Market Foundation Technical Specialist

Background

UNDP's Sustainable Finance Hub

The Sustainable Finance Hub, a finance and innovation platform, draws on a critical mass of UNDP expertise, initiatives, and partnerships to leverage and align resources for the SDGs and support the implementation of UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025. The Hub is an integral part of both the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) and the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA), as well as part of the GPN. Through regional focal points, it supports sustainable finance work in UNDP’s Country Offices and works in close collaboration with the Regional Bureaus. The Hub serves as a connector, broker and global coordinator among internal and external actors; curates and manages UNDP’s catalogue of service offers on SDG financing to governments, investors and companies. The Hub has five interconnected service offers: 1) Public finance for the SDGs; 2) Unlocking private capital and aligning business operations for the SDGs; 3) SDG impact management and finance tracking; 4) Integrated National Financing Frameworks and Portfolios; and 5) SDG Finance Academy. 

UNDP’s Insurance and Risk Finance Facility

UNDP’s Insurance and Risk Finance Facility is charting new pathways to build resilience, incentivize growth and safeguard development. Housed within UNDP’s Sustainable Finance Hub, the Facility is using insurance and risk transfer to increase the financial resilience of countries, communities, households, businesses, nature and food systems. Learn more at www.irff.undp.org   

Market Foundation Technical Specialist 

The overall objective of this short-term IPSA assignment is to support the UNDP Insurance and Risk Finance Facility (IRFF) under the Sustainable Finance Hub in advancing its work on inclusive and agricultural insurance through the Financial Resilience in Agriculture (FRA) Global Programme. As part of the programme’s implementation, the Technical Specialist will support on the interventions to build the Market Foundations for agricultural insurance — comprising the technical and operational systems required to transition from small-scale pilots to scalable, sustainable national programs.

The Specialist will provide on-call technical expertise on the market Foundation building block which includes support across key areas such as product design, risk data, and technical delivery models. In parallel, the role contributes to strengthening institutional capacity and embedding agricultural insurance within the selected national structures supporting IRFF’s broader mission to enhance financial resilience and inclusion for smallholder farmers in climate-vulnerable countries.

Duties and Responsibilities

The key tasks for the assignment include, but not limited to, are the following:

1. Market Foundation Strategy and Guidance
   • Lead the development of technical guidance documents such as outlining key building blocks for transitioning agricultural insurance from pilots to national scale.
   • Provide expert recommendations tailored to specific country (India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and other countries) contexts.
2. Technical Inputs on Insurance Functions
   • Develop technical briefs and inputs on product design, risk data systems, and technical delivery models that inform inclusive and climate-resilient insurance solutions.
3. Market Foundation Tools and Frameworks
   • Develop and deliver actionable tools, templates, and guidance documents to enable insurers and value chain actors to integrate agricultural insurance into their operations effectively.
   • Produce frameworks aligning insurance product design, risk assessment, and distribution with value chain dynamics.
4. Capacity Building Materials and Support
   • Develop tailored training materials and conduct advisory sessions/workshops for global and national staff, including national stakeholders including government, insurers, and delivery partners.
   • Provide capacity-building reports documenting progress and recommendations.
5. Implementation Review and Alignment Reports
   • Review global and country-level technical assistance activities against respective project implementation ToRs. Prepare alignment and gap analysis reports with actionable recommendations for course correction.
6. Resource Mobilization Contributions
   • Provide technical inputs and draft sections related to market foundations for proposals and concept notes focused on food systems resilience and agricultural insurance financing.
   • Develop briefs that clearly position the Market Foundation as a critical enabler of sustainable, scalable insurance programs.

   Institutional Arrangement

The contractor will work in close collaboration with the IRFF Technical Team based in Geneva and Rome, under the direct supervision of the Agricultural Insurance Specialist, who will review and approve the activities and deliverables. 

The contractor will be required to have his/her own technical and software-based equipment to deliver the services.

Core Competencies:

Achieve Results: 

LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact 

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 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands 

Act with Determination:         

LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results

Engage and Partner:       

 LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration

Enable Diversity and Inclusion:       

 LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

Technical and Cross-functional competencies:

Business direction and 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.

• Effective Decision Making        

Take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with one's authority, area of expertise and resources and take into consideration potential wider implications.

Business Management        

• Working with Evidence and Data        

Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making

• Project Management        

Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making 

2030 Agenda Partnerships  

• SDG Finance: Finance Insurance for the SDGs 

Partnership Management        

• Strategic Engagement        

Ability to capture and sustain attention, interest and agreement of high-level, influential policy and decision makers and secure their buy-in of high-level vision

and objectives

Digital & Innovation        

• Creative facilitation        

Ability to design workshops that  considers and addresses multiple  interests, agendas, worldviews; set  out clear objectives and engaging  activities; select appropriate tools,  materials, resources that are  needed to enable or support the  activities.

Ability to swiftly build rapport with  participants and create a safe  space (on- and offline) where they  feel comfortable to share their  views, concerns, experiences and  reflections; supporting this with a range of tools to stimulate active  participation.

Ability to facilitate inclusive conversations, ability to work with  a diverse set of people with  different backgrounds, seniority  and expert levels, using different  approaches tailored to fit the   people in the room, drawing out the  perspectives and ideas of each  individual and making decisions  through deliberation and  discussion across a group.

Ability to pace a session, adjust to  the abilities and energy levels of   attendees and the nature or  purpose of an exercise. Being flexible and able to improvise; adapting and changing approaches in response to the needs, while  staying true to the intent and  objectives of the session.

Required Skills and Experience

ATTENTION TO THE APPLICANTS:

1. This is a short-term IPSA assignment. The contractor will be requested to work no more than 130 working days in a calendar year. 
2. The payments will be based on a daily fee and the number of days worked.
3. UNDP does not warrant that any quantity of services will be utilized during the term of the agreement as this will depend on forthcoming needs.
4. At the time of application, the candidates will need to share an open link to the examples of previous works. The applications without the submitted examples will not be reviewed:

At least 2 of the below examples need to be uploaded to the Skills and Qualifications Section / Section Attachments / choose ‘add a link’. Applications without the examples of works will not be considered. 

• 1 report exploring the development and use of agricultural risk data and analytics to support risk assessment, policy planning, investment decisions, and the design and pricing of insurance and other risk management solutions.
• 1 guideline report on practical tools and methodologies to optimize insurance product delivery, including data integration, actuarial pricing, and claims management tailored for smallholder farmers.
• 1 report focused on strengthening technical capacity of partners—including insurers, data providers, and government agencies—to support insurance product design, risk assessment, and impact evaluation for sustainable market development.
• 1 Comprehensive framework outlining the core technical and operational components of the Market Foundation, providing actionable guidance for building scalable and sustainable agricultural insurance ecosystems.

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master's degree or equivalent) in remote sensing, data science, Actuarial, or computer science
• A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• A minimum of five (5) years (with a master's degree) or seven (7) years (with a bachelor's degree) of relevant field experience in agricultural finance and insurance in the product design and delivery in Africa and/or Asia.

Required experience:

• Experience in design and facilitation of multi-stakeholder technical consultations in global South, supporting collaborative development of risk models, pricing strategies, and monitoring frameworks essential to sustainable insurance markets.

Desired experience:

• Involvement in the implementation of Finance and agricultural insurance  product design and coordination of technical partnership focused on smallholder farming on data analytics, risk modelling, and impact assessment to inform pricing and claims methodologies.
• Experience collaborating with global and local technical stakeholders in global south — including data providers, actuarial firms, and insurers—to develop data-driven agricultural insurance solutions and strengthen core product design and delivery components.
• Experience in designing agricultural and climate insurance product solutions for agricultural value chain (e.g. coffee, Maize, wheat, etc.) 
• Experience in the implementation of agricultural insurance initiatives, developing technical solutions and tools for projects.
• Prior engagement with the UN or international organizations supporting technical assistance, capacity building, and the operationalization of agricultural insurance market systems.

Languages:

• Written and spoken proficiency in English

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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