Sr. Financial Specialist

World Bank Group•Washington, DC

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a multilateral financial mechanism created in 1991 to provide grant and concessional financing to recipient countries for projects and programs that address biodiversity loss, climate change mitigation, degradation of international waters, land and forests, ozone depletion, elimination or reduction of persistent organic pollutants and mercury, all within the framework of sustainable development. The GEF unites 186 countries in partnership with international institutions (18 GEF Agencies), civil society organizations (CSOs), and the private sector to address global environmental issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives. An independently operating financial organization, GEF is the designated financial mechanism for five international environmental conventions (Conventions): the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Minamata Convention on Mercury. GEF is also a designated financial mechanism of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Since 1991, the GEF has achieved a strong track record with developing countries and countries with economies in transition, providing $27 billion and mobilizing $ 155 Bn in 2,300 active projects in over 149 countries. Over three decades, GEF and its Agencies have successfully used a wide array of non-grant instruments as concessional finance such as debt, equity, and guarantees to attract private sector investment and deliver global environmental benefits beyond business as usual. The GEF-9 Programming Directions recognized the importance of blended finance and increased the blended finance global program to 10% of GEF total Pledges (currently $390 million for the 2026-2030 period). Most importantly, over this period, the GEF will focus on mainstreaming blended finance across the GEF portfolio to achieve 25% of overall GEF resources that are invested in a manner that mobilize private capital. This focus will include expanding investments from the Blended Finance Global Program and actively reaching recipient Countries that will be incentivized to use blended finance approaches in their projects and programs. The GEF will also seek to promote multi-trust fund blended finance projects within the GEF Family of Funds (which include the Special Climate Change Fund, Least Developed Countries Fund and Global Biodiversity Framework Fund). The GEF Secretariat is a Vice-Presidential Unit (VPU) within the World Bank with approximately 100 staff. The GEF Secretariat is seeking a Senior Financial Specialist in Washington, DC to support the GEF Programming Division under the Blended Finance team.

Requirements

A Master's degree in business administration, finance, and related fields with at least 8 years of relevant professional work as investment officer/ origination teams in MDBs and IFIs, or in the banking/investment management industry;
Strong financial skills, namely in investment analysis of projects involving debt, equity, fund investment, guarantees and structured finance.
Additional knowledge in project management and reflow reporting is also required;
Experience with private sector and blended finance (public and private sector projects).
Excellent analytical skills and mastering excel spreadsheets, databases, word processing, and web-based skills required;
Ability to participate in multi-disciplinary teams and coordinate input from multiple areas inside the GEF Secretariat and outside stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to function as a team player within and across teams.
Ability to work in a multicultural environment in an international setting;
Experience in developing countries, particularly in the development and execution of climate change projects and/or related environmental sectors;
Demonstrated ability to effectively engage and develop appropriate and sound relationships with a range of stakeholders, international organizations, development agencies, scientific and technical bodies, private sector entities, developing country counterparts, and NGOs;
Excellence in written and spoken English is essential.

Nice To Haves

Experience in designing, developing and executing large bilateral and/or multilateral funded projects is a plus;
Knowledge of other UN languages, especially French and Spanish is desirable;
Working knowledge of the operations of the Global Environmental Facility and its Agencies is a highly desirable;
Willingness to frequently travel to global, regional and national GEF related events.

Responsibilities

Build a pipeline of viable projects with GEF Agencies and Countries for GEF Council approval.
Provide guidance to Agencies, Countries and colleagues on major issues involved in the development of blended finance project proposals and assist in overall preparation of work programs to be presented to Council.
Perform and manage reviews of project proposals under the Blended Finance Global Program and project proposals submitted by Countries in accordance with the agreed project review criteria and GEF Programming Directions.
Manage the preparation of annual reflow reporting in coordination with the GEF Trustee and GEF Agencies.
Review the existing processes for reflow reporting and repayment and seek to make recommendations to improve existing processes and policies.
Review GEF’s portfolio of ongoing projects through implementation, monitoring, and evaluation activities with GEF Agencies and countries.
Play an important role in developing blended finance policies and guidelines and support the overall GEF Programming Division.
Provide quality inputs to the CEO and senior management on country and thematic briefings, talking points, speeches, analytical/strategic documents.
Participate in the GEF work within the Country Engagement Strategy, including participation in country dialogues, expanded constituency workshops, and other relevant forums.
Represent the GEF at a senior level at selected international; political, business, scientific and operational forums.
Undertake additional duties as directed by the Manager of the GEF Programming Division and, as delegated, by the Blended Finance Coordinator.