Director, Climate, Economic & Finance for Africa at World Resources Institute (WRI)

What will you do: 

Leadership and Management (35%): 

• Articulate and develop WRI Africa’s Climate, Economics & Finance strategy, program, and activities, such that the portfolio has a compelling vision, strong research foundation, clear priorities, and coherence, within itself, WRI Africa’s strategy, and WRI’s global climate, economics and finance strategy, and delivers on inclusive economic transitions for the continent
• Be an external and internal champion of WRI Africa’s climate, finance, and economics portfolio at events, national, regional and international fora, meetings, and within WRI
• Develop strategies for engaging with policymakers and other key stakeholders, including those at the sub-national level such as local community leaders, CSOs, etc
• Liaise with and develop collaborations with external partners on advancing climate, economics, and finance related issues, including adaptation and resilience, economic transformations, more effective and equitable financial systems, climate justice, and loss and damage
• Promote close collaboration on climate, economics and finance across the different pillars within the Africa team and across WRI
• In keeping with WRI’s commitment to gender equity and social inclusion across our programs, the Director will also be required to identify relevant gender and social equity issues, as determined through gender and social analysis, and ensure adequate and effective attention to these issues in project and partner development, budgeting, and management
• Manage Climate, Economics & Finance staff members, ensuring they are supported and mentored, with high morale, well-being and a culture of diversity and inclusion in the team and that planned deliverables and results are achieved
• Oversee overall program and risk management and budgetary performance of Africa’s Climate, Economics & Finance portfolio
• Collaborate and coordinate with staff across WRI’s programs, centers and international offices, and external partners to advance the interests of the Africa team
• Attract, motivate, and retain world-class staff for the Africa team

Research and Program Development (35%): 

• Develop and execute current and new programs of work, to respond to the current and growing economic, finance, and climate-related challenges on the continent, particularly focusing on adaptation and resilience and climate-supportive financial systems
• Identify knowledge gaps and influence opportunities where our research and practice can produce meaningful improvements in achieving climate and development goals and ensuring climate and economic justice
• Identify the data and methods needed to produce robust, unbiased research that addresses knowledge gaps and informs the Africa Climate, Economics & Finance pillar’s influence strategies
• Cultivate relationships that expand the audiences for the team’s knowledge products and their uptake of tools and research produced by the team and partners
• Author, review, and provide constructive feedback on knowledge products, blogs, press releases, and other research and communications materials as necessary
• Develop and implement effective strategies for WRI Africa’s engagement in Conferences of Parties (COPs), Africa Climate Summit and related processes on climate, economics, and finance that are grounded in WRI’s comparative expertise and value addition
• Anchor the Africa team’s strategy on youth, Indigenous People and Women engagement and capacity building, building on existing efforts
• Work with the Managing for Results team to design and roll out a simple and actionable monitoring and evaluation plan to track, learn from and demonstrate the impact of WRI’s Climate, Economics and Finance work in Africa

Fundraising, Engagement and Outreach (30%): 

• Actively cultivate and manage relationships with new donors to secure funding
• Leverage existing relationships with foundations, governments, and individual donors to contribute to Africa’s Climate agenda
• Write, develop, and review fundraising proposals with staff from the Africa team and other parts of WRI to support our growing integrated Climate, Economics & Finance portfolio
• Proactively design and execute external and internal facing events (e.g., workshops, roundtables, other convenings) to engage with stakeholders in line with our objectives
• Work with our communications and engagement teams to set public and private sector agendas, influence decision-maker perspectives, and communicate findings and recommendations from Africa’s economics, finance and climate and related work

What will you need: 

• Education: You have completed a master’s degree in a relevant field, such as climate finance, climate economics, environmental economics, or development economics, or other related field.
• Experience: You have a minimum of 15 years of experience in climate and related issues, with at least 3 in a supervisory and people management role
• Prior experience of working with international organizations, national governments and relevant experience working in the African continent is essential
• Proven track record of fundraising success at a multimillion-dollar scale.
• Track record in publishing high-quality quantitative research and analysis
• Experience building partnerships and engaging with diverse stakeholders—including governments, civil society, and companies—from global to local scales
• Experience building development plans at the national level
• Strong analytical skills and demonstrable research record (e.g., involvement in published papers and reports)
• Demonstrated ability to build and grow an institutional program
• Have a track record of organization, time management skills, people leadership and management, and program and management skills, with experience managing several projects at different stages simultaneously
• Competency in basic analysis, able to synthesize complex data and information, and to communicate in accessible ways
• Excellent fundraising skills, from demonstrable success in proposal writing to donor engagement
• Strategic thinker, who can also manage detail and is well organized, able to prioritize and juggle multiple, competing priorities
• Experience supervising and mentoring direct reports (experience with matrixed teams is a plus)
• Excellent writing and oral communication skills
• Ability and willingness to travel approximately 15% time
• Commitment to WRI’s mission and values
• Significant and demonstrable knowledge of economics, finance and climate policy, including international processes, climate negotiations and national climate-related policies and financial architecture
• Languages: Fluent English is a must. Proficiency in French is highly valued.
• Requirements: Existing work authorization is required where this position. WRI is unable to authorize visa work authorization