UNDP Project Lead and Senior Sustainable Finance Specialist || Apply Now |

The Project and Senior Sustainable Finance Specialist “Project Lead” will be responsible for the overall supervision and management of in-country activities, ensuring a proper workplan and budget is in place and implemented within set timelines, with an effective national team and strong partnerships.

Duties and Responsibilities of Senior Sustainable

Project Management

• Oversee the identification, selection and supervision of national consultants and experts, in close collaboration with the UNDP Country Office, Senior Finance Expert and the Global Project Management and Technical Support Unit (GPMTSU);
• Write/revise terms of references for national BIOFIN 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;
• Maintain regular communication with Ministries of Environment and 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;
• Ensure a timely identification of risks in implementation at the national level and communication to the GPMTSU;
• Organize 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. 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;
• Research and write 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 BER;
• Support the data collection, modelling, quality checking, and validation of the 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;
• Lead project monitoring, reporting and evaluation at national level, draft monthly and quarterly reports for review by the lead expert and 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;

Lead knowledge and capacity building, knowledge sharing, and advocacy 

• Ensure appropriate training and other relevant capacity building activities are organized and implemented in a consultative manner, involving technical experts and stakeholders that may include the government, private sector, NGOs, donors, and/or academia;
• Proactively identify and pursue opportunities for the documentation and communication of best practices, programme results, and lessons learned under the project;
• Support establishment of knowledge platforms and innovative mechanisms for capturing and disseminating knowledge from the project; and ensure development of knowledge resources and products to share with project partners and to support UNDP’s engagement in this area.

Check : Call for proposals UNYDP Italy 2025/2026

Required Skills

• Experience in the use of computers, office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and web-based management systems, and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages.

Desired Skills

• Prior experience with UNDP projects would be an asset;
• Knowledge in environmental or biodiversity related policies is highly desirable;
• Knowledge of any other UN language or national language is desired;
• Must have private sector experience due to nature of the instruments to be developed in this BioFin Project;
• Have working understanding of public finance with traceable networks to the Ministry of Finance;
• Experience in gathering and processing data and information;
• Experience in managing work teams and supervising technical assessments, reports, and technical documents.

Language Requirement

• National language (siSwati) and English are required.

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