Closing Date: 21 July 2025
Work from home as an Environmental Finance Specialist for African Region at UNDP
Background
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 offers a spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in its 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 UNDP’s 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 staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages; represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora, including public-private, government and civil society dialogues; and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas.
BPPS’s Hubs on Nature, Climate, Energy and Waste, with the support of the Vertical Fund Programme Support Oversight and Compliance Unit, works with governments, civil society, and private sector partners to integrate nature, climate, energy and waste related concerns into national and sector planning and inclusive growth policies, support country obligations under Multilateral Environmental Agreements, and oversee the implementation of the UN’s largest portfolio of in-country programming nature, climate change, energy and waste. This multi-billion-dollar portfolio encompasses:
- Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services including forests;.
- Sustainable Land Management and Desertification including food and commodity systems;
- Water and Ocean Governance including SIDS;
- Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation;
- Sustainable Energy;
- Extractive Industries;
- Chemicals and Waste Management;
- Environmental Governance and Green/Circular Economy, and SCP approaches.
This work advances crosscutting themes on innovative finance, digital transformation, capacity development, human rights, gender equality, health, technology, and South-South learning.
UNDP is seeking Environmental Finance Specialist to provide technical services and support to countries in the Africa region that are designing or implementing their national biodiversity finance plans.
Duties and Responsibilities
Ensure Design of National Biodiversity Finance Plans
- Support the development of Terms of Reference, workplans, and reports by national teams;
- Provide technical support and undertake reviews and impact monitoring of BIOFIN methodological outputs and processes, such as: workplans, bi-annual reports, and inception reports;
- Policy and Institutional Reviews – including an assessment of the existing landscape of financing mechanisms, drivers of biodiversity loss, and gain;
- Biodiversity Expenditure Reviews – in-depth assessment of major government programmes to define their biodiversity relevance;
- Financial Needs Assessments – a costing of the main national biodiversity targets from the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans/Global Biodiversity Framework (NBSAP/GBF);
- Guide countries on the use of the Catalogue of Financing Solutions and the E-learning module on biodiversity finance;
- Biodiversity Finance Plans – an action agenda with priority financing solutions to bridge the financing gap of the country. Support national teams and government counterparts in identifying, developing and implementing the right mix of finance solutions, tailored to the country context;
- Travel to countries as needed to support the design of national Biodiversity Finance Plans, ensuring a strong coalition of actors and jointly working on this endeavour with a lead role for the Ministry of Finance;
- Advise on linkages with related initiatives such as Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFF), The Insurance & Risk Finance Facility (IRFF), Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), the Nature Facility, Global Fund for Coral Reefs, the UNDP Sustainable Finance Hub, United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and development banks;
- Develop tailored guidance materials or other knowledge products on selected finance solutions and provide inputs into project proposals for resource mobilisation as required.
Ensure implementation of finance solutions
- Guide to identify opportunities for the early implementation of finance solutions emerging from the Policy and Institutional Review (PIR), the Budget and Expenditure Review (BER), and the Financial Needs Assessment (FNA), or emerging needs and opportunities (e.g. natural disasters, new major government programmes, new fiscal policies);
- Advise and support the design and review of finance solution proposals developed by national teams following the Finance Solution Proposal template;
- Provide feedback for the development of terms of reference, country workplans, bi-annual reports, inception reports, final reports, and other relevant documents;
- Provide feedback on technical documents related to finance solutions, such as feasibility studies, concept notes, policies, laws, regulations, by-laws, organisational charts/HR Plans, resource mobilisation plans, enforcement strategies, economic valuations, advocacy plans, or any other technical reports that are required;
- Travel to countries as needed to support the design and implementation of finance solutions and engage with key stakeholders to develop opportunities of collaborations for finance solution implementation;
- Guide national Teams to relevant experts, knowledge platforms, tools and other guidance material related to the prioritised finance solutions/mechanisms;
- Advise and support national teams to identify opportunities to promote gender equality and sustainable livelihoods when designing biodiversity finance solutions.
Lead capacity development
- Engage in capacity assessments and capacity development of national stakeholders as required, helping to build up a large pool of experts in each country that possess the basic skills to implement UNDP Nature Hub biodiversity finance tools;
- Strengthen the capacity of a wider group of national stakeholders on prioritised finance solutions to beginner/intermediate level (as relevant), and support the process of institutionalisation with national training institutes and universities;
- Support and provide inputs to global, regional, and national technical workshops, regional conference calls, technical webinars, and website discussions as requested by the global Nature Hub biodiversity finance team.
Facilitate knowledge management
- Enable countries to share experiences through virtual and on site discussions;
- Lead the development of knowledge materials of thematic priorities;
- Write up articles, case studies, and other materials emerging from the national process, summarizing key experiences and lessons from core countries, including delivering at least one case study or scientific article per year on finance solution implementation in a core country;
- Support the continuous improvement of the BFP methodology. Develop guidance documents and training materials to enhance the BIOFIN methodological toolkit and implementation packages;
- Deliver high quality inputs for bi-annual donor reports on progress and impact in country projects within given deadlines, and provide other inputs as required for briefing notes, case studies, knowledge management products, press releases, and other media products develop by the global BIOFIN Team.
Institutional Arrangement
- The Environmental Finance Specialists for the Africa Region will work from home (home-based) within the African region or a nearby timezone.
- The Environmental Finance Specialist for African Region will work under the supervision of the BIOFIN Regional Advisor for Africa. The Specialists will work with the global BIOFIN Team, national Teams, UNDP Country Offices, core and donor country governments, other international/multilateral organizations, and contractors.
- Given the IPSA assignment to be undertaken during this assignment, the incumbents are expected to be reasonably flexible with their availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones where applicable.
- The incumbents will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under these assignments.
- The Environmental Finance Specialist for African Region will be responsible for providing their own working stations (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, relevant software) and shall have access to a stable and reliable internet connection.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Public Finance, Private Finance, Economics, Environmental Economics, Public Administration, Financial Management, Natural/Environmental Sciences, Social Sciences with a specialization in Environmental Finance and Development, or other closely related field, or
- A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the said fields, with two additional years of relevant experience will be taken into consideration in lieu of advanced university degree.
Experience:
- Minimum 5 years (with Master’s degree) or 7 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of demonstrated experience in environmental related public or private sector finance, sustainable development/environmental finance, resource mobilisation, biodiversity conservation, natural resource management, or a related field is required.
Required skills:
- Prior experience in designing, reviewing and implementing conservation finance, environmental finance, sustainable finance is required;
- Experience in developing countries and with international organisations is required;
- Expertise in planning and conducting workshops and technical trainings on environmental finance is required.
Desired skills:
- Prior work experience with governments, public policies, or financial regulations is desired;
- Experience with UN and/or UNDP policies, procedures, and practices particularly in relation to project development and implementation and/or working in an international organization is an advantage;
- Previous country experience in the Africa region is an advantage.
Languages:
- Fluency in English is required.
- Knowledge of any other UN language is an asset.
Travel:
- Approximately 5 international mission travels per year will be required to core countries and relevant methodological meetings.
- Any necessary missions must be approved in advance and in writing by the Project Manager, Global Programme on National Biodiversity Finance Plans.
- The BSAFE course must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel.
- The incumbents are responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP.
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