Project Associate (NPSA-6) - UNDP Moldova/Strengthening capacities and systems for effective Public Finance Management Project and GEF8 Umbrella programme to design a national Biodiversity Finance Plan

Project Context and Description

UNDP plays a pivotal role in international development as a knowledge broker, capacity builder, innovator, and facilitator of exchanges in the global development debate.
UNDP connects countries to the knowledge, resources, and networks they need to achieve development breakthroughs. Our work is summed up in our six signature solutions, adapted to context and powered by three potent enablers for greater impact. Our specialized global policy centers enable access to substantive expertise and connectivity with external networks and resources. 
Responding in an integrated and coherent manner, UNDP is determined to end poverty and hunger, protect the planet from degradation, ensure that all people have prosperous lives, with growth that occurs in harmony with nature, and to foster peaceful and inclusive societies. 
We are committed to mobilizing the means to implement the 2030 Agenda through a revitalized global partnership for sustainable development, based on a spirit of strengthened global solidarity. 
UNDP Moldova’s current Country Programme Document (CPD) focuses at assisting the country in four main areas, supporting a vision for a more cohesive, inclusive, just and resilient society, and a better quality of life for everyone:
   1.    Just and inclusive institutions and equal opportunities for human development – institutions deliver human rights, evidence-based and gender-responsive services for all, including the most vulnerable people in Moldova.
   2.    Participatory governance and social cohesion – more accountable, transparent, human rights-based, and gender-responsive governance empowers all people in Moldova to participate in and to contribute to all spheres of life.
   3.    Enhanced shared prosperity in a sustainable economy – all people in Moldova benefit from inclusive, competitive, and sustainable economic development and equitable/equal access to decent work and productive employment.
   4.    Green development, sustainable communities, and disaster and climate resilience – all people in Moldova and institutions benefit from and contribute to green and resilient development, sustainable use of natural resources and effective climate change and disaster risk management.

Moldova navigates a complex socio-economic, security, and political landscape with increasing preparedness and resilience. Despite signs of recovery, the economy progresses at a subdued pace, hindered by structural challenges that necessitate strategic interventions to enhance financial intermediation and regional competitiveness. 
The pandemic, energy crisis, and refugee influx from Russia's invasion of Ukraine exposed Moldova's economic vulnerabilities. The fiscal impact of these crises has squeezed resources for long-term development priorities, and the refugee influx has created a challenging socio-economic environment.

Since 2009, the Ministry of Finance of Slovakia, in partnership with UNDP, has supported Moldova’s Ministry of Finance in adopting new methodologies for programme-based budgeting, analytical reporting, rationalizing budget spending, and analyzing the budget impact of structural reforms. Recent projects have utilized Slovak expertise to pilot spending reviews in various ministries and to implement spending reviews in the Health Sector and initiate them in the Social Protection Sector. These projects aimed to enhance practical applications through Slovak expert support and capacity development interventions combined with the Development Financing Assessment (DFA) methodology. Implemented in Moldova, the DFA provided a comprehensive analysis of existing financial instruments (domestic, external, public, and private) and identified new opportunities to mobilize additional resources to finance national priorities sustainably.

The Ministry of Finance is aligning its tax policy with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aiming to ensure a decent living for all people in a sustainable, inclusive, and prosperous environment. 

In April 2024, the Ministry of Finance and the State Tax Service signed a Country Engagement Plan with UNDP to strengthen national authorities' capacity to develop a tax system that supports reforms benefiting all people, especially the vulnerable. This Plan includes developing the SDG Tax Framework, assessing the feasibility and resource implications of tax policy changes, mapping tax expenditures towards SDGs, and implementing the UNDP-OECD “Tax Inspectors without Borders” initiative, which provides specialized tax audit assistance in developing countries.

To achieve long-term sustainable development, Moldova must sustain robust reform efforts and invest in growth-enhancing, climate-resilient infrastructure.
UNDP’s public finance offer focuses on aligning public finance with the SDGs by:

•     Raising domestic revenues aligned with the SDGs;
•     Issuing SDG-aligned bonds;
•     Developing sovereign risk financing instruments to protect assets and enable investment;
•     Implementing SDG-aligned fiscal planning and expenditure management.

UNDP will continue to leverage these efforts to drive systemic change in public and private finance, supporting Moldova in aligning financial flows with the SDGs and national development priorities. This integrated approach will enhance financial intermediation, regional competitiveness, and energy security, while promoting inclusive growth and sustainable development.

The strategic goal of UNDP Moldova’s portfolio in the area of Sustainable Finance for Development (SDG Finance) is to strengthen the institutional, regulatory, and resource mobilization capacities of the Moldovan Government to establish and sustain effective financing mechanisms to finance SDGs.
This initiative aims to align public and private investments with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Global Biodiversity Framework, thereby fostering integrated and enduring financial strategies that advance national and global sustainable development objectives.

Building on the momentum of the Public Finance Management Strategy 2023-2030, the SDG Finance portfolio envisions a comprehensive and inclusive strengthening of capacities and systems for an Effective Sustainable Development Finance Management in Moldova. It will address, through multi-stakeholder partnerships, the advancement of Moldova's financial infrastructure, governance, and services, reinforcing the country's commitment to becoming more efficient in terms of financial resources and mechanisms.
On a strategic level, UNDP Moldova aims to contribute to a robust financial management and effective budgetary framework by strengthening the Government’s leadership in SDG Financing, and by directly supporting the Ministry of Finance in implementing the Public Finance Management Strategy and Ministry of Environment in implementing Global Biodiversity Framework at the national level. 

This initiative will align public and private investments with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Global Biodiversity Framework, thereby fostering integrated and enduring financial strategies that advance national and global sustainable development objectives.

As cross-cutting themes, the SDG Finance portfolio will deliver on sustainability and scalability, by ensuring the resilience and adaptability of SDG Financing efforts, both from the institutional and policy perspectives. It will look at partnerships and collaborations as enablers for strengthening multi-stakeholder interaction and extending the reach and effectiveness of SDG Financing initiatives. It will complement and synergize with several ongoing initiatives (including those led by UN and/or Donor-funded) focused on SDG financing.

“Strengthening capacities and systems for effective Public Finance Management in the Republic of Moldova” project
The Government of Moldova's institutional and regulatory capacities will be enhanced to better align public and private financial flows with the financing of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Ministry of Finance of Moldova is focused on improving the efficiency and rationalization of public spending to ensure resources are directed towards priority reforms. Spending reviews serve as a critical tool for prioritizing expenditures and reallocating limited government resources to programs that deliver the greatest societal benefits.
The Ministry of Finance of Slovakia has shared best practices with the Ministry of Finance of Moldova, assisting in piloting spending reviews in the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Research (2018), the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment, and Regional Development (2020), and the Ministry of Health (2023). In the latest exercise, 275.4 million MDL (15.5 million USD) were identified as inefficient expenditures and reallocated to other priorities aligned with sectoral spending priorities and SDG3.
The Ministry of Finance is keen to analyze lessons learned from these pilots to refine and institutionalize the methodology. However, challenges in implementing the Public Administration Reform have led to significant staff reductions and turnover, weakening the capacities of Line Ministries to apply this tool effectively. Therefore, this program aims to build on existing capacities and expand them to ensure that budget spending reviews become a standardized, meaningful exercise based on thorough analysis and better budget planning. It is also crucial to identify inefficient expenditures and reallocate them towards sustainable development, aligning funds with SDGs. Revising the Spending Review Methodology to include SDG financing and SDG impact measurement is recommended for future spending reviews.
Combining the spending review tool with SDG Finance tools such as Tax for SDGs and Budgeting for SDGs will further enhance development financing as an enabler to scale up development impact, promoting the investment of public expenditure and private capital in the SDGs in Moldova.
On April 2, 2024, the Country Engagement Plan (CEP) on the Tax for SDG initiative in Moldova was signed between UNDP, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Tax Service. The overall objective of this assistance is to increase the developmental impact of Moldova’s tax system and foster systemic reforms and institutional development. 
The project focuses on supporting institutional development and enhancing the Ministry of Finance's role in leveraging the development potential of tax policy and tax administration. It also outlines the contribution of the State Tax Service in financing and achieving the SDGs. The plan builds on the experience from ongoing and completed Tax for SDGs activities and other dimensions of UNDP’s portfolio across governance, financing the SDGs, and sector-specific efforts.

GEF8 Umbrella programme to design a national Biodiversity Finance Plan
UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels offers a spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in its Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in UNDP’s Strategic Plan.
UNDP's 2022-2025 Strategic Plan highlights our continued commitment to eradicating poverty, accompanying countries in their pathways towards the SDGs and working towards the Paris Agreement. As part of the Global Policy Network in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, UNDP's Nature, Climate Change, Energy, and Waste (NCE&W) Hubs promote and scale up integrated whole-of-governance approaches and nature-based solutions that reduce poverty and inequalities, strengthen livelihoods and inclusive growth, mitigate conflict, forced migration and displacement, and promote more resilient governance systems that advance linked peace and security agendas.
In recent decades, biodiversity finance tools and solutions have demonstrated their importance for achieving biodiversity goals and broader sustainable development objectives. Improved choice, design and implementation of effective, well-tailored finance solutions will strengthen countries’ chances of achieving national and global biodiversity targets. Biodiversity Finance Plans have become increasingly recognized as a relevant tool to help countries to identify and fill the biodiversity finance gap, including through the work of the Biodiversity Finance Initiative www.biofin.org. In December 2022, parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the Montreal-Kunming Global Biodiversity Framework. This included numerous targets with relevance for financing. Target 19 on resource mobilization includes reference for countries to design and implement national biodiversity finance plans.
The GEF created a global programme to support countries to design a national Biodiversity Finance Plan. A Biodiversity Finance Plan includes a systems analysis of a country's economy including to map existing financing mechanisms, subsidies with potential harmful impacts on nature, drivers of biodiversity loss and gain, public and private expenditures committed towards biodiversity objectives and a country's national financial needs for biodiversity. The biodiversity finance plan itself consists of a series of actions with the aim to significantly scale up available funding, green or phase out harmful finance flows and improve the effectiveness of available expenditures. The programme allows for active sharing of experiences across countries and includes a knowledge sharing platform and the provision of continuous technical support to country teams.
The implementation of the project in Republic of Moldova falls under the GEF8 Umbrella programme for the development of the first National Biodiversity Finance Plan. The overall implementation of the project will be led by the Project Lead/Senior Finance Expert with the support of a technical team and in coordination to a government project director and the National Steering Committee.

Scope of Work

The Project Associate will work under the supervision of the Project Manager and will be responsible for providing back-office/administrative support to the Project Manager including:

Management support:

•     Provide support with all financial and administrative requirements of the project, especially those related to project funding and accounting.
•     Assist in ensuring that project is executed in a timely and appropriate manner.
•     Assist or support in facilitating, guiding the work of the national team; manage payment schedules.
•     Assist in project related activities, including planning for meetings, local and national consultations, trips and other project related activities. 
•     Ensure all national and international travel is organized smoothly. 
•     Document and share records of meetings, decisions, actions, etc.
•     Support with the Monitoring and Evaluation of the project at the national level, including workshop evaluations. 

Financial Oversight:

•     Support the Management of the project budget, and support overseeing of procurement and accounting procedures and activities, together with the UNDP Country Office and the GPMTSU.
•     Ensure financial resources are disbursed on time to implementing partners.
•     Maintain records of expenditures and collaborate in financial reporting.

Ensures effective administrative and logistical support to ensure successful project delivery:

•     Develop calculations for the development of the annual workplan/budget.
•     Handle all required procurement processes, requisitions and purchase orders, ensuring compliance with UNDP rules and regulations. 
•     Maintain an inventory of assets/equipment and support with the handover of equipment upon project closure. 
•     Ensure the Quantum approval system is set up at the Country Office for the project.
•     Handle all logistical matters to organize the inception workshop, consultation workshops and any meetings as required.
•     Regularly update the procurement plan and contacts list. 
•     Handle of all travel arrangements for national travel/missions and participants to national-level workshops. 
•     Handle all travel procedures for participants to global and regional workshops and other international meetings, ensuring all necessary visa, security clearances and plane tickets are obtained timely, and confirmations/changes of travel arrangements are communicated to the GPMTSU immediately.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangements
The Project Associate will be under the direct supervision of the Project Manager.
UNDP shall be entitled to intellectual property and other proprietary rights over all materials that have a direct relation to the project.

Core Competencies:

Achieve Results:   LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline

Think Innovatively:   LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements

Learn Continuously:   LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback

Adapt with Agility:   LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible

Act with Determination:    LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident

Engage and Partner:   LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion:   LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

Minimum Academic Education   

• Secondary Education is required.
• University Degree (Bachelor´s degree) in in Economics, Finance, Accounting, or another relevant field will be given due consideration, but it is not a requirement.

Minimum years of relevant/Work experience

• Minimum 6 years (with Secondary Education) or 3 years (with Bachelor´s Degree) of relevant work experience in administrative work, accounting/ finance, economics, or other substantive area is required.
• Previous experience with UNDP is a strong advantage.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.

Required  skills    

• Experience in dealing with national experts and international institutions is an asset.
• Sound understanding of key software packages (MS Office, Excel, etc.) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.

Desired additional skills    

•  Demonstrated experience of working in a multi-cultural work environment is an asset.
• Experience with UNDP/UN policies, procedures and practices, particularly in relation to project development and implementation, is highly desirable;
• Specialized training in administration, accounting, finance or related field would be an advantage.

Required Language(s) 

• Fluency in English, and Romanian is required.  
• Knowledge of one or more minority languages relevant for Moldova, including Russian, Romani, Gagauzian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and sign language is an asset.
   

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

a)   Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
b)   A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.
c)   Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as  reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.
 

Disclaimer

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Non-discrimination

UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.  

UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

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