UN Women: Head of Sustainable Finance

Contract

This is a P-5 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 10 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 208,877 USD and 261,770 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

Background

Re-Advertised: Those who previously applied are still under consideration and do NOT need to re-apply.

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.

Consistent with the UN’s renewed focus on Financing for Development (FfD) following the 2015 Addis Ababa Agenda, UN Women has launched a comprehensive set of important initiatives to ensure that financing for gender equality is enhanced and financing for development embeds a gender lens. As we do this, UN Women seeks to maximize both the quality and quantity of financing to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and SDG 5. Through context-specific policy guidance, technical support and capacity strengthening on the mobilization, allocation and spending of high-impact financing aligned with gender equality objectives, UN Women aims to encourage and support the development and deployment of innovative financial instruments aligned with its vision for an equitable and just global economy. UN Women is equally committed to the development of frameworks, guidelines and standards, which are needed to make financing for gender equality accessible and transparent, and lead to lasting social change and positive effects for women’s economic and social rights, livelihoods, and wellbeing.

Given its gender expertise, convening capacity and well-established partnerships with governments, UN entities, standard setting bodies, IFIs, and the private sector, UN Women, will implement its Sustainable Finance Programme with a view to leveraging these strategic partnerships for the growth of credible feminist financing instruments and mechanisms at global, national and local levels that will ultimately contribute to reducing gender inequalities and strengthening women’s rights and economic autonomy.

Reporting to the Chief Economic Empowerment, the Head of Sustainable Finance will assume overall responsibility for the planning, implementation, and management of UN Women’s Sustainable Finance Strategy as well as the implementation and delivery of UN Women’s Sustainable Finance Programme (SFP).

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Lead the implementation and delivery of UN Women’s Sustainable Strategy and UN Women’s Sustainable Finance Programme (SFP)

• Ensure the conceptualization and implementation of a transformative feminist Sustainable Finance Strategy and Programme, in consultation with public and private sector and civil society partners, including feminist economists.
• Oversee the deployment of required technical expertise and provide critical backstopping to deliver UN Women’s SFSP.
• Provide expert policy and technical inputs related to sustainable finance, impact investing, financing for gender equality and a range of gender – focused feminist financing instruments and policies, ensuring synergies with internal and external partners.
• Review and oversee substantive inputs into internal and external reporting, focusing on results, outputs, and outcomes, ensuring the highest quality and feminist expertise on Gender Lens Investing (GLI) and sustainable finance.
• Provide thought leadership and lead the drafting of knowledge products on sustainable finance and GLI for internal and external audiences.
• Oversee the finalization of strategy documents, programme/ project proposals, briefs, policy dialogue, and other documents related to feminist sustainable finance and GLI.

2. Develop and expand key partnerships to accomplish the objectives set out in UN Women’s Strategic Plan on Financing for Gender equality and the SFP

• Broker partnerships with sustainable finance and capital market stakeholders and public and private sector and civil society organizations working on financing for gender equality.
• Convene high-level roundtables and expert meetings (with private finance stakeholders, with Ministries of Finance and International Financial Institutions, feminist economists specialized in development financing, etc.) around sustainable financing for gender equality.
• Lead UN Women’s engagement with industry alliances and technical working groups, as well as financing for gender equality partners.
• Pursue and deliver speaking engagements alongside partners at industry convenings.
• Serve as a policy expert and resource to public and private sector partners on feminist Sustainable Finance
• Represent UN Women in internal and external fora, meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to Sustainable Finance
• Broaden partnerships to amplify women’s and feminist voices in financing for gender equality processes and innovations, and advocate for transparency, accountability and the introduction of credible standards.

3. Provide Technical Assistance and capacity building

• Lead and oversee the technical support and capacity building efforts provided by the Sustainable Finance team to the full range of market actors and UN Women regional and country offices.
• Develop a suite of Advisory Services for (public and private sector) partners to have access to technical support for gender bonds.
• Deliver direct technical assistance to public and private partners for gender bonds from pre-issuance to post-issuance, including impact monitoring and reporting.
• Build additional market stakeholders' capacity to develop credible financing products, strategies, data, indices, verification and/or certification tools.
• Provide expertise to regional and country offices on sustainable finance.

4. Develop Sustainable Finance Market Infrastructure and Standard Setting

• Lead and oversee the technical support and capacity building efforts provided by the Sustainable Finance team to the full range of market actors and UN Women regional and country offices.
• Develop a suite of targeted technical Advisory Services for public and private sector partners.
• Build additional market stakeholders' capacity to develop credible and transparent financing products, strategies, data, indices, verification and/or certification tools to increase accountability.
• Provide expertise to regional and country offices on feminist sustainable finance.

5. Lead resource mobilization strategies

• Lead the development and implementation of UN Women’s sustainable finance resource mobilization strategies within both the public and private sectors.
• Oversee the development of relevant concept notes and programme proposals, including budgets and proposals around Sustainable Finance.
• Provide regular briefings and support to senior management in relation to their engagement on Sustainable Finance and GLI with partners, both public and private.

6. Manage the people and financial resources of the Sustainable Finance Unit

• Supervise and provide guidance to personnel in the team.
• Monitor the budget for the Unit and review financial reports as necessary.

Key Performance Indicators

• Deliver feminist sustainable finance expertise and policy and programmatic advice to strategic public and private sector and civil society partners.
• Timely and quality delivery of UN Women’s Sustainable Finance Strategy and Programme
• Strong and clear leadership of the Sustainable Finance team including capacity building and mentoring
• Strong internal and external collaboration and partnerships are developed and expanded based on transparency and accountability.
• Quality reports and timely submission.
• Quality of advocacy, communication, and knowledge management initiatives.
• Resources mobilized.

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies

• Strong private sector networks and networking skills – particularly in sustainable finance.
• Track record of increasing financing for sustainable development priorities.
• Track record of developing and expanding private sector partnerships.
• Substantive experience and demonstrated results at the international level in the development of financing policy, deal structuring, negotiation of partnerships; and management and leadership of programmes in development-related areas, working with national, regional, and international entities.
• Ability to represent and lead UN Women on issues sustainable finance, gender equality and women’s empowerment and GLI.
• Excellent knowledge of Sustainable Finance, particularly sustainable debt issuances and standard setting in line with gender equality.
• Ability to communicate technical program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in finance, business administration, accounting, economics, global policy, international development finance or related field.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in gender equality and sustainable finance, including financial policy or impact investing, with at least five years at the multilateral or international level is required.
• Management experience is required.
• Demonstrated experience in policy analysis in related to sustainable finance including GLI and Gender Bonds is highly desirable.
• Experience working with, influencing and liaising with a range of financial actors including asset managers, stock exchanges, financial institutions, investors and issuers is highly desirable.
• Experience in the United Nations is highly desirable.
• Experience in developing knowledge products on sustainable development issues is desirable.
• Experience and networks in climate finance are considered a plus.
• Experience chairing industry working groups, task forces or alliances is desirable.
• Experience and networks in climate finance are considered a plus.
• Experience working with Sovereigns including Ministries of Finance and Treasury is an advantage.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of other UN official working language(s) is an asset.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.