Duties and Responsibilities
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. The overall objective of the UNEP’s Economy Division is to encourage decision makers in government, local authorities and industry to develop and adopt policies, strategies and practices and technologies that promote sustainable patterns of consumption and production, make efficient use of natural resources, ensure safe management of chemicals and contribute to making trade and environment policies mutually supportive. It promotes the development, use and transfer of policies, technologies, economic instruments, managerial practices and other tools that assist in environmentally sound decision making and the building of corresponding activities. The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) is the strategic partnership between the United Nations and over 500 banks, insurers and investors. For over 30 years UNEP FI has been shaping and driving the international sustainable finance agenda, setting global standards and growing a global network of leading financial institutions. Through its work-streams delivering resources to advance sustainable finance and regional activities, peer learning, training and research, UNEP FI carries out its mission to help the financial industry align with and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals and with that take on the crucial role it must play in achieving a sustainable future. UNEP FI has Banking, Insurance and Policy & Regulation workstreams, as well as thematic workstreams that include Climate, Nature, Pollution & Circular Economy. UNEP FI also has a regional team supporting delivery of global programmes, and a Communications & Events team. Many of the activities coordinated by these teams are co-funded by third parties, through donor funding. UNEP FI needs a consultant in its Programme Delivery section/team, to help successfully deliver meticulous and timely financial management and reporting, including resource planning, monitoring and controls, in line with UN requirements and legal agreements with donors. The consultant will support the Programme Assistant and Team Leads to provide reliable assistance in the coordination of programme/project budget planning and management and financial reporting. The consultant will support on identifying resourcing needs of programmes/projects and planning income and expenditure for donor-funded projects, identify opportunities for operational efficiency and resource-sharing to optimise resources where feasible, and support on budget planning for fundraising activities and donor-funded projects. The consultant will help ensure timely and accurate financial reporting to donors and support on contract management and partner expenditure planning and reporting in line with UN and donor requirements. The consultant will support on accurate financial data management, monitoring and reporting in line with appropriate policies, guidelines and procedures. Objective: Support the delivery of donor-funded projects via financial planning, monitoring and reporting across UNEP FI’s nature, insurance, policy & regulation, pollution & circular economy and SDGs & Impact teams. Support the UNEP FI Secretariat on income and expenditure monitoring and donor reporting to support Team Leads on budget management for grant agreements. Specific tasks and responsibilities: 1. Project management support: • Financial management and budgeting: o Help establish standardized financial planning, monitoring and reporting systems, processes and procedures for donor-funded projects to support budget management across teams. o Help develop and manage financial cashflow of relevant projects; o Help prepare budget for project activities/fundraising proposals; o Assist in drafting budget plans for projects across annual work plan for 2024/25. o Ensure all mandatory allocations including direct and indirect costs are correctly estimated in the budgets and forecasts. o Support monitoring of budget performance of project activities and risk mitigation regarding income and expenditure. o Support preparation of budget revisions when needed. o Assist Admin/Finance Team to establish systems and processes to support financial planning and management, monitoring and reporting for donor-funded projects. o Monitor expenditures and compare with approved budget; prepare adjustments as necessary. o Draft and prepare correspondence to respond to inquiries in respect to relevant financial and budget matters. • Grant management o Assist Admin/Finance Team to support Team Leads on fund management for donor-funded project income and expenditure on consultancy contracts and partner agreements. o Assist in drafting and coordinating review process of consultancy terms of references and implementing partner and donor agreements, in line with UNEP’s standard legal instruments requirements. o Monitor and review implementing partners’ interim and final financial and narrative reports. o Support timely delivery of financial data for administrative and project management support. o As feasible, support with the budget management for contracts of consultants and partner organizations and disbursement of sub-grants. o Support queries on grant-related management of funds across relevant teams. o Support on travel, regional coordination, communications and design related budgeting for donor funded-projects. • M&E and reporting: o Track accounting records for project funds from grant agreements to monitor income and expenditure, co-funding where relevant, and requirements for financial reporting to donors. o Draft grant-funded project’s financial reports and queries in a timely manner, addressing comments as required. o Support planning and delivery of regular financial reports to meet UNEP and donor requirements. o Support monitoring of co-funding expenditure in line with requirements in relevant grant agreements and accuracy in financial reporting to donors. o Assist in monitoring project risk related to financial management and project resourcing. o As requested, support admin and project teams on following up with sub-grantees and partners on financial reporting in line with UN and donor requirements. o Help record payments and expenditure for relevant projects. o Draft semi-annual and annual progress reports of the TNFD project for reporting to the donor, Global Environment Facility (GEF) via WWF US. o Update and maintain the team’s donor reporting and M&E system up-to-dated; track, monitor, ensure and assist in timely submission of the reports to respective donors and partners. o Assist in internal reporting. 2. Fundraising and resource planning for programme management support o Support preparation and analysis of programme/project budget proposals to assist in budget development for donor funds and fundraising. o Assist in the delivery and monitoring of financial sustainability plans developed for projects and financial commitments secured for workstreams’ current and future work plans in the short, medium and long terms. o Support drafting annual budgets for relevant teams’ donor-funded projects. o Support financial liquidity plan of relevant teams in relation to resource planning for consultants and implementing partners; o Support in financial management and budgeting of other projects and programme in relevant workstreams. o Provide other fund management /budget/expenditure tracking/financial reporting administrative support as required. 3. Project coordination and operations a. Contribute to identifying lessons learned and propose potential changes for adaptive management to ensure ongoing performance improvements in financial management of funds for donor-funded projects. b. Supports data management and evaluations for grant agreements. c. Identifies areas for operational efficiency and resource sharing where relevant. d. Helps ensure accuracy of financial reporting to donors. o Archiving, documentation, management of team’s SharePoint site and in OneDrive. Maintaining and keeping up-to-date files. o Assist in HR recruitment activities including drafting new TORs, screening of applications, scheduling interviews, preparing sets of interview questions, while liaising with and guided by the admin team on daily basis. o Assist with onboarding new interns and consultants in the team. o Update TNFD project’s Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP/B), Results Framework (RF), Risk register and Events/Knowledge management products registers periodically; o Coordinate TNFD project’s steering committee meetings. o Provide other administrative support as required. Outputs and Deliverables: • Donor-funded budgets are managed in a timely manner. • Donor-funded project financial reports are delivered in line with UN/grant agreement requirements. Financial information is presented in an accurate, graphical and timely manner. • Budget lines for TORs for team consultants’ paperwork are up to date and correctly filled in both hard copy format and in the shared drives. The consultant shall be under the overall supervision of Deputy Head of UNEP FI and reports directly jointly to relevant Team Leads, as well as the Finance and Budget Assistant.
Qualifications/special skills
Education: Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in project management, finance, administration, fundraising, accounting or a related discipline. A First degree could be taken in lieu of advanced degree provided the selected candidate has 5 years of relevant experience. Professional Experience: A minimum of 3 years of progressively responsible work experience related to project coordination and support, particularly for donor-funded projects and/or with the private financial or corporate sectors.