UNDP Jobs - 82430- Senior Expert on Alternative Finances (IRH)

Senior Expert on Alternative Finances (IRH)

Location :

Home-based with possible missions

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

21-Dec-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

January 1st 2019 – December 31st 2020

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

up to 360 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

Achieving SDGs alone according to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report will require $3,9 trillion per year between 2015 and 2030 for health, education and infrastructure - leaving a $2.5 trillion annual shortfall relative to the current and forecast commitments of $1,4 trillion. Innovative financing mechanisms can close the gap by channelling the resources that are available at the market and by leveraging the private sector capital worth over $200 trillion to address the most pressing development issues. Governments’ potential to strategically mobilize various sources of financing for social purposes remains underutilized while many around the world are dealing with fiscal crises and rolling back many essential services. The alternative finance can help leverage public funding to mobilize various new sources of investment (private and venture capital, P2P lending) for public policy, social services and achieving a number of SDGs, while at the same time realigning interests of various partners and creating new investment opportunities.

This project builds on the successes and lessons learned of the Transformative Governance and Finance Facility [Phase I] and, seeks to utilize new technologies and alternative finance mechanisms in support of the SDG agenda. It is a continuation of UNDP’s partnership with the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, during which, through the first phase of TGFF project, UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub (IRH) established the Alternative Finance Lab (AltFin Lab), in an effort to explore potential and feasibility of various alternative finance mechanisms both in the Europe and CIS (as well as other regions). Through the further work in 2018 on prototypes and expanding to new grounds to understand what has the potential to be catalytic in the Europe and Central Asia context; and initiated globally, the Lab was set to support (in)formal citizen and other groups, government partners, business and others who are willing to experiment with some of the top emerging finance mechanisms. Through this project, the work of the Lab will be further promoted, moving from recognizing promising areas and pilot projects, in creating success stories and upscaling them to the regional level.

In this context, the IRH is looking for the Senior Expert on Alternative Finance mechanisms who will, under the guidance of the IRH innovation specialist, continue to work on and further develop AltFin Lab portfolio of projects, activities as well as work on developing new transformational partnerships and projects, which should all contribute to SDG agenda. The needed Senior Expert will help develop and implement a portfolio of experiments with concerned relevant country office (CO) teams, other UNDP business units, UN agencies and governments in order to better understand their implications and the potential for financing public policies and development.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Senior Expert will work under supervision of Knowledge and Innovation Specialist from IRH; and will guide the work of Expert from AltFin Lab; closely working with other national experts from COs on four (4) different distinct areas of alternative finance. Role of the senior expert is to support existing projects focused on testing and prototyping; but also moving to scaling up activities:

Crowdfunding and Crowdinvesting

Supporting the previously established demand for new business models regarding civic CF projects and combining them with crowdsourcing for low carbon initiatives. This includes developing further long term connections with local authorities (municipalities), public utility companies etc. and connecting civic crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platforms to support it;
Crowdfunding Lending and Investment – in collaboration with expert on crowdfunding, crowdinvestnment and blockchain, support UNDP initiatives and projects on crowdinvesting and bringing them to scale and for renewable energy and SMEs –countries include but are not limited to Moldova, Tajikistan, Georgia, Serbia, Lebanon and Turkey;
Building of crowdfunding ecosystem in a number of countries where it has not yet been established – including legislative support, creating networks and partnerships and organizing capacity building in RBAS and RBLAC; Using crowdfunding for early response to disasters – from clear demonstration of the model to setting up the clear pathway for replication and scale in Pacific Region; Building up crowdfunding platforms developed by UNDP and its partners and exploring moving from philanthropy and donations models to impact investment platforms in ECIS and Arab States;

Blockchain technologies

Collaborate with expert on crowdfunding, crowdinvestment and blockchain, on exploring new business models for blockchain for development, pitching to and bringing on board new investment projects; including the joint field of practice between crowdfunding and blockchain in ECIS, LAC and Arab States;
Implementing the digital coins/tokens for development and drafting the lessons learned how it can be replicated and scaled with UNDP support;

Innovative Financial Technologies

Testing at least 3 new alternative finance business models and bringing on board more CO teams/their partners interested in carrying it out in their region;
Exploring the possible business models around AI (Artificial Intelligence), AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality) for government services and development activities;

Resource Mobilization and Capacity building

Strengthening CO personnel in at least 2-3 countries (different from the expert on crowdfunding, crowdinvestment and blockchain) by providing training on tools and methodologies of usage and implementation of alternative finance mechanisms (within their specific context) .
Support design and development of service lines for an AltFinLab in one of the ECIS countries;
Working on identifying possible partnerships between us, International Financial Institutions (IFI) and partners in order to secure new funding streams;
Resource mobilization with different types of investors, development agencies and IFIs.

Expected Deliverables:
Specific deliverables will be agreed with the certifying officer at the beginning of each month and they will be reported on a monthly basis and will specifically focus on the following:

Advisory support services to 8-9 COs for designing and implementing crowdfunding investment (civic, reward, equity, debt crowdfunding) campaigns within and outside the scope of the UNDP Global Crowdfunding Academy (number of COs supported, number of campaigns in the design stage/implementation stage, amount of funding raised),and setting up national crowdfunding ecosystems, as well as building the capacity of UNDP staff in these COs to design and implement crowdfunding activities (approximately 50% of time);
Setting up ecosystem for crowdfunding for climate change – working on feasibility and business models – developing the ecosystem with relevant partners (already built partnership and other interested stakeholders) in 6-7 countries (approximately 20% of time);
Advisory support services in terms of application of blockchain and innovative technologies, setting up pilot projects and scaling them up in at least 7 countries – (including Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality) for development (number of COs supported, number of use cases researched and written up) (approximately 10% of time);
Designing at least 5 regional and/or cross-regional proposals, outlining scaling approaches for alternative finance pilots including on crowdinvesting, crowdlending platforms and alternative finance companies) (approximately 15% of time);
Guidance and Guidelines on establishment of Alternative Finance Labs to COs and other regions (approximately 5% of the time).

Remuneration:
Timeframe: Up to 360 working days over estimated period of two years from the start of the assignment.

Specific timeline for delivery of services will be agreed with the certifying officer at the beginning of each month. Payments will be made in 24 instalments (once a month) upon submitted satisfactory timesheet and progress report against deliverables and upon its acceptance by the Supervisor/Certifying Officer (Knowledge and Innovation Specialist from IRH).

Travel costs related to the possible missions to Europe and CIS region and other locations, will be paid separately to the Consultant as per UNDP rules and regulations.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Promotes the mission and values of the UN;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional Competencies:

Strong writing, presentation and reporting skills;
Excellent communication and team-building skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

M. Sc. in Economics/Business/Engineering is a must, PhD degree in Economics/Business/Engineering would be an advantage.

Experience:

At least five (5) years of working experience in the area of development in international organizations;
At least five (5) years practical experience in the field of crowdfunding, education on crowdfunding, or in alternative finance mechanisms; preferably for renewable energy including experience with building public awareness on climate change, sustainable energy and/or innovative finance;
Experience in Project Management, in organizing workshops and trainings and in writing implementation and other reports is required;
Proven track record of successfully completed crowdfunding campaigns and building public awareness on development issues is required;
Experience working with the Paris Agreement obligations, international climate change policies including NDCs of the countries in Europe and CIS region and practical experience in applying alternative finance mechanisms for renewable energy (with the preferably geographic focus in Europe and Central Asia) is preferred;
At least two (2) years of working experience in the field of blockchain, with a working experience of developing blockchain based prototypes is preferred;

Language skills

Excellent English language skills, both written and verbal are a requirement.

Evaluation of Applicants

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.
The award of the contract should 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 a pre-determined set of weighted technical (P11/CV desk reviews, interviews and methodology evaluation) and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only candidates who receive min 70% of points in desk review (Criteria A-D) will be considered for interviews, only candidates who will receive min. 70% of points in interviews (E) will be considered for methodology evaluation. Only candidates who receive min 70% of points in technical evaluation (Criteria A-F) will be considered for the financial evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 35 points:

Criteria A - Experience in the area of development in international organizations – max points: 7;
Criteria B –Experience in the field of crowdfunding, education on crowdfunding, or in alternative finance mechanisms; preferably for renewable energy including experience with building public awareness on climate change, sustainable energy and/or innovative finance - max points: 6;
Criteria C – Experience in Project Management, in organizing workshops and trainings and in writing implementation and other reports - max points: 5;
Criteria D – Proven track record of successfully completed crowdfunding campaigns and building public awareness on development issues – max points: 3
Criteria E - Experience working with the Paris Agreement obligations, international climate change policies including NDCs of the countries in Europe and CIS region and practical experience in applying alternative finance mechanisms for renewable energy (with the preferably geographic focus in Europe and Central Asia) - max points: 3
Criteria F - Experience in the field of blockchain, with a working experience of developing blockchain based prototypes - max points: 3
Criteria G - Interview Criteria –Practical experience in alternative finance mechanisms- max points: 5
Criteria H - Methodology (evaluation of the brief methodology on how the candidate would approach and conduct the work (shall be uploaded by the applicant during online application) - max points: 3.

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 15 points.

Application procedures

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position and a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
Filled P11 form or CV including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded fromhttp://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/dam/rbec/docs/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc); please upload the P11 instead of your CV.
Offeror’s Letter (blank template can be downloaded from https://bit.ly/2KO1okS).
Financial Proposal* - specifying all-inclusive daily fee in USD for the tasks specified in this announcement. Mission related costs, if any, should not be included in the price offer, as they will be paid separately per UNDP rules and regulations.
Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials

*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination, personal security needs and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services...).

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org
General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.
Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.