Clean Cooking and Energy Expert at UNV - United Nations Volunteers

Mission and objectives

In 2021, UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa launched timbuktoo, a multi-pronged initiative aimed to galvanize African youth as entrepreneurs, innovators, and problem solvers. The initiative is focused on supporting and growing innovative, scalable, and impactful entrepreneurship by African young people, while relying on a springboard of partners who together contribute meaningfully to building an African youth innovation and startup ecosystem. The timbuktoo approach is anchored in seeking, nurturing, and building African solutions forwarded by Africa’s youth that directly address one or more of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Timbuktoo is an explosive new entrant into UNDP Africa’s ambition to transform the African continent by harnessing on the African people themselves, particularly its ambitious, vibrant, youth, as the key to its development and path out of poverty. To achieve this bold ambition timbuktoo utilizes a hub and spoke model composed of 10 thematic nodes.

Context

Access to clean and sustainable energy is a cornerstone of Rwanda’s development strategy and its commitment to the SDGs and Vision 2050. Clean cooking solutions are critical in this regard, as they reduce health risks, protect the environment, and contribute to gender equality. Despite progress, the adoption of clean cooking technologies in Rwanda remains low. In response, the Government of Rwanda, through the Ministry of Infrastructure, is scaling up efforts to coordinate stakeholders, enhance monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and mobilize resources to advance the clean cooking agenda. The UN Volunteer (Clean Cooking Coordinator) will be embedded within the Ministry of Infrastructure to provide technical and coordination support

Under the supervision of the Programme Analyst/ Sustainable Environment, Energy Development and Climate Change (SEEDCC) at UNDP and the guidance of the Director General – Energy Directorate at the Ministry of Infrastructure, the National UN Volunteer Expert will undertake the following responsibilities:

1. Strategy & Policy Development:

 Provide expert technical advice to senior leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure on clean cooking technologies, markets, financing, and policies.

2. Coordination and Management

 Follow up on the implementation of the National Clean Cooking Strategy and Action Plan, tracking progress and identifying bottlenecks.

 Coordinate with relevant Ministry of Infrastructure Energy Department subsectors (e.g., Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Planning, Finance) to ensure clean cooking is mainstreamed.

3. Stakeholder Engagement & Partnerships:

 Establish and maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders: other government ministries (Environment, Education, Health, Gender, Fi-nance, Local Govt.), development partners, NGOs, private sector (manufacturers, distributors, financiers), research institutions, and consumer groups.

 Establish a database of stakeholders in the clean cooking sub sector and facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue, and engagements through organizing clean cooking technical working group.

4. Resource Mobilization & Investment Promotion

 Identify funding opportunities (grants, loans, climate finance, private investment) for clean cooking initiatives.

 Develop a pipeline of clean cooking projects that can benefit from the carbon financing

 Work with private sector to unlock investment in clean cooking supply chains and service delivery.

5. Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning (MEL) & Reporting:

 Review and suggest areas of the existing MEL framework for the national clean cooking programmes, including key performance indicators (KPIs).

 Oversee data collection (e.g., adoption rates, fuel use, health impacts, market data), analysis, and reporting.

 Prepare regular progress reports for clean cooking

 Facilitate learning and knowledge sharing efforts on clean cooking within the Ministry of Infrastructure and with stakeholders.

6. Market Development & Standards:

 Support the development and enforcement of national quality standards and testing protocols for clean cooking technologies and fuels.

 Identify barriers to market growth (supply chain, consumer awareness, affordability, financing) and propose solutions.

 Support initiatives to build capacity of local enterprises (manufacturers, distributors, after-sales service).

 Support the development of the clean cooking communication strategy and its implementation a national and sub-national levels.

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