Partnership Development and Innovative Finance Specialist (Part time, 60%)

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Project Manager 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 (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, provide support to country offices while working with UNDP partners:

• Support the previously established demand for UNDP Individual giving offer and crowdfunding. This includes developing further long-term connections with the private and public sector. and connecting civic crowdfunding platforms to support it. 
• 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 programs.
• Provide strategic advice on how cutting-edge technologies can be utilized to improve the work of CSOs. 
• Continuously supporting the NGO Empowerment project through providing advice on alternative finance modalities
• Development of regional approach to applying 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 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 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 Manager 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.

Partnerships:

• Strategic advocacy and partnership development. 
• Support the development of new partnerships and the retention of previous partners and donors. 
• Provide effective and efficient support to the Project Manager in resources mobilization.  
• Identify and develop opportunities for tradition and non-traditional partnerships.
• Contribute to the development of the project through strategic partners. 
• Identification and formulation of lessons learned and recommendations to be integrated into broader regional knowledge management efforts. 

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

Institutional Arrangement

The Specialist will perform tasks for UNDP, under the supervision of the Project Manager of “NGO Empowerment” project in UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub.

• Ability to identify funding sources, match funding needs (programmes/projects/initiatives) with funding opportunities, and establish a plan to meet funding requirements

Digital & Innovation - Blockchain advice

• A minimum knowledge of how blockchain works, and ability to advise on the opportunities and challenges for governments and society

Digital & Innovation - Innovation ecosystem curation

• Ability to identify key players in an ecosystem, engage with them and mobilize 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 mobilize 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.
• Set up the processes and structures to design, testing and implement new financial mechanisms. Managing outreach and stakeholder engagement

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 organization.
• 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 authorizing 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

Business Direction and Strategy - System Thinking

• Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system