Background

UNDP is actively supporting the global effort to a close the financial gap in biodiversity under its Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) as part of the organization’s broader environmental sustainability portfolio. BIOFIN is focused on helping countries design, implement, and scale up finance solutions that address the significant biodiversity funding gap. This initiative plays a crucial role in supporting countries in meeting the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and related SDGs. The BIOFIN programme, which spans up to 133 countries, is structured in phases to build the necessary financial frameworks and tools to ensure sustainable biodiversity management. The first phase (2012-2018) laid the groundwork with comprehensive assessments and initial finance plan implementation. The second phase (2019-present) continues to expand and refine these solutions, allowing for the design and implementation of priority finance strategies in participating countries, ensuring countries can better manage their biodiversity resources and enhance their capacity to achieve national and global biodiversity targets.

In Ukraine, biodiversity remains an essential component of environmental and economic resilience. Despite the ongoing challenges of the war, Ukraine's rich natural ecosystems, including forests, wetlands, and grasslands, face significant threats from habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change. Efforts to protect and restore Ukraine's biodiversity are critical not only for maintaining the country's ecological balance but also for ensuring sustainable livelihoods for local communities, particularly in rural and agricultural areas. BIOFIN’s approach in Ukraine focuses on developing sustainable financial mechanisms to support biodiversity conservation efforts and enhance the capacity of national and local institutions to manage biodiversity effectively amidst recovery and post-conflict rebuilding.

To ensure effective project management and the successful achievement of BIOFIN’s objectives, UNDP is recruiting a qualified Project Manager (PM). It is the PM’s primary responsibility to ensure that the project produces the results specified in the project document, to the required standard of quality and within the specified constraints of time and cost. The PM will inform the portfolio, BIOFIN Global team and office management through regular reporting, and is responsible for securing Project Board review of any delays or challenges as they arise during implementation so that appropriate support and corrective measures can be adopted.

The incumbent will ensure mainstreaming of gender equality within the BIOFIN programme, support acceleration of gender equality and women’s empowerment and promote UNDP’s mandate as a gender-responsive organization with zero tolerance for any kind of discriminatory and abusive behaviour, including sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, and abuse.

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead, manage, coordinate, and develop effective project planning and implementation:

Lead strategic planning of projects as well as formulation and periodic revisions of the project annual work plans (AWPs), including plans for budget, HR, and procurement that are developed in close coordination with UNDP’s Country Office Programme, HR, and Procurement teams, BIOFIN Global team. Lead development of detailed implementation plans; Manage, coordinate, and supervise projects’ implementation to ensure their relevance and performance, the effective realization and quality of outputs within the specified constraints of time and cost as outlined in the project document, and adherence to applicable UNDP policy and program management procedures and Government standards, rules, and regulations. Act as a senior advisor on issues related to project activities; Provide direction, guidance, and direct supervision to subordinated project personnel; Ensure al-related project interventions integrate a gender equality perspective/gender equality mainstreaming to the extent local context allows; Coordinate proper execution of all administrative activities associated with the projects’ implementation, including mobilizing goods and services, preparing Terms of Reference, completing contracting processes, recruiting/selecting consultants and experts, and managing financial arrangements/transactions and their correct authorization; Identify opportunities for synergies with other projects within UNDP and beyond, to advance the key objectives and grow its focus.

2) Provision of Technical Support 

Act as principal technical contact for the programme implementation regarding all questions and issues that arise during national implementation. Provide key technical leadership on all finance issues and assure horizontal integration and consistency of workstreams/studies. Provide overall guidance and quality control for the all main deliverables of the project. Offer technical support to the national project team to complete all the deliverables of the BIOFIN methodology in a consistent and high-quality manner. Ensure drafts of all work are sent to the BIOFIN global Technical Advisor regularly to provide backstopping and ensure feedback is adequately integrated into national reports. Provide technical support for the data collection, analysis, and conclusions. Support the development of a Biodiversity Finance Plan (BFP) according to the guidance provided by the global BIOFIN team and written guidance documents (especially the BIOFIN Workbook). Development of the Finance Solution Proposals for submission to the global BIOFIN team, engagement of additional consultants, implementation of the Finance Solutions.  Oversee the identification, selection and supervision of national consultants and experts, in close collaboration with the UNDP Country Office and the Global BIOFIN Team and write/revise terms of reference for national BIOFIN team members;  Organise all relevant project workshops in a consultative manner, involving a wide variety of biodiversity finance stakeholders, including the government, private sector, NGOs, donors and academia. Oversee the work of the Finance Assistant to ensure administrative requirements are managed and executed in a timely and appropriate manner and within UNDP and donor rules and regulations;  Discuss with the Ministries of Finance, Environment and other key stakeholders the establishment of a national Steering Committee and follow up on the formal establishment and regular convening of the Committee, undertake the same for any other proposed coordination mechanism, and write meeting reports to be shared with the UNDP CO and BIOFIN global. Ensure a timely identification of risks in implementation at the national level and communication to the global BIOFIN team. Organise regular meetings of the national team and calls with the Senior Advisor from the global BIOFIN Team. Ensure participation of national BIOFIN Team members in regional technical calls. Ensure the participation of a representative delegation from the Ukraine in BIOFIN regional and global events.

3) Development of strategic partnerships:

Substantively contribute to the harnessing of effective partnerships and lead the identification and onboarding process for implementing partners. Cultivate and maintain strong relationships and strategic linkages with implementing and development partners, government officials, businesses, NGOs, other national and regional stakeholders, and beneficiaries to support and ensure accurate interpretation of project objectives and promote inclusive project implementation. Substantively contribute to project communications and visibility efforts. Make recommendations to the management team on activities with potential for scale-up, replicability, and synergies. Provide technical support to the implementing partners and act as a liaison between UNDP and the partners. Support resource mobilization efforts and project development.

4) Progress monitoring and monitoring:

Provide leadership and technical advice to the project in developing baselines and indicators for project monitoring and evaluation and coordinate the finalization of detailed results framework. Develop clear strategies and an effective system for data collection, means of verification, and information sharing and reporting. Lead the implementation of project monitoring, evaluation, and results framework to identify plan deviations and other problems; and make needed course corrections within agreed upon tolerances to achieve results. Ensure alignment of national work with global methodologies such as the BIOFIN workbook and others. Liaise with relevant initiatives and programs in UNDP and other organizations in support of the execution of the project, including BIOFIN, the NBSAP support programme, the Nature Hub, and other organizations and initiatives. Review the final reports of the national Policy and Institutional Review, Biodiversity expenditure Review, Financial Needs Assessment, and Biodiversity Finance plan. Develop, with the collaboration of the rest of the team members, at least one brief overview publication per year, press releases, and web and media products. Coordinate the preparation of corporate, donor, and government reports in line with the reporting schedule and UNDP and donor requirements. Ensure provision of ad hoc reports and information requested by relevant entities. Ensure proper operational and financial closure of the projects.

5) Contribute to knowledge management and information sharing in the UNDP country office through:

Promote information sharing with relevant partners by initiating and/or participating in consultative meetings and preparing briefs on project-related processes and activities. Promote the flow of information and resources between and among the various levels of local stakeholders/beneficiaries to improve the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of projects’ interventions and results. Document the best practices and lessons learned from the implemented grant programmes. Contribute to knowledge networks and communities of practice where applicable. Proactively share information in the UNDP country office. Contribute to the Thematic Team processes to support strategic planning and alignment with UNDP’s broader goals and CPD.

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

Institutional Arrangement

Under the direct supervision of the Team Leader of Energy an Environment Portfolio (UNDP Ukraine), the Project Manager is fully responsible for making the day-to-day decisions on project implementation and ensures to achieve the project results (outputs) as defined in the approved project document and in the annual work plans through timely implementation and quality monitoring. 

Competencies

Core 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 . 

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies 

Thematic Area

Name

Definition

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. Business Management

Project 

Management

Ability to plan, organize, prioritize, and control resources, procedures, and protocols to achieve specific goals Business Management Communication Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience. Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels Business Direction and Strategy Negotiation
and Influence Ability to reach an understanding, persuade others, resolve points of difference, gain advantage in the outcome of dialogue, negotiates mutually acceptable solutions through compromise and creates win-win situations 2030 Agenda Nature

Ecosystems and Biodiversity Programme: Nature-positive economy and

Biodiversity Finance

Finance Financial Planning and Budgeting Ability to create and manage processes to achieve UNDP's long and short-term financial goals, including through planning, budgeting, forecasting, analyzing and reporting. Partnershop Management

Relationship 

Management

Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust and mutual understanding.

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Education requirements Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Public Administration, Business Administration, Economics/ Finance management, Public Affairs or International Relations, Environment/Natural Resources Management, or a related field is required; OR A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the areas stated above in combination with additional 2 (two) years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree. Min. years of relevant work experience  Minimum 5 years (with Master’s degree) or 7 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible relevant experience on the national or international level (preferably in the implementation of environment/biodiversity/sustainable development projects). Required skills  Knowledge and experience in environmental, biodiversity and sustainable development thematic areas relevant to the project. People and project management skills, proven leadership experience. Experience in gathering and processing data and information. Highly competent in using computers and office software packages. Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section Prior experience with UNDP projects would be an asset. Proven experience in working with government bodies and international organisations on highest level with positive track record of relations building and management.  Experience in financial reporting for donors is desired. Knowledge of any other UN language would be an asset. Required Language(s)  Fluency in English and Ukrainian is required. Professional Certificates A professional certificate in project management (PRINCE II or similar) is an advantage.

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

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.

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