Research & Engagement Lead - Adaptation Finance (Africa)

ABOUT IHRB'S WORK ON CLIMATE

IHRB’s Just Transitions Programme focuses on a central challenge: current climate action models are structurally misaligned - and this is undermining delivery. Decision-making remains top-down across sectors, financial systems misprice social risk, adaptation and mitigation are siloed, and practitioners lack awareness of usable, investable models. The result is an implementation gap, where ambition is rising but delivery is contested, delayed, or fragile - raising material risks for workers and communities, company operations, and the transition itself.

Our core contention is that climate action succeeds when governed as a social process, not just a technical or financial one. Embedding the rights and agency of workers, communities, and affected stakeholders into how decisions are designed, sequenced, and financed is not a moral add-on - it is a precondition for effective, investable climate action. This approach is grounded in international standards, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which establish participation, accountability, and due diligence as baseline conditions.

IHRB works to shift practice through three-interconnected approaches:

• making risk visible, by demonstrating how social impacts translate into financial costs and enterprise risk

• making the possible tangible, by identifying effective real-world models and mechanisms, and translating them into operational insights for diverse practitioners

• making change actionable, by convening and engaging business, finance, policy, and civil society in dialogue on shared challenges and emerging issues

PROJECT PURPOSE

Adaptation finance - particularly in Africa - remains fragmented and under-capitalised, disproportionately public or concessional with limited private mobilisation, and weakly connected to lived experience or resilience outcomes.

At the same time, insurance and risk transfer mechanisms are rapidly emerging as important levers to pricing climate risk, shaping investment decisions, and determining who is protected - and who is excluded.

Yet these systems often fail to reach the most climate-exposed populations, rarely integrate human rights or just transitions considerations, and can reinforce inequality if not intentionally designed to build better systems.

This project will examine how finance and insurance systems interact, and how they can be reoriented toward inclusive, resilient outcomes. This role contributes to closing that gap by working directly with financial institutions, insurers, and front-line leaders to identify how capital and risk can be structured to support people-centred, resilient adaptation in practice.

ROLE OVERVIEW

IHRB is seeking a Research & Engagement Lead to develop a flagship report on adaptation finance in Africa, with a particular focus on the role of financial institutions, insurers, and risk-sharing mechanisms in enabling people-centred climate adaptation.

This project builds on our Spectrum of Just Transitions Finance report, which assesses the alignment and potential of existing financial mechanisms to advance just transitions outcomes. This project extends that analysis into the adaptation space - where financing gaps are largest, and where the alignment between capital, risk, and social outcomes remains weakest.

The work will be grounded in real-world practitioner engagement from day one, building relationships with:

• Financial institutions (banks, investors, DFIs)

• Insurers and reinsurers

• Public finance actors

• African policymakers

• Community leaders and civil society experts

The goal is not only to map what financial mechanisms already exist or are being experimented with - but to interrogate how decisions are actually made, where incentives align/misalign, and what would enable finance and insurance systems to better support community-led adaptation solutions.

ROLE OBJECTIVES

To lead the development of a high-impact, practitioner-oriented report that:

• Maps the spectrum of adaptation finance and risk-sharing mechanisms in Africa

• Analyses how financial and insurance actors assess, price, and manage climate risk and investment opportunities

• Identifies emerging models that align capital deployment with:

  • Resilience outcomes

  • Social inclusion

  • Community agency

• Produces actionable insights to inform decision-making across finance and insurance ecosystems

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Research Design & Practitioner Engagement

Design and lead an action research process grounded in early and ongoing engagement with:

• Banks, investors, and DFIs

• Insurance and reinsurance actors

• Public finance institutions

• Community leaders innovating around resilience-building
  

Using engagement not just for validation, but to:

• Understand decision logics, constraints, and incentives

• Test emerging hypotheses in real time

• Surface practical barriers and opportunities for change

2. Analytical Framework

Develop a framework mapping the spectrum of adaptation finance, including:

• Public, private, and blended finance instruments

• Insurance and risk transfer mechanisms (e.g. sovereign risk pools, parametric insurance, guarantees)
  

Analyse how these interact to:

• Allocate and price climate risk and social risk

• Influence investment flows

• Shape resilience outcomes on the ground
  

3. Evidence & Case Development

Identify and analyse real-world cases across African contexts, including:

• Financial instruments supporting adaptation

• Insurance products and risk-sharing structures

• Hybrid or blended models linking finance and insurance

• Successful examples of community-led adaptation and resilience-building models and their financing structures
  

Conduct structured interviews across:

• Financial institutions

• Insurers, reinsurers, and brokers

• Climate-exposed companies investing in adaptation

• Governments and regulators

• Community leaders and wider civil society actors
  

Develop deep-dive case studies demonstrating:

• What works

• Where systems fail

• What conditions enable scale and inclusion

• Testimonials and first-hand narrative snapshots illustrating the benefits of community leadership and knowledge in designing durable solutions
  

4. Report Development & Insight Translation

Lead drafting of a flagship report targeted at:

• Financial institutions, insurance actors, policymakers and donors, and;

• their community counterparts on the frontlines
  

Translate complex findings into:

• Clear frameworks and typologies

• Decision-useful insights

• Inspiring narrative illustrations

• Practical entry points for institutional change

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

A widely used, practitioner-relevant report demonstrating the state of play as well as art-of-the-possible in shaping finance and insurance mechanisms in partnership with those most affected by climate extremes and adaptation interventions - in particular:

• Clear articulation of how climate and social risk is currently priced - and how it should be restructured

• Identification of scalable models linking finance, insurance, and resilience outcomes

• Tangible influence on:

  • Financial institution strategies

  • Insurance product design

  • Policy and donor approaches

• Strengthened integration of adaptation and resilience building across IHRB’s programmes

ABOUT YOU

Essential Experience & Knowledge

7+ years professional experience in climate finance, development finance, or sustainable finance.

Strong understanding of:

• Adaptation and resilience finance landscape;

• Financial instruments across public, private, and blended systems; and

• Existing networks across African finance and/or insurance ecosystems.

Demonstrated ability to engage financial and insurance actors at senior practitioner level.

Strong analytical and structuring capability - able to translate complexity into clear frameworks.

Proven track record of producing high-quality, decision-relevant research and writing.

Desirable Experience & Knowledge

Direct experience within/working with:

• DFIs, climate funds, or blended finance structures;

• Insurance or reinsurance markets (e.g. climate risk, parametric products, sovereign risk pools).

Familiarity with:

• National transition planning and country climate finance platforms;

• Social risk, human rights due diligence, and just transitions frameworks.

Attitude

• Proactive and self-motivating: Entrepreneurial attitude, with a proven ability to own and be accountable for end-to-end processes and tasks, and ensure successful outcomes.

• Flexible and adaptable: Ability to adjust aspects of the work, timelines, and working style as needed to cater to the realities of a small and nimble organisation

• Diplomatic and tactful: Treating others respectfully and sensitively regardless of personal biases or beliefs, acting as a bridge builder and peacekeeper

TIMEFRAME & CONTRACTING

Reporting to: Head of Just Transitions Programme, IHRB

Expected start date: As soon as possible, ideally April 2026

Contract duration: This is a fixed-term consultancy aligned to a defined project budget, expected to run for approximately 7–9 months, depending on agreed working pattern and day rate.

Time commitment:

• Approximately 2.5 days per week on average, or equivalent across the contract period. The role is expected to require more intensive input during key phases (e.g. initial design, case development, and final drafting), with lighter engagement at other stages.

• We anticipate a retainer-style engagement, but are open to alternative proposals from exceptional candidates, including different phasing or allocation of days across the project lifecycle.

Location:

• Remote/home-based. Africa-based candidates strongly preferred, with flexibility for candidates with substantial experience working across African climate finance and policy contexts. Candidates must have the right to work in their country of residence, access to reliable internet, and their own equipment.

Compensation:

The consultancy will be delivered within a fixed budget of £48,600 (inclusive of all fees). Candidates are invited to submit a financial proposal within this envelope that includes:

• Proposed day rate (inclusive of any VAT or applicable taxes)

• Estimated number of working days within the stated budget

• IHRB will review proposals against experience, expertise, and overall value for the project.

Contracting:

• The successful candidate will be engaged through a consultancy agreement under UK law. The consultant will be responsible for managing their own taxes, insurance, and other legal or financial obligations. An offer will be subject to receipt of two satisfactory references.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Click on the "Apply Now" button to answer some specific application questions.

• Deadline for applications: Wednesday 22nd April 2026 at 11:59pm UK

• Interviews: Shortlisted applications will be invited to an initial 30-45min video interview via TeamTailor. The first round of interviews will take place on 30th April & 1st May between 2-6pm GMT. Second interviews will take place the following week and scheduled closer to the time

Applications from unsuccessful applicant/s will be held on file for 6 months after the end of the recruitment process.