National Project Coordinator BIOFIN Phase II

National governments have demonstrated clear commitment to fulfilling their mandates for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in ways that are compatible with national development goals, and to finding a diverse range of funding sources for biodiversity management. UNDP believes a transformation is needed in the way biodiversity finance is planned and managed, unlocking resources to meet the Aichi Targets, defined in the CBD’s Strategic Plan 2011-2020, in a manner that promotes sustainable development and the eradication of poverty.

The global Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) is managed by UNDP, in partnership with the European Commission and the Governments of Flanders, Germany, Norway and Switzerland. The Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) is a global partnership addressing the biodiversity ­finance challenge in a comprehensive manner. The Initiative provides an innovative methodology enabling countries to measure their current biodiversity expenditures, assess their ­financial needs in the medium term and identify the most suitable ­finance solutions to bridge their national biodiversity ­finance gaps. The BIOFIN methodology includes the following main steps (see the 2018 BIOFIN Workbook):

• Policy and Institutional Review (PIR)
• Biodiversity Expenditure Review (BER)
• Finance Needs Assessment (FNA)
• Biodiversity Finance Plan
• Implementing Finance Solutions.

BIOFIN in Mongolia concluded these steps early 2019, resulting in the identification of a number of biodiversity finance solutions, including the strengthening of existing pasture user fees, natural resource management fees, the design of an environmental trust fund, protected area finance and financing conservation through sustainable businesses.

PIR, BER and FNA findings were compiled and published as “Biodiversity finance needs, policy and trends”, and the finance plan with the feasibility studies of the chosen finance solutions were published as “Biodiversity finance plan”. Finance needs assessment was conducted within the framework of the National Biodiversity Programme (NBP) 2015-2025. A total of 197.4 million USD is needed to successfully implement the NBP, out of which 64.2 million USD is secured and remaining 136.7 million USD is lacking.

NBP strategic area 3 (promoting sustainable use of biodiversity) and 4 (improving policies and legal environment) should be the priority areas for financing, as it could prevent from future expenditures. Moreover, conservation behavior change of all stakeholders should be encouraged.

In 2018, BIOFIN started a second phase, geared towards the implementation of Biodiversity Finance Plans and finance solutions. It will run through the end of 2022 and involve at least 28 countries.

In this light, UNDP Mongolia is seeking to engage a national project coordinator to coordinate the implementation of the proposed finance solutions engaging with national and local government, private sector, and other pertinent stakeholders.  The second phase supports the implementation of the Biodiversity Finance Plan developed under BIOFIN Phase I. Following finance solutions will be implemented:

Finance solution 1: Improving the collection and delivery of Mongolia’s Natural Resources User Fees.  Implementation of the Law on Natural Resources Use Fees can be improved through a coherent environmental planning and budgeting process, improving the methodology to determine the fee collection and its expenditure, ensuring continuous monitoring system, enhancing the capacity and cooperation of the local stakeholders.  The main objective of the Law on Natural Resources Use Fees, adopted in 2012, is to create positive incentives for the sustainable use of natural resources, and fund the protection, restoration of natural resources through central and local budgets. However, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) reported its implementation was only 38.1% during 2015 – 2018. For instance, in 2018 a total of 28.3 billion USD was collected in aimag budget as natural resources use fee, of which 9.6 million USD should have been spent on protection and restoration of natural resources as per the law. However, only 3.52 million USD was spent on its intended use^[1], showing there is a potential to increase conservation expenditures by at least one-fold, if the law is enforced better. It is estimated full enforcement of the law could mobilize a minimum of 5-6 million USD per annum, almost half of the total biodiversity gap at the national level.  Methodology will be developed and adopted to improve collection of the natural resource use fees and increase redistribution portion for the biodiversity conservation purposes. Moreover, one-credit course on “Environmental planning and financing at local level” was developed by BIOFIN team in cooperation with the National Academy of Governance (NAOG). The course is approved as part of the NAOG curriculum and will be available from fall semester in 2019. 

Finance solution 2: Establishing the Mongolian Conservation Trust Fund.

BIOFIN phase 1 studies revealed key measures to successfully conserve and sustain biodiversity a long-term sustainable financing solution should be established based on the right policies and incentives, strong governance and institutional management, community participation, and private sector involvement. One of the proven international best practices to develop such long-term sustainable financing solution is to establish Conservation Trust Funds (CTF), which can attract resources from both international and local resources, increasingly focusing on private sector funding. According to pre-feasibility studies, such fund can be established based under the Civil Code and Law on NGOs of Mongolia. The study also showed that private sector representatives, e.g. mining companies, telecom companies and banking or financial institutes, are interested and willing to provide contributions. Therefore, the proposed finance solution aims at designing and establishing an independent fiduciary legal institution, MCTF, to provide sustainable long-term financing for conservation activities.

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Programme Portfolio officer, the National Project Coordinator will provide substantive and administrative support to the project. The National Project Coordinator will be responsible for innovate development project/programme in Environment and Tourism, Finance sectors; design project portfolios and promote organization’s capacity as a reliable partner with national counterparts, particularly with Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Ministry of Finance, conservation NGOs, banking and finance institutions, mining companies and other development partners.  Ensure coordination of sectoral activities with broader country programme.  Advocate on behalf of organization’s goals.

The project manager will be required to initiate and organize periodic Project Board meetings and follow up implementation of decisions passed by the Board.

The National Project Coordinator will be responsible for the overall management of in-country activities, ensuring a proper workplan and budget is in place and implemented within set timelines, and to have an effective team operational. The Coordinator will ensure an effective implementation of the proposed finance solutions in coordination with other UNDP projects, such as SDG mainstreaming, Ensuring Sustainability and Resilience in green landscapes of Mongolia (ENSURE).  Moreover, the Coordinator will be required to coordinate the Mongolia Conservation Trust Fund establishment work with private sector representatives, e.g. conservation foundations, mining companies, telecom companies and banking /financial institutions that are willing to contribute to the biodiversity conservation.   Key duties and responsibilities will include:

Analysis, Advice and Support

• Identify, analyze potential domestic public and private finance opportunities across different time horizons and advice on how to attract and secure resources from the collective commitment made by developed countries to provide resources to help meet the biodiversity conservation  needs of the country;
• Provide strategic and substantive support and advice to implementing and executing entities in order to promote enhanced investment on building a climate resilient green economy;
• Make sure that the concerned proponents are provided with a clear explanation on the decision of the Board and is posted on the web-based platform and/or Registry;
• Identify challenges, opportunities, priorities and needs for the development and implementation of the National Biodiversity action plan  and strategy, program of work and proposals at sectoral  level;
• Liaise with further partners such as KFW, GIZ, WCS, TNC, WWF, World Bank, IMF and other organisations working in the field of biodiversity finance and identify and explore synergies.

Management

• Assist with the identification and selection of national and international consultants and experts, in close collaboration with the UNDP Country Office and the Global BIOFIN Team and write terms of references for BIOFIN team members;
• In consultation with the UNDP Country Office and Global BIOFIN Team elaborate/revise the work plan and budget and submit timely for the bi-annual budget revision process (30 June and 31 December of each year);
• Supervise the work of the national and international 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 BIOFIN team;
• Oversee the work of the Finance Assistant to ensure administrative requirements are managed and executed in a timely and appropriate manner and within UNDP and donor rules and regulations;
• Organise all relevant project workshops in a consultative manner, involving a wide variety of biodiversity finance stakeholders, including the private sector, NGOs and academia.
• Lead capturing and documenting of lessons from project implementation and make recommendations to the National Steering/Advisory Committee for more effective implementation of activities.
• Communicate all the planned activities with the Ministries of Finance, Ministry of Environment and other key stakeholders and organize Steering Committee meetings to discuss progress of the project and make timely decision on substantive issues associated with the implementation of the proposed finance solutions and write meeting reports;
• Ensure a timely identification of risks in implementation at the national and local level and communication to the global BIOFIN team/ UNDP CO;
• Organise bi-monthly meetings of the team and monthly calls with the Senior Advisor from the global BIOFIN Team.  Ensure participation of BIOFIN Team members in regional technical calls.

Reporting/Communication/M&E

• Liaise with the global BIOFIN team and government to obtain timely feedback on deliverables. Obtain final clearance of each deliverable from government and the global BIOFIN team to enable further dissemination. 
• Signal any delays in national deliverables compared to the workplan to the Team Leader, UNDP Country Office and the Global BIOFIN Team.
• Lead project monitoring, reporting and evaluation at national level, draft quarterly reports for review by the Programme officer and submission to the global BIOFIN team.
• Develop workshop reports for all technical workshops.
• Develop briefing notes, case studies, press releases, web articles and other media products as required.
• Assist with research/ communication with pertinent stakeholders and write sections of technical reports as required.
• Review all national level deliverables to ensure quality and consistency with the BIOFIN methodology;
• Review international best practises on finance solutions and prepare specific knowledge products tailored to the Mongolian context.
• Participate in regional and global BIOFIN meetings and share learning with national stakeholders through high impact debriefs.
• Participate in global and reginal BIOFIN webinars and calls.
• Organise national level webinars on selected finance solutions.
• Ensure an adequate filing system is in place for all technical, administrative and operational documents.  

Provide substantive technical advisory support on the Strategy and Facility related issues

• Provide support and technical assistance to the implementation of the Biodivesity finance solutions on formulation of gender responsive planning, investment plans and action plans;
• Provide technical support to sectors and result based monitoring and evaluation;
• Support activities and strengthen capacity for action and delivery of results at the sectoral  levels; including through inter-sectoral and public-private-community cooperation for the financing for biodiversity conservation.

Key deliverables (products and processes):

• Detailed BIOFIN Annual / Quarterly Work Plan and budget agreed by all major partners.
• National Steering Committee formed and operational.
• All consultants and team members recruited and delivering to schedule and working relations between team members clarified and effective.
• Ensure the planned work leads to the achievement of the targets of two finance solutions: 1. Increased percentage of expenditure compared to the total revenue from the natural resource use fee - 50% at the soum level, - twice from the baseline level at the aimag level.  2.  At least one MoU signed to guarantee the establishment of MCTF.
• Lines of communication and working methods agreed and functional.
• Reporting and updates provided to Programme officer of UNDP, government, etc.
• Planned activities are carried out in line with timelines and required quality standards.
• All workshops organised in line with workplan and well documented.
• The contract and payments will be performance-based and regularly assessed by the Programme officer, UNDP Country Office and BIOFIN Central Technical Unit.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Management and Leadership 

• Good managerial and leading skills;
• Demonstrate strong coordination and organizational skills;
• Ability to work as a part of a team, sharing information and coordinating efforts within the team; 
• Consistently approaches to work with energy and a positive and constructive attitude;
• Excellent analytical and writing skills.

Communication

• Good communication skill both in writing and oral including networking and interpersonal skills;
• Good listener;
• Ability to prepare publications, reports and presentations.
• Proven ability to persuade and influence others to cooperate.
• Client Orientation
• Excellent relationship Builder;
• Care about other peoples’ needs and opinions and can listen deeply to their concerns and wishes;
• Researches potential solutions to internal and external client needs and reports back in a timely, succinct and appropriate fashion;
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines;
• Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships within the work unit and with internal and external clients; 
• Proven ability to build strong relations with partners, clients for positive feedback;
• Ability to undertake and apply gender analysis to ensure gender equitable solutions.

Partnership

• Build, coordinate and advise on strategic and programmatic partnership
• Facilitate the engagement of major stakeholders or groups in environment and sustainable development decision making, their access to and sharing of information for effective compliance.

Communication and Outreach

• Advise on the development and management of the MCTF communication strategy, outreach campaigns and activities to raise funding.

Professionalism

• Demonstrate professional competence and mastery of subject matter;
• Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Speaks and writes clearly and effectively and demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed;
• Willing to undertake other assignments as provided by the Head of the Facility.

Leadership

• Operates with a collaborative/participative leadership style;
• Proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives;
• Establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support;
• Drives for change and improvements;
• Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

Judgment/Decision-making

• Identifies the key issues in a complex situation;
• Gathers relevant information before making a decision;
• Considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them;
• Proposes a course of action based on all available information;
• Checks assumptions against facts.

Academic qualification

Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in environmental economics, public finance, ecology, environmental studies or another relevant scientific discipline is required.

Work experience

• A minimum six (6) years (with PhD degree), or, minimum eight (8) years (with Masters’ degree) of extensive working experience in development, project/program coordination, policy development, analysis is required;
• Preferably in the implementation of environment/biodiversity/finance projects, prior experience with UNDP projects would be an asset;
• Experience in dealing with international and national experts and institutions/NGOs is an asset;
• Exposure to environmental issues or biodiversity is desirable;
• Proven experience and knowledge in Development Effectiveness and cooperation, gender equality and its related issues is an asset;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web based management systems

Language qualification

Excellent knowledge of English and Mongolian both spoken and writtenExcellent knowledge of English and Mongolian both spoken and written.

Important applicant information

All posts in the SC categories are subject to local recruitment.

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