Investment Officer IPSA9 UNCDF, Dakar SENEGAL

Background

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

UNCDF’s financing models work through three channels: i) inclusive digital economies, connecting individuals, households, and small businesses with financial eco-systems that catalyze participation in the local economy, and provide tools to climb out of poverty and manage financial lives; ii) local development finance, that capacitates localities through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and iii) structured project finance to drive local economic expansion and sustainable development. UNCDF also promotes investment finance, that provides catalytic financial structuring, de-risking, and capital deployment to drive SDG impact and domestic resource mobilization. By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small enterprise, and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes especially to Sustainable Development Goal-SDG 1 on eradicating poverty and SDG 17 on the means of implementation. UNCDF’s approach is to identify those market segments where innovative financing models can have transformational impact in helping to reach the last mile and address exclusion and inequalities of access, then, UNCDF contributes to a broad diversity of SDGs.

In western and central Africa, UNCDF has set up various financial instruments that aim at developing or strengthening innovative financing mechanisms and build a portfolio of SMEs and PPPs with municipalities projects with a transformative impact on local economic development. Implemented programmes/financial instruments include:

1) The MIF programme (Municipal Investment Finance) that aims to develop financing instruments that diversify and aggregate municipalities’ financial base, and support municipalities in the identification and structuring of Public-private partnership projects. As part of MIF, UNCDF established the International Municipal Investment Fund (IMIF), a unique, bespoke investment fund, designed as a municipal support fund to increase the capacity of local governments to access capital markets through 

intermediaries, with a particular focus on developing countries, to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. The target for IMIF’s first closing is 350 million EUR. Investments will be sought in the transport, utilities, clean energy, waste management, land use and city planning sectors, amongst others. The IMIF invests in commercially bankable projects sponsored by municipalities which expand their fiscal space and accelerate the implementation of SDG11, SDG13 and other related SDGs.

In addition, under the Blue Peace/OMVG project, UNCDF is accompanying and supporting the Gambia River Basin Development Organisation (OMVG) in the implementation of a financing structure including the issuance of a Bond, providing technical and financial assistance to strengthen OMVG’s institutional capacity as well as providing capital to transboundry projects in the Gambia river basin region;

2) The BRIDGE facility, leveraging the technical capacity of UNCDF’s LDC Investment Platform, through the issuance of catalytic loans and guarantees, and the BUILD fund, an innovative impact finance vehicle designed to bring “missing middle” finance to small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that have the potential for strong development impact in the world’s least developed countries (LDCs).

3) The UNCDF and DER/FJ special purpose vehicle, a joint mechanism with the Délégation Générale à l'Entrepreneuriat Rapide des Femmes et des Jeunes (DER/FJ), is seeking to increase financial and technical resources for entrepreneurship as well as supporting food security and economic empowerment of women and youth in targeted regions. The SPV, structured as a loan fund for a total of US$1 million, including US$200,000 from UNCDF in the form of a grant, US$200,000 from DER/FJ and US$600,000 from a local partner bank, will provide accessible funding for women and youth-led initiatives in the food security sector, coupled with technical assistance, monitoring and evaluation to ensure their success and improve their impact on local food security.

4) UNCDF in partnership with UNIDO aims to set up a meso and macro funding mechanism for SMEs working in the Mango Value Chain in Guinea-Bissau, to stimulate its contribution to local industry, regional and international trade and job creation. The funding mechanism objectives include i) to complement other agricultural/SME finance facilities by addressing the identified gaps in financial and technical assistance services to investment projects (production, storage, processing and distribution).and improve access to finance for projects promoted by women and youth and contribute to their economic empowerment, especially projects that aim at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities along the MVC, ii) to leverage domestic capital for investments in the mango sector by attracting and iii) increase the role of domestic bank and key national development finance institution to promote mango sector.

5) The UNCDF Local Finance Initiative develops financing mechanisms enabaling the private sector to fund food production and trade, thereby supporting local food security. The LFI approach consists of the use and development of risk-reduction instruments, credit-enhancement options as well as strengthening project management methods. Furthermore, LFI builds out governmental investment networks and data outlets to improve capital access for local economic infrastructures. This includes capacity building for public and private stakeholders as well as counselling services in the shape of feasibility studies, market studies and financial analysis to identify projects catalytic to local food security. The projects funded with the LFI mechanism adopt four sustainability principles i) National ownership, ii) Alignment with the programming of countries and existing structures, iii) Inclusion in the national policies, iv) Reinvestment of the seed capital provided by the programme.

UNCDF will apply the Local Transformative Finance Dual Key pipeline development process to assess both the development impact and financial sustainability of each project to provide IMIF, OMVG, BUILD, BRIDGE, LFI with mature investments.

UNCDF is therefore looking for an Investment Officer to support the sourcing and structuring of investment projects eligible to benefit from the financial facilities put in place by UNCDF.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Investment Officer will work on the following areas of intervention:

Item 1: Develop programs, strategies and methodologies:

- Provide support in the design, implementation and resources mobilization for programs and methodology of new and innovative approaches in local development finance;

- Develop relevant tools and methodologies for municipal finance, project finance, SME finance, Cluster business development services, SME business incubator and appropriate PPP financing and governance structures for local governments;

- Develop a pipeline for demonstrative local finance projects for the subregion, identify and initiate due diligence on these projects, source and monitor the pipeline, organize a partnership strategy to enrich the pipeline and link the projects to the national priorities (including sector and geographic politicise, development of industrial parks, support secondary cities);

-Engage with local banks and development banks, at national and regional level to identify de-risking mechanisms, guarantee schemes, funds design with the aim to leverage UNCDF contribution to local development finance.

Item 2: Organize and facilitate key programme activities related to developing and promoting a pipeline of projects with demonstrative solutions for local finance:

- Contribute to the LFI global team in technical aspects of project development and financing;

- Provide implementation support for the process of identifying, developing, and financing small scale infrastructure projects to be financed through PPP, project finance and SME finance;

- Support the establishment of co-financing relationships with local and international financial institutions, nurture relationships and manage activities needed to secure co-financing of programme projects (with the objectif of promoting new solutions, change the perception and derisk projects); Identify alternative financing sources, including the preparation of and participation in discussions and negotiations with banks, investors and other stakeholders;

- Based on the success of transactions, support the design of technical assistance and financing mechanism to upscale financial solutions for SMEs and PPPs;

- Liaise closely with teams from UNCDF local development finance projects responsible for measurement of transformative impact of investment projects, including in climate change, food security, women’s economic empowerment and local economic development

- Exchange data and information to ensure that selected projects meet the criteria for transformational impact on local development in addition to financial criteria (Dual key);

- Execute Investment process and manage portfolios.

Item 3: Organization and facilitation of key programme activities, related to capacity building and knowledge management:

- Provide support for the programme capacity building and training programme, ensuring programme knowledge generation and dissemination, including support to the development of programme tools and toolkits, case studies, briefs, research documents, and client impact evaluations;

- Support and ensure timely delivery of programme training programmes;

- Support and ensure the implementation of the programme stakeholder mobilization and communication plan and organise and coordinate outreach activities with a variety of stakeholders;

- Provide specialist input and support to the regional team to ensure application of the processes and tools to facilitate the transfer of knowledge, training, and scaling up of nationally and in other countries building the capacity of local stakeholders in the public and private sectors;

- Capacity development of key stakeholders of the assigned programmes.

Item 4: Project Management & Resource Mobilization:

- Support efforts of UNCDF to mobilize additional resources locally and globally;

- Ensure the delivery of the key results on time and to budget as assigned by the supervisor;

- Timely planning, budgeting and reporting in accordance with the guidelines of the Implementing Partner, UNCDF and Global LIFE Technical Secretariat;

- Exercise financial management of the project, including timely submission of requests for disbursement of funds and other forms;

- Establish and maintain an effective and efficient project monitoring system providing regular feedback on the project performance and to update regularly risk and issue logs.

Expected Outputs:

• Improved ability and willingness of the relevant stakeholders to use domestic and private finance for Local Economic Development (LED), municipal finance and to create enabling national, transnational and international environments for sustained participation of the domestic financial sector in LED;

• Substantive partnerships strengthened with domestic financial providers, development partners, Development Banks, governments and municipalities;

• Planning, implementation and reporting on project activities conducted in an effective and timely manner, in accordance with guidelines of the Implementing Partner (IP) and of UNCDF;

• Administrative functions related to asigned projects, including finance and procurement support, ensured in accordance with rules and regulations of the IP and UNCDF;

• Planned programme outputs and outcomes fully achieved in a timely manner, consistent with the expectations of private sector actors, and optimal output quality assured, through sound and efficient internal business and quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation and reporting processes;

• Profile of UNCDF and its development partners as leaders in development finance strengthened;

• Substantive partnerships strengthened with leading private sector foundations and development partners.

Competencies

• Core

  Achieve Results: LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances

  speed and accuracy in doing work

  Think Innovatively: LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches,

  demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking

  Learn Continuously: LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and

  support their learning

  Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations,

  involve others in change process

  Act with Determination: LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of

  pressure simultaneously

  Engage and Partner: LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together,

  build/maintain coalitions/partnerships

  Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences,

  considers in decision making

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Thematic Area	Name	Definition
Business Direction & Strategy	Strategic Thinking	-Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP‘s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions -Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP
Business Direction & Strategy	Effective Decision Making	-Ability to take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with one‘s authority, area of expertise and resources
Business Development	Knowledge Generation	-Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need
Business Management	Portfolio Management	-Ability to select, prioritise and control the organisation‘s programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity -Ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimising return on investment
Finance	Financial planning and budgeting	-Ability to create and manage processes to achieve UNDP's long and short-term financial goals, including through planning, budgeting, forecasting, analysing and reporting
Finance	Financial reporting and analysis	-Understands changes in regulatory, legal and ethical frameworks and standards for financial reporting in the public sector. Ability to extract, evaluate financial data, derive relevant findings and present them in a meaningful and coherent manner to facilitate effective decision making and performance monitoring. Understands the benefits of integrated reporting, including non financial resources such as human, social and intellectual capital, and environmental and governance performance
Finance	Financial risk management	-Ensures financial resilience through proactive assessment of risk, implementation of controls and taking mitigating action. Understands risk and reward in relation to collaborative and commercial projects. Ensures a culture of positive risk management"

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master's degree, or equivalent, in Business Administration, Finance, or related fields; or University degree in Business Administration, Finance, Engineering or related fields combined with a specialized experience in similar organization/s, may be considered in lieu of a master’s degree. CPA or CFA qualifications are an advantage

Experience:

• At least 2 years of relevant professional experience in developing and financing of private sector investment projects including hands-on experience in originating loans, guarantees and/or equity transactions, managing due diligence, financial modelling, mitigating credit and other risks, negotiating term sheets and finance documentation and related project finance activities

Required skills

-Relevant experience in:

➢ Developing an investment portfolio. This involves the initial screening of project application package, desk review and evaluation of financials and business plans, preparing evaluation notes for presentation to the Management Technical Team to determine a project’s suitability for investment, and detailed project concept notes to obtain clearance for full appraisal or fact-finding field trips;

➢ Developing and financing commercially viable investments through the entire project development life cycle and the financing stages for investments through single purpose investment vehicles (SPV)‘s;

➢ Creating/evaluating advanced and complex financial models on municipal finance;

➢ Supporting the implementation and monitoring of advanced Financial Products, in particular Bonds;

➢ Carrying out independent research on the investment climate, project sponsors, management, and economic, financial, marketing, technical, environmental and legal aspects of the project;

➢ Developing investment analysis recommendations for review and approval by investment committees of a fund;

➢ Managing and supporting a portfolio of both local economic development investments and project finance in multiple countries;

➢ Preparation of project financial analysis and creation/evaluation of advanced and complex Ms Excel financial models;

➢ Engaging across multiple stakeholders, including project sponsors, government partners and financial institutions;

➢ Undertaking Project proposal evaluation and assessment of feasibility for private sector funding.

- Experience in developing countries would be an advantage.

- Expert knowledge of:

➢ Private sector and PPP finance for commercially viable investments;

➢Financial markets, in particular the Bond Market;

➢ Development/Municipal finance is a plus.

➢ Information technology

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section

-Core Competencies:

➢ Demonstrates ethics and integrity;

➢ Demonstrates political acumen and calculated risk taking;

➢ Impeccable diplomatic skills and knowledge of protocol;

➢ Builds own competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;

➢ Creates and promotes open communication;

➢ Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;

➢ Conducts fair and transparent decision making;

➢ Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability;

➢ Applies a broad knowledge of best management practices;

➢ Keeps abreast of new developments in development finance and seeks to develop him/herself personally;

- Professional:

➢ Proven ability in public speaking, specifically to senior-level audiences including governments, companies and international organizations;

➢ Strong professional spokesperson, technically able to convey messages on behalf of UNCDF while respecting cultural contexts, political sensitivities and advancing national priorities

Required Language(s)

Full professional language proficiency in English and French

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