Background
Office/Unit/Project Descriptionย
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a leading organization for sustainable development within the UN system, acting as an integrator to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP's policy work spans from local to global levels, supported by its Global Policy Network (GPN), which brings together technical expertise across various domains to support the organization's strategic goals. The 2022-2025 Strategic Plan emphasizes UNDP's commitment to eradicating poverty, supporting countries in their SDG pathways, and advancing the Paris Agreement. Within the Global Policy Network, the Nature, Climate Change, Energy, and Waste (NCE&W) Hubs focus on integrated governance approaches and nature-based solutions to reduce poverty, strengthen livelihoods, mitigate conflict, and promote resilient governance systems.
Biodiversity finance tools have become crucial for achieving biodiversity and sustainable development goals. Effective finance solutions can help countries meet national and global biodiversity targets. Biodiversity Finance Plans, supported by the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) www.biofin.org, are recognized as essential tools for addressing the biodiversity finance gap. The Montreal-Kunming Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in December 2022, includes targets for resource mobilization and national biodiversity finance plans. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has created a program to help countries design national Biodiversity Finance Plans. These plans involve analysing a country's economy, mapping existing financing mechanisms, identifying harmful subsidies, and assessing public and private expenditures for biodiversity. The plans aim to increase funding, phase out harmful finance flows, and improve expenditure effectiveness. The program also facilitates knowledge sharing and provides technical support to country teams.
In The Gambia, the project falls under the GEF8 Umbrella program for developing the first National Biodiversity Finance Plan. The project will be led by a Project Lead with support from a technical team, a government project director, and a National Steering Committee. UNDP is recruiting a national team, including a Senior Finance Expert, Project Support Associate, Policy Expert, and Biodiversity Finance Analyst. The Biodiversity Finance Analyst will lead the Biodiversity Expenditure Review, Financial Needs Assessment, and development of the Biodiversity Finance Plan.
ย Scope of Workย
Under the over-all guidance of the Senior Finance Specialist (Project Lead), the Biodiversity Finance Analyst is expected to lead the production of the Biodiversity Expenditure Review (BER), the Financial Needs Assessment (FNA) and support the development of the Biodiversity Finance Plan (BFP) following the guidance provided by the latest version of the BIOFIN Workbook and with detailed data.
The Biodiversity Finance Analyst will also, as much as possible, provide input to all other national outputs, including the Policy and Institutional Review. The Biodiversity Finance Analyst could also contribute to the assessment and development of detailed feasibility studies for priority finance mechanisms in the BFP and the production of summary for Policy Makers. The Analyst should provide input to the feedback on the BIOFIN methodological framework.
The Analyst will collect, explore and work on national and subnational level budgeting data and biodiversity expenditures of different organizations, agencies, ministries, NGOs and private sector actors for the production of the BER. For the Finance Needs Assessment (FNA) the consultant will produce a detailed realistic costing of key biodiversity policies and plans โ generally focused on the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP).ย ย
The Biodiversity Finance Analyst will produce drafts and analyses that will be reviewed and ultimately validated by the Senior Finance Specialist (Project Lead) and the BIOFIN Global Team. Below are the key roles and responsibility of the Biodiversity Finance Analyst:
Duties and Responsibilities
1. Contribute to the Policy and Institutional Review (PIR)
Support the Environmental Policy expert in developing an inventory of existing Biodiversity Financing Mechanisms in the country. Support the Environmental Policy expert in reviewing of existing economic valuation studies relevant to the BIOFIN process.2. Development of the Biodiversity Expenditure Review (BER)
Carry out a desk review to map existing studies/information/databases on biodiversity expenditures, including an overview of earlier environmental expenditure reviews;ย Develop a proposed national definition for โbiodiversity expendituresโ, based on the BIOFIN methodology or other methodologies;ย Develop a workplan for the Biodiversity Expenditure Review for discussion with the national BFP programme team and Global Project Management and Technical Support Unit (GPMTSU);ย Determine a target list of organizations to include in the analysis based on the PIR work; Collect data for the desk review to map existing studies/information/ databases on biodiversity expenditures, including an overview of earlier environmental expenditure reviews;ย Establish, with the support of the Senior Finance Specialist (Project Lead), a system to tag biodiversity expenses into categories (GBF targets, BIOFIN categories, NBSAP themes, etc.) and a system of coefficients/attribution to estimate the contribution of mixed actions towards biodiversity; Gather data from the targeted organizations to conduct the expenditure review on budgets and expenditures. Follow existing methodologies for guidance (includes mapping of sources of funding, subsidies, and biodiversity-based revenues, etc.); Develop tools or Excel tool to analyze the total biodiversity-related expenditures filtered by major strategy groups using existing methodology (or national categories such as in the NBSAP); Coordinate the compilation of relevant data and liaise with relevant Ministries and partners as required and complete all BIOFIN data entry sheets for the BER;ย Support the Organization of bilateral consultation meetings/interviews/ discussions with national level stakeholders to define and then validate the attribution of biodiversity significance in all relevant expenditures.ย Applying budget projections and other assumptions, estimate future funding baseline under a โBusiness-As-Usual Scenarioโ: an analysis of projected estimated funding in the future; Based on international best practices and the BIOFIN methodology or other methodologies, work closely with the Senior Finance Specialist (Project Lead) to develop and implement a specific strategy for data collection of the private sector and organize dedicated consultation meetings with private sector stakeholders (e.g. chamber of commerce, multinationals) on tracking biodiversity expenditures;ย Based on results from the research, analysis and the national consultation workshop, develop, with the support of the Senior Finance Specialist (Project Lead), the draft BIOFIN Biodiversity Expenditure Review for review by the GPMTSU (Global Project Management and Technical Support Unit);ย Develop the final Biodiversity Expenditure Review, with the support of the Senior Finance Specialist (Project Lead), for review by the GPMTSU and present at the validation workshop.3.ย Coordinate the Biodiversity Finance Needs Assessment (FNA)
Review the available methodologies, examples from other countries, the latest NBSAP and the National Biodiversity Reports to develop an initial workplan and outline for the FNA;ย Consult with the NBSAP team and government entities responsible for NBSAP implementation to obtain background information about NBSAP activities and government budgeting processes;ย Work with the Project Lead to review the scope of the NBSAP, its alignment with other national policies, and identify policy areas and activities that are not covered by the existing NBSAP;ย Review the activities listed in the NBSAP and other key strategic documents to assess if they are detailed and quantified enough for their budgets to be estimated in detail.ย If not, work with the NBSAP national focal points and other relevant stakeholders to define clearly the NBSAP actions so that they can be budgeted;ย Coordinate the compilation of relevant data and liaise with relevant Ministries and partners as required and organize a national consultation workshop to define the financial needs of all major biodiversity programmes;ย Develop detailed calculations and complete all datasheets related to the national biodiversity finance needs;ย Organize a workshop to validate the cost assumptions and models and refine the analysis through additional meetings as needed;ย Support the comparison of the results of the BER future projections with the FNA in as great detail as the categories allow and produce an estimate of the financing gap;ย Lead the development (with support from the team) of a draft report for the Biodiversity Finance Needs Assessment for discussion at the validation workshop and review by the project national team and GPMTSU; Support the Production of the final report of the Biodiversity Finance Needs Assessment.4. Support preparation of the Biodiversity Finance Plan (BFP)
Support the Project Lead in the conception and preparation of the BFP;ย Support detailed feasibility analyses on a range of financing mechanisms depending on knowledge and experience.5. Facilitate the Project Outreach and Communication
Preparation of workshops, meetings, networking and presentations as required, to complete the Biodiversity Expenditure Review, the Financial Needs Assessment and engage stakeholders; Provide substantive comments and feedback on how to improve the existing methodologies.6. Facilitate Knowledge Management and Reporting
Document decisions and assumptions made while completing the Biodiversity Expenditure Review and the Biodiversity Finance Needs Assessment;ย Document lessons learned from conducting the BFP project ranging from institutional considerations to technical issues; Prepare reports and case studies, as required, for submission to global meetings (e.g. CBD COP).The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization
Institutional Arrangement
The Biodiversity Finance Analyst will be under the direct supervision of the Biodiversity Project Lead and Finance Specialist. UNDP shall be entitled to intellectual property and other proprietary rights over all materials that have a direct relation to the project. The Analyst has no supervisory responsibility.
Competencies
Core
Achieve Results: -LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline Think Innovatively:-LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvementsย Learn Continuously:-LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback Adapt with Agility:-LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexibleย Act with Determination: -LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident Engage and Partner:-LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships Enable Diversity and Inclusion:-LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discriminationยCross-Functional & Technical competenciesย
2030 Agenda- Planet-Nature -Ecosystems and biodiversity: Biodiversity Finance Business Development-Knowledge Generation - Ability to research information and to turn it into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need. Ability to apply, existing concepts to new situations, and to develop new concepts to generate workable solutions and new approaches. Knowledge of relevant concepts, conceptual model, and theories that can be useful in addressing new situations Business Development -Collective Intelligence Design ย Ability to bring together diverse groups of people, data, information, ideas, and technology to solve problems and design solutions or services. Knowledge and understanding of Collective Intelligence Design principles, methodology and practices Digital - Data storytelling and communications - Skilled in building a narrative around a set of data and its accompanying visualizations to help convey the meaning of that data in a powerful and compelling fashion Digital- Data Governance- Knowledge of data science, skills to develop data management tools, organize and maintain databases and operate data visualization technologies Digital- Data Collection- Being skilled in Data Sorting, Data Cleaning, Survey Administration, Presentation and Reporting Including collection of Real-Time Data (e.g. mobile data, satellite data, sensor data) Digital - Data analysis- ย Ability to extract, analyze and visualize data to form meaningful insights and aid effective business decision makingRequired Skills and Experience
Education:
Advanced University Degree (master's degree or equivalent) in Public Finance, Economics, Business Management or a closely related field, preferably with an Environment / Biodiversity focus is required. OR A first-level university degree (bachelorโs degree) in the same field as above in combination with additional two (2) years of qualifying experience, will be given due consideration in lieu of Masterยดs degree.ยExperience:
Minimum of 2 years (with masterโs degree) or 4 years (with bachelorโs degree) of experience in environmental finance, accounting, economics, management, or related fieldRequired skillsย
Proven Knowledge of key software packages (MS Office)Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section
Exposure to environmental issues or biodiversity is desirable; Previous experience with expenditure reviews would be an asset; Experience in government operations is an advantage; Prior experience in working with the Ministry of Finance, including access to relevant data with Hands-on experience in financial modelling and related tasks is an advantage; Proven experience in collaborating with international and national experts and institutions is an advantage; Proven previous experience in drafting reports on environment related policies writing and communication skills is highly desirable; Proven ability to prepare publications, reports and presentations is an advantage; Demonstrated ability to work with a multidisciplinary and multicultural team is an advantage; Knowledge of and familiarity with the UN/UNDP and/or international organizations project operations would be an added advantage.Required Language(s)ย
Fluency in English and in one of the local languages (Mandinka, Fula, Wolof, Jola etc.)ย is required.Equal opportunity
As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination.ย
UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.
Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority
UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles.ย
Right to select multiple candidates
UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.ย We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.
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