Innovative Finance, ESG and Second Party Opinion - Consultant (SSA)

Consultant

Overview

Support gender equality investments through financial analysis and partnerships.

You have:

• Master’s in Business, Finance, Economics, or a related field is required.
• At least 15 years of experience in investing, private or public finance, ESG and/or impact investing.
• Experience dealing with top-tier institutional investors, rating agencies, and ESG data providers, second party opinion providers and investor alliances.
• Excellent oral and written command of English; knowledge of another UN working language desirable.

Contract

This is a International Consultant contract. More about International Consultant contracts.

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, stakeholders committed to working “for a significant increase in investments to close the gender gap”. In this context, Multilateral Development Banks, donors and private investors have developed new ways to use capital to blend private and public funds, alongside technical assistance, to achieve historic levels of purpose driven financing in support of development. Yet, the path towards increased financing for sustainable development, gender equality and women’s empowerment has been significantly disrupted by COVID- 19, reducing public and private allocations towards the achievement of the SDGs.

Public and private bond issuances labelled with the ICMA Green, Social of Sustainability and Sustainability-linked label, are required to obtain a second party opinion (SPO) on; the bond framework, the extent to which this framework aligns to the ICMA Principles, the contribution of the bond issuance to sustainability and the expected ESG risk management. UN Women, as the global expert on gender equality and women’s empowerment, is seeking to ensure that gender themed and gender related issuances and corresponding SPOs meet the required international standards for relevant to gender equality and women’s empowerment and are coherent with the country’s sustainability strategy and policy.

Under the supervision of the Development Finance Specialist, the Consultant will be responsible for supporting the outreach to Second Party Opinion providers, ESG providers and rating agencies (referred to below as “Providers”, identifying opportunities for partnership and business development with providers, and establishing gender frameworks and certification standards needed to enable credible investments in gender equality, at scale.

Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities:

• Assist the UN Women Innovative Finance Team in outreach and meetings with relevant Second Party Opinion providers, ESG providers and rating agencies.
• Assess the landscape of existing providers and their data offerings and determine how UN Women should engage with one or more of these entities.
• Determine who, within the capital markets eco-system, is best placed to provide data to sovereign, sub-sovereign and private corporate and financial institutions as it pertains to potential gender bonds and financing.
• Determine and assess the extent of UN Women’s gender data as well as other sources of gender data to determine relevance to the capital markets participants.
• Develop relevant gender certification standards and frameworks for UN Women, to use in the bond market and which will support investments in gender at scale
• Ensure regular communication and information sharing with UN Women staff regarding country contexts, macro-financial evolution and elaborate on possible entry-points for UN Women’s engagement in the region.
• Produce quality strategic documents delivered in a timely manner – in written format, in excel or power point formats as appropriate.
• Ensure timely and quality knowledge products.

Deliverables:

1. Provide UN Women with a detailed analysis of partnership opportunities with ESG data providers, SPO providers and rating agencies.

• Provide a landscaping analysis of the most relevant non-profit firms and for-profit providers of certification standards, data, second party opinion providers and tools. This landscape of ESG (Gender) service providers must include those in the US, Europe and Asia operating on a multi-country and multi-regional basis. Provide a summary of strengths and weaknesses of each provider firm
• Provide a mapping of all existing certification standards, rating agencies, ESG data and SPO providers (referred to as “providers” below) and tools as related to Gender investing
• Establish points of contact and establish meetings with key providers reference in the mapping above.
• Rank best placed data provider for Sovereign, Sub-Sovereign, Private Corporate and financial data as it relates to Gender bonds and financing.
• Provide a written analysis on how best UN Women can engage with one or more of these entities based on the above landscaping analysis.

1. UN Women Data partnerships

• Work with the Innovative Finance Team to identify UN Women data that may be relevant to capital market participants as well as other sources of relevant gender data.
• Identify gaps in existing data sets as well as identifying opportunities for UN Women to support the market.
• Develop a business case and financial model for data provision.

1. Establish certification standards to be formalized by UN Women on Gender, including alignment, contributions, and tools to enable investment at scale

• Establish framework to be used by Country level teams that require Governments to complete data on a one time and recurring basis
• Engage big four firms like KPMG, Deloitte, E&Y and PwC to provide verification services
• Initiate a discussion with investor alliances like EMPEA, EMIA, and individual asset managers to facilitate market adoption

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Required Skills and Experience

Required Qualifications, Experience and skills:

• Master’s in Business, Finance, Economics, or a related field is required.
• At least 15 years of experience in investing, private or public finance, ESG and / or impact investing.
• Experience dealing with top-tier institutional investors, rating agencies and ESG data providers, second party opinion providers and investor alliances

Language:

Excellent oral and written command of English; knowledge of another UN working language desirable.

Other:

Travel may be required as needed.

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 4 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: jobs.undp.org