Specialist on Innovative Finance and Digital Technology (Home-based. Part-time, 80%)

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the the Project Coordinator for “NGO Empowerment” project, the Specialist will be responsible for supporting the development and implementation of the project “NGO Empowerment“, financed by Islamic Development Bank (ISDB) & Islamic Fund for Development (ISFD) with relevant country office (CO) teams, regional hubs (RH) and other UNDP business units, UN agencies and governments and partners in order to support the work and financing of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). The specialist will focus on exploring both the innovation in alternative financial mechanisms that provide new investment opportunities (equity and lending crowdfunding, blockchain) as well as innovation in financial mechanisms that align actors in new ways that leverage each partner’s unique strengths while also meeting their respective risk/return expectation and needs.

The Specialist will be also responsible for supporting crowdfunding and blockchain implementation at the level of country offices (through the joint work with UNDP Impact Giving offer). 

Support application of innovative finance and technology models at the global, regional and country level, with the support to country offices and in support of UNDP’s partners:

• Support the previously established demand for UNDP Individual giving offer and new crowdfunding crowdfunding. This includes developing further long-term connections with local authorities (municipalities), public utility companies etc. and connecting civic crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platforms to support it; 
• Crowd Investment – in collaboration with colleagues from NGO Empowerment project, to support the number of existing UNDP initiatives and projects on crowdinvesting and bringing them to scale; 
• Support implementation of the “NGO Empowerment/Tadamon” project – through capability development on crowdfunding for UNDP and support the building of local ecosystems for innovative financing for CSOs.

Coordinate the uptake of digital technologies in “NGO Empowerment” project and within UNDP programming:

• Support CSOs in uptake of digital technologies and crowdfunding through capacity building program;
• Provide strategic advise on how cutting edge technologies can be utilized to improve the work of CSOs; 
• Continuously supporting the NGO Empowerment project through providing advise on AR/VR technologies;
• Development of regional approach to applying the digital and blockchain technology in addressing development challenges including identification of funding opportunities and provision of support in navigating regulatory frameworks based on experiences of other countries and consolidating lessons learned;
• Exploring new business models for blockchain for development, pitching to and bringing on board new  investment  projects, including  the  joint  field  of  practice  between  crowdfunding and blockchain, including ongoing support to existing projects;
• Exploring new financial mechanisms for development including digital coins, non-fungible tokens for development and drafting the lessons learned how it can be replicated and scaled with UNDP support;
• Identification, design and implementation of projects where blockchain technologies can be applied and scaled, and could support alleviating poverty or alternative models of addressing development challenges, especially in terms of support to civil society organizations;
• Resource mobilization with different types of investors, development agencies and blockchain foundations.

Provision of top-quality policy advice services to regional hubs and country offices and facilitation of knowledge building and management, as a part of supporting the coordination and implementation of NGO Empowerment Project:

• Support Project Coordinator with implementation and coordination of activities of the NGO Empowerment project, including by providing expert support to the COs in implementation of the project;
• Support to regional hubs and COs in testing new alternative finance business models and bringing on board CO teams/their partners interested in carrying it out in their region; especially as it pertains to achieving of SDGs, transparency, poverty reduction, citizen engagement and strengthening of civil society;
• Lead the role-out of Crowdfunding Academies, as UNDP capacity building program for CSOs and country offices; and advise on the management and communities for practice through the Sparkblue platform;
• Advise country offices that are part of “NGO Empowerment” project on engagement of local ecosystems and generate guidelines of tools that can be applied at the country level to tap into alternative finance opportunities (especially crowdfunding);
• Support reporting and planning of activities within the “NGO Empowerment” project, including Progress Reports, Impact Reporting and similar;
• Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

People Management

UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

• Business Management - Partnerships Management
  • Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies
• Digital & Innovation - Blockchain advice
  • Knowledge of how blockchain works, and ability to advise on the opportunities and challenges for governments and society
• Business Development  - Collective Intelligence Design
  • Ability to bringing together diverse groups of people, data, information or ideas, and technology to design services or solutions
• Digital & Innovation - Innovation ecosystem curation
  • Ability to identify key players in an ecosystem, engage with them and mobilise them to build a community and over time a movement around a common mission that can bring about changes at the system level.
  • Ability to give sense of purpose and build trust, develop programmes of activities and platforms to build and strengthen relationships
• Digital & Innovation - Alternative finance
  • Ability to identify potential alternative forms of finance and mobilise them for the purpose of addressing development challenges.
  • Ability to review the skills, capacities, procedures and protocols that are needed to enable new financial mechanisms.
  • Ability to assess the risks, limitations and implications of using new financial mechanisms
• Digital & Innovation - Innovation capacity building
  • Ability to define and create the conditions for trying out new ways of working or introducing new problem solving approaches to an organisation.
  • Ability to develop, manage and evaluate a learning curriculum that raises awareness, builds confidence, strengthens innovation capabilities around a certain method, tool or technique; or helps develop an innovation mindset.
  • Ability to create the authorising environment (mandate, incentives) to embed and spread new ways of working. In-depth knowledge of one or more innovation methods, broad knowledge of innovation processes and innovation management.
  • Ability to align a learning and development strategy with broader innovation strategy.
• Partnership management - CSO engagement
  • Knowledge and understanding of CSOs and the ability to engage with CSOs

• Master’s Degree in the field of Business, Energy, Environment or International Development
• Bachelor's degree with additional 2 years of relevant experience shall be considered in lieu of Master's degree. 

• Minimum 5 years (with Master's degree) or 7 years with (Bachelor's degree) of experience in the field of crowdfunding, innovative financing models and alternative financing-related fields in development contexts. 
• Experience in project management and organizing group education and in crowdfunding. 
• Experience with resource mobilization and partnership engagement. 

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

• Proven track record of successfully completed 10 crowdfunding campaigns is an asset.
• Experience with predictive and preventative finance, with a special focus on working experience in the field of Forecast Based Financing is an asset.
• Experience with Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality is an asset.
• At least three (3) years of working experience in the field of blockchain, with a working experience of developing blockchain based prototypes is an asset.

Required Language(s) 

• Excellent English language skills (written and verbal).