Sweden: Senior Water & Climate Specialist - Global Processes

JOB TITLE: Senior Water & Climate Specialist – Global Processes

REPORTS TO: Chief Operations Officer, Chief Executive Officer

TEAM MEMBERS: Network Operations

LOCATION: Global Secretariat in Stockholm, with extensive international travel

SALARY CATEGORY: G: Senior Specialists

BACKGROUND

The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is a multi-stakeholder action network dedicated to working with countries towards the equitable, sustainable, and efficient management of their water resources. We comprise 3,000+ partner organisations in over 180 countries. Our network of 65+ Country Water Partnerships and 13 Regional Water Partnerships convenes, and brokers coordinated action by government and non-government actors, supported by a global secretariat, set up as an Inter-Governmental Organization in Stockholm, Sweden. GWP mobilises action for water security through a unique combination of social capital, shared values, credibility within the local and global water community, bottom-up orientation, and expertise. A network of networks, we work to ensure the ‘voices of water’ can influence local, national, regional, and global development priorities. We are committed to our role as a neutral convener and respected for our focus on inclusiveness and sustainability. More information: www.gwp.org.

GWP is embarking on a new strategy that calls urgently for more attention and coordinated action towards water secure development. The strategy is anchored in promoting sound and integrated water resources management (IWRM) where key global or regional policy frameworks bring leadership focus, progress measurement, development partner action, and potential for financing. We find compelling and realistic opportunities for such engagements in the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework, and in transboundary cooperation initiatives. Building on GWP’s strengths, the impetus now is to engage new actors and extend the reach of current partners; to create and maintain momentum for action across IWRM processes, building pilots, catalysing action and investments, and creating opportunities for systems change; and to create mindful learning processes for agile improvements and innovations .

GWP’s values are inclusiveness, openness, transparency, accountability, respect, gender sensitivity, and solidarity.

SCOPE OF THE POSITION

The GWP Secretariat is seeking a highly motivated, energetic, and well-versed Sr. Water and Climate Policy and Global Proceses Specialist with experience in and passion for the global processes that create opportunities for countries and regional actors to effectively cooperate in taking action on better water resources management and water-related adapation. The Sr. Specialist will take a leadership role on understanding and developing GWP’s engagement with regard to global water and climate policy processes. Specifically, s/he will support GWP’s position within the United Nations system’s global policy processs on SDGs, water and climate change as well as on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and other global processes, while ensuring coherence and synergies with GWP’s global programmatic work on water and climate change; this work also includes GWP’s engagement with other global policy processes coordinated in the context of the United Nations system but delivered adjacently, such as the work with the Global Adaptation Commission, with the various partnerships and alliances emerging from the 2019 UN Climate Summit, with the World Water Council, and with global actors such as the World Bank, the OECD, the World Meteorological Organization, etc.

The objectives of the role will be to enhance GWP effectiveness in contributing to global proceses as a key partner working collaboratively with other global partners such as UN Water, World Water Council, WMO, OECD, GCA and others while ensuring coherence of GWP global engagement with work of GWP’s Regional and Country Water Partnerships.

The Sr. Water & Climate Specialist will be part of GWP’s climate & water team and take, within the team, a coordination and leadership role with regard to global relationships and global programs. Reporting to the COO/Head of Network Operations and the CEO, s/he will work closely with the Sr. Network Specialist who leads and coordinates GWP’s work with the DRR agenda and the WMO; with GWP’s Global Head for Climate Resilience who leads the Global Water & Climate Resilience work programme, climate finance agenda as well as GWP’s resilience work on the African continent; and with the Water & Climate Specialist who takes the lead on the support to country programming and knowledge agenda within the theme. S/he will also work closely with the Executive Secretary on global events and positioning.

1.Support GWP in engaging with the Global Water, Development and Climate Agenda

Enhancing GWP’s position as a global actor in the 2030 Development Agenda vis-à-vis the United Nations, the global climate policy processes and related activities, with particular attention to:

· Coherence with Agenda 2030 and Key Financing Partner Agendas: Work with colleagues across the global team and in regions, as appropriate, in ensuring that the programmatic approaches developed are coherent in relation to implementation of the Agenda 2030 and related high-level (multi-stakeholder) processes and platforms; work closely with GWP’s Partnership and Resource Mobilizaiton team in offering insight and support for their engagement with financing partners; work closely with the ES’ office and team in supporting engagement with Sponsoring Partners in regards to the 2030 Agenda.

· UN Processes: Provide strategic guidance to key strategic allies, processes and on key opportunities for GWP to participate in and influence global level United Nations- and/or SDG-related governance processes. Represent, as needed, GWP in relevant United Nations processes, including, but not limited to:

o UN-Water and related Task Forces and Expert Groups;

o The United Nations International Decade for Action, “Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028” and its associated bi-annual Dushanbe Conference

o World Water Assessment Report (WWAP) and its associated World Water Development Report (WWDR)

These tasks may be shared with other colleagues across GWP.

• Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Negotiations and Processes***:*** Jointly with others in the climate team, take the lead on GWP’s engagement in key global climate change and DRR-related processes. This will include but not be limited to:

• Tracking progress and outcomes of the global climate change processes, including, but not limited to international conventions, negotiations and implementation processes such as UNFCCC COP, UNCCD COP, CBD, Sendai Framework, and others; related financing trends, including in the context of Paris Agreement financing mechanisms such as the GCF, AF, GEF, and other international development finance trends; strategic alliances of non-state actors at the intersection of climate change, DRR, and water such as the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, the Global Adaptation Commission, the NDC Partnership, AGWA, and others, as aligned with the GWP strategy

• Providing timely information and insights on COP negotiations, global climate and disaster risk reduction policy processes, and related initiatives and work programmes, to inform the strategic direction and programmatic components of GWP’s Water & Climate Resilience work programme, including GWP’s communities of practice on flood and drought, on climate-resilient water project preparation, and others;

• Linking with global climate change and DRR-related processes and supporting GWP’s presence at key international events such as Stockholm World Water Week, World Water Forum, and others; this typically includes identifying engagement opportunities (mobilizing actors at global level and the wider network), outlining strategic purposes of engagement aligned with the GWP strategy, and organizing GWP participation and events or contribution to such processes and events

· Other global processes: Provide, as appropriate, GWP perspective and position GWP in other key global processes such as those related to the World Water Council, the OECD Water Governance Initiative, the Water Integrity Network (WIN) and other work on water governance and any other global initiatives deemed of interest. These tasks may be shared with other colleagues across GWP.

· Program development and resources mobilization: Work closely with GWP Management, the Global Head-Climate Resilience and other colleagues in the Global Water & Climate Resilience team to identify and develop programmatic proposals suitable for fundraising, generating resources to support GWP’s regional and country water partnerships in their work with country stakeholders on implementing and delivering on their countries’ global commitments. Engage with Financing Partners as appropriate in developing relevant proposals. Work with others to ensure that other workprograms are coherent and synergistic with the global water and global climate agendas (see below).

• Communications: Lead development of global policy content for communication of GWP’s strategic directions and engagement on global water and climate policy processes, and collaborate closely with the GWP communications, learning and knowledge team in targeted mobilization as well as in wider information dissemination. The objective here is to promote global visibility of GWP’s, both across the network and visi-a-vis key strategic partners.

2.Support the GWP Network and particularly its Country and Regional Water Partnerships

· Contribute to the Secretariat’s “corporate” functions that support the GWP Network at large, in particular:

o GWP’s regional governance: Engage with one or two Regional Water Partnerships in helping support governance functions and engaging with Regional Bodies;

o Region-2-Region Knowledge Sharing and Teambuilding: Actively contribute to workshops and teambuilding suitable to strengthen the collaboration across the 13 Regional Teams.

o Strengthening Regional Operational and Network Growth (StRONG): As part of GWP’s StRONG program, actively contribute to building capacity among regional teams, and, as approrpirate, country water partnerships, vis-à-vis global and regional processes that relate to climate change, disaster risk reduction and the SDG agenda.

o Contribute to GWP Steering Committee, Financing Partners, and Sponsoring Partner meetings by preparing appropriate briefings and contributing insights regarding global climate and water processes to the various bodies’ deliberations.

· Contribute to GWP’s Learning & Knowledge Architecture, specifically with regard to the global agenda on climate and water. Activities may include:

o Communities of Practice: As appropriate participate in, and/or lead one or two Communities of Practice addressing specific learning interests within the climate and water space across the GWP Network at large and/or involving regional and country water partnersips specifically.

o Learning Alliances: Work with others in identifying learning opportunities for the GWP network, and work with Learning Partners, as appropriate, on relevant activities, in close collaboration with GWP’s communications, learning and knowledge team;

o ToolBox: Pro-actively share, or mobilize sharing of, experiences with implementing global agenda commitments at the country or regional level, while also identifying knowledge and learning generated by others that should be curated by/through the ToolBox mechanism.

o Monitoring and Evaluation and Learning Culture: Pro-actively contribute and engage with GWP’s M&E processes, ensuring that regional and country activities in implementing global agenda commitments surface through the regular reporting and are made available for learning by others. Apply good learning practices across all own activities, such as Pre- and After Action Reviews, etc.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Technical

· Academic Qualification: Advanced University degree in international affairs, political science, environmental studies, sustainable development or related field.

· Experience: At least 10 years of combined experience in, and good knowledge and understanding of, the benefits and complexities of the integrated water resources management (IWRM) approach and of the current global trends regarding water security and development as well as of global climate change processes and policies;

· Knowledge: Demonstrable knowledge of UN-Water, the 2030 Development Agenda (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement a must;

· Relationship Management: Achievements in brokering and maintaining effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders and developing and implementing strategies to foster change;

· Program and Project Management: Experience with programme/project management cycle (from proposal development to implementation, monitoring and evaluation), including results based management; highly developed attention to detail and a passion for good planning and smooth execution of activities involving several others. Excellent organizational skills, with appropriate attention to details and ability to prioritize work among multiple competing demands, and under tight deadlines. Ability to manage multiple workflows at the same time. Ability to thrive in a fast-paced work environment where adaptability is essential

· Fundraising: Experience with – and ideally a positive track record – in fundraising and a good understanding of the funding prospects for organisations such as the GWP Network.

· Communication: Excellent written and oral communication skills; fluency in English required, other UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, French and Spanish) are an advantage.

Non-Technical

· Professionalism: Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity. Demonstrates corporate knowledge, self-development and initiative-taking. Ability to work in a multi-cultural and international environment based on mutual respect and tolerance. Ability to exercise good judgement, discretion and tact in handling sensitive issues.

· Way of working: Proactive in driving partnerships with external organizations. Comfort in working in global processes with a large number of global partners under significant levels of uncertainty. Mixing capacity to work autonomously with being a team player, supporting colleagues and embracing group decisions. Ability to build effective and sustainable relationships internally and externally.

· E-literacy: Excellent e-skills, including the ability to use modern office technology and related software. Practical knowledge of word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software is required. Ability to do internet research, compile information and find solutions online to information gaps is essential. Ability to use social media for online engagement.

· Teamwork and service orientation: Service-oriented work style, with excellent interpersonal skills, able to work effectively and harmoniously at all levels; enjoys supporting colleagues, contributing to team culture, and sharing responsibility for decision-making and results. Places team agenda before personal agenda. Supports and acts in accordance with final group decision; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility. Ability to “lead from behind” and work without direct authority to deliver timely and high quality products. Personal: A good sense of humour. Love for nature, its beauty and its resources. Willingness to 'get the job' done with a positive attitude to take on a wide range of tasks.

Please note:

Professionals with a background from and/or living and working in Asian, African, Eastern European, Latin American, or Middle Eastern countries are encouraged to apply.

GWP offers competitive remuneration as well as an attractive work environment, with flat hierarchies and agile decision-making, and with great opportunities for professional exposure and growth.

This contract is initially offered for 2 years with possibility for extension. The appointment may be made at a lower grade based on the qualifications and professional experience of the selected applicant.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted within 4-6 weeks after the application deadline. Applications are accepted only through the online application system and not via e-mail.

https://gwp.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=11

Questions can be directed to vacancy@gwp.org

Deadline: October 21 2019 - midnight Stockholm time