Biodiversity Finance Specialist

UNDP’s 2022-2025 Strategic Plan highlights our continued commitment to eradicating poverty, accompanying countries in their pathways towards the SDGs and working towards the Paris Agreement. 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 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. 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. 

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 Armenia 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 Specialist (Lead)/Senior Finance Expert with the support of a technical team and in coordination to a government project director 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 Biodiversity Finance Specialist. The Biodiversity Finance Specialist will lead the production of the Biodiversity Expenditure Review, the Financial Needs Assessment and support the development of the Biodiversity Finance Plan. 

Policy and Institutional Review (PIR):

• Support the Policy expert in developing an inventory of existing Biodiversity Financing Mechanisms in the country.
• Support the Policy expert in reviewing of existing economic valuation studies relevant to the BIOFIN process.

Biodiversity Expenditure Review (BER):

• Carry out a desk review to map existing studies/information/databases on biodiversity expenditures, including an overview of earlier environmental expenditure reviews. 
• Develop a proposed national definition for “biodiversity expenditures”, based on the BIOFIN methodology or other methodologies. 
• Develop a workplan for the Biodiversity Expenditure Review for discussion with the national BFP programme team and GPMTSU.
• Determine a target list of organizations to include in the analysis based on the PIR work.
• Collect data for the desk review to map existing studies/information/ databases on biodiversity expenditures, including an overview of earlier environmental expenditure reviews. 
• Establish, with the support of the Senior Finance Expert (Project Lead), a system to tag biodiversity expenses into categories (GBF targets, BIOFIN categories, NBSAP themes, etc.) and a system of coefficients/attribution to estimate the contribution of mixed actions towards biodiversity. 
• Gather data from the targeted organizations to conduct the expenditure review on budgets and expenditures. Follow existing methodologies for guidance (includes mapping of sources of funding, subsidies, and biodiversity-based revenues, etc.)
• Develop tools or Excel tool to analyze the total biodiversity-related expenditures filtered by major strategy groups using existing methodology (or national categories such as in the NBSAP).
• Coordinate the compilation of relevant data and liaise with relevant Ministries and partners as required and complete all BIOFIN data entry sheets for the BER. 
• Support the Organization of bilateral consultation meetings/interviews/ discussions with national level stakeholders to define and then validate the attribution of biodiversity significance in all relevant expenditures. 
• Applying budget projections and other assumptions, estimate future funding baseline under a “Business-As-Usual Scenario”: an analysis of projected estimated funding in the future.
• Based on international best practices and the BIOFIN methodology or other methodologies, work closely with the Senior Finance Expert (Project Lead) to develop and implement a specific strategy for data collection of the private sector and organize dedicated consultation meetings with private sector stakeholders (e.g. chamber of commerce, multinationals) on tracking biodiversity expenditures. 
• Based on results from the research, analysis and the national consultation workshop, develop, with the support of the Senior Finance Expert (Project Lead), the draft BIOFIN Biodiversity Expenditure Review for review by the GPMTSU (Global Project Management and Technical Support Unit). 
• Develop the final Biodiversity Expenditure Review, with the support of the Senior Finance Expert (Project Lead), for review by the GPMTSU and present at the validation workshop.

Biodiversity Finance Needs Assessment (FNA):

• Review the available methodologies, examples from other countries, the latest NBSAP and the National Biodiversity Reports to develop an initial workplan and outline for the FNA. 
• Consult with the NBSAP team and government entities responsible for NBSAP implementation to obtain background information about NBSAP activities and government budgeting processes. 
• Work with the Senior Finance Expert (Project Lead) to review the scope of the NBSAP, its alignment with other national policies, and identify policy areas and activities that are not covered by the existing NBSAP. 
• Review the activities listed in the NBSAP and other key strategic documents to assess if they are detailed and quantified enough for their budgets to be estimated in detail.  If not, work with the NBSAP national focal points and other relevant stakeholders to define clearly the NBSAP actions so that they can be budgeted. 
• Coordinate the compilation of relevant data and liaise with relevant Ministries and partners as required and organize a national consultation workshop to define the financial needs of all major biodiversity programmes. 
• Develop detailed calculations and complete all datasheets related to the national biodiversity finance needs. 
• Organize a workshop to validate the cost assumptions and models and refine the analysis through additional meetings as needed. 
• support the comparison of the results of the BER future projections with the FNA in as great detail as the categories allow and produce an estimate of the financing gap. 
• Lead the development (with support from the team) of a draft report for the Biodiversity Finance Needs Assessment for discussion at the validation workshop and review by the project national team and GPMTSU.
• Support the Production of the final report of the Biodiversity Finance Needs Assessment.

Biodiversity Finance Plan (BFP):

• Support the Senior Finance Expert (Project Lead) in the conception and preparation of the BFP. 
• Support detailed feasibility analyses on a range of financing mechanisms depending on knowledge and experience.

Project outreach and Communication:

• Preparation of workshops, meetings, networking and presentations as required, to complete the Biodiversity Expenditure Review, the Financial Needs Assessment and engage stakeholders.
• Provide substantive comments and feedback on how to improve the existing methodologies.

Knowledge management and Reporting:

• Document decisions and assumptions made while completing the Biodiversity Expenditure Review and the Biodiversity Finance Needs Assessment. 
• Document lessons learned from conducting the BFP project ranging from institutional considerations to technical issues.
• Prepare reports and case studies, as required, for submission to global meetings (e.g. CBD COP).
   

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
• 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

Cross-Functional & Technical Competencies

• Nature, Climate and Energy
  • Ecosystems and biodiversity: Biodiversity Finance
• Knowledge Generation
  • Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for content, or responsive to a stated need
• 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
• Data storytelling and communications
  • Skilled in building a narrative around a set of data and its accompanying visualizations to help convey the meaning of that data in a powerful and compelling fashion.
• Data Governance
  • Knowledge of data science, skills to develop data management tools, organize and maintain databases and operate data visualization technologies
• Data Collection
  • Being skilled in Data Sorting, Data Cleaning, Survey Administration, Presentation and Reporting including collection of Real-Time Data (e.g. mobile data, satellite data, sensor data).
• Data analysis
  • Ability to extract, analyze and visualize data (including Real-Time Data) to form meaningful insights and aid effective decision making.