City Advisor (Inclusive Climate Action) at C40

The C40 Inclusive Climate Action (ICA) City Advisor will act as the focal point for the City of Accra for the delivery and implementation of support provided by the GGND pilot initiative, which puts inclusion and equity at the heart of ambitious climate action. Working closely with the City of Accra, C40’s ICA and Regions Teams and any other relevant C40 team (and key stakeholders, where relevant), the City Advisor will co-develop and co-define a programme of work, to support Accra in recovering from COVID-19 in a sustainable and equitable way, delivering key Paris-compatible climate actions that are responsive to the inclusion and equity principles of the Global Green New Deal.

• S/he will oversee and deliver deep-dive technical and strategic support to relevant departments in the City Administration. More specifically, the post holder will support the implementation of strategic inclusive climate actions/policies/initiatives identified within the city’s Climate Action Plan that respond to the needs, capacities and resilience building priorities of vulnerable communities, informal workers and informal settlement dwellers.
• S/he will be responsible for engaging internal and external stakeholders; facilitating knowledge transfer across the city and the wider C40 network; providing high-quality tailored scopes of work, procuring local consultancy support (in consultation with the city); providing guidance and revisions on city-based deliverables; and coordinating with relevant team members (including the ICA Technical Assistance Manager, the ICA Forum Manager and the Africa Regional Director) to ensure that the city’s needs and interests are met and addressed by the technical assistance support package, the ICA academies, communication and knowledge products and any other relevant output and support mechanism. The ICA City Advisor will also coordinate with the City’s Climate Action Planning Adviser to support coherent set-up and delivery of ICA’s technical assistance, engagement, diplomacy and coalition building activities relevant to the City of Accra.
• On managing the political and strategic relationships with the city with regards to activities at national, regional and city-level, the ICA City Adviser will be managed by the Regions Team, in consultation with the designated officials in the city and with the Head of GGND pilot implementation.
• On activities related to the developing and delivery of inclusivity and equity components and activities, the ICA City Adviser will be managed by the Head of Green New Deal Pilot Implementation, in consultation with the designated official in the city and with the Regional and Deputy Directors.
• The ideal candidate for the city of Accra, Ghana will have a strong background in climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience and possibly solid waste management. This post holder will have an in-depth and thorough understanding and experience of inclusive stakeholder engagement and inclusive climate action planning, delivery and monitoring within cities. Additionally, the candidate will have a thorough understanding and experience in engaging with informal workers and within informal settlements, with informal groups and informal economies representatives and/or with local Community Based Organisations and NGOs. Furthermore, the candidate will have excellent project management and communication skills.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and support the development, identification and tracking of all ICA-relevant city-based work including setting impact goal(s), work plans (incl. typology of support needed), coalition building/stakeholder engagement efforts and benefits assessments
• Lead in the assessment of mayoral and city government powers (city resilience, economic growth, social justice) related to the key areas of work on inclusion and equity in climate action
• Support the identification of the city’s sister city(ies) that Accra will engage with (through ICA Academies and in-person and virtual convenings) on working with informal groups within key climate sectors
• Actively participate and, where relevant, support in the development and delivery of key ICA-related technical assistance; peer-to-peer learning; online resources, knowledge products and content production; study visits; diplomacy/advocacy strategy development; strategic communications through in-person and virtual events that will include:
  • A training of trainers for all ICA City Advisors
  • ICA Academies and Workshop/s with wider cohorts of cities
  • Peer-to-peer webinars;
  • City-based coalition building workshop/s
• Manage and support the identification, procurement and follow-up of local consultancies and their work with the aim to build city capacity to implement inclusive climate action with an emphasis on benefits assessments related to engaging informal groups in climate action within key sectors;
• Support the city in key stakeholder engagement and inclusion strategies related to specific climate action/s identified with the city on the basis of their Climate Action Plan
• Engage internal and external stakeholders to ensure their commitment to resource and implement ambitious and transformational action and facilitate better national and local integration of inclusive climate mitigation and adaptation activities;
• Facilitate the city’s engagement with the Inclusive Climate Action Forum

Person Specification:

• Demonstrable experience in government, business or NGO sectors with a focus on equity and inclusion, sustainability and/or climate change, and substantive experience working with or within municipal governments;
• Technical expertise in inclusive climate action planning, delivery and monitoring
• Expertise in stakeholder engagement, in particular with informal workers and with/within informal settlements and/or with local CBOs and NGOs
• Thorough understanding and familiarity with the city’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) will be an asset
• Excellent project-management, strategic thinking and analytical capabilities;
• Demonstrable problem-solving, budget and people management experience, including working with third party delivery teams, and ability to manage multiple parallel tasks;
• Strong interpersonal, relationship building and written and verbal communication skills, combined with English fluency; knowledge and understanding of local Ghanaian languages relevant to Accra are an asset
• Strong stakeholder engagement, convening and facilitation experience, as well as experience in developing or facilitating webinars and workshops;
• Capacity to work across different cultures, languages and time zones.