VACANCY: Adaptation Expert (AE)Project: Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT)

 

Position Title		Adaptation Expert (AE)
Organization		Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management (PISLM)
Project		Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT)
Preferred Duty Station		Home based
Reports To		Chief Technical Advisor
Contract Type		Project-funded Fixed-Term Contract
Closing Date		November 30th ,2026

 

ABOUT PISLM

The Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management (PISLM) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to strengthening sustainable land management, climate resilience, environmental governance, and ecosystem restoration across Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Working closely with governments, regional institutions, development partners, civil society, and international organizations, PISLM supports the development and implementation of innovative programmes that promote sustainable environmental management and enhance resilience to climate change.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) Project seeks to strengthen institutional and technical capacities for transparency under the Paris Agreement across participating Caribbean countries. The project supports the development of national Transparency Management Systems, enhanced greenhouse gas inventories, climate reporting systems, institutional coordination mechanisms, and regional collaboration to improve countries’ (Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Suriname) ability to meet their reporting obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

 

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

The Adaptation Expert (AE) will provide technical guidance to strengthen the integration of adaptation information within the national Transparency Management System (TMS). The expert will bring international best practices on adaptation elements under the UNFCCC’s Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF), including the tracking of adaptation actions, vulnerability and risk assessments, and the identification of adaptation co-benefits from mitigation and development policies. The expert will support the development of practical tools, data structures, and capacity-building activities to ensure that adaptation information is systematically compiled, updated, and used for national reporting and planning.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

The Adaptation Expert provide technical guidance to support the integration of adaptation information within the national Transparency Management System (TMS). The AE will also provide technical expertise, stakeholder coordination, and analytical support to strengthen the country’s climate transparency systems and reporting arrangements under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework.

Technical Oversight

• Provide technical support to strengthen climate transparency systems in accordance with the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework.
• Assess existing national transparency systems, institutional arrangements, reporting tools, methodologies, and data-management processes and recommend appropriate improvements.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of project activities and outputs related to adaptation within the TMS, ensuring that national modules can capture and report adaptation information consistent with UNFCCC requirements.
• Support the establishment of a data structure within the TMS adaptation module to define “who collects what, when, and how,” ensuring clarity of institutional responsibilities and efficient data sharing between ministries and agencies.
• Prepare guidance materials and technical documentation (e.g., manuals or protocols) for compiling, managing, and reporting adaptation data through the TMS.
• Deliver targeted capacity-building workshops and training sessions to strengthen institutional and technical capacities for adaptation monitoring, data collection, and reporting.
• Work closely with the project team, including national experts and the capacity-building consortium, to ensure coherent integration of adaptation elements within the wider transparency framework.
• Provide recommendations to facilitate the transition of national adaptation tracking and reporting systems to ETF-compliant processes.
• Contribute to lessons learned, ensuring that experiences and practices from participating countries feed into regional collaboration and future improvements of the TMS.
• Contribute to the preparation of national roadmaps, action plans, capacity-building programmes, and communication strategies related to climate transparency and reporting.

 

Stakeholder Coordination and Partnerships

• Coordinate consultations with government ministries, departments, national focal points, technical agencies, civil society organizations, private-sector representatives, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Facilitate stakeholder engagement processes for the preparation and validation of Enhanced Transparency Framework compliance improvement plan.
• Support national consultations to define institutional roles, responsibilities, reporting arrangements, and coordination mechanisms for the Transparency Management System.
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with national stakeholders, PISLM, the Chief Technical Advisor, regional experts, and project partners.
• Facilitate workshops, technical meetings, validation sessions, sensitisation activities, and capacity-building events.

Financial and Risk Management

• Identify technical, institutional, operational, and stakeholder-related risks that could affect the timely delivery of assigned outputs.
• Recommend practical mitigation measures to address data gaps, institutional constraints, limited technical capacity, stakeholder participation challenges, and coordination risks.
• Support the efficient use of project resources allocated to consultations, technical activities, workshops, and capacity-building interventions.
• Ensure that assigned national activities and deliverables are implemented within the approved scope, timeframe, and available resources.
• Promptly inform the Chief Technical Advisor of emerging risks, delays, resource constraints, or other issues that may affect project implementation.
• Support compliance with applicable PISLM, project, procurement, and administrative procedures when undertaking project activities.

Monitoring, Reporting and Quality Assurance

• Monitor progress against the Expert’s approved workplan, deliverables, milestones, and project timelines.
• Support the preparation of national reports, including, improvement plans, roadmap, action plans, workshop reports, and implementation updates.
• Document improvements made to greenhouse gas inventory systems, NDC tracking arrangements, institutional systems, reporting tools, and data flows.
• Review stakeholder inputs, technical data, and supporting documentation to ensure accuracy, consistency, completeness, and reliability.
• Maintain appropriate records of consultations, decisions, validation processes, technical recommendations, and stakeholder feedback.
• Apply quality assurance and quality control procedures to all technical products before submission to the Chief Technical Advisor.
• Incorporate feedback from PISLM, national stakeholders, and project partners into revised and final deliverables.

Supervision and Team Leadership

• Provide technical support to national stakeholders, technical officers, consultants, and other persons contributing to assigned project activities.
• Coordinate the work of relevant national technical teams and working groups involved in climate transparency, data collection, reporting, and institutional strengthening.
• Support the allocation and coordination of tasks among stakeholders contributing to the development of project outputs.
• Promote effective communication, collaboration, accountability, and timely completion of assigned activities.
• Work closely with the Chief Technical Advisor and other project experts to ensure consistency in national project outputs.
• Escalate technical or operational issues requiring management intervention to the Chief Technical Advisor.
• Foster an inclusive, professional, and results-oriented working environment throughout the assignment.

Key Deliverables

• Facilitate stakeholder engagement
• Coordinate with technical consultants to deliver five (5) country specific transparency platform designs and/or functional enhancement designs requirements documents
• Review of country specific platform designs to identify regional standardisation approaches and data flows
• Improved country specific Risks and Vulnerabilities data collection templates and data flows with collaborative regional approaches, where appropriate
• Coordinate with technical consultants to deliver five (5) country Risks and Vulnerabilities improvement reports, documenting implemented improvements on Risks and Vulnerabilities data compilation methods and tools
• Improved country specific Risks and Vulnerabilities data documentation, training material and manuals
• Collaborate on regional approaches, where appropriate
• Participate in regional sensitisation and training workshops on UNFCCC and MEA reporting and reporting tools
• Participate at CBIT-GSP workshops

EXPECTED PROJECT CONTRIBUTIONS

The successful candidate will support the delivery of country-specific project outputs for the respective country, including:

• A validated Enhanced Transparency Framework compliance improvement plan.
• Technical requirements and recommendations for the development or functional enhancement of the national transparency platform.
• A documented national Transparency Management System, including clearly defined institutional roles, responsibilities, coordination mechanisms, and data flows.
• Implementation support for strengthened national transparency institutional arrangements.
• Improved systems, templates, and data flows for climate risks and vulnerabilities reporting.
• Contributions to the design and implementation of national capacity-building programmes.
• A national communication and stakeholder engagement strategy for climate transparency.
• A ten-year national roadmap to guide the respective country’s engagement and reporting under the UNFCCC and other Multilateral Environmental Agreements.
• A national action plan to support the use of the Transparency Management System in government planning and decision-making.
• Technical documentation demonstrating the implementation of key recommendations and improvements achieved during the project.
• National sensitisation, consultation, validation, and capacity-building workshops for government agencies and other relevant stakeholders.
• Contributions to regional collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and joint technical approaches among participating Caribbean countries.

 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

 

Applicants should possess:

• At least 5 years’ experience in designing and developing MRV systems and data flows to address transparency requirements under the Paris Agreement for NDC Tracking and linking action to SDGs.
• A higher degree (Master’s or higher) in environmental science, forestry, land management, climate science, or a related field is required, along with familiarity with tracking of adaptation actions, vulnerability and risk assessments, and the identification of adaptation co-benefits from mitigation and development policies.
• The candidate must demonstrate strong capacity-building skills with experience in supporting training and outreach programs for local stakeholders, as well as an understanding of national climate policies and frameworks, including experience in local-level implementation.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills are necessary, emphasizing the ability to produce clear technical reports and presentations.
• The candidate must also possess a proven ability to work with local government, communities, and national agencies, along with proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and experience with local data management and documentation systems.
• A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible professional experience providing technical support in climate change, transparency systems, Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV), environmental governance, or related fields.
• Strong understanding of the Paris Agreement, Enhanced Transparency Framework, and Multilateral Environmental Agreements.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

Preference will be given to candidates with:

• Experience working within Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
• Experience working with UNEP, GEF, UN agencies, national and regional organizations, or international development partners.
• Knowledge of national environmental governance frameworks.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary technical teams.
• Experience facilitating -national stakeholder consultations and capacity-building initiatives.

 

CORE COMPETENCIES

The successful candidate should demonstrate:

• Strategic Leadership
• Technical Excellence
• Project and Programme Management
• Planning and Organizing
• Financial Accountability
• Partnership Building
• Results Orientation
• Communication and Presentation Skills
• Team Leadership
• Integrity and Professionalism

 

TERMS OF APPOINTMENT

This position is offered on a project-funded fixed-term contract for the life of the project.

Subject to satisfactory performance, continued project funding, and organizational requirements, the contract may be extended beyond the project’s official completion date to facilitate the completion of outstanding project activities, reporting obligations, financial closure, and any remaining responsibilities necessary for the successful implementation and close-out of the project.

The successful candidate will be based in their respective country.

Travel may be required.

 Full TOR Adaptatio Expert- TOR _fnal

HOW TO APPLY

Interested applicants should submit:

• A Cover Letter;
• A detailed Curriculum Vitae;
• Contact information for three (3) professional references.

Applications should be submitted electronically to: info@pislmsids.org. Email Subject Line: Adaptation Expert– [Applicant’s Full Name]

Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

 

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

PISLM is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and respectful workplace. Applications are welcomed from suitably qualified candidates regardless of gender, age, disability, ethnicity, religion, or background. Women and nationals of Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are especially encouraged to apply.

 

PRIVACY NOTICE

Personal information submitted as part of this recruitment exercise will be used solely for recruitment purposes and will be handled in accordance with PISLM’s applicable data protection and records management policies. Information will only be retained for as long as necessary to complete the recruitment process.