UNDP Jobs - 102637- Senior Advisor, Digital Finance

Senior Advisor, Digital Finance

Location :

Home - based

Type of Contract :

IPSA (Regular)

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

21-Oct-21 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

IPSA-14

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

12 months

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

Instructions to Applicants: Click on the "Apply now" button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. Please ensure that CV or P11 and the Cover letter are combined in one file.

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.

A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.

Travel:

Cost of travel, as deemed necessary by UNDP while performing the outlined functions, shall be at UNDP’s expense and in accordance with the applicable UNDP travel policy.

Office/Unit/Project Description:

UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

UNDP's policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.

Within the GPN, 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 fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. In addition, BPPS works closely with UNDP's Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response. While ensuring that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP's development programmes, BPPS also assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. Lastly, BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.

In order to streamline its financial and investment engagement, UNDP launched the Finance Sector Hub, a finance and innovation platform, that draws on a critical mass of UNDP expertise, initiatives, and partnerships to support the mobilization and leveraging of resources for the SDGs and lead the implementation of the new UNDP private sector strategy and other initiatives. The Hub is an integral part of both the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) and the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA), as well as part of the GPN. The Hub serves as a connector, broker and global coordinator among internal and external actors; curates and manages UNDP’s catalogue of service offers on SDG financing to governments, investors and companies, via the COs, to significantly enhance the scale and impact of UNDP’s work.

The Secretary-General launched the Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals on 29 November 2018 with a mandate to recommend and catalyze ways to harness digitalization for the acceleration of financing of the SDGs. The Task Force Secretariat was managed by UNCDF given its experience in Digital Finance and building Digital Economies. It advanced its mandate through engagement and dialogue with thousands of experts and guided and commissioned research. It launched a landscape study conducted by the Task Force Secretariat on Harnessing the Digitalization of Finance for the Sustainable Development Goals in June 2019 and gathered over a hundred documents through a Call for Contributions that ended October 2019. In September 2019, it launched the co-chair’s progress report and on 26 August 2020, the co-chairs launched its final report, “People’s Money: Harnessing Digitalization to Finance a Sustainable Future.”
(See digitalfinancingtaskforce.org).

As the UN Secretary-General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the SDGs (DFTF) ended in October 2020, UNDP and UNCDF have begun working together to implement its recommendations and synthesize its work into actionable offers. With their complementary expertise and approach to SDG finance, UNDP and UNCDF have conceptualized a joint digital finance offer to improve programme countries’ abilities to harness digital finance and provide global stewardship for the use of the digital financing of the SDGs. This joint offer is constituted in three complementary service offers: (1) Dialogue on Global Digital Finance Governance (UNCDF IDE Workstream 1: Policy & Regulation), (2) SDFE Assessments (UNCDF IDE Workstream 2: Infrastructure), and (3) SDG Digital Finance Accelerator (UNCDF IDE Workstream 3: Innovation).

Please visit the SDG Finance Sector Hub website for more information.

Institutional Arrangement:

Senior Advisor, Digital Finance will work under the direct supervision of the SDG Finance Sector Hub Director and in close collaboration with the other UNCDF and FSH team members.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work:

UNDP and UNCDF seek to engage a Senior Advisor on Digital Finance to lead the delivery of the joint offer including development of high-level technical inputs for Dialogue on Global Digital Finance, guiding strategic positioning of both agencies vis-à-vis other stakeholders, finalization and quality assurance of related technical papers and assessments as well as consolidation and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned.

Technical leadership and strategic positioning for the Dialogue on Global Digital Finance Governance:

Provide technical inputs to the LDC working group constituted to discuss BigFintech governance in LDCs;
Finalize and present the conclusions of the seven technical papers produced under the Dialogue in 2021 to global/regional bodies which pertain to BFT regulations (BIS, IMF, WB, etc.);
Develop and submit new project proposals to donors to secure additional resources for the initiative;
Ensure UNDP/UNCDF strategic positioning at 2021 Building Bridges and Singapore Fintech Festival;
Design and host a virtual event with Alliance for Innovative Regulation for US and international regulators;
Produce a map of key governance issues across jurisdictions and core actors to guide Dialogue’s activities in the next two years;
Develop and present a workplan with recommendations for technical papers and knowledge management products to guide Dialogue’s activities in the next two years;
Ensure strategic visibility of the Dialogue on Global Digital Finance in media and other information sources.

Quality assurance and technical leadership for country assessment:

Finalize/quality assure at least ten SDFE country assessments, including digital finance strategies;
Embed SDFE assessments into DFAs/INFFs, where applicable;
Document lessons learned and business case for SDFE assessments.

Technical leadership for SDG Digital Finance Accelerator:

Develop reports on green citizen finance projects, including qualitative and quantitative result analysis, issues identified, lessons learned and recommendations;
Develop reports on SME access to capital market models, including qualitative and quantitative result analysis, issues identified, lessons learned and recommendations;
Design and host webinars to showcase Accelerator to UNDP Cos;
Design and conduct market analysis, opportunity studies, concept piloting and scaling activities for pathfinder initiatives.

Perform other duties related to this assignment as may be required by the Supervisor.

Competencies

UN CORE VALUES AND COMPETENCIES

Professionalism: Shows pride in work and achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

Communication: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; Asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience; Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be "clients " and seeks to see things from clients' point of view; Establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; Identifies clients' needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; Monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients' environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; Keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; Meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Academic Education:

Master’s degree in technology, economics, public/business administration, social sciences, or related discipline is required.

Min. years of relevant Work experience:

A minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible experience in financial inclusion, digital finance, development finance or other closely related area is required.

Required skills and competencies:

Experience in conducting research, policy and regulatory analysis on financial inclusion and digital finance matters is required.

Desired additional skills and competencies:

Knowledge of the UN System and previous experience with the UN/UNDP/UNCDF is highly desirable;
Experience in working with government representatives, ministries, national policy bodies is a distinct advantage;
Experience in overseeing and guiding the development of communications and knowledge management strategies and products is desirable;
Experience working in the promotion of digital finance initiatives at a global level is highly desirable.

Required Language(s) (at working level):

Proficiency in English language is required - verbal, writing, and editing skills;
Proficiency in another UN language, preferably French, would be an added advantage.