Policy & Capacity Building Expert (Environment and Climate)

Policy & Capacity Building Expert (Environment and Climate) – Job Ad

AEIDL, the European Association for Innovation in Local Development, is seeking an enthusiastic and highly motivated full time Environment and Climate Policy & Capacity Building Expert in our Environment and Climate Action (ECA) thematic cluster. The expert will support the implementation of our Horizon Europe projects GRACE and EQUATERRA, as well as undertaking thematic, policy and business development roles across the Association.

We welcome applications from candidates looking for either a freelance or an employee post. The post is offered on an open-ended basis.

Role and responsibilities

The primary tasks will be to undertake tasks on two Horizon Europe projects, GRACE and EQUATERRA, and associational activities, including but not limited to:

GRACE (Empowering Rural communities for Climate Resilience)

• Design and implement a capacity-building needs assessment, including questionnaire development
• Analyse local needs and research findings to support the development of a Capacity Building Programme for Rural Climate Resilience Groups from remote rural areas.
• Support the preparation, organisation, delivery and evaluation of in-person and virtual capacity-building sessions, including Training-of-Trainers elements.
• Coordinate and help deliver online follow-up support sessions for remote rural area authorities after local climate adaptation implementation activities.
• Develop a Capacity Building Plan for stakeholders and prepare a final report capturing lessons learned, stakeholder feedback and recommendations from local activities.

EQUATERRA (Reconstruction of Ukraine with nature-and bio-based solutions)

• Lead AEIDL’s policy planning and policy drafting activities, including the Build Back Better policy roadmap, the interim policy brief, and the final policy recommendations
• Translate pilot results, stakeholder feedback and project evidence into clear, practical and evidence-based policy outputs
• Contribute to the development, finalisation and knowledge-transfer use of capacity-building materials and training curriculum
• Design the methodology for socio-economic impact and community acceptance assessment, including surveys, interviews and indicators
• Analyse adoption drivers, barriers, gender-disaggregated feedback and qualitative stakeholder inputs
• Coordinate relevant inputs from technical partners, Ukrainian partners and associated partners for the validation of policy, training and impact outputs
• Prepare at least two thematic policy briefs and one final policy synthesis report

AEIDL associational and transversal activities

• Assist in ad-hoc tasks supporting other relevant projects in ECA
• Work with the ECA thematic cluster to develop policy briefs, discussion papers and other knowledge capitalisation products, supporting AEIDL’s broad work in the field
• Identify business opportunities in the ECA field, and contribute where necessary to relevant proposals and tenders.
• Tasks may be expanded depending on the profile and interests of the selected candidate.

Desirable skills and experience

Essential

• University degree in a relevant field such as environmental policy, climate adaptation and mitigation, rural development, sustainability, circular economy, public policy or social sciences
• At least 3 years of relevant professional experience in EU-funded projects, policy analysis, capacity building, stakeholder engagement, climate adaptation, rural resilience or sustainability
• Excellent spoken and written English, with strong ability to draft clear policy briefs, recommendations, reports and training materials
• Good understanding of circular & bioeconomy, bio-based/Nature-based Solutions, green reconstruction and climate adaptation & resilience
• Proven ability to translate technical and scientific project results into clear, policy-relevant and stakeholder-oriented outputs
• Experience designing and delivering capacity-building activities, including needs assessments, questionnaires, training materials, training the trainer formats, in-person workshops and virtual learning sessions
• Experience in stakeholder engagement and participatory processes with local authorities, rural communities, technical experts, NGOs, public bodies and multi-country project partners
• Ability to design survey/interview methodologies and analyse socio-economic impact, community acceptance, adoption barriers and gender-sensitive feedback
• Good understanding of EU project workflows, including deliverable preparation, partner coordination, monitoring and reporting

Desirable

• Experience working on Horizon Europe projects or other EU programmes in the fields of climate adaptation, rural resilience, green reconstruction, circular economy, bio-based solutions or Nature-based Solutions.
• Knowledge of construction waste valorisation, land/water restoration and community-led recovery.
• Previous experience with remote rural areas, rural climate resilience groups, local communities, municipalities, farmers, advisors or regional stakeholders.
• Knowledge of European Green Deal, EU Climate Adaptation Strategy, EU Bioeconomy Strategy, or Ukrainian reconstruction context.
• Experience developing training curricula and capacity-building materials for non-technical audiences, including local authorities, SMEs, community actors, trainers and advisors.
• Experience facilitating online and/or in-person workshops, peer-learning sessions, best-practice exchanges or communities of practice.
• Familiarity with socio-economic impact assessment, community acceptance analysis, gender-disaggregated data collection or inclusive evaluation methods.
• Ability to translate technical project results into accessible policy messages, training content and stakeholder-oriented outputs.
• Experience working in international and multi-stakeholder environments, including coordination with technical partners, public authorities, NGOs and associated partners.
• Good working knowledge of additional European languages would be an asset.
• Strong project management skills, including coordination of multiple workstreams, deadlines, partner inputs and deliverable contributions.

Working at AEIDL

People are the most important asset of AEIDL, and we practice internally what we advocate externally – providing a working environment where we care for our staff in a culture of cooperation and collaboration.

At AEIDL we seek to provide a healthy work-life balance, with a strong emphasis on cooperative teamwork. We have a human-centred approach to work, including flexible working hours, options for home working and regular social gatherings.

We empower our staff to lead, decide and show initiative, embracing our “culture of co”. Our culture of cooperation, co-creation, community-leadership, and caring for the common good is an inherent part of the AEIDL brand.

At AEIDL you will benefit from our staff development programme, in which our team members contribute to designing and planning cooperative approaches to learning, mentoring and individual development. We value the development and sharing of skills, knowledge, and experience.

We welcome ideas for our working and associative activities. Such staff-led initiatives include team building days, outreach activities, the European Local Innovation Forum (ELIF), and our eco-team, which ensures we practice what we preach.

For employees we offer competitive remuneration packages, indexed on an annual basis, including a thirteenth month, double holiday pay (as per Belgian regulation), a home-working allowance, meal vouchers and a contribution to local transportation costs. We also offer affiliation to a private pension plan and a high-coverage hospitalisation insurance.

In a standard year, employees are entitled to 20 days of annual leave, 12 days of compensatory rest, 10 Belgian bank holidays as well as Europe day, equivalent to up to 43 days of annual paid leave.

Who we are

AEIDL is an association that learns from and fosters community-led innovation in areas such as territorial development, employment, entrepreneurship, social inclusion, environment, climate action and green growth.

We add value by supporting and facilitating peer learning among local and national actors across Europe, analysing and evaluating relevant EU policies and advocating for enhanced support to community local action to help build a Europe for citizens.

The personal data contained in applications sent in response to job offers are collected and recorded by AEIDL’s HR/KM departments in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations concerning the protection of personal data. These data will be processed by authorised persons only to be able to assess your application for potential recruitment and will be kept for the time necessary to achieve this purpose. You may request access to your personal data and, if necessary, have them corrected. You also have the right to have them deleted, transferred, request a limitation of their processing or to object to it.
These various rights can be exercised by contacting the following address: privacy@aeidl.eu.