Sustainable Finance Officer (SFO)
Contract
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This assignment is anchored in the “Sustaining Ecosystem Restoration in Angola’s Extended Central Plateau” Project, with primary responsibility for advancing its sustainable finance agenda and supporting the implementation of Component 3: Promoting capacity to leverage sustainable financing to scale up sustainable land management (SLM) and generate global environmental benefits. The assignment will contribute to strengthening Angola’s readiness to access and mobilize financing for ecosystem restoration, biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, sustainable land management, and nature-positive livelihoods. These efforts include supporting green, climate, carbon, biodiversity and other sustainability-linked financing opportunities, alongside the institutional, regulatory, capacity and partnership frameworks required to operationalize them effectively.
The Sustainable Finance Specialist (SFS) will play a central role in supporting the design, coordination and implementation of sustainable finance solutions under the Project. Working closely with government counterparts, development partners, financial institutions, consultants and international finance actors, the Specialist will help position Angola to access, attract and deploy sustainable finance instruments while strengthening national capacities and enabling conditions for investment. The Specialist will support the development of Communities of Practice, coordinate capacity-building and knowledge-sharing activities, and contribute to advancing financing opportunities aligned with Angola’s commitments under the UNFCCC, UNCCD and Convention on Biological Diversity.
While the Project constitutes the assignment’s principal programmatic and funding anchor, the position is designed to contribute more broadly to UNDP Angola’s sustainable finance portfolio. Sustainable finance is recognized as a cross-cutting accelerator for the Country Programme, supporting efforts to mobilize public and private capital for sustainable development, climate action, biodiversity conservation, inclusive economic transformation and resilient livelihoods. As such, the Specialist may support complementary initiatives related to the Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF), country investment platforms, thematic and sustainability bonds, blended finance, impact investment, carbon-market readiness, biodiversity finance, BIOFIN processes, investment opportunity development, financing strategies for SMEs and value chains, and resource mobilization efforts across the portfolio. Beyond supporting project-level implementation, the position will contribute to the development, coordination and consolidation of UNDP Angola’s Sustainable Finance and Economic Transformation expertise domain, promoting knowledge sharing, portfolio coherence, investment pipeline development, and the integration of financing solutions across thematic pillars and programmes.
Under the supervision of the Nature, Climate and Energy (NCE) Specialist, the Sustainable Finance Officer (SFO) will help strengthen UNDP Angola’s capacity to design, coordinate, and operationalize sustainable finance solutions that mobilize public and private capital for inclusive, climate-resilient, and nature-positive development, while ensuring timely and coherent delivery of the sustainable finance outputs of the Extended Central Plateau Project.
The assignment combines technical advisory support, partnership development, financing governance, capacity development, and implementation coordination. The Specialist will engage and maintain collaboration with relevant ministries and public institutions, particularly the Ministry of Finance and other entities involved in economic planning, environmental management, investment promotion, and capital markets. The role will also involve engagement with development partners, development finance institutions (DFIs), multilateral banks, investors, and specialized initiatives, including BIOFIN and the UNDP High Integrity Carbon Markets Initiative. Working in close coordination with technical consultants and advisers, including legal, financial, and safeguards experts, the Specialist will help ensure coherent implementation of sustainable finance activities, facilitate stakeholder coordination, and support the development of a stronger and more integrated sustainable finance ecosystem in Angola.
The SFO will organize the assignment around four mutually reinforcing pillars:
Pillar 1. Sustainable Finance, Investment and Economic Transformation • Lead the development of key sustainable finance knowledge products and analytical outputs under Component 3, Output 3.2, Output 2.1.6, and related project activities, including the Angola Carbon & Biodiversity Credit Market: Roadmap to Readiness, De-risking Investments in Nature assessments, financing-readiness reviews, and recommendations related to sustainable bonds, conservation trust funds, carbon and biodiversity finance, and other innovative financing mechanisms. • Coordinate the implementation of sustainable finance activities under Component 3 and Output 3.2, supporting the identification, design, structuring, and promotion of financing mechanisms and investment opportunities that contribute to sustainable land management, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity conservation, and nature-positive livelihoods. • Support financing readiness and investment mobilization for Extended Central Plateau Project (ECP) interventions by assessing sustainable finance opportunities, advancing carbon and biodiversity market readiness, promoting impact-investment approaches, and ensuring alignment with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) priorities and relevant commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and Convention on Biological Diversity. • Provide technical inputs to sustainable finance strategies, financing roadmaps, readiness assessments, concept notes, business cases, and investment narratives across the portfolio. • Support the identification and preliminary assessment of financing opportunities, including blended finance, impact investment, thematic bonds, climate and biodiversity finance, carbon and biodiversity markets, conservation funds, and other relevant instruments. • Support investment-readiness and pipeline development by helping teams identify financing needs, gaps, risks, potential instruments, partners, and next steps. • For the Extended Central Plateau Project, coordinate and contribute to the “Angola Carbon and Biodiversity Credit Market: Roadmap to Readiness,” “De-risking Investments in Nature” work, sustainable or nature-bond recommendations, conservation trust-fund proposals, and relevant feasibility and investment-readiness processes. • Support appropriate impact, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), climate, biodiversity, and sustainability tagging of project concepts and investment opportunities, in coordination with relevant experts. • Review technical products for coherence with national priorities, applicable safeguards, inclusion objectives, and relevant UNDP or partner frameworks, and consolidate comments for decision-making. • Support the identification, development, and promotion of sustainable financing and investment pipelines that advance economic transformation, economic diversification, micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) development, productive value chains, sustainable livelihoods, and territorial development, while mobilizing capital for climate action, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, and other sustainable development outcomes.
Pillar 2. Partnerships, Financing Governance and Resource Mobilization • Maintain an up-to-date stakeholder and partnership map covering relevant ministries, regulators, public institutions, financial institutions, development finance institutions, donors, investors, private-sector networks, academia, civil society, and specialized initiatives. • Support structured engagement with government counterparts, particularly institutions responsible for finance, planning, environment, investment promotion, and capital markets. • Organize and document technical consultations, financing dialogues, investor engagement sessions, and validation processes, including clear agendas, briefing notes, decisions, action trackers, and follow-up. • Support alignment and practical linkages among the Extended Central Plateau Project, Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) and country-platform processes, NDC investment planning, BIOFIN-related work, sustainable and thematic bond initiatives, conservation finance, and other relevant portfolio efforts. • Support the four Project Communities of Practice, namely Farming, Logistics, Ecological, and Carbon and Biodiversity, and connect them with relevant programme, market, and financing partners.
Pillar 3. Capacity Development and Knowledge Management • Assess priority capacity needs with relevant teams and stakeholders, avoiding generic training where tailored technical assistance or applied learning would be more effective. • Coordinate the development and quality assurance of sustainable finance and financial-literacy tools for government, SMEs, agricultural value chains, project partners, and Communities of Practice. • Plan and support workshops, peer exchanges, study visits, and practitioner learning, with clear objectives, participant profiles, learning outputs, and post-event follow-up. • Promote practical learning on investment readiness, financing instruments, safeguards, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and impact considerations, carbon and biodiversity finance, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) interfaces, and inclusive benefit-sharing, within the limits of the incumbent’s expertise. • Create and maintain a structured repository of templates, stakeholder records, finance opportunities, lessons, reference materials, and portfolio knowledge products. • Capture and disseminate lessons, case studies, and transferable approaches from the Project for application across UNDP Angola’s wider portfolio.
Pillar 4. Project Coordination, Results Monitoring and Portfolio Coherence • Prepare and maintain an integrated workplan that clearly distinguishes core Extended Central Plateau Project commitments from portfolio-wide support requests. • Coordinate inputs from consultants, project teams, and partners; monitor dependencies, due dates, risks, decisions, and required follow-up; and promptly escalate delivery constraints to the supervisor. • Provide technical inputs to Terms of Reference, procurement documentation, and evaluation processes as requested, without assuming procurement or approval authority. • Monitor progress against agreed outputs and indicators and prepare concise monthly updates, quarterly results summaries, mission or workshop records, and inputs to corporate and project reporting. • Support coordination across sustainable finance initiatives to reduce duplication, promote sequencing, and ensure that analytical products and engagement processes reinforce one another. • Provide operational, administrative, and financial support to project delivery and portfolio management. • Contribute to programme and project missions, meetings, reviews, and other duties within the scope of the assignment, as agreed with the supervisor. • Perform any other additional duties or tasks that fall within the purview of the role as directed.
• Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Creativity • Judgement and decision-making • Planning and organizing • Professionalism • Self-management
At least 3 years of executive professional experience in strategic planning and success in implementation: deeply organized, goal-driven, able to instruct and delegate while taking responsibility for deliverables. The candidate is required to have the key skills and competencies below: • Financial Acumen: Understanding of financial instruments (e.g., bonds, credits, trust funds), investment readiness, and economic modelling for conservation financing. • Technical Writing & Reporting: Skilled in drafting strategic documents such as roadmaps, funding proposals, readiness assessments, and policy briefs with accuracy and professionalism. • Legal and Institutional Understanding: Ability to work with legal advisors and institutions on governance, safeguards, and regulatory frameworks.
The following skills are desirable: • Project Coordination & Leadership: Strong track record of managing multi-stakeholder, multi-level projects, including coordination of consultants and partners. • Self-motivated with the ability to work with tight deadlines. • Ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel. • Training & Capacity Development: Experience designing and delivering workshops, training materials, and learning exchanges in sustainable finance or related sectors. • Carbon and Biodiversity Markets Familiarity: Understanding of measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems, feasibility analysis, and co-benefit alignment under international carbon standards. • Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Word, among others), email, and internet; familiarity with database management and office technology equipment. • Cultural and Political Awareness: Sensitive to local contexts, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa; able to adapt approaches to national systems and institutional landscapes. • Communication & Diplomacy: Clear communicator with strong interpersonal and negotiation skills. • Policy Dialogue & Stakeholder Engagement: Demonstrated experience engaging high-level government institutions (e.g., Ministries of Finance or Environment) and international donors.
As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. This position is based in Luanda, Angola. National UN Volunteers are part of the malicious insurance plan. National UN Volunteers are expected to be culturally sensitive and adjust to the prevailing culture and traditions.
Conditions of Service for national UN Volunteers
The contract lasts for the period indicated above with possibility of extensions subject to availability of funding, operational necessity and satisfactory performance. However, there is no expectation of renewal of the assignment. The applicable Volunteer Living Allowance is provided monthly to cover housing, utilities and normal cost of living expenses. Life, health and permanent disability insurance are included (health insurance for up to 3 dependents - except for UN Community Volunteers), as well as final repatriation (if applicable). You can check full entitlements at https://app.unv.org/calculator .
Furthermore, in non-family duty stations that belong to hardship categories D or E, as classified by the ICSC, a Well-Being Differential (WBD) will be provided monthly
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