Job Openings at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

• Under direct supervision of the Regional Coordinator for ROA, the incumbent will be mainly responsible to contribute to the strengthening of UNEP’s regional scientific capacity, capability and science-policy interfaces – including through the generation, synthesis, and application of robust, interdisciplinary science and evidence to drive effective action for environmental protection. The incumbent will carry out the following functions:
• Support UNEP’s coherent integration of science-based environmental dimensions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Africa’s regional and national policy planning and prioritisation process, including through the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks and Country Analyses;
• Provide technical support and other offers to the UN Country Teams (UNCT), including in production and/or updating of country environmental performance reports, known as National Environment Summary reports, to enhance the efficacy of UNEP UNCT Focal Points’ engagements in substantive environmental matters in the UN Resident Coordinator system; Participate in uplifting science and strengthening UNEP’s science offer to Member States, including through substantive contributions to regional environmental assessments and other targeted science-policy engagements, and harnessing the Shared Environmental Information System and its applicable principles
• Contribute to a strengthened delivery of UNEP regional science-policy sub-programme mandate in the Africa region as per the corporate Medium-Term Strategy, Delivery Model Policy, and science-policy related initiatives, programmes, projects and other interventions;
• Enhance the capacity of Member States, partners and stakeholders to develop and apply environmental information for science-based planning and decision-making, including empowering them to take actions for addressing climate, pollution, and nature crises, and integration into key environmental policy and decision-making processes, including regional ministerial forums;
• Support science-policy reporting and communication, including preparing progress reports, monthly political briefs, and other communication materials to inform strategic positioning and decision-making at relevant levels of UNEP’s Regional Office for Africa;
• Strengthen stakeholder engagements on science policy perspectives for environmental protection, including close collaboration with regional bodies and centres of excellence on thematic and other environmental issues;
• Provide science-policy perspectives in regular country briefs to inform and elevate the organisation’s strategic positioning and effective delivery of its mandate in the region;
• Perform other duties as may be assigned by the Senior Management from time to time.

Qualifications/special skills

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in a discipline related to environment and sustainable development, with knowledge of environmental assessment, management, economics or a related field, is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with 2 additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
• Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is desirable.
• A minimum of five (5) years of progressive experience in environmental policy development and associated natural resource and ecosystem management is required.
• Experience in the UN system’s reform process, including the UN Resident Coordinator System (UNRC) and Regional Collaborative Platforms (RCPs) is required.
• Experience and good grasp of UN 2.0 and UNEPs ‘New Delivery Model Policy’ is desirable.
• Within the five year required, a minimum of two (2) years or more of experience in UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks is desirable.

Deadline : Feb 1, 2026

go to method of application »

Specific Responsibilities for the Principal Evaluator: The Principal Evaluator will be responsible, in close consultation with the Evaluation Manager, for overall management of the evaluation and timely delivery of its outputs.

Roles will include:

• Inception phase of the evaluation, including : Map out the projects in the FET-SP portfolio and assess how they contribute to UNEP work covering MTS 2018-2021 and MTS 2022-2025 and the associated POWs results and indicators. Identify the projects that have the greatest impact on each subprogramme's indicators;
• Get the list of project preliminary desk review and introductory interviews with project staff;
• draft the reconstructed Theory of Change of the FET-SP; o prepare the evaluation framework; o develop the desk review and interview protocols;
• draft the survey protocols (if relevant);
• develop and present criteria for selection of Finance and Economics Transformations initiatives for in-depth study;
• plan the evaluation schedule;
• prepare the Inception Report, incorporating comments until approved by the Evaluation Manager.
• Data collection and analysis phase of the evaluation, including:
• conduct further desk review and in-depth interviews with project implementing and executing agencies, project partners, and project stakeholders; o regularly report back to the Evaluation Manager on progress and inform of any possible problems or issues encountered and; o keep the Evaluation Manager informed of the evaluation progress and engage the Sub-Programme Coordinator of Finance and Economics Transformations in discussions on emerging findings throughout the evaluation process.
• Reporting phase, including: draft the Main Evaluation Report, ensuring that the evaluation report is complete, coherent, and consistent with the Evaluation Manager guidelines both in substance and style;
• liaise with the Evaluation Manager on comments received and finalize the Main Evaluation Report, ensuring that comments are taken into account until approved by the Evaluation Manager;
• prepare a Response to Comments annex for the main report, listing those comments not accepted by the Evaluation Consultant(s) and indicating the reason for the rejection.
• Managing relations, including: maintain a positive relationship with evaluation stakeholders, ensuring that the evaluation process is as participatory as possible but at the same time maintains its independence;
• communicate in a timely manner with the Evaluation Manager on any issues requiring its attention and intervention.
• The evaluation consultant shall have had no prior involvement in the formulation or implementation of the Sub-Programme during the period being reviewed from 2018 to 2025 and will be independent from the participating institutions. The consultant will sign the Evaluation Consultant Code of Conduct Agreement Form. The evaluation consultant will be selected and recruited by the UNEP Evaluation Office through a consultancy contract. Comprehensive terms of reference will be shared with consultant separately.

Qualifications/special skills

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in environmental sciences, international development or other relevant political or social sciences area is required.
• A first level university degree (Bachelor's degree or equivalent) in the same areas in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.
• A minimum of ten (10) years of technical / evaluation experience is required, preferably including evaluating large, regional or global programmes and using a Theory of Change approach. Advanced knowledge and experience in the following fields desirable:
• Resource efficiency (Circularity, Sustainable Consumption and Production);
• Sustainable finance (Green Economy, Green Finance, Sustainable Public Procurement);
• UN policy work and country support;
• The UN system, in particular UNEP and partner agencies working with FET-SP;
• Programme/Project management and Knowledge Management;
• Multilateral Environmental Agreements, regional and national policy processes.

Deadline : Feb 5, 2026

go to method of application »

More specifically, under the supervision of UNEP UN-REDD Programme Coordinator for the Africa Region, the Consultant will conduct the following tasks:

• Consult different actors engaged in the REDD+ process including government (CNREDD, - FONAREDD, ARMCA), technical assistance providers, NGOs, civil society, legal experts, private sector, academia.
• Identify the gaps in the REDD+ process and provide guidance on ways to address them.
• Assess the governance architecture of the REDD+ process, including the roles, coordination mechanisms, and effectiveness of key institutions (CNREDD, FONAREDD, sectoral ministries, provincial structures).
• Review the functionality of inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms and stakeholder participation in decision-making - Analyse and identify the strengths, the weaknesses, the threats and opportunities of the process in DRC and suggest priority actions in reshaping the vision of the DRC government on the overall REDD+ process.
• Conduct a comprehensive mapping of adopted and proposed REDD+ policies and how they align with policies in other sectors (mining, land-tenure, biodiversity conservation, agriculture, etc.),
• Conduct a comprehensive mapping of the required standardized tools (Registry, SIS, TREES documents, etc.) for the REDD+ implementation process, their existence or level of development and implementation in DRC. Assess the status and functionality, as well as the perspectives for sustaining the Safeguards Information System (SIS), the NFMS, and other transparency tools such as the National REDD+ Registry.
• Evaluate how effectively these systems comply with international standards and contribute to the credibility of results-based finance.

Qualifications/special skills

• Education: An advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) or higher degree, preferably in Environmental Science, Forestry, Climate Change, Geography, Sustainable Development, or related field, is required.
• A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s or equivalent) in the above-mentioned fields with an additional two (2) years of relevant experience can be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.
• Experience: At least five (5) years of experience in project/ programme management activities, preferably in REDD+, climate change, forestry, or environmental management, or related field is required.
• Thorough understanding of the political economy of the Eastern Africa region, especially of DRC, working with the different key Ministries involved in REDD+ is desirable.
• Experience working with African governments is desirable.
• Familiarity with international and national regulatory frameworks related to REDD+, carbon markets, such as the Paris Agreement, carbon market, nesting, Jurisdictional REDD+ is desirable.
• Familiarity with REDD+ phases, standards, ART TREES, and/or Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU), and experience in coordinating multistakeholder initiatives is desirable.
• Proven ability to work effectively in a multicultural and multi-disciplinary environment is desirable.

Deadline : Feb 6, 2026

go to method of application »

Responsibilities

• Heads the Applications, AI and Data Science function, with overall responsibility for UNEP data platforms and applications on both the corporate and programmatic sides.
• Plans and directs the work programme on data science, providing both methodical and managerial supervision of all activities; Plans, organizes and manages staff and evaluates their performance.
• Takes the lead in exploration, identification, and acquisition of data sources to determine their suitability for use in decision making and advancing the goals of the organization. Enables broader use of data sources by applying quality methods to structure, clean, format, parse, and standardize for analytical use.
• Ensures close working relationships with key stakeholders to leverage the use of data science methods to support their programmatic areas with solutions that assist them in accomplishing their mandates.
• Coordinates the design and development of data science products to reveal insights and provides an understanding or knowledge of the data that would otherwise not be detected without the application of advanced analytical methods such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive analytics, data and text mining, natural language processing, statistics, and use of relevant algorithms and computational approaches.
• Orchestrates the liaison with technology stakeholders to access infrastructure, software and services needed to develop and deploy data science products.
• Liaises with the Business Analysis team to translate user requirements into technical roadmaps and supervise their implementation in collaboration with business owners.
• Coordinates the design and development of customized visualization and presentation products to reveal the findings of analysis for clients, suitable for all forms of production to include briefings, reports, documentation to oversight bodies, interactive interfaces, and publication quality outputs.
• Guides, trains and supervises staff in the function.
• Represents the organization and the Chief Digital Officer at international and regional meetings and inter-agency activities, as well as internal meetings as needed.
• Advises senior management on trends and developments in data science and recommends appropriate courses of action.

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in data science, mathematics, statistics, engineering or any related field involving data science is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A degree in data science with a focus on environmental applications is desirable.

Work Experience

• A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in data science, data analytics, applied mathematics, or software engineering, is required. Experience in statistical and computational methods, such as clustering, classification, correlation, dimension reduction, forecasting, machine/deep learning, and Generative AI is required.
• Experience in data Science tools such as Jupyter, Matlab, Knime, SPSS, SAS or similar Statistical Programming Languages such as R, Python, Javascript, tools for large datasets such as Hadoop, Spark is required. Experience managing software development and data science teams to deliver production-grade data platforms and applications is required.
• Experience managing the delivery of environmental applications with an international or multinational setting is desirable.