Background

The Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS) serves as the headquarters for UNDP regional programme and country programmes in 17 countries in the region. The Bureau proactively engages with internal units and external partners/stakeholders such as the UN Secretariat, the Permanent Missions, donors and the Executive Board, to discuss and facilitate the work of UNDP in the region. The Regional Bureau conducts strategic analysis and monitors development trends to inform the forward-looking directions of the bureau and to support policies and programmes at regional, and country level in alignment with the SDGs, the UNDP Strategic Plan 2022-2025, and the RBAS Regional Programme Document 2022-2025. The Regional Bureau conducts strategic oversight of the regional and country programmes and focuses on positioning and programmatic and operational oversight. UNDP Amman Regional Hub supports UNDP Country Offices across the region to design solutions to national development priorities and tackle common regional development challenges. The Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS) requires a technical specialist to support the Amman Regional Hub and UNDP country offices in the Arab region to design and expand green finance solutions in the region through analytical, programmatic and policy dialogue, and technical support.

Economy, Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Finance

RBAS supports partners in the region to develop integrated, transformative and scalable solutions to tackle the interconnected challenges of economic diversification and transformation, private sector development, poverty, vulnerability, inequality and exclusion, in ways that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. The team assists in enhancing prospects for inclusive growth, jobs and livelihoods at national and local levels, including through economic recovery and resilience-building in crisis and post crisis contexts, focusing on economically empowering women and youth, and advancing economic opportunities for the most vulnerable. It also supports research, policy and program guidance around: macroeconomic stability; private financing; impact investment; fiscal policy, taxation and public finance management; social protection; green, local and digital economy and finance. Within Sustainable Finance broad issues, unlocking green finance is key to sustainable human development, as reiterated in the new UNDP Strategic Plan. Building resilient societies based on private sector-led growth and financial inclusion is central to UNDP’s mandate to promote inclusive and sustainable development. UNDP works closely with governments, national and sub-national institutions to support integration of public and private finance issues in their development agendas aligned with the green transformation and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Private Sector Partnership

The team advises on partnerships and fund raising from governments, private entities, development banks, and foundations to deliver on the vision and outcomes in UNDP’s Strategic Plan and promote sustainable development. It provides partner intelligence and analysis on alignment between donor development mandates and UNDP priority thematic areas of work and facilitates partnership agreements. The team advises Country Offices and the Regional Programme on their Partnership and Communication Strategies and Action Plans.

The Green Financing Platform (GFP) for Arab States:

UNDP RBAS is launching the Arab States Green Financing Platform (GFP) to mobilize green public and private financing for natural resources-enhancing and climate change-responsive projects. The Platform will build on UNDP’s Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs) and SDG Investors Maps to leverage public finance and attract private investment using innovative financing and blended finance instruments in order to support green private investment, public finance, and public-private partnership (PPP). The Platform will conduct assessments, develop project pipelines, provide technical assistance, facilitate access to international climate finance mechanisms, engage with stakeholders, create national climate funds, and create dedicated green funds, including for SMEs. The GFP will collaborate with private investors, international development institutions, commercial banks, and business angel networks to promote green finance instruments for projects with social and environmental impacts.

The candidate will substantively contribute and lead on the design and implementation of sustainable finance programs in the Arab region, including the conceptualization, initiation and implementation of regional and sub-regional flagship initiatives such as the Arab Green Finance Platform and the MSME Green Finance initiative.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide support to RBAS in the finalization of the concept notes on the Arab Green Finance Platform and the Green SME Finance Initiative and help integrate the two initiatives in the finalization of their offer and their launch including the following:
  • Conduct a regional market demand and a needs assessment to address key areas of interventions, in close collaboration with the regional environment team, as well as learn about and address the specific challenges and opportunities for green financing in Arab countries and identify gaps and areas where the GFP can make a significant impact;
  • Oversee a thorough regional stakeholder analysis (including relevant investors, lenders, contractors, operators, regulators, government, etc.) to identify and define key players, their interests, and potential contributions to the GFP objectives;
  • Conduct a thorough market intelligence analysis to identify potential green investment opportunities and analyze potential incentives for financial institutions to increase lending to green projects;
  • Identify the macroeconomic, financing, and programmatic risks to be reflected in the GFP risk mgmt matrix and quantify their potential financial impact and propose options to mitigate these;
  • Lead on the design of solutions and services to be provided by the GFP as well as its operationalization, including legal, management and governance options, of the GFP and suggest the way forward based on the latest discussions with key partners and stakeholders;
  • Identify and design specific financial products that should be offered by the GFP to ensure “additionality” to the regional market;
  • Develop a preliminary financial model aimed at assessing the main financial features of the GFP (e.g. costs, revenues, financing structure);
  • Assess the basic budgetary and fiscal sustainability of the GFP over the long run and propose possible financing solutions to ensure sustainability of the initiative;
  • Draft SOPs, safeguards, and management and governance guidelines of the GFP, including internal approval processes.
• Draft relevant documentation (including project due diligence, risk analysis applications, term sheets, loan agreements, impact Management and measurement strategy and method) in accordance with the GFP SOPs, safeguards, and principles.
• Contribute and lead some aspects of the coordination of UNDP RBAS cross-cutting strategic and programmatic work on green financing in close partnership with the regional environment team including:
  • Link the above-mentioned activities to the wider implementation of UNDP programmatic work in the field of Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) and NDCs (including quality assurance of related activities and outputs), private finance (including debt and equity markets, and blended finance), green finance, project finance, and trade finance;
  • Provide technical support to RBAS in the design of national policies, strategies, and programmes to progress in the above-mentioned areas in a coherent and consistent manner;
  • Engage with potential partners, Ministries of Finance, Planning, and Investment and financial market regulators, and serve as a key resource for policy advice in the region on how to create an enabling environment for green finance, and remove existing policy constraints;
  • Identify financial/non-financial tools and methods for de-risking green financing;
  • Provide support in the development of green finance capacity-building of key stakeholders, and support private sector engagement in programmes under the green financing portfolio within the country offices;
  • Provide support to COs and regional Environment and Energy team as well as other relevant teams in the identification and development of opportunities for blended finance solutions to climate change and other environment-related issues. In particular, these solutions should focus on the implementation of the NDC commitments in the region and feed into the pipeline of potential bankable projects;
  • Develop knowledge and learning products including policy advocacy and awareness-raising in the fields of green finance.
• Forge partnerships with key stakeholders including:
  • Design an effective resource mobilization strategy based on the assessment of the current financing gap to deliver the GRP agenda;
  • Build a diverse network by collaborating with relevant government authorities, private sector entities, academia, IFIs, NGOs, and CSOs;
  • Traditional and non-traditional donors, DFIs, and IFIs to combine expertise, amplify impact, and leverage catalytic funding for climate-related goals, assisting with organization, reporting, and maintaining strong relationships.
  • Cultivate and manage ‘client relationships’ with all forum/network/task force members to advance RBAS’s work on green finance;
  • Draft briefing notes for the RBAS Director and senior leadership at the Executive Office of the Administrator on green finance issues; o Support RBAS in fundraising proposals and present these to key donors;
  • Conduct missions to present RBAS’s work on green financing to donors, COs, governments, private sector and investors, and other relevant stakeholders, including providing support in the preparation and participation at the upcoming COPs to present UNDP RBAS work in the area of green finance.

Institutional Arrangement

The Incumbent will work under the direct supervision of the Regional Chief Economist and the Partnership Team with guidance from the Energy and Environment team in RBAS. The Incumbent will work in close collaboration with all the relevant RBAS teams.

Competencies

Core

People Management: The position has no direct reports

Cross-Funtional & Technical competencies:

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Education requirements

Advanced university degree (masters degree or equivalent) in Finance, Business Administration, Economics, Development Economics, or related discipline is required. Or A first university degree (bachelor’s degree or equivalent) in the above mentioned fields of study, with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu if advanced university degree

Min. years of relevant work experience

1. A minimum of 10 years (with master’s degree) or 12 years with (bachelor’s degree) of professional experience in : Banking, capital markets, and green private financig;

2. Financial modelling;

3. Designing and implementing green finance products and solutions, including preparation of bankable project pipelines (including origination, processing, execution), blended finance, project financing, financial structuring, PSP/PPP and in providing relevant advisory services;

4. Outreach for major initiatives or institutions involving multi-stakeholder engagement, intergovernmental negotiations;

5. Engaging with IFIs and DFIs;

6. Inclusive growth, sustainable development, sustainable finance and project management issues;

7. Conducting policy and regulatory analysis;

8. Working with government representatives, ministries, national policy bodies.

Required skills

• Demonstrated strong technical knowledge in green finance, banking, equity investment, blended finance, project finance, financial modeling and structuring, pipeline preparation, PSP/PPP.
• Excellent communication, teamwork and leadership skills.

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section

• Experience in developing/emerging markets is desired.
• Relevant experience working in the Arab region is strongly desirable.
• Prior professional experience in development and creation of new partnership with demonstrated networks is desirable.
• Knowledge of the UN sytem, particularly UNDP’s network of Country Offices for implementation of activities is desirable.
• Detailed knowledge of global vertical funds (GCF, GEF, etc) is an advantage.

Required Language(s)

Fluency in English is essential. Knowledge of Arabic or French is an advantage.

Professional Certificates

CPA certificate is an advantage.