Principal Specialist, Women and Youth at the Forefront at Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL)

Duty Station: Home-based

Team: Women and Youth at the Forefront

Line Manager: Chief of Staff and Senior Director

Contract Type:  Full-time Short Term Consultant 

Date Required: As soon as possible

Duration: 9 months

Closing date: 15 August 2022 at 23:59 CET

Background About SEforALL

Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) is an international organization working with leaders in government, the private sector and civil society to drive further, faster action toward achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), which calls for universal access to sustainable energy by 2030, and the Paris Agreement, which calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit climate warming to well below 2° Celsius.

Achieving these goals will require a radical rethink of the way we produce, distribute and consume energy. SEforALL is at the heart of this foundational shift to ensure no one is left behind. Drawing on data and evidence, we identify a critical path to success in achieving SDG7.

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the Sustainable Energy for All initiative in 2011. Now an independent organization, we maintain close links with the UN, including through a relationship agreement, partnerships with UN agencies and with SEforALL’s CEO acting as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. These roles include advising the UN Secretary General and his staff on issues relating to sustainable energy and the implementation of SDG7 and supporting the coordination of sustainable energy issues in the United Nations system.  

The ambitions of SDG7 are extraordinary. Aiming to achieve them in the context of the Paris Agreement on climate change involves transformation at a scale never undertaken before. Swift action must be taken by leaders in governments, private sector companies, institutions, financiers, development banks, unions, communities, entrepreneurs and civil society. As we enter the final decade to achieve SDG7, SEforALL has strategically chosen to strengthen global agenda-setting while expanding its activities to an engagement model that prioritizes data-driven decision-making, partnerships with high-impact countries and implementation on the ground. The new SEforALL three-year business plan outlines “results offers” that scope out our planned interventions and demonstrate to our funding partners the impact of their support.

Objectives of the Results Offer

The main objectives of the Women and Youth at the Forefront programme are to:

• Challenge current barriers to workforce participation and identify, support, and champion the next generation of female energy leaders to close the access gap and ensure that no one is left behind.
• Educate, engage and empower youth to advance SDG7 solutions

Purpose/Objective of the Role

The main objectives of the role include to:

• Provide expert level support to the Women at the Forefront programme, helping ensure it achieves its objectives and is responsive to changing client/partner needs.
• Support in the implementation of the programme strategy, inclusive of workplans, budgets, task implementation and monitoring.
• Build and nurture external stakeholder relationships, particularly with potential partners and funders.

Duties and Tasks for the Role

The main duties of the role include, but are not limited to:

• Provide expert advice and support to the Women and Youth at the Forefront programme, supporting on programme strategy development, developing the workplan and activities and managing implementation of activities.
• Provide programme KPI tracking and financial monitoring, and drafting regularly required narrative reports to donors.
• Build and nurture external stakeholder relationships, particularly with potential partners and funders.
• Support in the management of the Open Africa Power (OAP) programme, including support on developing and implementing the OAP mentorship and job shadowing activities.
• Support the development of a Women and Youth at the Forefront internship initiative, building a pipeline of trained, young women with appropriate skills for employment in the energy sector and developing lasting partnerships with education institutions and private sector firms.
• Work with other SEforALL programme teams to develop and implement strategic initiatives and develop key partnerships to advance gender and youth related strategies for sustainable energy access, potentially including working with data custodians to support gender-disaggregated data, coordinating country-level workshops on gender sensitive energy policies and/or developing research to advance gender and youth strategies.
• Support country engagements through other RO teams and in close cooperation with the Head of Energy Access, including understanding the gender and youth related partner landscape in target countries, cultivating new partners and building networks in countries.
• Support Resource Mobilization and fundraising for the Women and Youth at the Forefront programme, including with prospect research and meeting preparation/follow up including drafting proposals, briefings and meeting notes.
• Support SEforALL’s inclusion in external key events and platforms that can advance the programme objectives.
• Facilitate knowledge building and knowledge sharing in own work area to bring about awareness and understanding, as well as utilise SEforALL systems and process to share the knowledge. e.g. Salesforce.
• Other tasks and duties as may be required

Specific Competencies for the Role

• Master’s degree in international or sustainable development, energy economics, energy infrastructure, or in another relevant discipline.
• Minimum ten years of relevant and progressively responsible experience, in international development, a UN agency or similar organisation in the energy sector/field, in developing and managing gender and energy related initiatives.
• Demonstrated expertise in gender mainstreaming and social inclusion, particularly in the energy sector, in energy access and preferably including in finance.
• Excellent project management and relationship management skills
• Clear understanding of evaluation and measurement of results.
• Experience working in Africa highly desired
• Proficiency in the Salesforce CRM platform.
• Complete fluency in English with excellent writing, verbal and presentation skills, including the ability to distil down complex information and information written for technical audiences and summarise this clearly for partners and funders.
• Excellent command of MS PowerPoint and proficiency in the preparation and presentation of high-impact slide decks.
• Ability to understand and present budgets, budget summaries and funding projections clearly and concisely.
• Proven ability to perform clear analysis and research, and present findings concisely.
• Must be a self-starter who identifies areas for action and develops solutions.
• Must have the ability to operate in a fast-paced, dynamic workplace.

General Competencies for the Role

• Innovation and Adaptability: Has expert skills and commitment to search for and produce innovative and creative approaches to activities. Is flexible to evolving circumstances, as well as actively helps others in doing so
• Resilience and Emotional Intelligence: Has expert knowledge in the concepts of resilience and emotional intelligence. Is able to remain calm in challenging situations, to cope with setbacks, is responsive to the emotions of others and maintains a very high level of performance.
• Analytical and Strategic Thinking: Has an expert level of analytical and strategic thinking skills. Gathers and processes demanding information, develops innovative solutions and contributes by presenting topics/approaches in cross functional groups as well as decision making teams
• Collaboration and Partnership: Demonstrates expert initiative and abilities to collaborate and form partnerships in own area of responsibility, across teams and externally. Builds and maintains effective relationships at all levels inside and outside the organisation. Displays team-oriented attitude contributing to creating a positive team spirit.
• Lead and Empower: Builds alignment and commitment and demonstrates initiative and role model behaviour in working with others. Takes responsibility for own work activities and personal actions and carries out the commitments agreed upon. May supervise volunteers and other junior staff members under their responsibility.
• Political and diplomatic understanding: Has an expert level of political and diplomatic understanding
• Communicating information: Has expert skills in communicating information and uses the skills effectively in the own scope of work and regularly in others’ work. Actively promotes improvement of communication skills within the team.
• Research and Analytics: Has expert skills in research and analytics. Promotes the use of data within the team and to contribute to wider decision making.
• Project Management: Has expert skills in project management. Plans and organises their own work using project management tools in support of achieving the team’s objectives. Actively promotes use of project management as a tool to enhance efficiency. Sometimes manages own projects and programmes.
• Client Orientation / Striving for Excellence: Has expert skills in client orientation and strives for excellence. Serves as a role model and contributes to the development of a client orientated attitude in their team. Ensures long-term relationships internally and externally through developing suitable services.

Our Values – please refer to our core values as defined here: https://www.seforall.org/who-we-are/staff/our-values.

Salary information: The successful candidate will be offered an all-in daily rate determined depending on the successful candidate’s qualification and experience, and applying the principle of internal equity.

Additional Considerations

• SEforALL offers exciting high-impact assignments, a collegial and creative work environment, and the opportunity for committed professionals to thrive and grow within flat hierarchies and in the pursuit of an inspiring mission.
• SEforALL provides competitive compensation packages at its locations in Vienna, Washington DC and New York City, and flexibility and result orientated modern workplace arrangements.
• Qualified female candidates and candidates from developing countries are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• SEforALL reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a level below the advertised level of the post.