UNDP has been supporting the Government of India in meeting its national and international priorities and commitments for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity including obligations under related multilateral environment agreements.

Under the GoI-UNDP Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) programme, UNDP has supported the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in identification of innovative and blended finance solutions to reduce the finance gap for implementing the National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP). The project has supported the development of the Biodiversity Finance Plan which includes 12 blended finance solutions for financing biodiversity conservation.

Currently, BIOFIN in India is supporting the Ministry in demonstration of four potential biodiversity finance solutions, namely, Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Public Finance (Agriculture Sector), the Corporate Social Responsibility, Access and Benefit Sharing and Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Financial Services and Financial Technologies (FinTech), which holds a great potential for enhancing positive biodiversity outcomes through digital innovation.

UNDP seeks to engage a Senior Advisor-Private Finance to conduct a detailed feasibility analysis, help facilitate stakeholder engagement and guide the team for implementation of tasks under the financial solution on mainstreaming biodiversity in the agriculture sector. The Senior Advisor will work in close coordination with the BIOFIN team and UNDP and shall be responsible for the following tasks:

• Identify relevant corporates with existing policies on biodiversity conservation and memberships of relevant national and international charters, and engage with senior managers, decision makers and CSR committees and consortiums to identify convergence of biodiversity conservation action with the CSR mandate and subsequent alignment with the national and sub-national commitments and priorities on conservation and sustainable resource management.
• Facilitate investor mapping and consultations and cultivate strategic partnerships with corporates, NGOs, CSOs and among investors for mobilising action and resources towards biodiversity conservation through development and implementation of projects funded through tripartite partnership between civil society/UNDP-NBA/corporates. Investors could include Banks, Microfinance Institutions, Fund Managers, etc.
• Undertake policy advocacy with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) for enhancing investments towards conservation and sustainable resource management through issuance of advisories, guidelines, etc. to the corporate sector to increase spending in core areas of biodiversity conservation.
• Support ongoing efforts of UNDP for developing a standard framework for nature-related financial disclosures at the national level.
• Revise identified CSR proposals in alignment with emerging priorities and needs of the corporate sector, building a strong business case for biodiversity conservation and taking cognizance of the Covid pandemic, with a view to access CSR funding for enhancing biodiversity outcomes. 

Functional Competencies:

• In-depth knowledge of nature-related finance, corporate social responsibility and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) structures
• Proven record on similar documentation work at the national level
• Excellent drafting, documentation and communication skills in English

Corporate Competencies:

• Promote the highest standards of ethics and integrity
• Support creativity and innovation
• Help create an enabling environment for open communication
• Share knowledge and support a culture of learning
• Demonstrate fairness and transparency

Education:

Masters’ degree in Economics or any other related field

PhD in Anthropology/Economics highly desirable

Experience:

• At least 10 years of experience in project planning, management and building strategic partnerships/engagements around CSR and private finance aspects of environment projects/programmes with the Government at central and state level, multilateral and bilateral organizations
• Experience of working with the national and state-level stakeholders, including government departments and line agencies, corporate sector, civil society organizations, academia and community-based organizations on environmental finance, corporate social responsibility and ESG mandates.

Language:

• Excellent command on written and spoken English.

DELIVERABLES AND TIMELINES

Documents to be submitted:

• Detailed CV 

Evaluation Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies i.e. cumulative analysis.

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation

Technical Criteria weight - 70%;

Financial Criteria weight - 30%.

Short-listing would be done based on the following criteria:

• Relevant Experience:50 Mark
• Qualification: 20 Marks
• Financial: 30 Marks

Consultant should not specify their consultancy fee on their CV or with the submission. The CV will not be evaluated further in case the consultant submits the same.