Young Professional Officer – Climate Change

About the role

The Young Professional Officer (Climate Change) will support the implementation of FAO’s Strategy on Climate Change (2022‑2031) in Africa, providing technical expertise on climate change in agrifood systems. The role involves advancing climate‑related policies, investments, NDC implementation, climate finance, carbon markets, loss and damage, and energy transitions.

Key responsibilities

• Provide technical support and back‑stopping for FAO projects and programmes that scale up climate action in agrifood systems, ensuring gender‑sensitive and inclusive approaches.
• Analyse trends in public and private climate and environmental finance relevant to agrifood systems and contribute to investment design tools.
• Support monitoring, reporting and documentation of progress on FAO’s Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan in Africa.
• Develop and maintain databases, web pages and new FAO data, methods, tools and services for climate change in agrifood sectors.
• Establish and maintain partnerships with vertical funds (e.g., Green Climate Fund), private sector, bilateral and multilateral donors, and facilitate resource mobilisation.
• Assist in drafting technical documents, preparing training materials, and organising workshops, seminars and stakeholder meetings.

Required profile

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in climate change, environmental engineering, natural resources management, agriculture, forestry or a related field.
• At least one year of relevant experience in development projects on climate change mitigation or adaptation, preferably linked to agrifood systems.
• Age 32 years or younger as of 31 December of the application year.
• Proficiency in English (level C) and intermediate proficiency in another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish); French is an asset.
• Demonstrated ability to analyse policy and governance structures and to work with UN agencies, NGOs, private sector, donors and government institutions.
• Experience with climate finance, carbon markets, and environmental investments in agriculture and rural development.