This position is located in the Environment Division at UNECE. The Inter-Regional Adviser will work under the direct supervision of the Director of the Division and the overall guidance of Deputy Executive Secretary and the Executive Secretary. The Inter-Regional Adviser acts as a primary focal point for environmental governance matters for the 17 UNECE programme countries, and is a cross-sectoral focal point for UNECE with the Resident Coordinator Offices of three programme countries, and with the respective UN Country Teams. The Environment Division is mandated to improve environmental governance and performance for safeguarding the environment and health. The services of the Inter-Regional Adviser aim to ensure the provision of high-level technical expertise in the areas of environmental governance, the transfer of knowledge from UNECE to Governments on policy-related issues and development strategies and the formulation. The Inter-Regional Adviser engages with the Resident Coordinators (RCs) and the United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs) to maximise the impact of country-level and subregional technical cooperation, in support of the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks (UNSDCFs). The UNECE Technical Cooperation Strategy serves as a general framework for planning and implementing UNECE technical cooperation activities including RPTC.

The incumbent: • Provides policy advice to Governments and other relevant stakeholders in UN programme countries in UNECE region upon their request on aspects of environmental governance and/or the implementation of UNECE’s Multilateral Environmental Agreements. • Monitors, studies and analyzes the trends and best practices on environmental governance and prepares policy advisory notes to inform governments as well as feed into the intergovernmental process. • Contributes to the design/redesign of national policies and strategies upon requests from UN programme countries in UNECE region countries for improved environmental governance and for the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and/or other relevant international norms and standards. • Design and develop capacity development programmes, projects and activities at national and regional levels and contributes to implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as reporting on these initiatives. • Monitors implementation of gender mainstreaming guidelines by assessing the implications for men and women of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. • Makes substantive contributions to /regional/sub-regional/national workshops, seminars, colloquia, and other training events, including proposals concerning agenda topics, possible participants, preparation of and presentations, etc.. • Contributes to UNECE’s resource mobilization, notably as far as extra-budgetary funding is concerned. • Establishes and nurtures close relationships with various stakeholders in view of creating partnerships, mobilize resources for joint programming and an active network on the environmental governance. • Assumes other tasks in the area of expertise and in line with capacity development guidance and technical cooperation strategy as requested by the supervisor. • Develops and updates training materials for the areas covered in capacity development activities for the use by different stakeholders. • Undertakes survey initiatives; guides design of data collection instruments; reviews, analyzes and interprets responses, identifies problems/issues and prepares conclusions. • Liaises with relevant professional networks and makes relevant external capacity development resources available to UNECE. • Provides inputs for the normative and advocacy functions of the Division based on the capacity development expertise. Work implies frequent interaction with the following: Representatives and officials in national governments, international organizations, and consultants. UN Country Teams, Resident Coordinator Offices, Development Coordination Office, as well as counterparts, senior officers and technical staff in relevant UN Secretariat entities and in UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies. Expected outputs: • Written outputs (mission reports, policy papers, technical notes etc.) of sound and innovative advice to Governments and other relevant stakeholders in developing countries. • The advisory services provided will cover a wide range of issues, including developing strategies for issues on a long-term and large-scale basis in the best interest of clients and/or, as appropriate of the organization. • Other expected outputs include, as appropriate, policy recommendations, complex papers, analytical reports, toolkits, guidance notes, project proposals, and, upon request, substantive sections of reports and studies, publications, etc.
Competencies