UNDP Jobs - 82896- Individual Consultant: Chinese expert for the stud

Individual Consultant: Chinese expert for the study on green finance development

Location :

Beijing, CHINA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

15-Feb-2019

Application Deadline :

08-Feb-19 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months

Languages Required :

English Chinese

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

2018 marks the 40th Anniversary of China’s reform and opening up, and the third year since the adoption of the global 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To further support the mainstreaming and localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially leveraging resources for targeted development, UNDP proposes an integrated assessment of financing for green development in selected countries, in relation to China’s experience of sustainable development. Green growth is chosen as the focal area given the urgency to address the economic impact of climate change and environmental degradation. This bears close relevance to facilitate the implementation of a few SDGs (e.g., SDG 7, 9, 13, 14, 15, and 17) in targeted countries, through combined and coordinated efforts between Chinese and traditional development assistance providers. The activity could also contribute to improving effectiveness and sustainability of components of Chinese overseas lending and investment to support global green development, through a clearer understanding of country green financing gap, development needs and key contextual factors that are needed to better channel and manage resources.

Duties and Responsibilities

Role

The activity aims to use an integrated approach to establish the benchmark of financing flows for green development in targeted countries. In essence, the assessment intends to address three questions:

What financing challenges and opportunities does the country face to achieve green development?
How can governments (in recipient countries) build a structured and systematic framework to help overcome challenges and take advantage of emerging opportunities?
What can China and other financiers do to use green finance more effectively to deliver impact in recipient countries?

Competencies

Deliverables

The ultimate goal is to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the existing financial and political system in targeted countries:

1) Management of the PPG team:

a.Support the SSC Team Leader with management of the Green Finance Team, ensuring coordination between individual national consultants.

2) Preparatory Technical Studies and Reviews: Prepare inputs and support the required analyses/studies, including:

a. country development needs for green growth;

b. country financial landscape that covers all types of finance (international/domestic, public/private) that contributes to green development; China’s as well as other international flows, both public and domestic, will be analyzed;

c. country financial strategies, policies and institutional structures for green development. To manage the feasibility of the study, the mapping analyses will be narrowed down in discussion with Chinese counterparts, through e.g., focus on specific sectors (e.g., energy, transport, building, manufacturing), to facilitate the categorization of “green” flows. As to China’s support to the targeted country, the focus could be on private investments.

3) Validation Workshop:

a. Contribute to the validation workshop; and

b.Support all necessary revisions that arise during the workshop, as appropriate.

4) Final Deliverables:

a. The analyses purport to provide evidence that helps strengthen policies and actions in targeted countries for mobilizing mixed kinds of finance for green growth. The analyses also intend to provide recommendations to introduce institutional changes that are conducive to reinforce capacity of leveraging, coordinating and managing diversified sources of green finance in countries. Moreover, the assessment will look at China’s current green finance system, with a special focus on identifying gaps, challenges and opportunities in greening China’s external investment in the Belt & Road region.

b. Detailed research formulation; liaison with relevant stakeholders in China and in country, as well as others; mission preparation – specific program formulation; report draft and revision (Two country studies by July 31 2019)

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications

Master degree in Green finance, Economics, Social Sciences or related field.
At least 7 years of relevant experience in undertaking qualitative and quantitative research studies.
Excellent knowledge of green finance study.
Proposed methodology in the technical proposal.
Fluency in written and spoken English and excellent written skills.