Senior Programme Officer- Sustainable Finance Programme

Background
The African Climate Foundation (ACF) is the first and only African-led climate change re-granting organisation on the continent. Through a combination of grant making, fellowships, transformational research, technical assistance, coalition building and advocacy the ACF seeks to support interventions at the nexus of climate change, and development that have the greatest potential to deliver long-term socio-economic transformation and inclusive development. ACF also provides Fiscal Hosting (also called Fiscal Sponsorship) services to support emerging and mission aligned organisations and initiatives.

Purpose

ACF works across interconnected thematic areas to help unlock systems-level change and strengthen Africa’s voice in global climate and development processes. Through its Sustainable Finance Programme, ACF supports efforts to strengthen the financial systems, institutions, and policy frameworks required to mobilise and deploy capital for Africa’s climate and development priorities. This includes work on country platforms, public finance systems, debt and macro-fiscal resilience, domestic capital markets, and global financial architecture reform.

The Senior Programme Officer will be a core member of the Sustainable Finance team and will report to the Adviser: Sustainable Finance Programme. The role will play a central coordination and implementation function across ACF’s Sustainable Finance work, supporting delivery across country engagements, strategic partnerships, grant portfolios, donor processes, and ecosystem-building initiatives.

Working closely with the Sustainable Finance team and other ACF colleagues, the Senior Programme Officer will help drive implementation across multiple workstreams related to climate finance, macro-fiscal governance, investment platforms, sustainable economic governance, and institutional capability strengthening. The role requires strong coordination, relationship management, analytical, and operational skills, alongside the ability to manage multiple complex and interconnected workstreams simultaneously.

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Responsibilities include but not limited to:

Programme Delivery and Strategy implementation:

• Support implementation of ACF’s Sustainable Finance Strategy across its priority pillars and workstreams.
• Coordinate implementation and follow-through across multiple Sustainable Finance initiatives, grants, and partnerships.
• Support adaptive management by identifying delivery bottlenecks, implementation risks, and strategic opportunities.
• Track implementation progress across workstreams and support coordination of follow-up actions and deliverables.
• Support development of strategic workplans, concept notes, briefing documents, presentations, and internal strategy materials.
• Coordinate across ACF teams to ensure alignment, synergies, and cross-portfolio learning.
• Work closely with the MEL team to support monitoring, reporting, evaluation, and learning processes across Sustainable Finance engagements.
• Support organisation and coordination of strategic convenings, peer learning exchanges, workshops, and webinars.
  

Partnerships:

• Coordinate engagement processes with government institutions, regional institutions, consultants, and implementing partners.
• Support follow-through on country engagement roadmaps, implementation processes, and partnership commitments.
• Represent ACF in meetings, consultations, and strategic engagements where required.
  

Grant-Making:

• Support management and coordination of Sustainable Finance grants and strategic partnerships.
• Work closely with the Grants and MEL teams to support the full grant lifecycle, including grant review, due diligence processes, contracting support, implementation monitoring, reporting, and learning.
• Monitor progress across grants and partnerships to ensure timely delivery against agreed outputs and timelines.
• Support management of consultant processes, stakeholder coordination, and implementation follow-through across strategic workstreams.
  
• Coordinate preparation of grant-related documentation, board recommendation materials, donor updates, and progress reports.

Fundraising and reporting:

• Support donor engagement processes, including preparation of briefing materials, presentations, updates, and strategic inputs.
• Support development of funding proposals, concept notes, and partnership materials.
• Support timely reporting on ACF progress to donors as required.
  

Thought leadership:

• Stay abreast of current developments to inform the implementation of the Sustainable Finance strategy.
• Contribute to ACF research outputs, knowledge products, learning initiatives, and strategic communications.
• Contribute to the design and coordination of peer learning and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
• Support engagement with external experts, researchers, and partner institutions to strengthen evidence-based programming and thought leadership.
• Represent ACF on public platforms, webinars, workshops, and external engagements where required.
  
• Contribute to the ACF learning strategy through gathering evidence and lessons learned, and engaging with partners on partnership to gather knowledge.

Team Administration and Ad Hoc Support:

• Support day-to-day coordination of Sustainable Finance activities and ensure timely follow-up across ongoing workstreams.
• Coordinate meetings, task tracking, internal workflows, and implementation follow-through.
• Support onboarding and coordination of consultants, and short-term technical support where required.
• Support effective information sharing and coordination across the Sustainable Finance team and wider ACF teams.
  

Requirements include but are not limited to:

• Master’s degree in Economics, Finance, Public Policy, International Development, Climate Finance, Development Studies, or a related field.
• Minimum 6 - 8 years progressive professional experience working in programme design, coordination, management, or related roles, with a focus on sustainable finance, economic governance, public finance, international development, or related fields.
• Demonstrated experience working with or supporting government institutions, Ministries of Finance, regional institutions, development finance institutions, donors, or multilateral organisations on complex policy, financing, or multi-stakeholder processes related to sustainable finance, public finance, economic governance, or climate and development finance in African contexts.
• Demonstrated experience and technical grounding in areas related to public finance, macro-fiscal systems, sovereign finance, and debt sustainability, including an understanding of how fiscal and economic systems shape development priorities and climate related outcomes.
• Demonstrated experience supporting financing coordination, investment mobilisation, project preparation, or institutional capacity support related to climate and development priorities in African contexts, including engagement with governments, development finance institutions, and multi-stakeholder financing processes.
• Experience supporting technical, policy, analytical, or programme processes related to public finance, investment mobilisation, or climate and development finance in African contexts.
• Strong experience in programme coordination, stakeholder engagement, partnership management, and grant oversight.
• Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, with the ability to support the design and implementation of complex and evolving programmes.
• Experience supporting donor engagement, reporting, fundraising, or proposal development processes would be highly advantageous.
• Excellent writing, reporting, analytical, communication, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical issues clearly and effectively to different audiences.
• Ability to work collaboratively across multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, while also operating independently when required.
• High levels of professionalism, integrity, discretion, accountability, and attention to detail.
• Fluency in English is required. Proficiency in French would be a strong advantage.
  

Start date: Position available immediately. 
Contract duration: 12 months (renewable based on mutual agreement).
Location: ACF’s operational hub is in Cape Town, South Africa. Remote working will be considered for candidates based on the African continent.
Closing date: 05 July 2026.

For further information about the ACF, visit www.africanclimatefoundation.org. 

Should you not hear back from us by 30 September 2026, please consider your application to be unsuccessful.

The ACF strives to be an equitable organisation with a team which reflects the diversity of Africa. 
In compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), The ACF assures all applicants that any personal information provided during the recruitment process will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and used solely for recruitment purposes. Your privacy and data security are of paramount importance to us. By applying for this position, you consent to the collection, processing, and storage of your personal information for recruitment-related activities only. The ACF is committed to safeguarding your privacy and maintaining the trust you place in us.