Senior Specialist, Energy Access – SEforALL
Background about SEforALL
Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) is an international organization working with leaders in government, the private sector and civil society to drive further, faster action toward achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), which calls for universal access to sustainable energy by 2030, and the Paris Agreement, which calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit climate warming to well below 2° Celsius (and striving for 1.5° Celsius).
Achieving these goals will require a radical rethink of the way we produce, distribute and consume energy. SEforALL is at the heart of this foundational shift to ensure no one is left behind. Drawing on data and evidence, we identify a critical path to success in achieving SDG7.
The 8th UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the Sustainable Energy for All initiative in 2011. Now an independent organization, we maintain close links with the UN, including through a relationship agreement, partnerships with UN agencies and with SEforALL’s CEO acting as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative (SRSG) for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. These roles include advising the UN Secretary General and his staff on issues relating to sustainable energy and the implementation of SDG7 and supporting the coordination of sustainable energy issues in the United Nations system.
The ambitions of SDG7 are extraordinary. Aiming to achieve them in the context of the Paris Agreement on climate change involves transformation at a scale never undertaken before. Swift action must be taken by leaders in governments, private sector companies, institutions, financiers, development banks, unions, communities, entrepreneurs and civil society. As we enter the final decade to achieve SDG7, SEforALL has strategically chosen to strengthen global agenda-setting while expanding its activities to an engagement model that prioritizes data-driven decision-making, partnerships with high-impact countries and implementation on the ground. SEforALL’s current three-year business plan outlines “results offers” that scope out our planned interventions and demonstrate to our funding partners the impact of their support.
Context and Objective of Assignment
SEforALL’s Powering Healthcare programme seeks to create stronger and more resilient health systems in Africa and Asia by accelerating the development and deployment of clean energy solutions in health facilities.
We do this by providing the impetus and solutions needed by governments and their partners to increase investment in and the sustainability of health facility electrification efforts. Our objectives are to:
- Build an investment case for powering healthcare to ensure access to adequate and reliable power in healthcare facilities is prioritized as a necessary input to achieving public health and energy/climate goals.
- Create the core ‘building blocks’ to deliver distributed clean energy solutions to healthcare facilities at scale and in a sustainable manner.
The main objectives of Powering Healthcare Offer are:
- Bridging the data gap: Building the evidence base for powering healthcare facilities, particularly in the areas of sector intelligence/mapping and impact research.
- Driving innovation: Developing the new ideas and tools (related to, e.g., business models, policy and quality assurance) needed to facilitate wide-scale and sustainable adoption of distributed clean energy solutions in healthcare facilities.
- Mobilizing finance: Promoting innovative finance mechanism to de-risk investments health facility electrification.
- Providing country-level support: Assisting countries in developing and implementing health facility electrification strategies.
- Facilitating global advocacy and leadership: Strengthening political and technical cooperation and knowledge exchange among health and energy players and raising awareness and educating stakeholders on the need and opportunity to provide better health services by powering healthcare facilities.
SEforALL’s Powering Healthcare programme is part of a broader effort by SEforALL to increase the social and economic inclusiveness of electrification efforts.
Purpose/Objective of the Role
- Lead on project management and activity implementation under SEforALL’s Powering Healthcare programme.
- Support the development of a Powering Healthcare ‘Center of Excellence’, by contributing to improved sector intelligence and quality data.
- Contribute to the development of and uptake of financial innovations in support of health facility electrification.
- Provide general technical support to the Powering Healthcare team, in particular for off-grid renewable energy solutions.
- Represent SEforALL’s Powering Healthcare program in global coordination fora, including the Health and Energy Platform of Action or the High-Level Dialogue on Energy.
- Support Powering Healthcare’s country-level strategy, in particular through the development of Market Assessments & Roadmaps for a select number of countries. The Powering Healthcare program is expected to provide detailed support to 3 to 5 countries in 2022-2024, with additional ad-hoc support to other partners expected.
Main Duties and Tasks of the Role
The main responsibilities include but are not limited to:
Global market intelligence and sectoral coordination:
- Manage the completion of the ‘State of the Market Report’ and accompanying intervention heatmap, with expected completion in November 2023, as well as plan subsequent updates.
- Provide general support to other knowledge products in support of Powering Healthcare’s objectives; knowledge products will primarily focus on global reports that aim to build out the existing data on health facility electrification as well as on innovations in business models.
- Carry out market assessment on ‘innovation funds’, and develop concept for an SEforALL-led Powering Healthcare Innovation Fund (in Q1 2024), to be launched later in 2024.
- Participate in multi-stakeholder platforms, including the Health and Energy Platform of Action and the Health and the Healthcare Electrification and Telecommunication Alliance at the global level, and similar coordination mechanisms at the country-level.
- Contribute to the analysis of innovative business models for health facility electrification, including through detailed case studies, desk-based research, stakeholder interviews, and targeted workshops and working meetings.
Country-level technical assistance:
- Lead the development of the Powering Healthcare Market Assessment & Roadmap in Madagascar (expected completion in December 2023), and provide direct support to SEforALL’s Madagascar country manager.
- Provide further support to additional in-country consultants in the development of Powering Healthcare Roadmaps and implementation activities. This support will take the form of providing advisory and technical support to countries/governments and their development partners on the design, implementation and monitoring of heath facility electrification programmes/projects.
- Manage project pipeline development through the development of a templatized approach to implementation project proposals.
Technical support:
- Provide technical assessments of off-grid system designs, incl. analysis of costs and appropriateness of technical solutions.
General project management:
- Manage activity-level budgets, workplans, contracts, and reporting schedules.
- Facilitate knowledge building and knowledge sharing in own work area to bring about awareness and understanding, as well as utilise SEforALL systems and process to share the knowledge. e.g. Salesforce.
- Contribute to the implementation of the Powering Healthcare communications strategy, closely liaising with SEforALL’s Communications Team, including: keeping an external-facing Powering Healthcare deck up to date, event management, speaker outreach, etc.
- Support the Powering Healthcare team with administrative support (e.g. setting up events and webinars, managing distribution lists, …).
- Other tasks and duties as may be required.
Specific Competencies for the Role
- Minimum of 7 years of relevant work experience in international development, with specializations in off-grid energy or the energy-health nexus.
- Practical and relevant experience in at least one of the following areas: technical system design for off-grid solutions, or innovative business models for off-grid electrification, or development of national strategies and roadmaps.
- Practical experience designing and implementing off-grid solar programs/projects in energy access deficit countries is desirable.
- Experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects.
- Strong project management skills, incl. managing workplans, budget, and M&E frameworks.
- Experience managing relationships with key stakeholders in the energy access field, including national Governments, development partners, and private sector actors.
- Experience delivering high-quality reports and other written products.
- Experience producing content suitable for external communication, for example social media, newsletter, articles, and website content is desirable.
- Solid command of the English language. Other languages (especially French and Portuguese, Swahili) are desirable.
- Fluency with all relevant Microsoft programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
- Strong organizational skills.
- Ability to handle quick-turnaround tasks alongside sustained projects.
General Competences for the Role
- Innovation and Adaptability: Has expert skills and commitment to search for and produce innovative and creative approaches to activities. Is flexible to evolving circumstances, as well as helps others in doing so.
- Resilience and Emotional Intelligence: Has expert knowledge in the concepts of resilience and emotional intelligence. Is able to remain calm in challenging situations, to cope with setbacks, is responsive to the emotions of others and maintains a high level of performance.
- Analytical and Strategic Thinking: Has an expert level of analytical and strategic thinking skills. Gathers and processes demanding information, develops innovative solutions and contributes by representing topics/approaches in internal and cross-functional working groups/teams.
- Collaboration and Partnership: Demonstrates expert initiative and abilities to collaborate and form partnerships in own area of responsibility, across teams and externally. Builds and maintains effective relationships at all levels inside and outside the organisation.
- Lead and Empower: Demonstrates initiative and role model behaviour in leading and empowering others. Takes responsibility for own work activities and personal actions and carries out the commitments agreed upon.
Political and diplomatic understanding: Has an expert level of political and diplomatic understanding. - Communicating information: Has expert skills in communicating information and uses the skills effectively in own scope of work and in others’ work.
- Research and Analytics: Has expert skills in research and analytics and uses the skills effectively in own scope of work.
- Project Management: Has expert skills in project management. Plans and organises their own work using project management tools in support of achieving the team’s objectives.
- Client Orientation / Striving for Excellence: Has expert skills in client orientation and achieving excellency in work delivery.
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