Agriculture Insurance Specialist

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Contract

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Bangladesh's agriculture sector is highly exposed to floods, cyclones, drought, salinity, extreme temperature, disease and other shocks affecting crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture. Smallholder producers, women farmers and climate-vulnerable households often have limited access to suitable financial protection. Agriculture insurance remains at an early stage of institutional and market development and requires coordinated action across government, regulators, insurers, financial institutions, technology and data providers, producer organizations and development partners.

Through the Financial Resilience in Agriculture (FRA) initiative, UNDP Insurance and Risk Finance Facility (IRFF) supports the Government of Bangladesh and market actors to strengthen the enabling environment, partnerships, technical capacity and delivery systems for inclusive agriculture insurance. The portfolio cover crops, livestock, fisheries, aquaculture and associated value chains. It may include national policy and ecosystem development, strategy and roadmap support, public-private partnerships, product and distribution initiatives, pilots, capacity development, data and technology solutions, monitoring, learning and evidence for scale-up.

The Agriculture Insurance Specialist will support the National Programme Officer, IRFF in the FRA project implementation in Bangladesh. The volunteer will work with relevant ministries and departments, regulators, Fis, Insurers and reinsurance companies, development partners, value-chain actors, and communities.

Under the direct supervision of the National Programme Officer-IRFF, and in close collaboration with the partner entities, the Agriculture Insurance Specialist will:

i. Support the planning, coordination and implementation of activities under the Financial Resilience in Agriculture (FRA) initiative, contributing to agriculture insurance, climate risk insurance and agricultural risk financing interventions.

ii. Support stakeholder engagement and coordination with relevant ministries, departments, regulatory authorities, insurers, reinsurers, financial institutions, development partners, producer organizations and private sector actors to advance agriculture insurance initiatives and partnerships.

iii. Contribute technical inputs to the design, implementation, refinement and scale-up of agriculture insurance and climate risk financing solutions, including crop, livestock, fisheries, aquaculture and index-based insurance initiatives.

iv. Support the preparation of concept notes, technical briefs, presentations, meeting materials, reports, policy inputs and knowledge products related to agriculture insurance, disaster risk financing and financial resilience.

v. Coordinate and facilitate workshops, consultations, training programmes, awareness sessions and capacity-building activities for government institutions, financial institutions, insurers, cooperatives, private sector entities and community stakeholders.

vi. Support programme monitoring, field missions and implementation reviews, ensuring timely documentation of progress, challenges, lessons learned and recommendations for adaptive management.

vii. Collect, maintain, validate and analyse programme and sector data related to insurance outreach, enrolment, coverage, claims, climate risks, partnerships and other relevant indicators to support evidence-based decision-making.

viii. Assist in identifying opportunities for innovation, partnerships and scaling of inclusive agriculture insurance solutions through engagement with public, private and development sector stakeholders.

ix. Contribute to knowledge management, communication and visibility efforts by documenting good practices, lessons learned, success stories and stakeholder experiences.

x. Perform any other related tasks assigned by the supervisor in support of the implementation of agriculture insurance, climate risk finance and financial resilience initiatives under the IRFF programme

• Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Creativity • Judgement and decision-making • Planning and organising • Professionalism • Self-management

• Minimum five years of progressively responsible professional experience in agriculture insurance, climate risk insurance, disaster risk financing, financial inclusion, climate adaptation, programme implementation, agricultural finance or related development programmes.

• Demonstrated experience supporting the design, implementation, monitoring or scale-up of agriculture insurance, climate risk insurance, index-based insurance or related risk financing interventions.

• Experience working with meteorological, climate, agricultural, hydrological or insurance-related data for programme implementation, product development, monitoring or decision making.

• Experience coordinating with government institutions, insurers, financial service providers, Local Government Institutions, cooperatives or community organizations.

• Experience in field monitoring, data verification, programme documentation and report preparation.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, email, online meeting applications and collaborative file-sharing platforms.

• Ability and willingness to travel frequently to remote and climate-vulnerable project locations.

Additional Asset • Experience with index-based, parametric or climate risk insurance products. • Experience working with development partners, United Nations agencies, government institutions, regulators, insurers or financial institutions. • Experience in stakeholder training, knowledge management and capacity building. • Experience supporting policy dialogue, research, feasibility studies or evidence generation. • Experience managing partnerships across public, private and development sectors. • Familiarity with UNDP or UNV internal systems.

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is a large and densely populated city and a family duty station. The UN Volunteer will be based at the UNDP Bangladesh Country Office in Dhaka, with regular travel within the city to counterpart institutions and occasional domestic travel as required by the assignment. The security situation in Dhaka is generally stable, although demonstrations, strikes and traffic disruption can occur at short notice.

All UN personnel are required to comply with United Nations security regulations, to complete mandatory security training (BSAFE), and to follow UNDSS advisories. The climate is tropical, with a hot and humid summer, a monsoon season from June to October and a mild, dry winter; heavy rainfall and seasonal waterlogging can affect movement in the city. Dhaka offers a full range of accommodation, banking, telecommunications, internet and grocery services, as well as private medical facilities of a reasonable standard for routine care.

The cost of living is moderate by regional standards, although housing in the main diplomatic areas is comparatively expensive. Bangladesh is a predominantly Muslim country with strong traditions of hospitality; modest dress and cultural sensitivity are expected, and alcohol is not generally available in public venues. As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the incumbent is expected to be a national of Bangladesh or a legal resident with valid authorization to work in the country, and to be based in Dhaka or able to relocate at their own arrangement for the duration of the assignment.

You can check full entitlements at the duty station at https://app.unv.org/calculator. The complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at https://explore.unv.org/cos.

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Added 10 hours ago - Updated 59 minutes ago - Source: unv.org