Job Purpose
The Climate Resilient Livelihoods Advisor provides strategic and technical leadership for WCUK Afghanistan’s climate-resilient livelihoods programming, including Cash programming, IGA, TVET, climate adaptation, community resilience, and market-based approaches.
This position strengthens the technical quality of the SIDA-funded project implemented jointly by WCUK & WASSA, ensuring interventions are climate-adaptive, sustainable, child-safe, and context appropriate.
The Advisor supports WASSA and WCUK field teams through technical tools, capacity building, assessments, quality monitoring, and adaptive learning, while ensuring alignment with WCUK standards, global best practice, and national strategies. The Advisor will report to Senior Manager - MEAL and Technical Program Support and Sr. Manager- Program & Partnership position.
Job Description
The Duties and responsibilities may include but not limited to:
1. Strategy Review and Programme Development
- Provide technical leadership in the development of a coherent strategy for climate-resilient livelihood programming, including IGA, TVET, DRR-responsive income generation, cash programming and sustainable market linkages.
- Lead the integration of climate adaptation, environmental sustainability, and resilience approaches across WCUK–Afghanistan programmes (Child Protection and Education).
- Conduct contextual analysis to identify climate vulnerabilities, livelihood gaps, and opportunities for climate-smart economic interventions.
- Contribute to proposal design, donor engagement, budgeting, and technical narrative development across relevant sectors.
- Support harmonization of climate-resilient livelihood tools, guidance, and delivery models across all WCUK and WASSA projects.
2. Technical Leadership and Capacity Building
- Provide advanced technical support to WCUK and WASSA teams on climate-resilient livelihoods, market systems, IGA, TVET, and community resilience strengthening.
- Lead and support the development and updating of technical frameworks, SOPs, targeting criteria, and climate-adaptation-focused implementation tools.
- Build the technical capacity of WCUK staff, WASSA project teams, and CBSs through structured training, mentoring, and ongoing coaching.
- Assess and support partner capacity and develop tailored capacity-strengthening plans for climate-smart programming, monitoring, and adaptive management.
- Guide the design of climate-appropriate livelihood models including green skills TVET, climate-smart agriculture, natural resource management, and resilience-focused business planning.
3. Strategic Coordination, Technical Influence & Partnership Management
- Ensure strong technical collaboration between WCUK and WASSA, serving as the focal point for climate-resilient livelihood quality assurance.
- Collaborate with Technical Advisors from WCUK HQ and regional/global teams to ensure alignment with global standards.
- Represent WCUK in relevant coordination forums (CWG, FSAC, ES/NFI Cluster) as delegated.
- Coordinate with government departments (DAIL, DoRR, regional and district governors), UN agencies, NGOs, and research institutions to position WCUK as a leader in climate-resilient livelihood programming.
- Facilitate partner learning exchanges and joint technical workshops with WASSA and CBSs.
4. Programme Implementation Support, Monitoring & Learning
- Support the MEAL team in designing climate-specific assessments tools, market analyses tools, community resilience diagnostics, and environmental risk screenings.
- Ensure quality implementation by providing technical support during project roll-out, midline reviews, and adaptation processes.
- Lead reviews of IGA/TVET and other livelihood part of the project curriculum to integrate climate-resilient skills and green job pathways.
- Ensure program adherence to technical SOPs, climate-inclusive safeguarding, and gender-sensitive approaches.
- Support timely post-distribution monitoring and integration of climate risk information into livelihood support models.
- Document lessons learned, innovations, and successful models for replication and scaling.
- Lead internal learning workshops to upgrade technical capacity across WCUK and WASSA teams.
5. Safeguarding
- Promote a culture of safeguarding and ensure climate-resilient livelihood interventions incorporate child protection and risk mitigation.
- Ensure climate shocks, environmental hazards, and livelihood risks do not expose children or vulnerable adults to harm or exploitation.
- Support the integration of safeguarding standards into partner and CBS workplans.
Our Values
- Bold: We use our passion and creativity to deliver high-quality evidence-based work designed to maximize our beneficial impact on children in conflict.
- Accountable to Children: Children can rely on us to respond to their voices and to treat them with respect and dignity.
- Anti-racism: Anti-racism is not merely a belief. It includes actions that we mainstream throughout our work to change and challenge policies and behaviors that perpetuate racism.
- Transparent: We expect to be held to account by our supporters and beneficiaries and we respond with openness and honesty.
- Supportive to each other: We support each other and our partners to achieve ambitious goals and to the best we can be we are honest and open with each other, sharing our success and confronting our challenges.
Experience and mandatory criteria:
- This position base is Badghis province with 20% travel to Herat for strategic coordination and cluster level and BHN engagement. He should be able to work and travel independently to all districts/villages in the Badghis province.
- At least 2-3 years of experience in climate-resilient livelihoods, climate adaptation, market systems, IGA, TVET, or resilience programming (including 2 years in a humanitarian or protracted crisis context).
- Experience working with or supporting local implementing partners.
- A university degree in Engineering, Agriculture, Environmental Science, Rural Development, Livelihoods, or related fields (master’s preferred).
- Demonstrated experience designing and delivering livelihoods and climate-resilience projects for major donors (ECHO, OCHA, EU, SIDA, BHA, UN agencies, etc.).
- Experience conducting or supervising climate-related assessments: market analyses, climate vulnerability assessments, environmental risk screening, value chain analysis.
- Understanding of green skills, climate-smart agriculture, TVET curriculum design, and community adaptation models.
- Experience applying global standards such as Sphere, Minimum Economic Recovery Standards (MERS), gender and inclusion frameworks, and climate adaptation guidelines.
- Excellent facilitation, capacity strengthening, and analytical skills.
- Strong representation and coordination experience in cluster systems.
- Excellent written and spoken English; proficiency in Dari and/or Pashto is an advantage.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a multicultural, conflict-affected context.
Context / Technical Skills & Experience
- Well understanding of climate change impacts in Afghanistan and resilience-building strategies.
- Demonstrated ability to integrate livelihood support with child protection and community resilience.
- Experience in promoting climate-sensitive market-based solutions, sustainable value chains, and green microenterprise models.
- Ability to innovate, pilot climate-smart approaches, and adapt programming for evolving contexts.
- Experience working with CBSs, women’s groups, and community governance structures.