AdresBackground Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP: we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories. 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.
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 policies and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS staff provide technical advice to Country Offices, advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represent UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private, government and civil society dialogues, and engage in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas.
UNDP's 2022-2025 Strategic Plan highlights our continued commitment to eradicating poverty, accompanying countries in their pathways towards the SDGs and working towards the Paris Agreement. As part of the Global Policy Network in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, UNDP's Nature, Climate Change, Energy, and Waste (NCE&W) Hubs promote and scale up integrated whole-of-governance approaches and nature-based solutions that reduce poverty and inequalities, strengthen livelihoods and inclusive growth, mitigate conflict, forced migration and displacement, and promote more resilient governance systems that advance linked peace and security agendas.
BPPS’ Hubs on Nature, Climate, Energy and Waste work 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.
In recent decades, Biodiversity Finance tools and solutions have demonstrated their importance for achieving biodiversity goals and broader sustainable development objectives. Improved choice, design and implementation of effective, well-tailored finance solutions will strengthen countries’ chances of achieving national and global biodiversity targets. Biodiversity Finance Plans have become increasingly recognised as a relevant tool to help countries to identify and fill the Biodiversity Finance gap, including through the work of the Biodiversity Finance Initiative www.biofin.org. In December 2022, parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the Montreal-Kunming Global Biodiversity Framework. This included numerous targets with relevance for financing. Target 19 on resource mobilisation includes reference for countries to design and implement National Biodiversity Finance Plans.
The GEF created a Global Programme to support countries to design a national Biodiversity Finance Plan. A Biodiversity Finance Plan includes a systems analysis of a country's economy including to map existing financing mechanisms, subsidies with potential harmful impacts on nature, drivers of biodiversity loss and gain, public and private expenditures committed towards biodiversity objectives and a country's national financial needs for biodiversity. The Biodiversity Finance plan itself consists of a series of actions with the aim to significantly scale up available funding, green or phase out harmful finance flows and improve the effectiveness of available expenditures. The programme allows for active sharing of experiences across countries and includes a knowledge sharing platform and the provision of continuous technical support to country teams.
Position Purpose:
Under the overall supervision of the Senior Technical Advisor, the Project Manager, Global Programme on National Biodiversity Finance Plans will lead the GEF funded Umbrella Program for National Biodiversity Finance Plans to support countries developing the necessary diagnostics that will support the design and development of a National Biodiversity Finance plan. Working in collaboration with UNDP’s BIOFIN team, the CBD Secretariat, and the GEF Secretariat, this project, this global project aims to support a transformative process for Biodiversity Finance in all participating GEF-eligible countries. The project, which is typically coordinated through Ministries of Finance and Environment, supports countries in developing baseline diagnostics, increasing capacity, strengthening institutional arrangements for Biodiversity Finance, and prepare a finance plan to mobilize resources at scale to implement the GBF.
The incumbent is responsible for supervision of the designated programme personnel, promotes work environment that is conducive to innovation and engagement with a diverse set of stakeholders and ensures cross-unit cooperation, coordination teamwork, inclusion, and the empowerment of project personnel and of counterparts. The incumbent ensures a client-oriented approach and consistency with UNDP rules and regulations and good management practice. All managerial/leadership functions are performed in line with the established UN and UNDP management norms, rules, and regulations, and in conformity with UNDP’s internal accountability framework for senior managers which emphasizes, inter alia, the highest standards of ethics, integrity, and accountability in the personal and professional domains.
UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.
Duties and ResponsibilitiesProject implementation: Lead the project at a global scale, working to maximise and showcase impacts and to strengthen relationships with stakeholders at all levels; Ensure the management and administrative requirements (technical, financial, communications, audits, evaluations, etc.) of the GEF are met. Establish and convene meetings of the Global Project Board. Manage and monitor risks and issues, submitting newly identified ones to the Project Board for consideration and decision if required. Ensure technical excellence of implementation/outcomes and outputs/products by providing inputs to, and critically reviewing these. Contribute to efforts advancing the Nature Pledge in implementing countries.
Knowledge Management and Capacity Building:
Ensure all components of the project are implemented in a balanced manner, and in particular, coordinate activities related to the Global Knowledge Platform in close collaboration with UNDP’s team working on Biodiversity Finance, particularly with the BIOFIN Global team. Ensure alignment of national work with global methodologies such as the BIOFIN workbook and others. Work with UNDP staff and partner organisations to feed lessons learned from the project implementation. Synthesise learning from national implementation through web articles, blogs, webinars, regional and global conferences, dedicated knowledge products and inputs into the 2027 BIOFIN Workbook, Catalogue of Finance Solutions, MOOCs, E-learning module, GLOBE, and FIRE Database.Leading and Overseeing the Development of Biodiversity Finance Plans:
Review national Policy and Institutional Reviews, Biodiversity expenditure Reviews, Financial Needs Assessments and Biodiversity Finance plans where needed, ensuring a peer review system is in place across the team; Ensure that UNDP-specific processes (integrated work planning, budgeting, procurement, monitoring and evaluation, SESP, etc.) are met; Undertake cross-country analysis of policy reviews, expenditure analysis, financial needs, and Biodiversity Finance Plans, identifying trends, gaps and generating global overview data. Develop at least one brief overview publication per year; Lead the organization of regional and global experience sharing events as outlined in the Project Document, in partnership with the BIOFIN Team; Liaise with relevant initiatives and programs in UNDP and other organizations in support of the execution of the project, including BIOFIN, the NBSAP support programme, the GEF 7 Early Action Support Programme, the Nature Facility, TNC, TNFD, UNDP INFF, OECD and UNEP FI; Ensure timely delivery of required reporting to the GEF with high quality content.Provide advisory support and technical guidance:
Identify and source necessary technical expertise and support, and oversee the recruitment of international consultants and service providers, ensure necessary training and ongoing capacity building are carried out; Liaise with other relevant UNDP staff including in-country colleagues regarding the project, including to share information about trends and issues in the thematic area; Provide strategic guidance and technical oversight to support all countries, reviewing on a regular basis progress reports, deliverables, disbursements, and budgets to ensure implementation is on track, and troubleshooting and adapting management as required.Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:
Supervise the Global Technical and Management Support Unit and any additional contractors as necessary; Organize periodic team calls, Ensure Performance Management and Development (PMD) and other evaluations are completed timely; Contribute to a positive team atmosphere including by delineating specific workflows of team members, identifying, and addressing any potential points of conflict and organise team building activities; Liaise with the Senior Management of the Nature Hub, UNDP Regional Hubs on a regular basis; Ensure regular communication flows with country offices are in place, including through a quarterly update message.The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
CompetenciesCore:
Achieve Results:
Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impactThink Innovatively:
Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problemsLearn Continuously
Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiencesAdapt with Agility
Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demandsAct with Determination:
Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater resultsEngage and Partner:
Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaborationEnable Diversity and Inclusion:
Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity
People Management: UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.
Cross-Functional & Technical:
Agenda 2030: Planet - Nature Climate and Energy:
Ecosystems and biodiversity: Biodiversity FinanceAgenda 2030: Planet - Nature Climate and Energy:
Environmental Governance: Global Environmental GovernanceAgenda 2030: Planet - Nature Climate and Energy:
Environment: Environmental economics, including valuation, data collection and analysis, SEEA, macro and micro tools and policiesBusiness Direction and Strategy - System Thinking:
Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the systemBusiness Management - Risk Management:
Ability to identify and organize action around mitigation and proactively managing risksBusiness Management - Portfolio Management:
Ability to select, prioritise and control the organization’s programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimising return on investmentBusiness Management - Partnerships Management:
Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts, and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies Required Skills and Experience Education: Advanced University degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in public finance, private finance, sustainable finance, natural resource management, environment, and development studies or relevant field is required; or A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in public finance, private finance, sustainable finance, natural resource management, environment, and development studies or relevant field in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of Master’s degree. Experience: Minimum 7 years (with Master’s degree) or 9 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of experience in project management with thematic areas including Biodiversity Finance, public finance, environmental finance or a related field; At least 5 years of experience on project management, preferably with regional or Global Programmes is required. Experience managing UNDP projects is highly desired; Experience in developing and managing technical and expert reviews of national plans and reports is highly desirable; Significant international and developing country experience is an asset;Language:
Fluency in English language is required; Knowledge of Spanish, French, Arabic or Russian is an advantage. Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.Disclaimer
Important information for US Permanent Residents ('Green Card' holders)
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UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.
Applicant information about UNDP rosters
Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. 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.
Non-discrimination
UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
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