Urban Nature-Based Solutions Associate at World Resources Institute (WRI)

Job Highlight:

• As the Urban Nature-Based Solutions Associate, you will primarily support the Africa Climate Resilient Cities program in Kenya. You will focus on coordinating the implementation of a 5-year Resilient and Equitable Cities program, the 3-year Green-Gray Infrastructure (GGI) Accelerator initiative and other city engagement work underway in Kenya. You will work with the Resilience African Cities Lead and the Environmental Finance Lead, in addition to city stakeholders (including the City County of Nairobi and the Nairobi Rivers Commission), to scope NBS opportunities technically will lead to investment and implementation in Nairobi. You will also lead in stakeholder’s management and partner’s engagements related to urban climate-resilience in Kenya.
• You will report to the Resilience African Cities Lead.

What will you do:
Relationship management, diplomacy, strategic planning and delivery for climate-resilience work in Kenyan cities (70%):

• Liaise with the Nairobi City County Government, Nairobi Rivers Commission, and other relevant city and municipal governments, government ministries and agencies, private sector and local actors to advance WRI Africa’s climate resilient cities work in Kenya.
• Organize and participate in consultations and workshops with key stakeholders for co-design and creation of projects to ensure outcomes meet local needs
• Attend stakeholder meetings, present the project on behalf of WRI at various in city events like focus groups meetings, assessment workshops, visioning workshops, action plan launch event
• Collaborate with the African climate resilient cities team to design and implement network exchange programs between cities that support peer to peer learning on common challenges identified in cities
• Manage the partnerships with local partners for implementing activities in Kenyan cities
• Work with the African climate resilient cities team and the local partners to support securing commitments for the action plans from cities’ stakeholders and leadership and identify priority climate resilience actions in cities
• Guide the local partner in identifying, scoping, managing, and implementing discrete technical assistance to support cities in advancing action on high priority climate resilience initiatives for the city
• Develop workplans and ensure timely delivery of program outputs and milestones
• Support development of reports to city governments, funders and others on WRI activities in Kenyan cities
• Plan and support all relevant WRI events in Nairobi and the region following WRI Africa policies and protocols
• Support the documentation of lessons learned from the project and provide recommendations
• Support the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) experts in developing and implementing a comprehensive monitoring and reporting system

Fundraising (25%):

• Lead on NBS and climate resilience opportunity identification and planning for cities in Kenya
• Collaborate with UWR and Cities4Forest team in cultivating new project opportunities and prospective donors and preparing proposals for Kenyan cities and in Africa
• Lead in the development of large-scale grants and funding proposals to unlock additional resources for NBS projects and partners, and WRI for Kenya

Communications (5%):

• Support content development for WRI communication materials, including blogs, newsletters, and project pitches
• Prepare presentations and written and graphic content for presentations and reports
• Coordinate with the head of cities program to strategically promote and elevate city champions in collaboration with WRI’s communications and engagement lead to support messaging for the city work.

What will you need:

• Education: You have completed a bachelor’s degree in urban planning, climate resilience, natural resources management or a closely related field
• Experience: You have 7+ years of full-time relevant work experience in urban planning, natural resource management, or developing NBS projects for climate resilience in cities
• Prior experience working with city or national governments
• Demonstrated experience communicating technical concepts to non-technical audiences
• Demonstrated experience influencing public policy for urban climate resilience will be an added advantage
• Demonstrated previous experience on research, coordinating or leading original projects, programs, and urban planning activities will be an added advantage
• Experience related to urban water is desirable
• Languages: Verbal and written English proficiency
• Requirements: Existing work authorization in Kenya is required where this position. WRI is unable to authorize visa work authorization.