Green Economy Assistant

Details

Mission and objectives

As the United Nations lead agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas; sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience. UNDP’s mandate is to end poverty, build democratic governance, rule of law, and inclusive institutions. We advocate for change, and connect countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.

Context

Paraguay is located in South America. It holds a Human Development Index which places it in the group of countries with High Human Development. However, in practice it is a developing country with an economy highly dependent on the production of commodities and made up mostly of MSMEs that function informally. One of the reasons for which the country is known globally is its high rate of clean electricity produced per capita. Despite having an electrical production matrix made up of 60% renewable energy, this clean energy is mostly exported, representing only 16% of energy consumption. The local energy consumption is dominated by polluting imported fossil fuels. Despite this, Paraguay is a country with a low generation of Greenhouse Gases. However, due to the nature of its productive matrix, its geographical location and its technological development, the country's economy is greatly affected by the effects of climate change. In this context, UNDP in Paraguay has been working for years to promote sustainable development linked to various sectors of the economy, such as production, trade, infrastructure, finance, among others. Paraguay is today a particularly interesting place to address issues such as green economy green finance and green energy, because: • It is one of the world's most important producers of commodities such as soybeans and meat; • Tts geographical location, stable macroeconomics, availability of natural resources and others make it an attractive destination for foreign investment; • Currently, the largest private investments in the country's history are being developed by companies linked to sustainable energy; • Today the country is a relevant global destination for the development of green hydrogen. In this context, UNDP seeks to add to its Private Sector team a professional with knowledge in green economy to provide support to the team that carries out analysis and preparation of proposals at various levels, including: - Add up technical advice to UNDP country teams and national stakeholders to integrate concepts and elements of green economy into policies and strategies at the institutional, national and subnational levels; - Contribute to policy analysis exercises on green transition (business, financial, economy, energy, etc.); - Support UNDP Country Office in formulating projects and funding proposals related to green economy and renewable energy; - Contribute to knowledge management in the areas of green economy and renewable energy by producing and disseminating different knowledge products as needed; - Support to build capacity of UNDP staff and national stakeholders in the area of green economy and renewable energy. The person will be responsible for providing support in carrying out evaluations of project documents such as policies, strategies, terms of reference with the aim of generating proposals that reduce their negative environmental impact. In this process, interactions may take place with actors such as the banking, financial, and business sectors, representatives of public institutions, among others.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the Private Sector Specialist , the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: - Office level: contribute to the evaluation of its operation, procedures, policies, uses, projects, terms of reference, to propose adjustments to help to improve operation and obtain better and sustainable results; - Local institutions: support the analysis of the operation of local institutions, their policies, strategies or projects, with the objective of providing recommendations of possible adjustments to make them more sustainable; - Support the analysis of sectoral, national or subnational economic and financial policies; - Support the preparation and analysis of proposals regarding energy efficiency projects and/or clean energy generation such as hydroelectric, green hydrogen, biofuels and others; - Support in the identification of opportunities for connection/contribution of UNDP to projects and processes to the private sector, where resources are mobilized for climate action, nature-based solutions, among others. - Establish synergies between initiatives of the sustainable development portfolio and the private sector project portfolio, aiming at avoiding duplication, provide a robust offer and establish a clear connection and unified discourse between them; - Contribute to the analysis of documentation linked to financial tools such as sustainable bonds, carbon credits, results-based payments, blended finance, among others; - Accompany meetings with various counterparts; - Support the team in the research, writing and preparation of various materials related to economic, environmental, climate, energy issues, among others; - Support the logistics and preparation of holding meetings, forums, missions and various events; - Support in the search for opportunities to mobilize resources on issues related to those mentioned in these terms of reference, as well as the preparation of proposals; - Contribute to the preparation of proposals aimed at adapting to climate change-reducing emissions, pollution, promoting initiatives related to climate action, ensuring efficient use of resources; - Support project management work in the Private Sector portfolio.