Solicitation for U. S. /Third Country National Personal Services Contractor (US/TCN PSC) as Senior Climate Change and Biodiversity Technical Advisor, USAID/West Africa.

USAID/West Africa (USAID/WA) is a highly dynamic, regional mission that leverages strategically targeted programs across a region spanning 21 countries with a population of more than 400 million. Working through a distinct regional lens, the mission designs and implements programs that are African-led, maintain a regional perspective, support regional partners’ efforts and priorities, and pursue a long-term vision balanced with short-term, achievable results.

USAID/WA has four Development Objectives (DOs) that cover the following sectors: peace and governance (including countering violent extremism and conflict management); economic growth (including trade and investment, energy, agriculture, and environment); health (including family planning, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and water and sanitation); and vulnerable populations.

USAID/WA also has a Support Objective, which represents the service provision (financial, legal, procurement, administrative, and technical) and knowledge management functions of the mission. The DOs and Support Objective are:

• DO 1: Democracy, peace, and stability enhanced.
• DO 2: Inclusive broad-based economic growth advanced.
• DO 3: Governments, institutions, and partners catalyzed to strengthen health systems; and
• DO 4:  Vulnerability of targeted populations reduced.

USAID/West Africa’s Regional Economic Growth Office (REGOs) Environment Team falls under DO 2 and promotes U.S. foreign assistance goals of conserving important biodiversity, responding to adverse effects of global climate change focusing on adaptation and reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), improving management of natural resources, diversifying and strengthening rural livelihoods, and supporting the expansion of clean water and sanitation services and behavior change in sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Moreover, the Environment Team has oversight in the West Africa region for the application of USAID’s Environmental Compliance Requirements (22CFR216) to ensure all USAID-funded activities carried out in the seven bilateral USAID missions, five Limited Presence Countries and eight Non-Presence Countries are in compliance with USAID’s environmental regulations to ensure environmentally sound design of programs and mitigation of negative environmental impacts.

USAID/West Africa continues to build on its legacy of activities in climate change adaptation and mitigation along with biodiversity conservation. The Senior Climate Change and Biodiversity Technical Advisor (the Advisor) will provide expert technical input and policy advice on a broad range of issues related to the USG’s global climate change (GCC) initiative[1], USAID’s new Climate Change Strategy, biodiversity conservation, and natural resources management (NRM). He/she will guide interagency programming on using geospatial technology to predict agricultural and pastoral trends and track illegal mining and fishing. He/she will also play a design, management, and oversight role for regional WASH programming as needed, including in conflict areas. He/she will coordinate with the technical programs of USAID/West Africa, USAID Missions in ‘presence’ and ‘non-presence’ countries, USAID/Washington, U.S. Embassies, more broadly with U.S. Government (USG) agencies, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its member institutions, as well as other African institutions and conventions such as the Mano River Union[2] and the Abidjan Convention.

The overall aim will be to advance USAID’s environment strategies and policies, including climate change, and to promote and integrate climate change into development planning. The incumbent will also provide technical leadership in the design and planning for environment funding that supports biodiversity conservation and to work with all technical teams to incorporate environmental compliance and climate change considerations into their portfolios of technical programs. He/she will assist with designing, procuring, and managing the implementation of contracts, grants, and/or inter-agency agreements. The Advisor will work with other team members concerned with NRM, biodiversity, climate change, WASH, and environmental compliance.

The position is based in Accra, Ghana with the USAID/West Africa Regional Economic Growth Office, and specifically in the Environment Team.