UNCDF Jobs - 58617- Consultant - Expert in Financing Energy Access Mar

Consultant - Expert in Financing Energy Access Markets (Seven Positions)

Advertised on behalf of

UNCDF

Location :

Home-based with Travel to Countries Where CleanStart Operates in Asia and Africa, such as Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

17-Aug-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Up to 150 working days, per year

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Up to 3 years

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

United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and Inclusive Finance

UNCDF provides investment capital and technical support to both the public and the private sector. It provides capital financing -- in the forms of grants, soft loans and credit enhancement – and the technical expertise to unleash sustainable financing at the local level.

UNCDF’s work on inclusive finance seeks to develop inclusive financial systems and ensure that a range of financial products is available to all segments of society, at a reasonable cost, and on a sustainable basis. UNCDF supports a wide range of providers (e.g. microfinance institutions, banks, cooperatives, money transfer companies) and a variety of financial products and services (e.g. savings, credit, insurance, payments, and remittances). UNCDF also supports newer delivery channels (e.g. mobile phone networks) that offer tremendous potential for scale.

CleanStart Programme

The CleanStart Programme’s vision is to dramatically expand consumer and enterprise financing for low-income consumers who want to transition to cleaner and more efficient energy. To make this happen it partners with microfinance institutions and energy enterprises – offering seed capital and advice – to test scalable financing solutions in varying market conditions.

As a global programme, CleanStart aims to support low-income consumers in six countries to transition to cleaner and more efficient energy through microfinance by 2017.

The programme is designed to provide risk capital and technical assistance to competitively selected financial service providers and energy enterprises to:

Develop and refine scalable consumer/enterprise financing models (Output 1: Finance for Clean Energy);
Increase the ‘scale’ potential of these models by tackling critical bottlenecks in the value chain (e.g. distribution, consumer awareness) (Output 2: Technical Assistance for Clean Energy);
Make research and tools generated in the process widely available to the industry (Output 3: Global Knowledge and Learning);
Advocate for positive industry-wide changes and broker partnerships with upstream value chain actors (e.g. investors, policy makers) (Output 4: Advocacy and Partnerships);
CleanStart encourages the brokering of risk-sharing partnerships between downstream as well as upstream value chain actors, as well as de-risking some investment opportunities. In so doing, CleanStart is supporting a range of enterprises beyond microfinance institutions, and promoting financing solutions that go beyond credit for energy.

CleanStart was launched as a global programme in 2012. CleanStart was first launched at the country-level in Nepal where it is partnering with four financial services providers that provide energy lending for solar and improved cooking solutions.

In addition to Nepal and Uganda, CleanStart will focus its activities on Ethiopia and Cambodia. CleanStart will focus on these key interventions to promote energy financing; and selectively deploy these depending on market needs and where CleanStart can add most value:

Support microfinance institutions on energy lending through grants and technical assistance;
Support energy enterprises with viable business models to achieve market breakthroughs through seed capital and technical assistance;
Supporting the development of guarantee mechanism and credit enhancement tools to microfinance institutions and banks lending to MSMEs and SMEs;
Strategically collaborate with UNCDF’s financial inclusion and local development finance initiatives in areas such as mobile money (MM4P), demand-side surveys and research (MAP), and private-public financing for energy projects;
Develop toolkits for energy lending and produce consumer-side impact research;
Expand rural energy finance footprint in partnership with Participatory Microfinance Group for Africa (PAMIGA), a network of locally-owned African microfinance institutions developing rural finance in sub-Saharan African countries. PAMIGA is currently implementing their Energy and Microfinance Programme in Cameroon, Ethiopia, and planning for Burkina Faso, Senegal, Tanzania, and Kenya. CleanStart is part funding this Programme with a view to co-benefit from the knowledge and experiences that are generated from it;
Engage closely with government partners and regional/global initiatives to influence high-level dialogue and policies that help create an enabling environment for energy markets for low-income markets to flourish;
CleanStart already has four financial institution partners in Nepal. CleanStart may select three to four financial service provider and energy enterprise partners each in Uganda and Ethiopia; and up to several financial service provider and/or energy enterprise partners in Cambodia;
CleanStart will supplement its core programme team with up to five experts in financing energy access markets. The experts will work closely with the CleanStart programme team and its team of external specialists, its grantees, such as financial service providers and energy enterprises, and other UNCDF programmes which have linkages with the energy sector, such as agricultural finance, mobile money and financial inclusion sector diagnostics.

UNCDF shall enter into a non-exclusive long term agreement (LTA) with the selected Consultant(s) and shall provide specific deliverables and time frames for each task, as and when required. Prospective individuals are requested to take note of the following:

This solicitation is for a Long-Term Agreement (LTA) for one year and renewable up to three years linked to satisfactory performance of the individual consultant. “LTA” refers to a mutual arrangement whereby the Consultant will provide services as required, over a specific period of time.
An LTA is a mutual arrangement between UNCDF and an individual to provide the required services at prescribed prices or provisions over a period of 12-36 months, with potential extension of one year. UNCDF reserves the right to rescind the agreement during that period should performance of the consultant not meet its requirements.
Under an LTA, UNCDF does not warrant that any quantity of services shall be purchased during the term of this Agreement. Where a request for services arises, UNCDF shall directly contract the consultant based on its need to carry out those activities. A specific Term of Reference (TOR) outlining the outputs for each assignment shall be provided and an Individual Contract would be issued to the consultant, detailing the time frame.

Objectives

The objective of this consultancy is to effectively support financial service providers and energy enterprises – through risk capital and technical assistance – in expanding their energy businesses serving the low-income segment.

To this end, selected consultants will focus on:

Scoping business opportunities for the CleanStart Programme;
Developing implementation strategies and/or national level business plans;
Identifying & selecting local implementation partners such as financial service providers and energy enterprises; providing pre-investment technical assistance to develop high-quality business plans;
Designing & implementing risk capital instruments and selection processes as well as technical Assistance that maximize partners’ potential to achieve results;
Supporting due diligence, monitoring and reporting of investment partners;
Supporting knowledge management and documentation of lessons learnt.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scoping business opportunities for the CleanStart Programme.

The objective is to understand the key drivers of the energy market serving low-income people, the potential for microfinance or financing more broadly expand this market and the value-add that CleanStart could provide in this context.

Key work areas will include:

Analyzing the demand and supply side of the energy access market in selected countries, and in particular, the role of finance in making the market work for the poor;
Liaising with local stakeholders to identify market opportunities and where CleanStart can add value;
Identifying potential partners for implementation;
Making recommendations for course of action with emphasis on activities with highest value added in terms of systemic change or quick wins;
Organize peer review particularly to seek validation from local stakeholders.

Developing implementation strategies

CleanStart develops business plans and/or strategies which outline CleanStart’s implementation strategy in a country. These are submitted to relevant Government counterparts for endorsement. Strategies may include specific activities that support meso-level support institutions or government agencies also.

Key work areas will include:

Designing & drafting country strategies or business plans that outline CleanStart’s approach in a country;
Ensure alignment of CleanStart with other ongoing and planned initiatives (both from Government and donors—such as those of SE4ALL);
Facilitating review process with local stakeholders for validation/endorsement;
Provide input for support activities for sector support organizations as required.

Identifying and selecting local implementation partners such as financial service providers and energy enterprises & providing pre-investment technical assistance to develop high-quality business plans.

CleanStart undertakes a competitive process of selecting partners through a Request for Proposal and due diligence process. CleanStart works closely with potential partners in refining & strengthening their business proposals. This step also serves as a close, on-site due diligence process. CleanStart makes recommendations to the Investment Committee that makes investment decisions. Selected partners will receive risk capital (e.g. grants, loans, guarantees) and/or technical assistance. This activities may also be done in connection with other Funds that UNCDF operates (such as the SHIFT Fund Facility for innovation).

Key work areas will include:

Developing/refining Call for Expression of Interest/Request for Proposal documents appropriate for market situations;
Disseminating it among key institutions/people to generate high submission rates;
Systematically review long and short-list business proposals submitted to CleanStart;
Organise group training and/or one-on-one sessions with potential partners to improve the quality of individual business proposals and encourage organizational commitment, this should include: organize training on business proposal development; develop training materials, On-site assistance at the premises of the potential partners, Frequent follow-up and dialogue with senior management of each, organization to understand strategic priorities and level of commitment to energy business, Brokering partnerships with external organizations (e.g. between microfinance institutions and energy enterprises), Developing realistic implementation plans;
Analyse & document discussions with potential partners as part of due diligence process; draft due diligence report with specific recommendations on how CleanStart can best support the institution;
Facilitate negotiation of performance-based agreement (PBA) with selected partners, including setting up performance indicators, milestones and payment schedules.

Designing & implementing risk capital instruments and technical assistance that maximizes partners’ potential to achieve results.

CleanStart provides risk capital (e.g. grants, loans, guarantees) and/or technical assistance to financial service providers and energy enterprises to boost their energy businesses serving the low-income segment. This can extend to support institutions in country (such as key government counterparts).

Key work areas will include:

Develop technical assistance plans with partners;
Advise CleanStart on how to structure and manage risk capital instruments in ways that help boost the financing needs and performance of partners, such as results-based financing, guarantee and/or loan funds;
Advise CleanStart on how to support new distributed energy business/financing models, such as pay-as-you-go financing, public-private partnerships for community-owned systems;
Advise other UNCDF projects that have enterprise/energy financing components;
Provide advisory support and recommendation in the strengthening of meso-level and government support institutions.

Support due diligence, monitoring and reporting of investment partners.

CleanStart does due diligence of prospective partners and required regular reporting from regular partners. It also does monitoring of partners and the overall implementation of CleanStart, within any given and changing implementation context:

Does due diligence research on prospective partners;
Develops reporting tools and oversees reporting by partners;
Provides regular, documented monitoring support and advises on monitoring framework;
Reports on any changes in the macro-environment (such as new government policies, tax regimes, etc.) that might impact implementation of CleanStart and recommends follow-up actions.

Knowledge management

Documenting process learnings through close engagement with partners and developing toolkits that are useful for a wider group of practitioners such as financial service providers, energy enterprises, funders and energy access initiatives is an important objective of the programme.

Key work areas will include:

Documenting and synthesizing key lessons/insights from engaging with various stakeholders throughout the business opportunity identification, strategy development, partner selection and collaboration stages. For example, these could include: specific areas that (potential) partners view as opportunities and challenges; Capacity building needs identified; Consumer insights from field visits;
Refining partner selection tools and performance-based agreements for risk capital & technical assistance;
Support and contribute to the development of user tool-kits developed under the wider CleanStart programme (focused on energy access financing);
Provide energy and financing related inputs to other CleanStart activities and tools (e.g. M&E tools).

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNCDF;
Demonstrate integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

Understands how financial service providers and/or small to medium scale enterprises serving low-income markets operate;
Understands incubation and investments needs of energy enterprises;
Understands how to operationalize financing instruments such as results-based financing, impact investing, carbon financing;
Strong quantitative and financial abilities, such as making financial projections and analyzing financial statements;
Strong analytical writing skills; experienced in producing concise, executive level reports and presentations, training modules and materials;
Good interpersonal skills and experience in working effectively in a multi-cultural environment, with sensitivity to diverse opinion.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters level qualifications in business, finance, marketing, economics, accounting, energy, electrical engineering or related fields;

Experience:

At least 5 years hands-on experience supporting the development of energy and/or microfinance markets that serve low-income people;
Experience with implementing one or more of the activities mentioned in the scope of work;
Experience providing technical assistance to financial service providers and/or energy enterprises, particularly in developing low-income segment business;
Experience conducting market research, business plan development and/or institutional due diligence;
Relevant work experience in more than one of the CleanStart programme countries;
Experience with designing or implementing challenge funds and risk capital instruments desirable;
Experience with making linkages between energy access and mobile communication technologies desirable.

Language:

Fluent English; French is a plus.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Screening:

Applications will be screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

Education: Masters level qualifications in business, finance, marketing, economics, accounting, energy, electrical engineering or related fields;
Experience: At least 5 years hands-on experience supporting the development of energy and/or microfinance markets that serve low-income people.

Shortlisting by Desk Review:

UNCDF will conduct a desk review to produce a shortlist of candidates by evaluating the following criteria with the corresponding points (100 points):

Education/Qualification (20 points);
Relevant Experience (70 points);
Language (Fluency in English is required) (10 points).

Up to 15 candidates who score the highest in the desk review and also meet the minimum threshold to pass (70 points) will be invited for a skype interview.

Interview:

The shortlisted candidates will be invited for a skype interview and evaluated against the following criteria;
•   Relevant experience
•   Topic/sector knowledge
•   Team work and management skills

Financial Proposals:

The shortlisted candidates will be rated on both technical and financial submissions, providing a weight of 70% to the technical offer and 30% to the financial offer.

Final Evaluation:

The Final evaluation will combine the scores of desk review, interview and financial proposal with the following weights assigned to each:

Desk Review (25%) + Interview (45%);
Financial Proposal (30%).

Contract award

Up to 7 candidates obtaining highest score in the final evaluation will be offered to enter into a Long Tern Agreement with UNCDF.
All applications must contain the following information in one word or PDF document (as the system only allows to upload maximum one document) combining the following:

Cover letter with a summary statement of competencies in relation to the TOR please refer to http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=29916 for a template;
Detailed Personal CV and/or UN P.11 Form