Climate Finance Advisor

Job Highlight

The Climate Finance Advisor position supports the operationalization of Jordan’s newly established Climate Finance Division within the Ministry of Environment. Embedded within government structures, the role institutionalizes Jordan’s national climate finance architecture by defining the Division’s mandate, procedures, and coordination mechanisms with key ministries. It strengthens systems to mobilize and track finance aligned with the NDC 3.0 Action Plan and Long Term Strategy, while building internal capacity through mentoring and proposal development. The assignment includes developing a pipeline of bankable projects and supporting pre-concept notes for mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund, Global Environment Facility, and Adaptation Fund. It also contributes to a national Climate Investment Plan and project tracking platform to ensure strategic, transparent, and sustainable climate finance management.

About The Project Office

WEC Background: The Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) portfolio, based in Vienna, and with offices based globally is part of the UNOPS Global Portfolio Office. The Portfolio has built strong partnerships and is effectively managing a portfolio of over 500 million USD over the last 15 years to support key initiatives with fund management, project implementation and administrative support.

WEC effectively operationalizes partners' agendas with global approaches, as well as regional and country-specific activities focused on climate action, protection and conservation of the environment. Partners profit from WEC’s ability to operationalize and/or scale up their important substantive agendas, including in support of key multilateral environmental and climate agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, the Cartagena Convention as well as the Sustainable Development Goals.

About The Group

The NDC Partnership: The NDC Partnership is a global coalition, bringing together more than 250 members, including more than 130 countries, developed and developing, and more than 110 institutions to deliver on ambitious climate action that helps achieve the Paris Agreement and drive sustainable development. Governments identify their NDC implementation priorities and the type of support that is needed to translate them into actionable policies and programs. Based on these requests, the membership offers a tailored package of expertise, technical assistance and funding. This collaborative response provides developing countries with efficient access to a wide range of resources to adapt to and mitigate climate change and foster more equitable and sustainable development. The NDC Partnership Support Unit is jointly hosted by the World Resources Institute (WRI), the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC). For this project, the Consultant will be contracted through UNOPS.

Role Purpose

The objective of this assignment is to mobilize a Climate Finance Advisor to support the guiding of the new Climate Finance Division's mandate, strengthening institutional capacity, and supporting the effective delivery of its work programme.

The Advisor will provide direct assistance to operationalize the new Division, strengthen systems, build staff capacity, and support the development of bankable projects. The Advisor will also help Jordan engage the private sector, existing international and national public and private funds and create an enabling environment to unlock additional resources for climate action.

Functions / Key Results Expected

In collaboration with the Director of Climate Change, s/h will provide embedded technical support to achieve the following outputs through specific activities:

• Institutionalizing the Climate Finance Division Mandate and Operational Framework
  • Conduct an institutional needs assessment of the new Division.
  • Draft and validate the functions, operational framework and internal procedures.
  • Develop coordination protocols with the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, Ministry of Investment, climate finance accredited entities (such as the Cities and Villages Development Bank) and line ministries.
  • Provide flexible support to the Climate Finance Division in cross-cutting or related tasks to ensure effective operations.
• Institutional Capacity and Staff Skills Strengthening
  • Deliver targeted trainings on climate finance mobilization, proposal preparation and review, and donor and private sector engagement.
  • Provide mentoring and on-the-job support through the co-development of funding proposals, review of concept notes and proposals as well as development and prioritization of project pipeline.
  • Establish knowledge-sharing and peer-learning mechanisms; set up a digital resource hub and a peer-to-peer training program so staff can easily share expertise and onboard new colleagues independently.
• Partnerships and Coordination Mechanisms Operationalization
  • Facilitate establishment of an inter-ministerial working group on climate finance in coordination with the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, and Ministry of Finance.
  • Develop guidance notes for integrating climate finance into national planning, budgeting and reporting.
  • Convene and institutionalize regular meetings and coordination with donors, the private sector, and civil society to align climate finance priorities and ensure complementarity towards achieving national targets.
  • Develop and operationalise communication plan to enhance transparency and public access to information related to climate finance.
  • Secure assistance and provide direct oversight to develop a national climate projects platform that would enable compilation and tracking of all ongoing and pipeline climate projects to inform reporting, planning and resource mobilization. This could be done through GCF or other partners and should be accessible by all stakeholders and line ministries.
• Development of the Climate Project Pipeline and Private Sector Engagement Framework
  • Identify priority sectors from the NDC 3.0 and LTS and facilitate the development of project pipeline with clear guidance on finance mechanism (e.g. international funds, private investment, blended finance etc.).
  • Support the preparation of at least 3 pre-concept notes with the Climate Finance Division for international climate finance mechanisms (e.g. GCF, GEF, Adaptation Fund) to be utilized by governmental entities for future application.
  • Develop a private sector engagement strategy and an inclusive list of private sector actors and investors in coordination with line ministries (investment, industry and trade, agriculture, transport, water etc) to enable more effective engagement around identified priority sectors/projects.
• Develop and deploy Implementation and Investment Planning Frameworks
  • Support the Ministry of Environment in preparing a national Climate Investment Plan and/or NDC Implementation Plan, in close coordination with the Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Investment and Ministry of Finance.
  • Support the application of international best practices and tools for investment planning and resource prioritization.
  • Support the development of sectoral investment frameworks for high-impact NDC sectors (e.g., water, energy, transport, waste).
  • Facilitate stakeholder consultations to ensure national ownership and alignment with development and fiscal policies.
  • Build the capacity of ministry staff to update and use investment frameworks for future planning cycles.
  • Produce actionable roadmaps linking identified investment opportunities with financing sources such as domestic, bilateral, multilateral and the private sector.

Required Education & Experience

• Master’s degree in related fields like finance, environmental studies, public policy, economics, or project management OR Bachelor’s degree with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience (7 total) may be accepted.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in climate-related work within the public sector.
• Minimum 3 years in climate policy, sustainable finance, and policy-to-investment translation.
• Experience in project management, stakeholder engagement, or proposal development, with exposure to public, private, or nonprofit sectors.
• Demonstrated experience in mobilizing resources from international climate funds (GCF, GEF, Adaptation Fund) is essential, including a strong understanding of the global climate finance landscape and donor requirements.

Desired Experience

• Demonstrated experience working in Jordan (or Middle East/North Africa).
• Proven track record of working as an embedded advisor within a government ministry or public institution, navigating complex bureaucratic processes.
• Experience in designing institutional frameworks, governance systems, or M&E systems for finance, and/or proven ability to engage with the private sector and develop blended finance or green investment frameworks.

Key skills/competency

• Climate Finance Mobilization
• Institutional Capacity Building
• Project Pipeline Development
• Private Sector Engagement
• NDC Implementation
• Investment Planning
• Stakeholder Coordination
• Proposal Development
• Environmental Policy
• Resource Mobilization