Sustainable Finance Specialist

Background

PROJECT TITLE: BIODIVERSITY FINANCE INITIATIVE PHILIPPINES

 

Project Description

Since 2014, The United Nations Development Program through its Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) Project, has been supporting the Philippine Government in articulating the financial resources it needs to maintain a healthy biodiversity portfolio in-country. In particular, BIOFIN in collaboration with the Department of Natural Resources Biodiversity Management Bureau has conducted the following assessments: 1) Policy and Institutional Review (PIR); 2) Public and Private Biodiversity Expenditure Review (PPBER); 3) Assessment of financial needs (cost and gap analysis of implementing Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP)). These assessments significantly contributed to the development of a Biodiversity Finance Plan.

Based on insights gained from the results of the three BIOFIN assessments, this Plan acknowledges the importance of tapping additional financing to support the biodiversity agenda of the Philippines, mainly through its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP), referred to henceforth in this Plan as the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP). This Plan is cognizant of the parallel challenges that could not be addressed by generating financing alone: thus, the Plan transcends the focus on generating additional economic tools and strategies to improve the outcome of biodiversity objectives in the country. Financing solutions include a range of transformative actions: generating more financing to fund the PBSAP or associated planning documents; appropriate attribution of biodiversity expenditures in the budget; attaining cost-effective budget execution by eradicating overlaps in biodiversity functions; eradicating expenditures that continue to or aggravate dissipation of biodiversity resources; and paving the groundwork for a responsive policy environment through greater awareness on biodiversity and biodiversity financing and enhancing institutional support towards monitoring of PBSAP.

One of the strategies of BIOFIN is tapping biodiversity financing from the private sector. According to the UNDP, more than 40% of people around the world are now affected by water scarcity. This is projected to increase with the rise of global temperatures as a result of climate change. Further, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and are now more than 50% higher than their 1990 level. Businesses are now seen as a leading catalyst for social and environmental progress as they have the capital, platform, technology, and resources needed to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions at scale. The restoration of water ecosystems including the efficient management of resources and the reduction of waste and pollutants all these challenges are now being addressed by the private sector and have even become integral business targets for some companies.

Relatedly, BIOFIN's private sector finance solutions are aimed at contributing to UNDP Country Office's (CO) private sector strategy. To date, UNDP CO is yet to develop its private sector strategy. Outputs from this engagement will feed into the biodiversity financing pillar of the CO's private sector strategy.

 

Institutional Arrangement

The Project Manager shall directly supervise the Sustainable Financing Specialist and approve his/her output.

The Sustainable Financing Specialist is expected to liaise/interact/collaborate/meet with the national and global (as necessary) BIOFIN project team, DENR BMB and UNDP. As needed, the project staff shall provide administrative assistance to her/him in order for her/him to accomplish all requirements.

The project staff including other project consultants, as well as, relevant technical staff shall provide comments on the outputs of the consultant within 2 weeks of the consultant's submission of his/her outputs. Should there be further comments, the revised output shall be submitted within a week. Should there be no comments, the Project Manager shall endorse the consultant's output/s for approval.

Based on the table above, outputs will be submitted to UNDP and BMB through the Project Manager on the dates indicated.

UNDP Philippines will not provide a workstation, transportation, or ICT equipment for the consultant.

UNDP Philippines shall be entitled to intellectual property and other proprietary rights over all materials that have a direct relation to the project.

Considering the COVID-19 pandemic and declaration of State of Public Health Emergency in the Philippines, all work of the Individual consultant shall be done within the guidelines and protocols set by the local and national government. During the entire duration of the Community Quarantine, this consultancy shall be performed remotely and will be a home-based assignment. The Consultant is expected to have his/her own equipment, office space, and internet connectivity. The Consultant shall not engage in any meetings or activities outside their homes. Coordination/meetings shall be done through phone or online communication until such time that the quarantine is lifted.

The project and the Consultant shall assess, once the Community Quarantine is lifted if it is safe and necessary to have in-person meetings and collaboration.

 

Duration of the Work, Duty Station and Travel

The Contractor will be engaged from April 2021 to September 2021 unless revised in a mutually agreed-upon timetable by UNDP and the Contractor. Changes in the duration of the contract will be implemented through the issuance of a contract amendment. The consultant is expected to render a total of 125 person-days spread for 6 months from April to September 2021.

Duty station:BIOFIN Project Management Office, 1/F AdminBldg. Annex 2,Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center , Biodiversity Management Bureau, North Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City 1101. The Consultant is not required to report daily at the duty station but shall have an agreed reporting schedule with the project management unit and other relevant UNDP and BMB personnel.

Travel: As may be deemed relevant to the assignment, the Consultant may be required to travel within the Philippines. Travels will be endorsed by the Project Manager for approval by the Programme Manager. Travel expenses, to be covered by UNDP Philippines, will be agreed prior to travel and a travel report is to be submitted after trips are completed.

 

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The financial proposals from possible candidates should be expressed in lump sum amount inclusive of all financial costs related to this engagement (daily fee X number of working days, insurance, communication and internet expenses, supplies & materials, reproduction, etc.). Travel expenses to project-related meetings and workshops outside of Metro Manila shall be paid for by the Project based on UNDP Rates, and subject to national and local government guidelines on quarantine and travel.

Medical/health insurance must be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense, and upon award of contract, the consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during the contract duration.

The Payment terms are as follows:

Percentage	Description	Deadline
10%	Submission and acceptance of Inception Report	April 2021
20%	Submission and acceptance of Assessment Report on Biodiversity Financing Landscape in the Philippines	April 2021
50%	Submission and acceptance of report on Recommendation on priority actions/areas of sector engagement for the biodiversity financing pillar	May 31, 2021
	Submission and acceptance of report on Enhanced BIOFIN Private Sector Strategy	May 31, 2021
	Submission and acceptance of report on Financial product design/portfolio appropriate	May 31, 2021
20%	Submission and acceptance of report on Financing Initiatives and Policy Recommendations for Protected Areas	September 30, 2021
	Submission and acceptance of report on Shared language for Improved BD Financing	September 30, 2021

Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Project Manager and the Senior Technical Advisor, the Sustainable Financing Specialist shall:

1)? Undertake a review of BIOFIN's private sector? strategy and recommended priority private sector finance solutions that can be strengthened and/or scaled-up given the remaining project timeline and resources

2) Undertake a comprehensive assessment of private sector-related biodiversity financing landscape in the Philippines, including:

• Map-out existing private sector biodiversity investments, including but not limited to:

1. initiatives undertaken by international funding organizations, e.g., World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Finance Corporation, among others;
2. characterize biodiversity financing products/portfolios of commercial and development finance institutions, including ratio of BD finance products to total portfolios; and existing clients of these financing products/portfolios;
3. current/existing private sector biodiversity financing initiavies, specifying nature and scale of engagement and funding sources of the private sector in biodiversity financing, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and corporations;
4. Extent of biodiversity financing by private sector in relation to total portfolio, e.g., bank portfolios;

• Assess facilitating and prohibiting factors for finance sector participation in biodiversity financing, i.e., determining (i) why they are investing and/or why not; (ii) reasons why they are not investing as much; (iii) kinds of programmes/activities most attractive to private sector and reasons for these; and (iv) factors that will motivate the private sector and financing institutions to increase their investments.

• In collaboration with the Policy Specialist, assess policy architecture of biodiversity financing among commercial and development finance institutions in the Philippines, including: (i) identification of existing frameworks such as Responsible Banking, ?(https://v2.sdgfin.org/our-offer/), policies, guidelines and Department Orders, among others, that support leveraging biodiversity financing from commercial and development finance institutions; (ii) determination of policy gaps, including incentive systems and institutional landscapes, that prevent commercial and development finance institutions from developing and deploying biodiversity- related financing instruments and also those that discourage related sectors from accessing these financing instruments, e.g. MSMEs who value chains involve nature-based inputs and/or scaling-up investments on biodiversity conservation along the value chain streams; (iii) development of policy recommendations that will help in de-risking biodiversity financing-related instruments and increase uptake of said instruments;
• In collaboration with the Policy Specialist, assess policy and institutional landscapes related to biodiversity-related Public-Private Partnerships, impact investments and blended finance. Through this work, the Sustainable Finance Specialist will identify existing policies that provide opportunities for PPP, impact investments and blended finance to achieve PBSAP targets.

3) Undertake a review of international best practices of finance sector biodiversity financing, cull-out lessons learned from the development and implementation of these private sector-related biodiversity financing and recommend applicable strategies and interventions that can be implemented in the Philippines to improve biodiversity financing;

4) Provide recommendations on how private sector biodiversity financing can be improved within the Philippine context, specifying: (i) menu of options on biodiversity project ideas that will attract private sector financing, given the PBSAP targets, under the different private sector participation modalities, e.g., Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),PPP, impact investments and blended financing, among others, and taking into account different resource use types; (ii) types of private sector entities where there is high potential of participating in biodiversity financing; and (iii) appropriate biodiversity financing instruments that can be developed and/or promoted, if already existing, by commercial and development financial institutions and specifically the development of a finance product/portfolio for the Development Bank of the Philippines ;

5) Taking-off from the results of the biodiversity financing landscape assessment, develop the shared language for SDGs 14 (life below water) and 15 (life on land) in relation to increasing biodiversity financing, reporting and standard framework through:

• Articulation of country-level SDG 14 and 15 targets based on PBSAP priorities, benchmarks/baselines and targets
• For key business industries and sectors that have the biggest potential to contribute to BD financing, develop Key Result Areas (KRAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?? of specific businesses and standard translation of performance metrics into SGD 14 and 15 and PBSAP contributions to provide verified evidences to shareholders, prospective investors, regulatory agencies and other interested parties; and
• Creation of a robust M and E mechanism for the consolidation of the company contribution data based on the agreed KRs and KPIs

6) Conduct stocktaking, review and assessment of local and international sustainable financing initiatives in protected areas i.e. traditional revenue sources (user fee systems), modern and innovative revenue sources (web/app-based revenue sources), etc. S/he should also provide recommendations on the best practices on programs and policy options that would boost both public and private sector investments/revenues for protected areas.

7) Conduct a study and come up with policy recommendations on the following policy agenda that has implications on PA financing as stipulated under the NIPAS Act, as amended and its IRR (DAO 2019-05):

• Operationalization of grants, donations, endowments from various sources (Rule 16.2)
• Operationalization and impacts of tax exemption (Section 16-A)
• Operationalization of the posting of the rehabilitation/performance bond in a form of surety bond or cash, including the determination of the sufficiency of said bond (Rule 25.13)

8) Lead stakeholder engagements and consultations, as applicable;

9) Attend relevant project meetings and workshops/exercises; and

10) Submit report/s as may be required by UNDP and BMB.

 

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Deliverables/ Outputs	Estimated Duration to complete	Target Due Dates	Review and Approvals Required
Inception Report (should contain the methodology by which the Consultant will deliver all outputs and corresponding timeline)	5 days	April 2021	Anabelle E. Plantilla Project Manager, BIOFIN Ph   Floradema C. Eleazar Outcome Lead, Climate Action   Asst. Dir., OIC   Amelita DJ. Ortiz, BMB
Assessment Report on Biodiversity Financing Landscape in the Philippines	25 days	April 2021
Recommendation on priority actions/areas of interventions for inclusion in CO's private sector engagement for the biodiversity financing pillar	25 days	May 31, 2021
Enhanced BIOFIN Private Sector Strategy	25 days	May 31, 2021
Financial product design/portfolio for DBP's impact	30 days	June 18, 2021
Report on Financing Initiatives and Policy Recommendations for Protected Areas	25 days	June 11, 2021
Shared language for Improved BD Financing	15 days	July 16, 2021

Competencies

Corporate competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional and technical competencies

• Ability to work in a diverse and multi-cultural environment;
• Self-motivated and ability to work under pressure and to meet strict and competing deadlines;
• Displays analytical judgment and demonstrated ability to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities

Required Skills and Experience

Offers will be evaluated based on the combined scoring method :

• Technical qualifications = 70%
• Financial Proposal =??? 30%

For the evaluation of the Technical Proposal, the selection of the successful consultant must be based on the following qualifications (with the appropriate obtainable points):?

Qualification	Points Obtainable
Education Minimum Bachelor’s degree in finance, economics, business administration, or other related areas (minimum 21 points for or advanced degree, maximum of 30 points) 0 points if no Bachelor’s Degree 21 points for relevant Bachelor’s Degree 25 points for relevant Master’s Degree 30 points for relevant Doctorate	30
Experience At least 15 years’ experience in finance or related practice area/s (minimum 21 points for 15 years’ experience, additional points for additional years, maximum of 30 points)	30
At least 3 years’ experience in fiscal policy formulation relevant to sustainable development (minimum 7 points for 3 years’ experience, additional points for additional years, maximum of 10 points)	10
At least 10 years’ experience with initiatives in small- and medium- scale enterprises and/or the development of corporate and/or social development programs (minimum 21 points for 10 years’ experience, additional points for additional years, maximum of 30 points)	30
Language English	PASS or FAIL
TOTAL	100

Applicants who will only receive 70 points from the assessment of the CV will be qualified for the assessment of the Financial Proposal.

 

Recommended Presentation of Offer

Interested applicants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.?Please group them into?one (1) single PDF document?as the application only allows to upload of a maximum of one document.?

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using?the template provided by UNDP;
2. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references; and
3. Financial Proposal that?indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs (see I. Scope of Price Proposal), as per template provided. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

Interested applicants to note that personal Medical/health insurance (to be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense) is mandatory for the issuance of contracts. Upon award of the contract, the consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during the contract duration.

The following templates / Annexes and IC General Terms & Conditions can be downloaded from?http://gofile.me/6xdJm/bE9TCw8fU:

• General Terms and Conditions for Individual Contract
• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability
• P-11 form

 

In view of the volume of applications, UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors?will be notified.