Regional Lead – Africa Full Time NEW

Background

The Global Methane Hub (GMH) is the first coordinated philanthropic approach to funding methane mitigation. The Hub focuses on the energy, agricultural, and waste sectors, which account for 96% of human-caused methane emissions. We support ambitious catalytic investments, lay the groundwork for long-term transformation, and deliver quick wins ripe for action on the ground.

GMH advances its mission through three main functions:

Regranting: Providing financial support to public-benefit organizations working directly to mitigate methane.

Convening: Bringing together governments, civil society, researchers, and funders to align strategies and accelerate coordinated action in the interest of the public benefit.

Advising: Serving as a knowledge hub and trusted partner, providing guidance on methane mitigation strategies, data sharing, and field-building.

Our actions are global in nature, and we believe quick wins will only be had if we engage sub-national and local communities. Our activities focus on the highest-emitting sectors and regions with a team spread across six continents. GMH is headquartered in Santiago, Chile with a Stichting registered in The Netherlands.

Purpose of role

The Regional Lead – Africa serves as the Global Methane Hub’s principal ambassador and strategic advisor for the region. This role focuses on building influential networks, fostering relationships, and providing deep contextual intelligence to inform GMH’s sectoral strategies. The Regional Lead will cultivate relationships with government officials, civil society leaders, the private sector, academics, and key stakeholders to advance methane mitigation ambitions globally, with an emphasis on Africa, through field building, targeted seed grants, and strategic convening, this position strengthens the regional methane mitigation ecosystem while serving as GMH’s authoritative voice in the region.

The Regional Lead reports to the Director, Global Engagement and partners collaboratively with the Program Directors and teams, the Development & Impact team, and Communications team.

Primary responsibilities

The job holder will have the following key responsibilities:

Regional Representation & Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as GMH’s principal representative for cross-cutting methane mitigation initiatives across Africa with a global perspective provided from other regional leads.
• Build and maintain relationships with stakeholders, including governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, research institutions, and private sector partners to foster an understanding of methane mitigation opportunities and benefits.
• Represent Global Methane Hub in high-level discussions at industry events, scientific conferences, and meetings with local government officials, key partners in the region, NGOs, funders, experts, and consultants; ensure follow-up, as needed. This may include international or domestic travel. When appropriate, this also includes global platforms and forums.
• Elevate GMH’s profile through relationships with regional media engagement and public speaking opportunities to amplify GMH’s methane mitigation message in coordination with the Communications team.
• Position GMH as the trusted partner and thought leader on methane mitigation in the region to grantees, policy makers, philanthropies, and other stakeholders.
• Partner with Program Directors to create opportunities for program staff in the region to advance sectoral work on methane mitigation.
• Collaborate with relevant regional climate initiatives and networks to leverage resources and foster synergistic partnerships.
• Engage with the global community of aligned donors and practitioners working to advance the goals of the Global Methane Hub.
• When appropriate, act as local leader in key engagements like COP, funder retreats, or other GMH events.

Strategic Advisory & Analysis

• Contribute regional perspectives to the GMH Global Engagement Strategy.
• Provide analysis of regional political contexts, policy landscapes, and stakeholder dynamics to GMH leadership and program teams.
• Advise sectoral program directors on regional opportunities, risks, and strategic entry points.
• Monitor and analyze regional methane policy developments, regulatory changes, and political shifts.
• Gather insights on government priorities and identify alignment opportunities with methane mitigation goals; track and document government commitments and progress on methane mitigation.
• Provide leadership to the wider philanthropic and bilateral donor community on methane mitigation for Africa.
• Engage with the global community of aligned donors and practitioners working to advance the goals of the Global Methane Hub.

Strategy Development & Execution

• Collaborate with GMH leadership to develop a comprehensive regional methane mitigation strategy aligned with the broader GMH goals.
• Design and implement initiatives to strengthen the methane mitigation ecosystem across Africa.
• Deploy seed grants strategically to catalyze new actors and initiatives in the methane mitigation space.
• Connect successful seed grantees to sectoral program pipelines for potential scale-up support.
• Convene workshops and gatherings of practitioners, researchers, and implementers to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing.
• Monitor developments in the field to identify emerging needs, gaps, and opportunities.
• Foster communities of practice around methane reduction in key sectors alongside program teams.

Collaboration and Communications

• Provide regular updates and reports to the organization’s leadership and donors on the impact of methane mitigation efforts in the region.
• Brief GMH leadership on regional developments that may impact organizational strategy.
• Maintain regular communication with sectoral program directors and teams to ensure that regional insights inform grantmaking strategies; as requested, assess incoming grant proposals.
• Identify regional organizations and initiatives that align with sectoral strategies for program team consideration.
• Support program teams in navigating regional political and cultural contexts.
• Share knowledge on successful seed grantees that may be ready for larger programmatic support.

Financial Management:

• Ensure compliance with internal policies and fiscal sponsor /donor regulations governing programmatic funding and operations.
• Work with the finance team to ensure budget adherence and accurate reporting for established grants and initiatives and make recommendations to leadership.
• Support the development of sectoral and regional operational budgets to anticipate and plan for programmatic expenses.
• Monitor established budgets for regional projects or grants, making decisions within approved budgets and processes.
• Prepare and submit expense reports, ensuring compliance with organizational financial policies.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Profile

The following offers an aspirational view of our ideal candidate profile; however, we encourage applications from candidates with a wide range of experiences and backgrounds, especially those from underrepresented groups.

Background and Experience

• 8+ years of progressive experience in stakeholder engagement, strategy, or public affairs, with substantive experience in climate, environment, energy, or adjacent fields in Africa.
• Demonstrated experience representing an organization in high-level and public forums (policy dialogues, conferences, media), with strong diplomatic and cross-cultural judgment.
• Demonstrated record of developing and executing strategy, including the effective allocation of set resources to achieve ambitious goals.
• Grant-making or seed-funding experience desired.
• Demonstrates organizational values of equity, agility, humility, integrity, and care
• Intellectual agility and the ability to analyze, think critically, and understand emerging issues and opportunities to reduce methane emissions.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty; the ability to adapt nimbly.
• Highly collaborative with a partnership mindset. Encourages others to share the spotlight and visibly celebrates and supports the success of the team, external partners, and grantees.
• Self-reflective and open to feedback, with a commitment to continuous improvement.
• Passionate about being part of the climate change solution.

Skills and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in environmental science, public policy, international relations, development studies, or a related field required. Advanced degree preferred.
• Established networks and credibility with governments, civil society, multilateral and regional bodies (e.g. the African Union, development banks), and the private sector across Africa.
• Excellent communications skills, both written and verbal, for proposals, reports, and other presentations, including in high-level and public-facing settings.
• Familiarity with the African climate, energy, agriculture, or waste-sector landscape and the key regional climate initiatives operating in it.
• Exceptional project management, prioritization, and planning skills.
• Written and oral fluency in English required; proficiency in French, Portuguese, Arabic, or another language widely spoken across Africa is preferred.

Terms and conditions

• This will be a full-time (40 hours/week) remote role and will require time flexibility in order to collaborate with staff and stakeholders in multiple time zones. The position supervisor is in the GMT+0 time zone.
• Candidates must have the right to work in the country from which they are applying.
• Ability and willingness to travel domestically or internationally ~40%.
• Please note that the successful candidate will undergo reference checks prior to starting employment

To apply for the post

To apply for this role, please submit a copy of your CV/resume and a cover letter outlining your interest in the role and how you fulfil the requirements set out in the job announcement.

Link: https://upsallinternational.com/jobs/regional-lead-africa/

In your cover letter, please describe your experience engaging senior government agencies, nonprofit institutions, multilateral organizations, or major donors on climate, energy, agriculture, or environmental issues across Africa. Please provide specific examples of your role and the outcomes achieved.

Please ensure you send your CV and Cover letter in the following format: full_name_CV_org_name_role and full_name_role_CL.

If you have any questions about the role or organisation and would like an informal chat ahead of submitting a formal application, please reach out to Shoshana Grammer at shoshana@upsallinternational.com. Please note: to ensure the security of your application and to ensure that your data complies with GDPR regulations, applications via email will not be accepted.

The deadline for applications is Monday 24^th August, 9:00 am CET

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Upsall International actively promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion. In recruiting candidates, we seek candidates with the proven skills required, irrespective of race, gender, religion or belief, age, disability, or sexual orientation.