The mandate of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is to promote sustainable and inclusive development and regional connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region. The role of ESCAP as a regional development arm of the United Nations Secretariat is to support its membership with policy-oriented research and analysis and with normative, technical and capacity-building assistance to respond to the development priorities and changing needs of countries in Asia and the Pacific. The ESCAP Subregional Office for East and North-East Asia (SOENEA) works with China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia and the Republic of Korea, as well as with Hong Kong, China, and Macao China. In addition, it works with the Russian Federation on matters of technical cooperation. SOENEA also serves as the Secretariat of the North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation (NEASPEC), which includes air pollution, nature conservation, marine protected areas, low carbon cities, and desertification and land degradation and will be implementing its new strategic plan 2026-2030. This position is located in SOENEA. The incumbent reports to the Head of Office.
Under the direct supervision of the Head of Office, the incumbent is required to perform the following functions:
• Works with key national counterparts in member States for the development, implementation and evaluation of assigned programmes/projects, addressing subregional environmental challenges including through NEASPEC and related issues on inclusive business and entrepreneurship for sustainable development.
• Monitors and analyzes specific aspects of programme/project development and implementation; reviews relevant documents and reports; identifies problems and issues to be addressed and recommends corrective actions; liaises with relevant parties including governments, civil society and the private sectors; identifies and tracks follow-up actions.
• Carries out analytical research on national policies and programmes relating to subregional environmental cooperation through collecting, analyzing and presenting statistical data and other information gathered from diverse sources.
• Provides substantive support for policy coordination and evaluation, including the review and analysis of emerging issues and trends in environmental affairs and sustainable development in the subregion, and participation in evaluations.
• Assists in performing consulting assignments, in collaboration with the client, by planning and facilitating workshops, through other interactive sessions and assisting in developing the action plan the client will use to manage the change.
• Participates in survey initiatives; assists with design of data collection tools; issues data collection tools, reviews, analyzes and interprets responses, identifies problems/issues and prepares preliminary conclusions.
• Contributes to the preparation of various written outputs, e.g. draft background papers, analytical notes, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications, etc.
• Provides administrative and substantive support to consultative and other meetings, conferences, in the area of subregional environmental cooperation, to include proposing agenda topics, identifying and proposed participants, preparation of background documents and presentations, handling logistics, etc. • Undertakes outreach activities; participates in the development of training workshops, seminars, etc.; participates in and makes presentations on assigned topics/activities.
• Participates in field missions, including provision of substantive and administrative support, data collection, etc.
• Coordinates activities related to budget funding (programme/project preparation and submissions, progress reports, financial statements, etc.) and preparation of related documents/reports (pledging, work programme, programme budget, etc.).
• Performs other duties as required.