SDG Finance Expert, Private Sector (maximum 4 positions)

Contract

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

Background

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Following growing need in scaling up financing for the SDGs, UNDP’s priorities include involvement with the private sector to mobilize its capital towards achieving the SDGs at policy and specific investments levels through facilitating and providing advice on blended finance, impact investment, SDG alignment and Impact Measurement and Management. UNDP’s Sustainable Finance Hub (SFH) developed several service lines availed to businesses and investors to align their investments towards the SDGs - these include engaging and enabling institutional and private investors; co-creating and innovating impact factored financial tools for development; leveraging private capital into SDG and climate aligned investment opportunities. In Asia and the Pacific region, the SDG Finance team of Regional Bureau for Asia Pacific (RBAP), in collaboration with UNDP Global Policy Network, provides support to 24 UNDP Country Offices in the region in pioneering dedicated catalytic facilities and engagement frameworks to implement those service lines and through their application elevate social, economic and environmental impacts of private sector investments in the context of SDGs.

Mobilizing private sector sources for SDG finance is achieved through combination of activities focused on impact advisory (impact measurement and management (IMM) approaches, metrics and standards), identifying SGD targeting business-based solutions, aligning business strategies and operations with SDGs, impact performance incentives for both capital providers and recipient businesses.

SDG Finance in Bangkok Regional Hub (BRH) have been working on developing range of business cases through structured research on identifying SDG investment opportunities, setting-up network of impact venture accelerators (IVA), partnerships with PE/VC funds, working with banks, stock exchanges and other capital market ecosystem stakeholders. Following range of successful cases, UNDP currently plans going beyond pilots to scaling up and expanding the successful frameworks for such engagements with the private sector.

The above goals require the services of experienced SDG Finance experts to be based out in one of the Country Offices (CO) listed below and to support other COs in the region in collaboration with Bangkok Regional Hub and SDG Finance Private Sector Advisor in the Bangkok Regional Hub across the sub-region.

Host Country Offices: China, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore/Sri Lanka (tbc).

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultants will be working on implementing the following focus areas:

1. Expanding UNDP Impact Advisory Services for enterprises, business accelerators, private equity funds, bond issuers to help them to integrate sustainability and the SDGs into business and investment strategies, management systems and decision-making to enhance their performance on sustainability and positive contribution to achieving the SDGs.
2. Developing, piloting and scaling UNDP offering in blended finance and engagements with banks through offering multifaceted technical assistance (TA), development of financial and non-financial de-risking tools, return enhancement mechanisms, pay for performance schemes and other impact factored blending approaches to facilitate access to and crowd in capital in the fields of climate and energy, biodiversity, gender, agriculture, WASH and waste etc.
3. Developing UNDP initiative on capital markets and bonds to have sustainability and SDG impact vision promoted and integrated in the strategies and business processes of capital market ecosystem players such as regulators, stock exchanges, issuers etc. This includes supporting sustainability frameworks and related tools for operations, activities, financial transactions, regulatory processes for issuance of thematic bonds, compliance with the ESG and multi-dimensional sustainability objectives for listed companies etc.
4. Scaling UNDP offerings related to generating risk-informed and impact focused investment opportunities throughout stages of enterprise development (investible pipeline generation and SMEs). This includes structured research on identifying SDG investment opportunities (SDG Investment Maps), network of impact venture accelerators (IVA), along with efforts for MSME support and development focused on their business development, resilience, scaling, SDG-alignment of ventures, policy and advocacy efforts and financial access.

While the work in these areas should relate to the developments in the regional context, it is expected to have the each of the 4 Consultants addressing one focus area and be based in one of the Country Offices (CO) listed below:

Focus area #

Host Country Office

Focus Area to addressed

1

Malaysia

Impact Advisory Services

2

China

Capital Markets and Bonds

3

Cambodia

Blended Finance and Engagements with Banks

4

Singapore

Investible pipeline generation and SMEs

Competencies

Core:

• Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
• Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
• Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
• Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands
• Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
• Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
• Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity
• People Management: Foster learning or development of others by giving feedback, guidance, and support; support career development of others

Technical and Cross Functional:

• ESG standards

• Impact Investment, incl. SDG Impact Finance

• Financial Inclusion
• Responsive investment and impact measurement
• Innovative Finance

• Ability to develop and work with innovative financing mechanisms and instruments, e.g. social/development impact bonds, guarantees, climate finance, etc.

• Business Acumen and Commercial Thinking: Ability to understand and deal with a business situation in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome

• Entrepreneurial thinking: Ability to create clarity around UNDP value proposition to beneficiaries and partners and to develop service offers responding to client needs based on UNDP’s organizational priorities and mandate
• Knowledge Generation: Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for content, or responsive to a stated need
• Knowledge Facilitation: Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Academic Education

Master’s degree in business, finance, economics, development finance or closely related field is required.

Min. years of relevant Work experience

Minimum 7 years of experience in working in the corresponding focus areas pertaining to the position/country(ies) applied:

1. impact advisory, impact measurement, ESG related consulting, sustainable/green finance, impact investments, social and environmental accounting and audit;
2. Stock Exchanges, securities, especially debt capital markets, bond issuance, debt restructuring consulting, with Treasury, Ministry of Finance, capital market regulators or relevant ecosystem structures engaged in promoting sustainability and impact focus in capital markets
3. structuring blended finance engagements with banks, NBFIs, government entities, institutional donors, DFIs and Multilateral Funds;
4. business consulting, PE/VC investments, corporate banking/ NBFIs lending to SMEs, start-up and SMEs supporting programs and ecosystem entities, accelerators, entrepreneurship, business, technology commercialization

Irrespective of focus area, candidate is required to have a minimum 3 years of work experience in financial, corporate and/or SME sector in developing countries and understanding of emerging market environments, opportunities and barriers to investing.

Required skills and competencies

• Knowledge and experience of structuring multilayered technical assistance interventions, overall project preparation and management

Desired additional skills and competencies

• Experience working in a development finance context in emerging markets in Asia Pacific is desirable;
• Partnership and business development experience in the corresponding focus areas
• Experience working with UN/UNDP, UNCDF or similar organizations is a distinct advantage.
• Experience working for/with multi-lateral institutions and IFIs is an asset.
• Experience in applying ESG or other sustainability frameworks (GRI, SASB, CDP, TCFD, Integrated Reporting etc.) in business processes, financing and investments is an asset.
• Knowledge and experience working with innovative i.e. impact factored finance or related focused area is an asset
• Understanding of and experience working with SDG financing, the financial sector, impact measurement and management with private sector actors are distinct advantages.

Required Language(s) (at working level)

Excellent oral and written communications and presentation skills in English are required;

Knowledge of host-country language is an asset.