Project Manager - Sustainable Finance

Liberia is host to a forest cover of 6.6 million , which represents approximately 69% of the total landmass. The country is regarded as one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world, and one which contains the highest remaining portion (42%) of the Upper Guinea Forest, which is regarded as one of the three lungs of the world extending from Guinea into eastern Sierra Leone, and eastward through Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana into western Togo. The forest is characterized by high endemism, boasting over 2000 plant species, 600 bird species, 75 reptile species, and 150 mammal species. 

Liberia has joined many countries in the Global South that are enduring the deadly pinch of climate change in championing the importance of meeting a central financial pillar of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Biological resources are vital to humanity's economic and social development. As a result, there is a growing recognition that biological diversity is a global asset of tremendous value to present and future generations. At the same time, the threat to species and ecosystems has never been so great as it is today. Species extinction caused by human activities continues at an alarming rate. In response, an international legal instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity was prepared and 168 countries ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Nevertheless, available evidence and decisions adopted by the Parties to the CBD indicate that the levels of investment in biodiversity management were inadequate to achieve the 20 Aichi Targets defined in the past CBD’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity.

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 mobilization includes reference for countries to design and implement national biodiversity finance plans. 

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 recognized 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.

The GEF created a global programme to support countries in designing a national Biodiversity Finance Plan. A Biodiversity Finance Plan includes a systems analysis of a country's economy including mapping existing financing mechanisms, subsidies with potentially 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 the 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 Liberia falls under the GEF8 Umbrella programme for the development of the first National Biodiversity Finance Plan. The overall implementation of the project will be led by the Project Manager – Sustainable Finance with the support of a technical team and in coordination with a government project director (Biodiversity Focal Point) and the National Steering Committee. 

For the implementation of the GEF8-BFP Umbrella program at the national level, UNDP is looking for a qualified candidate for the position of a Project Manager – Sustainable Finance.

The project will work across the following outcomes: 

Component 1. National biodiversity finance policy and institutional reviews: A comprehensive analysis of the policy and institutional landscape, identify the most relevant stakeholders, map subsidies positive and harmful to biodiversity, identify barriers in the national budgeting process and produce an inventory of existing finance solutions. 

Component 2. National biodiversity expenditure reviews conducted across all relevant sectors: Assessment of the spending related to biodiversity across all relevant economic sectors to determine the biodiversity relevance of major programmes and organizations. 

Component 3. National assessments of the financing required to achieve the Global Biodiversity Framework targets: Revisit the Liberia’s national Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan to calculate how much finance is required to achieve all biodiversity goals. 

Component 4. Development of national biodiversity finance plans: The national BFP summarizes all findings and recommendations of previous assessments, identifying the optimal mix of prioritized finance solutions and elaborating a business case for their adoption. 

The project activities will be implemented using a highly participatory approach, through active and meaningful participation of stakeholders across the government and beyond, with a lead role for the finance sector. Appropriate procedures and governance mechanism, including a national steering committee to be established including key finance organizations like the Ministry of Finance, Central Banks, Development Banks and Regulators, in addition to Environmental Protection Agency. The Steering Committee will review all main deliverables produced by the national team. Other relevant governance and/or technical structures can be created (e.g., technical working groups), as needed.

The Project Manager – Sustainable Finance 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. The Project Manager will work closely with the technical team of an Environmental Policy Expert, a Biodiversity Finance Specialist and a Project Support Associate, to ensure implementation mechanisms and technical working groups are established and meet regularly, that all planned workshops, technical studies and other activities are organized promptly, and that they meet expected quality standards. 

S/he 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 national project. S/he will be responsible for relevant sections the production of the Policy and Institutional Review, the Biodiversity Expenditure Review and the Financial Needs Assessment. S/he will also lead the preparation of the Biodiversity Finance Plan and will oversee the identification and implementation of finance solutions as requested. S/he 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. 

• 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);
• Design /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;
• 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;
• Organize 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 Ministries of Finance, EPA 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 the Steering Committee, the UNDP CO and GPMTSU; 
• Maintain regular communication with EPA and 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; 
• 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.

Provide high level technical advises to ensure effective project implementation:

• 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). 

Lead effective monitoring and evaluation of the project activities, Communication and reporting: 

• 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; 
• Liaise with relevant initiatives and programs in UNDP and other organizations in support of the execution of the project, including BIOFIN, the NBSAP 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.

Develop strategic partnerships and resource mobilization:

• Substantively contribute to the harnessing of effective partnerships and lead the identification and on-boarding process for implementing partners; 
• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships and strategic linkages with implementing and development partners, government officials, businesses, NGOs, other national and regional stakeholders, and beneficiaries to support and ensure accurate interpretation of project objectives and promote inclusive project implementation; 
• Substantively contribute to project communications and visibility efforts.  Make recommendations to the management team on activities with potential for scale-up, replicability and synergies; 
• Provide technical support to the implementing partners. Support resource mobilization efforts and project development.  

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

Institutional Arrangement

The project will be implemented under a Direct Implementation Modality (DIM). It will be implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance & Development Planning and the Environmental Protection Agency.

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 Manager- Sustainable Finance, a Biodiversity Finance Specialist supported by a part-time Project Support Associate, and consultants, such an Environmental Policy consultant, and others, as needed. 

The NPMU should be co-located with appropriate government agency(ies) in principle working side by side with government staff. A dedicated technical advisor by GPMTSU will be available to support each country’s work. Similar to the global level, the Project Manager is the senior most representative of the NPMU and is responsible for the overall day-to-day management of the project on behalf of the Implementing Partner, including the mobilization of all project inputs, supervision over project staff, responsible parties, consultants, and sub-contractors. 

Project Manager Sustainable Finance typically presents key deliverables and documents to the appropriate national governance mechanism and to the GPMTSU for their review and approval, including progress reports, annual work plans, adjustments to tolerance levels and risk registers. 

Project Manager Sustainable Finance reports to the Programme Coordinator, Green & Inclusive Growth. 

People Management 

UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated  site.
 

2030 Agenda: Planet: Nature      

• Ecosystems and biodiversity.

Business Management: Project Management      

• Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals

Business Direction & Strategy: 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

Business Management: Partnerships Management           

• Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies

Finance : Financial Planning and Budgeting          

• Ability to create and manage processes to achieve UNDP's long and short-term financial goals, including through planning, budgeting, forecasting, analyzing and reporting.

Procurement: Procurement Management            

• The ability to acquire goods, services or works from an outside external source

Partnership Management: Relationship Management      

• Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust and mutual understanding