🇸🇱 Job Vacancy @ UNDP – Green Infrastructure Investment Ecosystems Manager

Job Description

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.



 

BackgroundThe following documents shall be required from the applicants:

Personal CV – indicating all part positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) references.

Cover letter – indicating why the candidate considers him/herself to be suitable for the position.

The UN Secretary-General established the UN SDG Action Campaign to inspire people and organizations from all backgrounds and every part of the world to take actions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, while holding decision-makers to account for progress society-wide. The UN SDG Action Campaign is hosted and supported by UNDP and is based in Bonn (Germany) with a lean team that marshals rapid support for new initiatives as opportunities arise and provides partners with on-demand strategic creative services that inspire SDG local action.

The UN SDG Action Campaign is working closely with cities and local governments to showcase how they are actively contributing to implement Agenda 2030, accelerating transformative action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals for all, and everywhere. The UN SDG Action Campaign, together with the office of UNDP in Sierra Leone are supporting the city of Freetown to implement a component of their #FreetownTheTreeTown project, one of the winners of the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge.

Freetown, Sierra Leone, is among the world’s rainiest cities. They have also experienced rapid tree loss in recent years, estimated at some 555 hectares – or 500,000-plus trees – annually since 2011. The national government oversees the legal framework governing urban greening and land use, limiting Freetown’s options for curbing tree loss, and requiring reforestation. Heavy rains, coupled with this deforestation, have resulted in devastating landslides, including an event in 2017 which claimed nearly 1,000 lives.1 #FreetownTheTreetown is an initiative to reforest the city and surrounding areas to reverse tree loss and reduce disaster risks. The overall goal is to increase canopy cover by 50% from 2018 levels by the end of 2022.

In the first two years since its launch in January 2020, 560,000 trees have been planted, digitally tracked and ‘tokenised’, with 578 hectares of urban land in and around Freetown restored. The project is targeting the following objectives:

To improve the equitable distribution of trees and green space, as 35% of areas targeted for new trees or vegetation are informal settlements that currently have low coverage.

·       Planting by roadsides, schools and in residential areas (totaling almost 165 hectares to date) aims to reduce heat stress and improve air quality.

·       Planting in Freetown’s water catchment and greenbelt (104 hectares) aims to improve water security.

·       Planting in the upper water catchment and on high slopes around Freetown (280 hectares) aims to reduce the risk of flash flooding and landslides.

·       Mangrove reforestation (32 hectares) aims to reduce coastal erosion and flooding.

In addition to planting new trees, #FreetownTheTreetown is helping to discourage environmentally harmful practices, such as sand mining, and to reduce deforestation and mangrove destruction in targeted areas. The full ecosystem services from the trees planted during the initial three-year campaign will come later, around 2030, once they are more established. There has already been a discernible reduction in flooding and landslide risk because of planting in the upper catchment areas. The campaign has also directly or indirectly created over 1,000 green jobs along the value chain, from workers in tree nurseries to community growers – of whom 80% are youths and 48% are women.

Within this context, the UN SDG Action Campaign is seeking to recruit a Green Infrastructure Investment Ecosystems Manager to support the implementation of the #FreetownTheTreeTown project in the City of Freetown in Sierra Leone. H/She will support UNDP in the implementation of the Global Mayors Challenge in the City of Freetown.

Duties and ResponsibilitiesThe Green Infrastructure Investment Ecosystems Manager will work with the UNDP-UN SDG Action Campaign Network to implement the following functions:

1.     Project Management, Research, and Analysis:

·      Manage a complex, multiyear project to develop and execute #FreetownTheTreeTown impact investment strategy involving external and internal stakeholders

·      Manage the relationship, timeline, and deliverables an internal impact investment advisory team and external Consultants.

·      Optimize the expertise of an external Investment Advisory Committee by coordinating meeting agendas, follow-ups, and corresponding with committee members.

·      Prepare deliverables that synthesize the project’s status for the Project Steering Committee and City Government.

·      Conduct research and analysis of macroeconomic trends, the carbon market and key investment themes, by impact area and asset class, that will affect existing investments and inform future ones.

2.     Advise on new investments for the project, including but not limited to:

·      Build a pipeline of nature-based capital investment opportunities by impact theme and asset class.

·      Conduct due diligence and full analysis of select new investment opportunities, and draft recommendation memos to present to the Investment Committee.

3.     Manage Existing Investments:

·      Manage achievement of the existing 1 million tree target under the #FreetownTheTreeTown campaign and ensure funding pathways to grow existing trees to establishment

·      Build, review and disseminate quarterly reports and statements from partner organizations, participate in quarterly / annual meetings and calls, and tracking the monthly performance of all investments under the #FreetownTheTreeTown campaign.

·      Review data on #FreetownTheTreeTown investments for accuracy and write brief summaries for quarterly reports and statements to investors and the City Council.

·      Ensure accurate tracking of investments, reporting and information sharing internally.

4.     Support NBS for Adaptation through Funding Social Enterprises

·      Build a pipeline, evaluate, and execute new opportunities to make direct equity investments into social enterprises for Nature-based climate adaptation projects at community-level.

·      Streamline the direct investment process and documentation to ensure both transparency and inclusion, with a focus on youth-owned and women-owned social enterprises.

·      Co-create a strategy around co-investment partnerships: identify highly aligned investors, lenders, and donors that complement the #TreeTown impact investment strategy and natural capital regeneration offerings. Cultivate relationships that result in sourcing new social enterprise clients and a productive co-investment community.

??Institutional Arrangement

Under the overall guidance of the Mayor of Freetown and through the Mayor’s Delivery Unit, the Green Infrastructure Ecosystems Manager will serve as the Project Lead and will directly report to the Team Leader, Mayor’s Delivery Unit, Office of the Mayor, Freetown City Council and the Project Manager, UNDP HQ based in NY. The Project Lead will closely manage relationships with #FreetownTheTreeTown Component Leads, Third-Party Fund Manager, Project Technical Advisors, the Mayor’s Delivery Unit, FCC Climate and Disaster Risk Unit, Delivery Associates, and the technical team UNDP Country Office in Sierra Leone.

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