Provincial & Local Government Engagement Manager

Nepal Renewable Energy Programme

VACANCY Re - Announcement

(Readvertised due to technical problem in email id)

Job Title: Provincial & Local Government Engagement Manager (full-time and based in Kathmandu)

Report to:  NREP Governance Workstream Leader

Close Working Relationships: Provincial and Local Government representatives including MoPID and selected municipalities; private sector representatives including project developers and lending institutions; commercial, institutional, and industrial end-users; associations; and NREP stakeholders including AEPC, NPC, NEA and other energy-related public sector entities 

Background

The DFID Nepal Renewable Energy Programme (NREP) seeks to support the Government of Nepal, Ministry of Energy Water Resources and Irrigation, Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) to lead and manage a new National Renewable Energy Framework (NREF) for the renewable energy sector. To design and implement NREP, in February 2019, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) contracted DAI Europe and consortium partner Winrock International.

The programme aims to promote planning and investment towards a low carbon development path through renewable energy resulting in growth, poverty reduction and climate smart development in Nepal. NREP is designed to deliver a series of programme activities in line with four objectives:

• Build the capacity of Government of Nepal to lead and manage the NREF. The Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) will be the main entry point but other relevant institutions may also be considered (such as AEPC provincial offices, Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation and the Nepal Electricity Authority).
• Strengthen the capacity of the Central Renewable Energy Fund (CREF) to enable it to manage and disburse subsidy, credit and challenge fund on renewable energy including climate finance. An initial £500k of DFID funds are available to set up a Renewable Energy Challenge Fund (RECF) with a further potential £8.8m contribution.
• Deliver programmatic activities related to the demand and supply of RE, finance, governance and capacity development to strengthen the RE sector
• Generate and share knowledge and research in relation to Nepal’s RE sector and facilitate knowledge sharing and learning.

A knowledgeable and experienced Provincial & Local Government Engagement Manager (“Manager”) is needed to help NREP and relevant stakeholders strategically design, implement and report out on activities that will lead to increased RE installed capacity in targeted market sectors, leveraged public/private investments, and strengthened institutional and policy reforms and improved compliance mechanisms in NREP priority Provinces 2, 5, and Karnali.   The Manager will work with and be supported by a team of experts to achieve the Programme’s goals.  

Areas of Responsibility

Generally:

• The Manager will need to have a deep and broad knowledge of RE in terms of RE resource assessments, RE market adoption, technical aspects of RE project development (especially relevant at the Local and Provincial Government level), economic feasibility of RE projects as measured by ROI or payback, innovative project finance, policies and regulations that support RE, grid impact, etc.  
• S/he should also understand and be sensitive to local customs and norms, while adhering to Development Partner protocols.  
• The Manager should also be adept at managing and coordinating staff to ensure their activities are clearly spelled out, delivered, and accounted for.  

Specifically, the Manager will be responsible for:

• Strategic programme design:  S/he will work with NREP and stakeholders to design programme element activities to meet NREP goals in an effective, efficient, and culturally-acceptable manner that conveys benefits such as increased energy access, more cost-effective and reliable energy, economic development, poverty reduction, climate-smart development, lower greenhouse gases, and enhanced quality of life. 
• Staff activity coordination:  S/he will manage and coordinate work (including meeting, travel and lodging) activities of Provincial and Local Government Engagement staffs—including three Provincial Coordinators and three Program Analysts currently active in the Governance Workstream—across the three priority NREP Provinces. S/he will also be responsible for aligning staff activities with NREP Workplans and ensuring expenditures remain within parameters outlined in the Programme Activities Budget. 
• Capacity development and awareness raising: S/he will provide information products and delivery mechanisms including in-person training and online webinars to enhance their capacity; s/he will also develop in-person presentations and online webinars to increase awareness of RE to interested stakeholders including lending institutions, domestic and international investors, social impact investors, project developers, insurers, credit enhancement facilities, and Development Partners or NGOs who could mobilize resources to advance NREP goals. S/he will also work with the Knowledge Management team to acquire and exchange market intelligence and policy evidence in RE.  
• RE project pipeline development:  S/he will help identify a pipeline of technically and economically feasible projects, especially from the Local Governments which have more autonomy on RE projects.  Project scale focuses on the “missing middle” (between large-scale hydropower from the grid, and small-scale Solar Home Systems and micro-hydro), including solar microgrids for communities; rooftop or canopy solar for commercial businesses, hotels, tourist destinations, schools, technical institutions, hospitals, and health centres; and solar energy with reliable energy storage for the industrial market.
• Support for innovative project finance: S/he will work with NREP teams to deploy innovative finance models that will attract private and public sector investment, e.g. through the Sustainable Energy Challenge Fund (SECF), to ensure that projects identified by the Market Assessment & Development team are financed through mechanisms such as first loss guarantees, soft loans from Development Partners, viability gap analysis and funding, credit enhancement, municipal bonds, and revolving loan funds.
• Policy and planning coordination: S/he will participate in policy and regulatory analysis, e.g. net metering, if such analysis makes NREP goal attainment more likely, more streamlined, more logical, and more sustainable to Provincial and Local Governments; and coordinate efforts to develop useful Provincial Energy Plans if/as deemed appropriate by NREP.  
• Partner and stakeholder engagement: S/he will meet with, update, correspond with, and otherwise engage with NREP Federal Government partner AEPC and other Federal Government entities including ERC, NEA, National Planning Commission, etc. as requested by NREP management. 
• Gender and social equity (GESI), Leave No One Behind (LNOB) goal attainment:  S/he will advance GESI/LNOB goals, including identification of  barriers for women decision-makers in the energy sector and the exploration of measures to remove these barriers; gender and disadvantaged group data disaggregation from all planned activities; support to disadvantaged entrepreneurs and project developers; contributions to studies on women’s engagement, participation and decision-making in Federal, Provincial and Local Government functions; capacity needs assessment report with an analysis on the organizational GESI policy, staff diversity, GESI in administrative structure, process and procedures, staff performance and organizational culture in engaged organizations; and other GESI/LNOB activities. 
• Progress reporting& Knowledge Management: S/he will report progress and challenges to NREP management and Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning leaders to ensure activities are contributing to measurable goals.  Also, contribute in evidence-based knowledge generation and market intelligence for informed decision making, financing and market growth. 
• Other activities, as assigned:  S/he will implement other activities as delegated from the NREP Team Leader and Governance Workstream Leader.   

Personal Qualifications

• Solid technical understanding of renewable energy resources, technologies, and end-uses. 
• Working knowledge of renewable energy modelling and planning. 
• At least a Master’s Degree in related field.
• Demonstrated experience in international development.
• Experience working in developing/emerging markets especially identification of solutions within local context.
• Ability to work under time pressure, respond to ad-hoc shifts in client priorities and unforeseen expectations to deliver.
• Good writer, able to communicate clearly and succinctly. 
• Excellent proficiency in English and Nepalese languages is essential.
• Motivated team player.

Application Instructions 

If you believe you possess these skills and you are interested in taking up this challenging position within a team of skilled professionals, please send us your application via email by 24 January 2020 to recruitment.nrepnepal@gmail.com. The subject of your email should be “PLGEM Application.”

In your email, please include:

• Your motivation, outlining why you believe you would be the perfect fit for this job.
• Contact details of three recent references that could contact if you were selected.
• Your earliest starting date, if you were selected.
• Your expected annual salary. 

Please also include the following attachments to your email:

• Your updated Curriculum Vitae. 
• Copies of your key relevant educational degrees. 
• Copies of three related working certificates.

Even though we appreciate your interest in NREP work, we will only be able to contact short-listed candidates.