UNDP’s Country Office in Tajikistan is active since 1994 and guided in its work by the Country Programme Document, which in turn builds upon the Sustainable Development Goals. UNDP has made a significant contribution to developing the National Development Strategy with an outline of policies and investments necessary to reach the SDGs on time by 2030. Together with the Government of Tajikistan, civil society and the people of Tajikistan, UNDP works towards identifying local solutions to global and national development challenges. Our main focus is reaching sustainable development by enhancing accountability of the current governance system, mitigating natural disaster threats, contributing to environmental sustainability and biodiversity conservation. In particular, with regard to biodiversity conservation, UNDP’s Country Office in Tajikistan is currently supporting the country’s NBSAP update in alignment with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. This support is provided through the NBSAP revision portfolio, which includes the global BIOFIN, Early Action Support, and NBSAP & 7NC programs.

UNDP’s 2022-2025 Strategic Plan highlights our continued commitment to eradicating poverty, accompanying countries in their pathways towards the SDGs. As part of the Global Policy Network in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, UNDP’s Nature, Climate Change, Energy, and Waste (NCE&W) Hubs promote and scale up integrated whole-of-governance approaches and nature-based solutions that reduce poverty and inequalities, strengthen livelihoods and inclusive growth, mitigate conflict, forced migration and displacement, and promote more resilient governance systems that advance linked peace and security agendas.

In recent decades, biodiversity finance tools and solutions have demonstrated their importance for achieving biodiversity goals and broader sustainable development objectives. Improved choice, design and implementation of effective, well-tailored finance solutions will strengthen countries’ chances of achieving national and global biodiversity targets. Biodiversity Finance Plans have become increasingly recognised as a relevant tool to help countries to identify and fill the biodiversity finance gap, including through the work of the Biodiversity Finance Initiative www.biofin.org. In December 2022, parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the Montreal-Kunming Global Biodiversity Framework. This included numerous targets with relevance for financing. Target 19 on resource mobilisation includes reference for countries to design and implement national biodiversity finance plans.

The GEF created a global programme to support countries to design a national Biodiversity Finance Plan. A Biodiversity Finance Plan includes a systems analysis of a country’s economy including to map existing financing mechanisms, subsidies with potential harmful impacts on nature, drivers of biodiversity loss and gain, public and private expenditures committed towards biodiversity objectives and a country’s national financial needs for biodiversity. The biodiversity finance plan itself consists of a series of actions with the aim to significantly scale up available funding, green or phase out harmful finance flows and improve the effectiveness of available expenditures. The programme allows for active sharing of experiences across countries and includes a knowledge sharing platform and the provision of continuous technical support to country teams.

The implementation of the project in the Republic of Tajikistan falls under the GEF8 Umbrella programme for the development of the National Biodiversity Finance Plan. The overall implementation of the project will be led by the Project Lead/Sustainable Finance Expert with the support of a technical team and in coordination to a government project director and the National Steering Committee.

He/she is expected to have senior experience and to provide substantial technical expertise in assuring horizontal integration and consistency of workstreams/studies, as well as advisory services and quality assurance of national products and processes throughout the duration of the national project, in close coordination with the CO NBSAP revision portfolio and Intersectoral National Steering Committee for biodiversity finance. He/she will be responsible for relevant sections the production of the Policy and Institutional Review, the Biodiversity Expenditure Review, including nature positive and harmful subsidies and incentives and the Financial Needs Assessment. He/she will also contribute to the preparation of the Biodiversity Finance Plan and will oversee the identification and implementation of finance solutions as requested. He/she will also specifically be responsible for outreach activities to national (Government, donors’ delegation, academia, etc.) and relevant international stakeholders, and the preparation of synthesis reports, policy briefs, press releases and briefing notes for Government, UNDP, etc.

Key duties and responsibilities:

Project Management

• Oversee the identification, selection and supervision of national consultants and experts, in close collaboration with the UNDP Country Office and the Global Project Management and Technical Support Unit (GPMTSU).
• Write/revise terms of references for national team members.
• In consultation with the UNDP Country Office and GPMTSU elaborate/revise the work plan and budget and submit draft workplans/budgets timely.
• Supervise the work of national experts and institutions to ensure outputs are delivered on time, within the set budget, and to high quality standards; facilitate, guide and monitor the work of the national team.
• Oversee the work of the Project Support Associate to ensure administrative requirements and budgets are managed and executed in a timely and appropriate manner and within UNDP and donor rules and regulations.
• Organise all relevant project workshops in a consultative manner, involving a wide variety of biodiversity finance stakeholders, including the government, private sector, NGOs, donors and academia.
• Discuss with the Committee for Environmental Protection and its National Biodiversity and Biosafety Center, the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan, and other key stakeholders the establishment of a national Steering Committee and follow up on the formal establishment and regular convening of the Committee and develop meeting reports to be shared with Steering Committee, the UNDP CO and GPMTSU.
• Maintain regular communication with National Biodiversity and Biosafety Center and the Ministry of Finance for the development and completion of all reports and products.
• Liaise the project processes and products with relevant national planning biodiversity and finance relevant processes, such as NBSAP updates and Global Biodiversity Framework implementation.
• Maintain coordination and exchange with the GEF 7 Early Action Support and NBSAP & 7NC support programmes to ensure that the activities of these interconnected interventions align with the country’s NBSAP revision process, and complement each other to achieve a cohesive outcome.
• Organise regular meetings of the national team and monthly calls with the Technical Advisor from the GPMTSU.
• Ensure participation of national team members in regional technical calls.
• Participate in regional and global meeting organized by the GPMTSU.

Technical Tasks and Responsibilities 

• Act as principal technical contact for the project implementation with GPMTSU with regards to all questions and issues that arise during national implementation.
• Provide key technical leadership on all finance issues and assure horizontal integration and consistency of workstreams/studies.
• Provide overall guidance and quality control for the four main deliverables of the project. Provide technical support to the national project team to complete all the deliverables of the BIOFIN methodology, in a consistent and high-quality manner.
• Ensure drafts of all work are sent to the global Technical Advisor and GPMTSU regularly to provide backstopping and assure feedback is adequately integrated into national reports.
• Develop the sections on subsidies and financing incentives in the PIR according to the guidance provided by the GPMTSU and written guidance documents (especially the BIOFIN Workbook).
• Provide technical support for the data collection, analysis, and conclusions of the Biodiversity Expenditure Review (BER).
• Support the data collection, modelling, quality checking, and validation of the Financial Needs Assessment (FNA).
• Develop a Biodiversity Finance Plan (BFP) according to the guidance provided by the GPMTSU global BIOFIN team and written guidance documents (especially the BIOFIN Workbook).

Reporting/Communication/M&E

• Signal any delays in national deliverables compared to the workplan to the UNDP Country Office and the GPMTSU.
• Perform project monitoring, reporting and evaluation at national level, draft monthly and quarterly reports for submission to the global BIOFIN team.
• Coordinate the development of workshop reports for the inception workshop and all technical workshops.
• Review all technical reports as required.
• Ensure alignment of national work with global methodologies such as the BIOFIN workbook and others.
• Coordinate with relevant initiatives and programs in UNDP in support of the execution of the project and CO NBSAP revision portfolio, including BIOFIN, the NBSAP & 7NC support programme, the GEF 7 Early Action Support Programme, the Nature Hub, and other organizations and initiatives.
• Review the final reports of the national Policy and Institutional Review, Biodiversity expenditure Review, Financial Needs Assessment and Biodiversity Finance plan.
• Develop with the collaboration of the rest of the team members, of at least one brief overview publication per year, press releases, and web and media products.
• Contribute to the GEF (GEF-Project Implementation Report) processes and any other periodical reports as requested by the GPMTSU, as well as the CO-level progress reports.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangement

At the global level, this global umbrella programme will be supported by a Global Project Management and Technical Support Unit (GPMTSU).

At the national level, each country will have, as a requirement and as part of the National Project Management Unit (NPMU), a full-time dedicated Project Coordinator/Sustainable Finance Manager, a Finance Manager supported by a part time Project Support Associate, and consultants, such an Environmental Policy consultant, and others, as needed.

The Project Coordinator/ Sustainable Finance Manager  will be based in Dushanbe, at the premises of the National Biodiversity and Biosafety Center, the National Competent Authority for biodiversity in Tajikistan. Within his/her role the Project Coordinator/Sustainable Finance Manager will lead the achievement of expected project results by providing strategic guidance to the project staff and consultants for the implementation of relevant activities. Along with that, he/she will ensure that the project interventions are closely coordinated with and complement the other UNDP-implemented NBSAP revision initiatives. The Project Coordinator/ Sustainable Finance Manager will be accountable and report to the UNDP Programme Specialist on Climate Change, Energy and Environment, and will work under the overall guidance of the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative. He/she will lead the teams of GEF8 Umbrella programme to design a national Biodiversity Finance Plan project and supervise the relevant staff, including the Biodiversity Finance Analyst. A dedicated technical advisor by GPMTSU will be available to support each country’s work.

• Achieve Results:
  • LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work.
• Think Innovatively:
  • LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking.
• Learn Continuously:
  • LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning.
• Adapt with Agility:
  • LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process.
• Act with Determination:
  • LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously.
• Engage and Partner:
  • LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships.
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion:
  • LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making.

• Nature:
  • Ecosystems and biodiversity programme: Nature-positive economy and Biodiversity Finance.
• Climate: 
  • Climate Strategies and Policy: Financing Strategies, Plans and Investment Frameworks.
• Project Management:
  • Ability to plan, organize, and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals.
• System Thinking: 
  • Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.
• Private sector resource mobilization:
  • Ability to identify, develop and manage partnerships that leverage private sector technical expertise and resources.
• Knowledge generation:
  • Ability to research information and to turn it  into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need.
  • Ability to apply existing concepts to new situations, and to develop new concepts to generate workable solutions and new approaches.
  • Knowledge of relevant concepts, conceptual models, and theories that can be useful in addressing new situations.
• Communication: 
  • Communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience.
  • Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements