AfDB published 15 consultancy calls
AfDB's consultants page lists 15 calls published between 7 and 11 September, with deadlines running from 15 to 28 September. Individual routes include a DRC-Burundi grid project completion-report consultant, closing 15 September; a home-based dry-ports and transport-corridors coordinator, closing 17 September; a junior monitoring and evaluation consultant in Abidjan, closing 19 September; a home-based circular-economy knowledge and communications consultant, closing 21 September; and a PPP and project-finance legal consultant in Abidjan, closing 28 September.
The wider batch covers local IT, power-sector advice, evaluation, visual communications and energy regulation. Check the route before applying: junior, local, individual and firm calls have different eligibility and submission rules.
UNESCO opened two Caribbean fellowships for women in academia
WINGS Caribbean offers two USD 10,000 project fellowships, one in STEM and one in Social Impact. Applications close at 23:59 Jamaica time on 30 September. The call targets mid- and advanced-career women who are nationals of UNESCO Member States or Associate Members in the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. They must be affiliated with a recognized academic institution, research centre or public body, or an accredited innovation or social-enterprise organization. Applicants need an original, nationally relevant project that can deliver measurable societal benefit within 12 months.
The themes include climate resilience, disaster risk reduction, digital innovation, governance and community research. This is project funding, not a staff appointment.
GOARN partners identified emergency-workforce gaps
On 10 September, more than 100 experts from 56 institutions in 21 Western Pacific countries mapped regional emergency-capacity gaps. Priorities include health-system cybersecurity and critical-infrastructure resilience, WASH and environmental health, biological and nuclear emergencies, and nuclear and radiological security.
GOARN's operational route runs through partner institutions. Candidates should build deployable experience through public-health agencies, technical bodies and NGO partners, especially in epidemiology, surveillance and the three priority areas.
IFC is backing digital-payment expansion
IFC launched a risk-sharing initiative with up to USD 700 million in guarantees covering part of the credit settlement risk for banks, fintechs and other financial institutions in emerging markets. It targets wider payment access for consumers and small businesses, including women entrepreneurs and people excluded from formal finance.
Possible downstream demand sits closest to payment-risk management, product rollout and bank-fintech partnership work. The announcement itself names no countries or participating institutions and includes no recruitment round.
A global AI-capacity fund is still a proposal
A UN Secretary-General report recommended that the General Assembly advance a Global Fund for AI Capacity-Building. It suggests about USD 3 billion in initial commitments over two to four years as an indicative starting point. The identified gaps include compute, energy, connectivity, data, digital public infrastructure, skills, legal frameworks and institutional capacity to assess, procure, deploy and govern AI.
If Member States establish and fund it, delivery work could span infrastructure, training, procurement, governance and legal frameworks, and programme measurement. The design is not yet settled, the fund could sit inside or outside the UN, and no jobs are approved so far.
WFP's draft plan reduces core positions
At its 10 September consultation, WFP reviewed a draft 2027-2029 management plan. For 2027 it pairs USD 12.2 billion in operational requirements with a USD 7.6 billion provisional implementation plan, reaching an estimated 80 million people instead of 91 million under full funding. It proposes a USD 366.4 million administrative budget, 4 percent below 2026, and a further 5 percent reduction in administrative-budget-funded positions.
Within the programme support and administrative funding table, global-headquarters positions would fall from 1,839 to 1,734, country-office positions would shift from 276 to 275, and the consultant line would rise from 243 to 261. The draft protects frontline delivery and critical corporate functions, while proposing USD 108.9 million from reserves and fund balances for strategic investments that include digital transformation, AI, innovation and funding diversification. Core-funded staff hiring is likely to remain selective if the plan is adopted, while defined consultancy needs could persist. The allocation is not a vacancy plan and the document remains a draft.
What candidates should take from this week
Act first on the AfDB deadlines and the tightly eligible UNESCO fellowships. Treat GOARN's gap map as a route through partner institutions. Track IFC participants, General Assembly decisions on the AI fund and WFP's final management plan before assuming that programme news will become vacancies. Keep individual applications, firm bids, fellowships and future delivery pipelines separate.