Programme Manager

UNICEF recognizes that innovation is a key feature of its current and future strategy to solve the complex challenges (i.e. conflict and displacement, urbanization, disease outbreak, disasters, and climate change, among others) faced by millions of children and adolescents across the globe. What is needed now to deliver on these challenges for children, is a platform capable of fostering a truly experimental, enabling culture to co-create innovative financing approaches not just from the top down, but also the grassroots – and to bring them to scale, via a sustainable, transparent process, while accessing the untapped global financial solutions.

The Innovative Finance Hub in Finland will contribute to reimagine how UNICEF operates, accelerates and streamlines finding new sources of funding and financing to fill the SDG gap – to protect gains made, rebuild from losses from COVID-19 and radically accelerate progress towards the SDGs for children. Chief IF Hub Finland will be at the forefront of building an IF Hub platform that, in coordination with other IF initiatives and streams, will:

• Unlock the $40 trillion ESG market to meet funding and financing gaps for children
• Better integrate children’s needs into business investment decisions
• Catalyze a global pipeline of investable high-impact child-aligned projects
• Convene industry experts to incubate and build game-changing new social goods constructs

Based in Helsinki, the incumbent will:

• Contribute to unlock capital markets to fill the SDG gap and create thought leadership around innovative financing in support of children
• Contribute to the adoption, awareness raising, and KPI creation for impact measurement of the IF Hub’s Child-lens Investing Framework (CLIF), a global field-building investing initiative to integrate children in investment decision-making strategies
• The incumbent reports to Chief of IF Hub in Helsinki and will work closely with other divisions including the Innovative Finance team in Geneva, OED, PPD, PFP, PG, DFAM, Legal and SD, and external actors.

Your key responsibilities are:

• Advocacy/Investor Relations/Partnership Management
• Engaging with investment eco-system actors in Finland and worldwide to create opportunities and partnerships around CLIF and its adoption across the private and public equity markets, with the goal of contributing to the alignment of capital to close the SDG financing gap and create positive outcomes for children.
• On the public equity side, work alongside the team on engagement and brokerage of partnerships with networks, standards or data providers to elevate CLIF adoption and recognition to a higher agenda.
• Financial instrument and impact measurement development
• Working closely with the IF Hub’s technical experts on the creation and validation of usable tools and instruments across the private and public equity markets.
• Oversee the development of additional child-related KPIs and metrics for all types of investors, in partnership with industry standards and leaders, as well as UNICEF’s programmatic divisions.
• Knowledge Management
• Contributing to knowledge building within the organization including Country Offices and UNICEF Network of National Committees to promote effective interaction and partnerships in coordination with the Hub’s Finance Manager and the Innovative Finance team in Geneva.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum requirements:

Education:

• An advanced university degree (master’s or equivalent) in one of the following fields is required: Innovation-related field, International Relations, Business Administration, Economics or another relevant technical field.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years of progressively responsible professional work experience, with primary experience in sustainable finance.
• Strategic and analytical thinking, excellent organizational, interpersonal and communication skills required.
• Ability to conceptualize, plan and execute ideas and projects required.
• Strong capacity to work effectively in inter-divisional teams.
• Familiarity with existing standards/frameworks adopted by financial institutions (i.e. ESG criteria).
• In-depth understanding and relevant experience of direct impact investing, venture capital or private equity is essential.
• Deal structuring and due diligence process experience is strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with the Nordic sustainable finance ecosystem will be considered a strong asset.
• Experience in metrics development and monitoring will be considered a strong asset.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is desired.

Language Requirements:

• Written and verbal fluency in English. Written and verbal fluency in Finnish will be considered an asset. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

Source: https://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/579697