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit The responsibility lies on the successful candidate to: 1.Obtain the relevant permit 2.Pay the fees for the permit 3.Make arrangements to relocate 4.Meet the costs to relocation
Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary may have their salaries reduced by the equivalent local income tax amount.
Information about the Civil Service Success Profiles can be found on this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles
Reference checking and security clearances will be conducted on successful candidates
Please log into your profile on the application system on a regular basis to review the status of your application
Appointable candidates who were unsuccessful may be placed on a ‘reserve list’. If during the reserve period of 12 months the same or a largely similar role becomes available, that role may be offered to the second or subsequent candidate
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