UNDP Jobs - 42455- Senior Advisor on Environmental Finance

Senior Advisor on Environmental Finance - BIOFIN

Location :

Home-based with mission travel

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

06-Jan-2014

Application Deadline :

27-Dec-13 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

180 days through 31 December 2014

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Available evidence and decisions adopted by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) indicate a significant gap in finance for biodiversity management, for countries to scale up their efforts and achieve the 20 Aichi Targets defined in the CBD’s Strategic Plan for 2011-2020. A recent global top-down assessment conducted by the CBD High Level Panel for Resource Mobilisation estimated the global investment required amounts to between US$ 130 and 440 billion annually. However detailed national-level (bottom-up) assessments are required to provide more robust information on the biodiversity finance gap, fully taking into account the effects of the enabling policy environment. In this context, at COP-11 in October 2012, UNDP and the European Commission (EC) launched a new partnership project “Building Transformative Policy and Financing Frameworks to Increase Investment in Biodiversity Management” that seeks to build a sound business case for increased investment in the management of ecosystems and biodiversity at the national level. With the Governments of Germany and Switzerland having joined this project since, it has grown into a multi-partner global endeavour – the UNDP-managed Biodiversity Finance Initiative – BIOFIN.

The Initiative will have a multi-tiered approach by:

mainstreaming biodiversity into national development and sectoral planning, to reduce the pressures exerted by the drivers of biodiversity loss and thereby reduce the investment needed to safeguard biodiversity, including through a significant strengthening of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs);
determining the national-level biodiversity finance gap, by defining the current investment baseline across those sectors relevant for the achievement of the Aichi Targets, and by defining the true investment needed to address biodiversity loss, taking into account cost-effectiveness and the effects of an improved enabling environment;
developing and rolling out appropriate national-level resource mobilisation strategies and mechanisms through which countries can identify, access, combine and sequence multiple sources of environmental and development finance, both national and international, for meeting their biodiversity management needs and achieving the CBD’s Aichi Targets.

BIOFIN has been developing new methodologies and tools needed to produce coherent and comprehensive frameworks for each of the above aspects. In a second step, these frameworks will be piloted, and inform the development of NBSAPs and further transformational measures, in up to 20 countries including at least Botswana, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Seychelles, South Africa and Uganda. In a third step, the methodological frameworks will be refined, based on the results of the country piloting, and then disseminated for wider application.

BIOFIN is hosted by the Ecosystems and Biodiversity (EBD) cluster under the Environment and Energy Group (EEG) of UNDP’s Bureau of Development Policy, responsible for providing leadership and technical support to engineer delivery of the Environment and Sustainable Development pillar of UNDP’s Strategic Plan.

UNDP is seeking a Senior Advisor on Environmental Finance to BIOFIN to provide technical support and support pilot countries in the roll out of the national level BIOFIN process.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant will be primarily home-based and work under the supervision of the BIOFIN Project Manager. The Consultant will work with UNDP country offices, pilot and donor country governments, other international/multi-lateral organisations, and contractors.

Support to general oversight, quality assurance, impact monitoring of BIOFIN outputs and processes in pilot countries;
Support the Project Manager in guiding and overseeing pilot countries in the identification and establishment of the most appropriate transformational national-level processes, targeting key finance-related stakeholders such as Ministries of Finance and Planning and private sector entities;
Provide key technical support in the implementation in pilot countries of the BIOFIN assessment workbook, which comprises: institutional & policy reviews, public & private expenditure reviews, costing of NBSAPs, and the development and implementation of nationally-appropriate Resource Mobilisation Strategies;
Support the development of a monitoring and evaluation framework for BIOFIN at global and national levels;
Liaise with national BIOFIN teams, pilot country governments, UNDP country offices, UNDP regional technical advisors and the global BIOFIN team, including helping to gauge progress, identify barriers, and provide timely interventions;
Engage in capacity development of national stakeholders as required;
Support and provide inputs to global, regional and national technical workshops and website discussions as required by the global BIOFIN team;
Write up articles, case studies and other materials emerging from the BIOFIN process, summarizing key experiences and lessons from pilot countries.

Estimated level of effort including travel days: 180 days.

Travel:

International travel will be required to pilot countries and relevant methodological and coordination meetings;
Any necessary missions must be approved by the Project Manager. The Basic Security in the Field II and Advanced Security in the Field courses must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
Consultants are required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;
All related travel expenses will be supported by the project travel fund and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations upon submission of an F-10 claim form and supporting documents.

Information on Working Arrangements:

The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to a reliable internet connection;
Payments will be made upon submission of a detailed time sheet and certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Project Manager on days worked and outputs delivered.

Competencies

Technical

Analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to process, analyse and synthesise complex, technical information from different disciplines;
Ability to innovate, combining methodological approaches and data from various levels and disciplines including economics, finance, development and conservation;
Proven ability to support the development of high quality knowledge and training materials, and to train technical teams;
Proven experience in the developing country context and working in different cultural settings.

Corporate

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Communication:

Communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.

Professionalism:

Capable of working in a high pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
Excellent analytical and organizational skills;
Exercise the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.

Teamwork:

Work well in a team to advance the priorities of BIOFIN and BDP as a whole;
Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
Focuses on results for the client;
Welcomes constructive feedback.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters degree or higher in economics, environmental economics, public administration, financial management, natural/environmental sciences, social sciences with a specialization in environmental finance and development, or other closely related field.

Experience:

At least 15 years demonstrated expertise in public or private sector finance, development or environmental finance, environmental mainstreaming, innovative resource mobilisation strategies, biodiversity policy, or a related field;
Experience in environmental policy development, as well as, in biodiversity conservation and biodiversity finance would be an additional advantage;
International and developing country experience would be desirable;
Experience in relevant financial flows assessment approaches developed by UNDP, and in the development of knowledge and exchange materials and platforms;
Expertise in planning and conducting exchange workshops and technical trainings on financial assessments at the international level;
Experience with UNDP policies, procedures and practices particularly in relation to project development and implementation and/or working experience in an international organization is an advantage;
Demonstrated ability to contribute to the development of high quality knowledge materials and exchange platforms.

Language Requirements:

Excellent oral and written communication skills in English language;
Proficiency in other UN languages is an asset.

Evaluation method:

Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated;
Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and interview will be weighted at 70% and the financial offer will be weighted at 30%;
Applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and has accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

General Conditions of Contract for the ICs:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.

UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.