Objective

The financing needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will greatly surpass all current development finance flows, but can be also raised from the large amounts of (mostly private) investable resources available globally. Domestic public resources, even in low-income countries, can be increased and spending optimized. Financing solutions provide strategies and means to effectively unlock and direct these sources of finance toward realizing the SDGs.

The overall objective of this assignment is to support the Gov4Res Project team to build capacity in the Pacific to ensure that countries are able to access and mobilize financing for risk informed development. The consultant will be expected to provide innovative risk financing solutions and tools that will give allow countries to mobilize funding for development priorities.

Background

Background The Governance for Resilient Development in the Pacific (Governance for Resilience) project works with Pacific governments to ensure that countries adapt their decision making and governance systems towards more resilient development. The projects theory of change rests on a core assumption that Pacific Island people will be more resilient to the impacts of climate change and disasters if countries manage all development through a risk informed approach. This is consistent with the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific which calls for the ‘mainstreaming’ of climate and disaster risk treating risk management as fundamental to all development decisions. The Governance for Resilience project has three outcome areas: 1) government planning and financing systems enable gender and socially inclusive risk-informed development; 2) country oversight and accountability systems require gender and socially inclusive risk-informed development; and 3) regional organisations, policies and practices are actively supporting gender and socially inclusive risk-informed development. The project is being delivered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Office, in partnership with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). It is a 5 year project working across all Pacific countries. It is the second phase of the DFAT funded, UNDP implemented Pacific Risk Resilience Programme (PRRP).

LTA CONTRACTING MODALITY AND CALL-OFF MECHANISM

• An LTA is a mutual arrangement between UNDP and the individual to provide the required services at established fee or provisions. The LTA will be established for one year and renewable for up to three years linked to satisfactory performance of the individual consultant(s). UNDP reserves the right to rescind the agreement during that period should performance of the consultant(s) not meet its requirements.
• It is expected the consultant(s) to be engaged for maximum 200 working days per year up to 2 years starting from Sept 2022 to Sept 2024.
• UNDP does not warrant that any quantity of services shall be contracted during the term of this Agreement. A specific Term of Reference (TOR) outlining the deliverables shall be provided, and an Individual Contract would be issued to the consultant, detailing the time frame.
• Once the LTA is signed, if there is a specific service required, the focal person in the UNDP hiring unit would contact the Consultant(s) and upon positive confirmation in the availability for the assignment, acceptance of the Term of reference, cost and travel arrangement, UNDP will issue an Individual Contract. Price in the order will be based on daily fee included in the LTA. After contract has been agreed between the two parties, no further costs would be reimbursed by UNDP unless there is prior written authorization by UNDP.
• Once the services are completed and have been approved by the hiring unit, the Consultant(s) will provide the following for payment purposes:

• a) complete invoice indicating the completed deliverables.
• b) supporting documentation (bills/vouchers) for reimbursements of travel costs if applicable;
• c) copy of the UNDP contract for the consultancy.

Payments will be made upon satisfactory achieved deliverables under each assignment and submission of time sheet in accordance with number of days worked. Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant(s).

Scope of work/Expected Output

The overall responsibilities of the assignment are to:

Provide capacity building to Pacific Regional Agencies and countries on financial products and financial innovation  

• Identify, design and lead capacity building initiatives
• Creation of training materials, packages and workshops and workshops
• Research and creation of case studies for financial structures  

Research, Design and pilot innovative finance offer/strategy with Pacific Regional Agencies

• Identify PIC and draft strategy for application of innovative finance strategy
• Existing financing landscape and debt landscape  
• Applicability of debt swaps, carbon credits/biodiversity credits

Develop innovative financing mechanisms for Blue economy

• Facilitating broader dialogue mechanism to align ODA with Government priorities
• Using innovative instruments to attract private investment
• Identify opportunities to use blended financing mechanisms to leverage significant private finance  
• Using Results based Government or Aid financing to generate new philanthropic inflows

Provides policy support to Pacific governments on SDG finance

• Provide policy advisory support to government and scaling up financing for the SDGs at country level
• Provide advisory support and leverage internal and external expertise for public finance frameworks for development

Institutional Arrangement

• The consultant will report directly to the Project Manager for the UNDP Governance for Resilience Project under the overall guidance of the Resilience and Sustainable Development Team Leader and will work in collaboration with other members of the Resilience and Sustainable Development team including Gov4Res team and key partners.
• The consultant is expected to provide their own laptop and communications equipment. UNDP can provide desk space in Suva and will make arrangements for travel to Suva and other countries if required.

Duration of Contract

For 2 years contract with a maximum of 400 days

• Start date: September 2022
• End date: September 2024

Long term Agreement Consultancy International -IC LTA 

Duty Station

• This is a home based assignment.
• UNDP can provide desk space in Suva and will make arrangements for travel to Suva and other countries as required.

Core competencies

Innovation -Ability to make new and useful ideas work

Leadership - Ability to persuade others to follow

People Management -Ability to improve performance and satisfaction

Communication - Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform

Delivery -Ability to get things done

Technical / Functional Competencies

Strategic Planning -Ability to make decisions that align with strategy, vision, and mission

Results-based Management -Ability to manage programmes and projects with a strategy aimed at improved performance and demonstrable results

Risk Assessment / Management - Knowledge of risk assessment methodologies and ability to determine degree of risk and apply to strategic and/or practical situation;

Ability to identify and prioritize risks, and organize action around mitigating them

Secondary Competencies

Project Management - Ability to plan, organize, and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals

 Data Measurement - Ability to set goals and indicators and to interpret and synthesize results into usable information to inform policy, strategy, and/or action

Educational Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in finance, Economics or other relevant fields or equivalent years’ experience

Experience

• At least 15 years of experience in one or a combination of the following government planning & budgeting systems, debt and development financing strategies and the useof innovative financing tools
• Experience in working with development partners and governments in developing countries on climate financing, sustainable bonds issue and developing finance frameworks for public financial management, debt management, budgeting and planning
• Proven ability to lead consultations and facilitate dialogue among senior government officials and other senior stakeholders on substantive policy issues in public and private financing
• Advanced quantitative skills and experience with related data analysis tools are an advantage;
• Understanding of and experience in working in the Pacific will be an advantage.

Language requirements

• Fluency of English language is required

Documentation required

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex II.
• Personal CV, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
• Technical proposal, including a) a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; and b) a methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment.
• Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II. Note: National consultants must quote prices in United States Dollars (USD).

Note: Successful individual will be required to provide proof of medical insurance coverage before commencement of contract for the duration of the assignment.

Incomplete and joint proposals may not be considered. Consultants with whom there is further interest will be contacted. The successful consultant shall opt to sign an Individual Contract or a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) through its company/employer with UNDP.

Annexes

• Annex I - Individual IC General Terms and Conditions
• Annex II – Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual IC, including Financial Proposal Template

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to pts.fj@undp.org