UNDP Jobs - 67043- Local Development Investment Finance Specialist

Local Development Investment Finance Specialist

Location :

Bangkok, THAILAND

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

10-Aug-2016

Application Deadline :

10-Jul-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

10th August 2016 – 30th of July 2017

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

up to 230 working days

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

The Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder for including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, South-South and triangular cooperation initiatives, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas.

As the UN system's development program and a GEF Implementing Agency since 1991, UNDP also supports countries in addressing development, climate, and ecosystem sustainability in an integrated manner. UNDP-GEF offers countries highly specialized technical services for eligibility assessment, program/project formulation, due diligence, mobilization of required co-financing, project implementation oversight, results management and evaluation, performance-based payments and knowledge management.

The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process is among the high profile topics on adaptation under discussion in the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) under the Conference of Parties. Building on efforts that are underway from the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) the NAP process draws attention to the need for LDCs (and other countries) to identify, finance and implement appropriate medium- to long-term adaptation needs, including to balance sectoral and cross-sectoral priorities, at national, sub-national and local levels. Importantly, the medium- to long-term adaptation planning underpinning the NAPs should be multi-stakeholder oriented, and based on and guided by the best available science, rigorous collection and analysis of appropriate data, and consideration of experiences and good practices within, and outside, countries. UNDP is currently implementing a portfolio of 5 projects, under the NAP initiative.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective:

To support national and sub-national governments of countries participating in the above-mentioned projects in addressing barriers to access sustainable resources of capital financing. The incumbent will work under the guidance of the Senior Technical Advisor for Climate Change Adaptation. The position will be overseen by the Project Manager- NAP-GSP, the UNDP-GEF LECRDS team and will be based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Scope of Work:

The consultant will be responsible for providing technical inputs and policy advice to partner countries in coordination with the UNDP GEF team, the UNDP Country Offices and other UN Agencies (where appropriate) in the following areas, as they contribute to the National Adaptation Plan process:

Municipal finance, local public finance and local private finance;
Private sector financing;
Application of business development strategies, and tools and mechanisms to build and maintain technical partnerships, introduce innovative investment finance approaches and capitalize on related business opportunities.

The incumbent will be expected to introduce innovative sustainable development financing modalities for municipalities upscaling the existing pilots and produce new project proposals through the application of practical tools, instruments and financing mechanisms for increased effectiveness of planning, monitoring and de-risking of local investments to facilitate market based transactions and unlock access to available public and private sector funding.

S/he will lead the activities of specialized local development investment finance team working with UN Agencies, governments, inter-governmental organizations, NGO’s, donors, and the private sector in accordance with the objective and outcomes of the project documents, in full alignment with UNDP’s key results as outlined in the corporate strategies. The work of the IFA will be undertaken in full compliance with UNDP’s Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures including on gender, environmental safeguards, etc.

Specifically, the consultant will work towards the accomplishment of the following targets:

Inclusion of Local governments in a process of NAP formulation and implementation;
Assessment of the current UNDP countries project portfolios and define most suitable entry points;
Introduce enhanced municipal planning, forecasting, budgeting and monitoring mechanisms as consolidated platform for effective mainstreaming of climate resilience into local development process;
Leverage complementary financing from public and private sector.

Municipal finance, local public finance and local private finance:

Provide technical support in the area of municipal finance, local public finance and local private finance – in particular in relation to integration of climate risks and information into municipal level infrastructure and service provision, local economic development, and the strengthening of municipal capacity;
Assist UNDP staff and COs with guidance that can help client governments to develop municipal level adaptation plans taking into account options for municipal finance, with use of all available and feasible sources of funding drawing on successful international best practice examples, the latest research and ideas, lessons of policy pilots and substantive dialogue with key practitioners and major national and international institutions (including application of local development finance diagnostic tools, instruments and approaches to constructively inform and contribute to these strategies and policies);
Develop effective strategic partnerships with other partners, donors, and research and academic institutions, civil society, and private sector to increase visibility of the UNDP’s support to countries on integrating climate into local authority level finance and planning.

Private sector financing:

Lead country-specific missions that focus on planning and finance at the local authority/municipal level, under guidance of the STA;
Undertake capacity-building missions at the national and/or regional and global levels on how to engage central and local governments and key stakeholders in integrating climate risks into planning and budgeting;
Provide advice to UNDP Country Offices (COs) on engagement of local and municipal governments in integrating climate into planning and budgeting processes, as well as, on issues related to local public and private finance.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The consultant will be expected to lead and coordinate preparation of the following program products:

MSDF initiative promoted through publications, websites, conferences and events aimed at incremental funding leveraged through MSDF pilots;
Processes, tools and mechanisms defined to assist municipal governments in multi-year sustainable development planning, forecasting of financing capacity, assessment of creditworthiness and defining of feasible funding sources;
List of applicable financial instruments and mechanisms developed;
Country projects and opportunities for introduction of MSDF initiative identified and assessed;
Local governments incorporated into NAP formulation process under the new NAP-GSP country support assignments;
Country level sustainable financing mechanisms defined;
MSDF pilot projects designed, funded and initiated;
Technical support delivered to client countries on using innovative financial instruments at the municipal and local authority level to address climate change resilience needs.

Review and Approvals of all deriverables from Project Manager- NAP-GSP are required

Institutional Arrangement:

The consultant will report to the Head of Climate Change Adaptation (Global), UNDP GEF and/or his designate throughout the consultancy and her/his work will be overseen by the NAP PM and the UNDP GEF LECRDS team, involved in the various tasks. Reporting on deliverables will be on a monthly basis.

Contract Duration: 10th August 2016 – 30th of July 2017 (up to 230 working days)

Duty Station: Bangkok, Thailand

Expected places of travel: Possible travel may be required upon approval of supervisor. Travels will be arranged by the consultant under UNDP’s travel rules and regulations.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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.

Technical Competencies:

Analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to process, analyse and synthesise complex, technical information;
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.

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.

Teamwork:

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

Local Development Investment Finance Specialist shall have the following qualifications:

Education:

Master’s degree in Environmental Management, Economics, Business, Public Finance, Public Administration, or related field

Experience:

At least 10 years of relevant experience in planning, management and implementation of large scale regional, national and local investment and finance programmes preferably in the areas of: international development, environmental protection, water and sanitation, energy conservation and climate change adaptation
Working experience in international development finance in developing countries, at field level (Expert Technical Advisor) and/or senior management positions (i.e. Team Leader, Chief of Party, Project Manager)
Experience in introducing various financing instruments for complementary private sector financing of public infrastructure projects and in municipal debt markets development;
Deep technical knowledge of local development planning and capital investment programming in urban and rural areas;
Experience working with key international donor, financing institutions and development banks in formulation and/or implementation of local investment finance programmes.

Language requirements:

Excellent knowledge of the English language, with exceptional writing, presentation and communication skills;
Proficiency in other UN languages is an asset.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Daily Fee. Consultant shall quote an all-inclusive Daily Fee for the contract period. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment are already factored into the daily fee submitted in the proposal. If applicable, travel or daily allowance cost (if any work is to be done outside the IC’s duty station) should be identified separately. Payments shall be done on a monthly basis based on actual days worked, upon verification of completion of deliverables and approval by the IC’s supervisor of a Time Sheet indicating the days worked in the period.

In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation Method and Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 500 points)

Criteria 1 : Education - max 75 points;
Criteria 2 : At least 10 years of relevant experience in planning, management and implementation of large scale regional, national and local investment and finance programmes preferably in the areas of: international development, environmental protection, water and sanitation, energy conservation and climate change adaptation - max 125 points;
Criteria 3 : Working experience in international development finance in developing countries, at field level (Expert Technical Advisor) and/or senior management positions (i.e. Team Leader, Chief of Party, Project Manager) - max 125 points;
Criteria 4 : Experience working with key international donor, financing institutions and development banks in formulation and/or implementation of local investment finance programmes - max 125 points;
Criteria 5 : Excellent knowledge of the English language - max 50 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 350 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Shortlisted candidates shall be called for an interview which will be used to confirm and/or adjust the technical scores awarded based on documentation submitted.

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 2;
Personal CV and P11, 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;
Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex 2.

Incomplete proposals may not be considered.

All required documents can be downloaded by clicking on the link below:

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=30814

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to brh.gef.procurement@undp.org