Background

UNDP Moldova supports the creation of an enabling environment for formal and innovative employment and decent work across the country, catalyzing investment for sustainable and resilient livelihoods for women and men, including across the conflict divide. UNDP works to expand access to economic opportunities for groups facing structural barriers to labour market participation, including youth, women, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and refugees. This support combines skills development, improved access to finance, strengthened digital infrastructure, and better linkages between social protection schemes, employment measures, and public services.

A strong emphasis is placed on women’s economic empowerment. UNDP supports policies and programmes that address barriers to women’s participation in the labour market, including by tackling social norms and stereotypes, promoting access to affordable services such as care services, and expanding women’s access to entrepreneurship support and business development schemes. Through investments in human capital, UNDP also promotes improvements in education and lifelong learning opportunities, including through digital transformation, to better align skills with labour market demand.

To enhance the accessibility and quality of public services, particularly in rural and underserved areas, UNDP supports local governments to strengthen their capacity to engage communities, the private sector, and diaspora actors in the planning, coordination, delivery, and monitoring of services. Community empowerment, with a particular focus on women and marginalized groups, is a core principle of this approach. Strong and capable local institutions are essential for translating national development priorities into tangible improvements in people’s lives and for managing increasingly complex development investments.

In parallel, UNDP Moldova supports national and regional efforts to improve how public and private resources are planned, allocated, and governed in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. Through its Public and Private Finance for Development approach, UNDP works with government institutions, private sector actors, and development partners to strengthen policy, institutional, and implementation frameworks that enable more effective use of available financing. This includes support for public finance management, alignment of budgets with development priorities, engagement with private sector partners, and financing for climate and biodiversity objectives. Grounded in innovation, evidence, and national ownership, this work contributes to a more resilient and coherent financial ecosystem capable of supporting inclusive growth and long-term sustainable development.

Within this broader framework, Investing in SDGs: Renewable Energy in Moldova is implemented as a component of UNDP’s regional Public and Private Finance for Development portfolio, translating development finance principles into concrete, local-level investment pipelines. The component focuses on strengthening the capacity of Local Public Authorities to prepare and advance bankable renewable energy investments, while contributing to local development, energy resilience, and institutional strengthening objectives.

The component builds on UNDP’s ongoing work under the Resilient Communities through Women Empowerment, phase II project, funded by the Governments of Sweden and Norway. Under this framework, five clusters of Local Public Authorities were selected based on their voluntary amalgamation initiatives and their commitment to developing joint Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans. Of these, four clusters are direct beneficiaries of the Investing in SDGs: Renewable Energy in Moldova component: the Roșcani cluster (Roșcani, Calfa, Țelița), the Călinești cluster (Călinești, Chetriș, Hîncești), the Leova cluster (Leova, Sirma, Tochile-Răducani, Sărata-Răzeși), and the Geamăna cluster (Geamăna, Ochiul Roș, Zolotievca).

The strategic objective of this component is to support the creation of a pipeline of investment-ready photovoltaic projects, underpinned by feasibility studies, technical designs, and financial models that can attract public and private financing. By combining technical assessments, engineering design, financial modelling, and institutional capacity development, the component contributes to the emergence of mature, bankable renewable energy investments that can be financed through private investment initiatives as well as through public and development partner programmes. In parallel, it strengthens local capacities to plan, procure, and manage renewable energy investments and to establish public–private partnerships for their sustainable implementation.

The component is embedded within UNDP Moldova’s wider development finance and private sector engagement architecture, including the Moldova SDG Investor Map, which provides market intelligence on priority investment opportunity areas aligned with national development needs and the Sustainable Development Goals. By linking locally prepared renewable energy investments with national and regional investment intelligence and promotion tools, UNDP supports the transition from stand-alone infrastructure projects to more structured local investment pipelines. This integrated approach helps bridge gaps between local project preparation, enabling policies, and private capital mobilization, while strengthening coherence between national development priorities and local implementation capacities.

Through this combination of local-level investment preparation, institutional strengthening, and system-level development finance support under the Public and Private Finance for Development framework, UNDP contributes to creating conditions in which communities can move beyond individual projects towards sustained local economic development, improved service delivery, and inclusive, resilient growth.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNDP Moldova seeks to contract a Local Investment and Business Development Analyst (hereinafter “the Analyst”) to support the implementation of the Investing in SDGs: Renewable Energy in Moldova component, implemented under UNDP’s Public and Private Finance for Development framework. The assignment is designed to capitalize on implementation efficiencies achieved under the project and to consolidate and expand the development impact of existing results by strengthening complementary local investment and business development initiatives.

The Analyst will support partner Local Public Authorities (LPAs) in making practical use of the renewable energy investments prepared under the project and in identifying additional opportunities for local economic development aligned with local priorities and the investment opportunity areas identified under the Moldova SDG Investor Map. 

The role focuses on facilitation, advisory support, and institutional uptake, rather than on technical design, feasibility studies, financial modelling, procurement, or implementation, which are covered under separate arrangements. Through this assignment, UNDP aims to move from stand-alone investment preparation towards more integrated local development and business pipelines, strengthening local competitiveness, improving the business environment, and reinforcing institutional capacity and ownership at the local level.

The assignment emphasizes continuity of support, institutional learning, and practical uptake of investment-oriented approaches, rather than the production of stand-alone deliverables.

The Analyst’s key responsibilities will include:

Support local investment and business pipeline development at cluster level

  • Work with the four partner LPA clusters to identify and articulate complementary local investment and business development opportunities that build on existing or planned renewable energy investments.
  • Facilitate local consultations with LPA representatives, community stakeholders, and relevant economic actors to identify priority areas where local competitiveness, service delivery, or the business environment can be strengthened.
  • Support partner LPAs in shaping coherent early-stage concepts for local development or business pipelines aligned with local priorities and the SDG Investor Map investment opportunity areas.
  • Assist each partner cluster in the development of at least one local development or business pipeline concept, focusing on institutional ownership, strategic coherence, and readiness for further development or financing, without preparing technical or financial documentation.
  • Support partner LPAs in understanding potential pathways for public, private, or blended financing, including sequencing and eligibility considerations.

Facilitate partnerships, coordination, and integration with UNDP development finance initiatives

  • Support coordination and structured engagement between partner Local Public Authorities, the UNDP project team, and relevant national stakeholders, including Invest Moldova, to strengthen coherence between local investment initiatives and national investment promotion and development finance frameworks.
  • Contribute to strengthening the capacity of partner communities to articulate local investment priorities and opportunities in a manner consistent with national investment promotion approaches.
  • Provide advisory and hands-on support to partner LPAs in the development of concise, indicative investment profiles at cluster level, highlighting local economic potential, priority investment areas, and linkages to renewable energy investments and SDG-aligned opportunities.
  • Support the alignment of these investment profiles with the information needs and formats used by Invest Moldova, with the understanding that the profiles will be further used and adapted by Invest Moldova in its investor outreach and engagement activities.
  • Ensure that the investment profiles remain high-level, indicative, and institutionally owned by the partner communities, and that they complement – rather than replace – formal investment promotion materials or detailed project documentation developed through other initiatives.
  • Contribute to the integration of locally identified pipeline concepts and investment profiles within UNDP’s broader Public and Private Finance for Development portfolio, including linkages with the Moldova SDG Investor Map.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the project, the partner institution and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangements

The Local Investment and Business Development Analyst will be engaged under a short-term NPSA contract with UNDP Moldova and will report administratively and substantively to the designated Project Manager, who will provide overall coordination of the assignment and ensure alignment with project objectives, work plans, and UNDP programme priorities.

The Analyst will work in close coordination with the Investing in SDGs: Renewable Energy in Moldova project team and relevant UNDP colleagues involved in Public and Private Finance for Development initiatives. Day-to-day activities will be carried out in close collaboration with partner Local Public Authorities and, as relevant, with national counterparts, including Invest Moldova, to support coherence between local investment initiatives and national development finance and investment promotion frameworks.

From a technical and advisory perspective, the Analyst will receive guidance from the Project Manager to ensure consistency with UNDP approaches to SDG-aligned investment, local economic development, and partnership engagement. Regular communication and progress updates will be maintained to support coordination, information sharing, and timely identification of emerging needs related to local investment and business development activities.

The incumbent is expected to comply fully with UNDP’s administrative rules, regulations, policies, and procedures, and to uphold high standards of professionalism, integrity, confidentiality, and quality throughout the assignment.

Competencies

Core Competencies

Achieve Results - LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline.

Think Innovatively - LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements.

Learn Continuously - LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback.

Adapt with Agility - LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible.

Act with Determination - LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident.

Engage and Partner - LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships.

Enable Diversity and Inclusion - LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination.

Cross-Functional and Technical Competencies

Business Direction and Strategy - Business Acumen:    

  • Ability to understand and deal with a business situation in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome. 
  • Ability to make good judgements and quick decisions within such frameworks. 
  • Knowledge and understanding of the operational frameworks in the organization.

Business Direction and Strategy - System Thinking:    

  • Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgment 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.

Business Development - Knowledge Generation:    

  • Ability to research information and to turn it into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need. 
  • Ability to apply existing concepts to new situations, and to develop new concepts to generate workable solutions and new approaches. 
  • Knowledge of relevant concepts, conceptual models, and theories that can be useful in addressing new situations.

Business Development - Knowledge Facilitation:    

  • Ability to animate individuals and groups, internally and externally, and to design and facilitate activities, to share and exchange knowledge, information and ideas.
  • Knowledge of tools and approaches to stimulate active participation, contribution, and exchange.

2030 Agenda: Partnerships - SDG Integration:    

  • SDG Monitoring and Reporting.

2030 Agenda: Partnerships - SDG Finance:    

  • SDG Investment Project Pipelines.

2030 Agenda: Partnerships - SDG Finance:    

  • Public Finance for the SDGs.

Required Skills and Experience

Minimum education requirements:    

  • Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in economics, business administration, finance, public administration, regional or local development, or another field relevant to local economic development, investment, or development finance is required; OR 
  • A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above, in combination with an additional two (2) years of qualifying experience, will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Minimum years of relevant work experience:    

  • At least two (2) years of relevant professional experience (with a Master’s degree) or four (4) years (with a Bachelor’s degree) at the national or international level in one or more of the following areas:
    • business development or investment-related advisory support;
    • local economic or territorial development initiatives;
    • support to small and medium-sized enterprises, business associations, or local value chains;
    • applied expert support to development programmes or projects, including those related to energy efficiency, renewable energy, or sustainable local development.

Required skills:    

  • Demonstrated experience providing hands-on expert or advisory support to the conceptualization or positioning of local development, business, or investment initiatives.
  • Ability to work directly with local authorities, communities, or project teams to support practical uptake of investment-oriented approaches.
  • Strong analytical and drafting skills, with the ability to translate technical, investment-related, or policy information into clear and accessible inputs for non-technical stakeholders.
  • Proficiency in standard office software and digital collaboration tools, including word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation software.

Desired skills:

  • Practical knowledge or experience related to energy efficiency and/or renewable energy, including project-level, policy, or investment aspects.
  • Experience working with or supporting public institutions, local authorities, or government-led development programmes in an expert or advisory capacity.
  • Experience in stakeholder engagement, networking, or partnership development with public and private actors.
  • Familiarity with SDG-aligned investment approaches, development finance concepts, or investment pipeline development is an asset.
  • Previous experience with UN agencies, international organizations, or development partners.
  • Experience contributing to capacity development, peer learning, or knowledge-sharing activities through expert input.
  • Ability to problem-solve and think creatively in identifying practical local development or business solutions in a complex socio-economic environment.

Required language(s): 

  • Fluency in Romanian and English is required.
  • Knowledge of one or more minority languages relevant for Moldova, including Russian, Romani, Gagauzian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and sign language, is an asset.

Professional certificates: 

  • Additional training or certification in energy efficiency, renewable energy, development finance, public administration, project management or related fields will be considered an advantage.

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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