COP 27 Project Manager at Childrens Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)

Against this background, CIFF seeks to recruit a COP 27 Project Manager to lead on the development and implementation of CIFF’s COP 27 Strategy and events organised around this. This is an exciting role requiring coordination and relationship building with several stakeholders including influential youth groups, donor institutions and service delivery vendors. The successful applicant will be a highly organised ‘self-starter who will work closely with the Africa Climate Director, the Africa Climate Team and the London Climate Team in the essential coordination and delivery of CIFF’s COP 27, events. The role will require coordinating between several stakeholders including influential youth groups, donor institutions and service delivery vendors in the lead up, at and after the COP.

Role Responsibilities

Project Development, Delivery & Performance

• Act as a single point of contact for all activities relating to COP 27.
• Draft, deliver and evaluate a plan that brings together all strands of work related to COP 27 including the Youth Pavilion, Peace Boat, and any other activities planned.
• Develop and issue an expression of interest for events of the Youth Pavilion and Peace Boat and support in vetting applications.
• Create and maintain synergies with partners especially the UN High-Level Climate Champions, Resilience Hub, World Resources Institute (WRI) and others.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, to the required standard and within budget, with evaluation measures built in from the start to allow post-project evaluation.
• Identify continual improvement opportunities throughout and gathering learning to help improve with similar projects in the future.
• Conduct regular reviews of the progress and performance of the project under delivery to identify problems and delays, and work with partners to develop effective solutions (escalating to more senior colleagues for support and intervention, where required).
• Work as part of a team to shape and implement plans for scaling up, replicating or leveraging additional support for similar initiatives, in accordance with Foundation priorities.
• Identify opportunities and options for improving processes, procedures and programme management approaches within (and beyond) the team, to support increased organisational efficiency and effectiveness for similar initiatives.
• Convene the steering group made up of strategic partners who will be responsible for delivering elements of the project, capture, and follow-up on agreed outcomes and manage the steering group’s requests and asks.
• Manage budgets and funding relationships including required documentation and procedures with partners and suppliers.
• Develop and foster relationships with civil society organisations, policymakers and other relevant stakeholders in the climate change space to deliver towards COP 27 priorities.
• Apply CIFF’s agreed account management disciplines and approaches in all dealings with project partners and stakeholders, to ensure productive and professional relationships are maintained in a coordinated and strategic manner.
• Working alongside senior colleagues, help to develop strategic partnerships to support adoption, replication, co-funding or scaling-up of CIFF programmes.
• Curate a programme of events for the Youth Pavilion, Peace Boat and other planned events.
• Manage vendors such as the builders, event organisers, virtual platforms, graphic designers ensuring that CIFF actualises high impact events.
• Work closely with the event organiser to: Manage branding considerations between partners including ToRs on brands; Curate a straightforward and effective run of show for each day in coordination with partners to ensure smooth running and flow during the events at COP27.
• Ensure smooth running of the events held at the Youth Pavilion and the Peace Boat including IT, speaker prep, catering, recording, presentations all other dimensions of the events.
• Keep abreast of developments within the climate change space and international development sectors, establishing appropriate information gathering networks and channels to deepen professional knowledge and skills.
• As required, contribute to the development of thought leadership, PR, marketing and advocacy materials, to support CIFF’s ambitions to scale-up, mainstream and leverage additional support for its initiatives.

Stakeholder and partner management

• Convene the steering group made up of strategic partners who will be responsible for delivering elements of the project, capture, and follow-up on agreed outcomes and manage the steering group’s requests and asks.
• Manage budgets and funding relationships including required documentation and procedures with partners and suppliers.
• Develop and foster relationships with civil society organisations, policymakers and other relevant stakeholders in the climate change space to deliver towards COP 27 priorities.
• Apply CIFF’s agreed account management disciplines and approaches in all dealings with project partners and stakeholders, to ensure productive and professional relationships are maintained in a coordinated and strategic manner.
• Working alongside senior colleagues, help to develop strategic partnerships to support adoption, replication, co-funding or scaling-up of CIFF programmes.

Events Management

• Curate a programme of events for the Youth Pavilion, Peace Boat and other planned events.
• Manage vendors such as the builders, event organisers, virtual platforms, graphic designers ensuring that CIFF actualises high impact events.
• Work closely with the event organiser to: Manage branding considerations between partners including ToRs on brands; Curate a straightforward and effective run of show for each day in coordination with partners to ensure smooth running and flow during the events at COP27.
• Ensure smooth running of the events held at the Youth Pavilion and the Peace Boat including IT, speaker prep, catering, recording, presentations all other dimensions of the events.

Sector knowledge and profile-building

• Keep abreast of developments within the climate change space and international development sectors, establishing appropriate information gathering networks and channels to deepen professional knowledge and skills.
• As required, contribute to the development of thought leadership, PR, marketing and advocacy materials, to support CIFF’s ambitions to scale-up, mainstream and leverage additional support for its initiatives.

Requirements

• Demonstrable experience in project managementt ideally with multilateral organisations.
• Familiarity with the UNFCCC COP process.
• Proven track record of delivering projects involving multiple partners.
• Experience engaging with stakeholders like UN entities, vendors, CSOs and Youth Groups.
• Experience with creating budgets, timelines and roadmaps.
• Significant experience of prioritizing work and supporting different projects simultaneously.
• An innovative thinker with a pragmatic and solution-oriented mindset
• Ability to plan, manage and deliver against agreed outcomes, good attention to detail
• Well organised and able to work with a broad range of stakeholders at once.
• High levels of determination and abilities to be a self-starter who is focused on delivery of outcomes.
• Event management experience including coordinating events and managing teams
• Experience of tendering work and contract management.
• Effectively champions and promotes causes – credible and professional, they always present the Foundation’s programmes in a compelling way to engage the audience.
• Skilled in relationship building and strengthening; able to influence others and work collaboratively, uniting groups with a shared purpose.
• English is CIFF’s business language – we expect all staff to display outstanding verbal and written communication skills across all aspects of their role.
• Capacity to work in a range of cultural and socio-economic contexts, adapting style and approach appropriately and in a culturally sensitive manner to maximise effectiveness.
• IT proficiency (most specifically in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint).
• A proven self-starter, who works with pace and resilience.