Manager - Climate, Circular Economy & ESG (Consultant)

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Inkomoko is strengthening its approach to climate resilience, circular economy, and sustainable enterprise development. We are seeking a senior consultant to lead an initial Circular Economy Pilot with local social sector organizations while helping build the institutional foundations for Inkomoko’s longer-term climate and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) capability.
• The immediate focus will be on 15 high-potential refugee-led organizations (RLOs) in Kenya and Ethiopia, supporting them to identify, design, finance, and implement income-generating, climate-smart circular economy interventions focused on food security, renewable energy, and waste management.
• However, the mandate extends beyond successful delivery of the pilot. The consultant will develop the content, tools, processes, workflows, partnerships, and learning required to enable Inkomoko to integrate climate and environmental considerations more systematically into its enterprise-development model and evolving impact architecture.
• This is therefore a strategic, hands-on institution-building assignment. The successful candidate will need to move between strategy and execution: working directly with RLOs, building the capability of Inkomoko teams, developing practical tools and systems, engaging technical and financing partners, and translating learning from the pilot into institutional capabilities that can be applied beyond the initial project. This will be a 12 month Consultancy.

Key Responsibilities

Lead the Circular Economy Pilot

• Own the end-to-end delivery of the Circular Economy Pilot with 15 selected RLOs.
• Design and facilitate an intervention-development process that enables RLOs to identify viable, climate-smart and income-generating opportunities.
• Support RLOs to develop high-quality intervention proposals, including business models, implementation plans, financing requirements, risks, timelines, and expected outcomes.
• Work closely with Investment and relevant Inkomoko teams to assess interventions and facilitate appropriate financing.
• Provide technical oversight and coaching during implementation.
• Ensure the 15 RLOs implement viable interventions and generate measurable economic, employment, environmental, and resilience outcomes.

Build Climate & Circular Economy Capability within Inkomoko

• Develop practical climate and circular economy content, tools, workflows, and guidance that can be embedded into Inkomoko’s existing RLO and enterprise-development programming.
• Develop and deliver a climate resilience module and train Inkomoko staff to deliver it effectively.
• Build staff capability through training-of-trainers, field observation, coaching, and quality assurance.
• Develop practical approaches for identifying climate-related opportunities and risks within enterprise and social-sector programming.
• Create reusable tools and processes that enable country teams to integrate climate considerations without requiring specialist support for every intervention.

Lay the Foundations for Inkomoko’s Climate & ESG Capability

• Work with BGS, MERL, Program Design & Innovation, Investment, and relevant leadership to identify how climate, environmental sustainability, and ESG considerations should progressively be integrated into Inkomoko’s impact model.
• Develop an initial institutional roadmap for climate and ESG integration, identifying priority capabilities, systems, standards, data requirements, partnerships, and ownership.
• Identify opportunities to integrate climate resilience, resource efficiency, circular business models, and environmental considerations into enterprise development.
• Develop recommendations for how climate and ESG considerations can inform programme design, enterprise support, investment, measurement, and organizational decision-making.
• Distil learning from the pilot into an enterprise-level Climate/ESG playbook or foundational framework that Inkomoko can further develop after the consultancy.

Build Partnerships and Technical Ecosystems

• Identify and develop relationships with technical experts, private-sector actors, financial institutions, governments, funders, research institutions, and other ecosystem partners relevant to climate and circular economy.
• Identify opportunities for technical assistance, financing, market linkages, innovation, and co-investment.
• Build partnerships that can help RLOs and entrepreneurs move from pilot interventions to commercially viable and scalable models.
• Bring external knowledge, market intelligence, and emerging climate practices into Inkomoko.

Evidence, Learning & Scale

• Work with MERL to develop appropriate baseline, monitoring, outcome, and learning approaches for the pilot.
• Track implementation, income generation, employment, resilience, and relevant environmental outcomes.
• Generate practical evidence on which circular economy interventions are viable, for whom, under what conditions, and with what level of support.
• Document lessons, case studies, tools, and recommendations to inform future programming and investment.
• Develop a clear scale recommendation for Inkomoko based on evidence from the pilot.

Cross-functional Leadership

• Build coalitions across BGS, Investment, MERL, Program Design & Innovation, Country Leadership, and other relevant teams to embed climate thinking into existing systems rather than create a standalone project.
• Provide regular strategic updates to Inkomoko leadership, highlighting progress, risks, decisions required, and opportunities.
• Influence across functions without relying on formal authority and build internal ownership of the emerging climate agenda.

EXPECTED RESULTS;

The consultant will be accountable for delivering the following immediate results:

Circular Economy Pilot

• 15 RLOs complete a structured circular intervention-design process.
• 15 RLOs receive appropriate financing and imple