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The Adaptation Fund is an innovative financing mechanism set up by the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with the purpose of financing concrete climate change adaptation projects and programmes in developing country Parties, serving the landmark Paris Agreement. At the request of the COP, the GEF is providing secretariat services to the Adaptation Fund Board (the Board), through a dedicated team. Since becoming fully operational in 2010, and up to 30 June 2023, the Fund’s overall project approvals including project formulation and Readiness grants amount to US$ 1,059.7 million in 110 countries.
The Adaptation Fund was the first international climate fund to enable direct access to its resources by developing countries’ national organizations. Through direct access, National Implementing Entities are able to directly access financing and manage all aspects of climate adaptation and resilience projects, from design through implementation to monitoring and evaluation. In 2014, the Adaptation Fund launched the Readiness Programme for Climate Finance, designed to capture and share the growing experiences of AF direct access and other climate finance in order to strengthen the capacity of national and regional entities to receive and manage climate financing.
The Adaptation Fund is governed by its Board, which normally meets twice a year. The Board consists of two subcommittees, one of which – Project and Programme Review Committee (PPRC) – is dedicated to reviewing project/programme proposals as well as policy proposals designed to support programming. Currently, the Adaptation Fund secretariat runs three project and programme review cycles a year, coordinated by Senior Climate Change Specialist who leads the Programming team. The team is responsible for: managing the project/programme review cycle process, including communication, liaising with and support to the Fund’s implementing entities, Board and AF’s NGO community, as well as other stakeholders; technical review process and within specific timeframes, assuring compliance with criteria and Fund’s policies are met – notably, the Environmental and Social Policy and Gender Policy; operations with relevant World Bank systems and Fund’s website (ensuring transparency); support in the preparation of project agreements; and carrying out the administrative and financial due diligence. The Programming team also regularly carries out quality review and improvement efforts, including training and clinics for the technical reviewers, trainings and webinars for the national implementing entities, some of which is under the aegis of the Readiness workstream and in collaboration with the Readiness team, and e-learning packages, in collaboration with the Knowledge Management (KM) team.
Currently, the Adaptation Fund is implementing its second Medium-term Strategy (MTS-2), covering the five-year period 2023-2027, and which is underpinned by its work in three pillars: Action, Innovation and Learning-and-Sharing. The implementation plan of the strategy is the guiding document that lays out the expected outcomes and outputs under the pillars in the remaining years covered by the MTS-2. This includes, among others, rollout of funding windows that would further support locally-led adaptation, programmes that utilize and build capacity for devolved decision-making and implementation, and developing options for supporting the funding of NAP and NDC implementation programmatically through the various windows of the Fund.
The Programming team also takes leadership in organizing the PPRC meetings and materials, together with the other secretariat’s teams, as needed. Together the teams collaborate on, among other, policy work, pertaining to the project/programme review process and post approval processes, which include monitoring and reporting.
The Secretariat is recruiting a Climate Change Specialist to provide support as well as leadership, as needed, to key activities managed by the Programming team. S/he is expected to have strong technical background and operational experience with projects in developing countries. S/he will support the team leader of the Programming team in coordinating the project/programme review cycle process, PPRC support, and broadly technical and policy work, including, notably project review and work related to Environmental and Social Policy and Gender Policy matters. S/he will be expected to support maintaining key partnerships and flow of information, including at UNFCCC and other relevant fora. S/he will be expected to collaborate within the Programming team as well as with other teams at the Fund, and with external stakeholders, while, at the same time, s/he will be expected to take leadership and work autonomously on specific tasks, as needed. S/he will be expected to advise, mentor and provide direction to the junior members of the team.
S/he will report to the Team Leader for Programming and Innovation.
Duties and Accountabilities
The successful candidate will be expected to carry out the following duties and responsibilities:

• Under the supervision and guidance of the Programming team lead, and in collaboration with other staff, help coordinate the project/programme review cycle process, including technical review of proposals, ensuring compliance with Fund policies, the preparation of PPRC meetings and materials, Board documents (including operational guidelines, tools, reports, and other), other technical outputs, knowledge products, talking points, presentations and other materials to support the effective delivery of the Fund, jointly with the RBM team, innovation team, and other secretariat’s teams.
• Provide strategic and technical inputs to the development of the safeguards policies under the Fund and their operationalization.
• Play an active role in engagement on technical matters with Fund’s implementing entities, Board and AF’s NGO community, as well as other relevant stakeholders, collaborating closely within the Programming team, and other teams of the secretariat, as needed.
• Support the coordination of portfolio development and play key role in operationalization of the medium-term strategy of the Fund in areas of concrete adaptation action. This includes support to the coordination of review of project and programme proposals submitted to the Fund.
• Representing the Fund, including independently, in various fora, including but not limited to, meetings convened under the UNFCCC and its subsidiary bodies, meetings of other climate funds, regional and sub-regional workshops, technical conferences and workshops, and bilateral meetings with governments, implementing agencies and other stakeholders.
• Provide support to the team and take on leadership roles, as needed, to enhance operations of the Fund, including improving the proposal handling processes and interface, use of relevant World Bank systems and Fund’s website.
• Liaise with other teams, such as the Readiness team, KM team, and/or other, as needed, to support capacity building efforts, internal and external, trainings, webinars, knowledge products and other.
• Support the programming team leader in the coordination of the team, including recruitment and mobilization of consultants, mentoring of the junior staff and managing the team dynamic as to ensure productive and cohesive collaboration.
• Backstop the senior members of the Programming team during their periods of absence, as needed.
• Lead and support, as needed, productive dialogue and positive relationships with key stakeholders, including developing country governments, climate change negotiators, national, regional and multilateral agencies involved in climate finance, think tanks and civil society.
• Help identify and engage, as needed, on emerging issues potentially relevant to the Fund.
• Other tasks as required.