Tiered Approach

In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:

  • Tier 0: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.
  • Tier 1: Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments
  • Tier 2: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers
  • Tier 3 or no tier indicated: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.

Background

The Africa Sustainable Finance Hub (ASFH) serves as UNDP's center of excellence for transforming Africa's financing architecture. Operating across 46 countries, ASFH bridges the gap between South Africa's economy and the capital it needs to drive sustainable development.

In 2025, South Africa's historic G20 Presidency delivered unprecedented recognition for Africa-led development solutions, with ASFH-supported initiatives—including Timbuktoo, Township Spark, and the Critical Minerals Framework—achieving G20 Legacy Project status. This moment demands institutional capacity to sustain and scale these breakthroughs while pioneering new pathways for Africa's economic transformation.

ASFH operates at the intersection of policy innovation, capital mobilization, and private sector engagement, translating Africa's structural advantages (demographics, resources, markets) into investment-ready opportunities. The Hub works with governments, development finance institutions, commercial banks, institutional investors, and private sector actors to unlock domestic and international capital for SDG-aligned development. 

Duties and Responsibilities

The Senior Advisor, Africa Transformation Finance, provides strategic leadership and technical excellence across ASFH's core mandate: restructuring how Africa finances its development. This consolidated role combines policy advisory, investment facilitation, and private sector engagement to accelerate Africa's transition from aid dependency to investment-driven transformation.

The position leads ASFH's response to Africa's defining challenges—fiscal compression, inequality, youth unemployment, and climate vulnerability—by developing and scaling financing solutions that work at continental, regional, and country levels. The Senior Advisor serves as a principal technical authority within ASFH on transformation finance, ensuring Country Offices and regional partners access world-class expertise, tools, and partnerships.

In the current geopolitical context, the role carries a specific mandate to operate at the intersection of development finance, geopolitics, and global economic governance. The Senior Advisor will support Africa's positioning within G20, African Union, BRICS+, and emerging multilateral processes, translating political priorities into credible financial architecture and investment platforms. Particular emphasis will be placed on critical minerals as economic sovereignty, sovereign capital formation, and capital market strategies that enable Africa to negotiate global transitions from a position of strength rather than dependency.

The role will have the following focus areas: 

  • MSME & Productive Capital Ecosystems: Unlock financing for Africa's 44 million MSMEs through integrated capital systems, value-chain finance, and alternative credit assessment
  • Digital Economic Infrastructure: Deploy AI-driven market intelligence, digital public infrastructure, and data collaboratives to inform financing decisions
  • Critical Minerals & Economic Sovereignty: Lead Africa's critical minerals financing strategy as foundation for industrialization and negotiating power
  • Sovereign Capital Formation: Build long-term pools of patient capital through sovereign wealth funds, national development banks, and pension mobilization
  • G20 Legacy & Geopolitical Positioning: Scale G20 legacy projects while advancing Africa's strategic positioning in global economic governance
  • Innovative Financing Instruments: Design and deploy blended finance, green bonds, diaspora finance, and sustainable finance taxonomies
  • Additionally, the role will leverage and enhance existing ASFH capacities around risk financing and resilience as well as carbon markets and just energy transition, and focus on investor relationships and deal structuring for existing programming, such as ENGINE. 

Key Responsibilities

The Senior Advisor – Africa Transformation Finance operates as an integrative, cross-cutting role within ASFH, consolidating strategic policy advisory, private capital mobilization, and partnership development functions previously delivered across multiple portfolios. The role is designed to reduce fragmentation, accelerate delivery, and ensure coherence across ASFH's transformation finance agenda—from G20 legacy initiatives to emerging priority areas identified in the Hub's programme architecture.


A.    STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP, POLICY ADVISORY AND SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE

1.Lead Transformation Finance Architecture including:

  • Provide overall vision, direction and prioritization for ASFH in line with regional and corporate strategies in alignment to the ASFH mandate;
  • Development of continental, regional, and national transformation finance frameworks; 
    Coordinate the design and implementation of country investment platforms and SDG-aligned market intelligence systems to connect viable projects with investors the public financial management, fiscal policy coordination, and domestic revenue mobilization.

2.    Lead Digital Economic Infrastructure and Market Intelligence including:

  • Digital public infrastructure for evidence-based financing—including financing dashboards integrating revenues, spending, debt, and development results;
  • Deployment of the AI-driven market intelligence systems to generate proprietary insights on financing opportunities across Africa;
  • Development of data collaboratives with banks, FinTechs, and financing institutions to improve credit assessment and reduce information asymmetries;
  • Leverage digital innovation—crowdfunding platforms, mobile banking, blockchain solutions—to increase financial inclusion and lower transaction costs.

3.    Lead G20 Legacy & Geopolitical Positioning including:

  • Implementation and scaling of G20 Legacy and flagship Projects including Timbuktoo, Township Spark, Sovereign wealth fund; 
  • Coordinate the ASFH’s technical contribution to Africa's engagement with G20 legacy processes, AU economic priorities, and emerging global coalitions (BRICS+, WEF, CPR processes);
  • Engage with diplomatic counterparts, Sherpa teams, and senior policymakers to align financial architecture with foreign policy objectives.

4.    Critical Minerals, Sovereign Capital and Industrial Finance- Lead ASFH's continental work on critical minerals as foundation for economic sovereignty, industrialization, and long-term capital formation:

  • Support governments to design mineral-linked sovereign strategies—sovereign wealth funds, national development banks, strategic holding vehicles, and pension fund mobilization;
  • Develop Africa-led financing frameworks for critical minerals that shift from extraction toward beneficiation, infrastructure, skills, and regional value chains;
  • Position UNDP as trusted technical partner to African governments negotiating with global powers on energy transition, trade, and industrial policy.


B.    INVESTMENT FACILITATION, CAPITAL MOBILIZATION AND FINANCIAL STRUCTURING

1.    Lead MSME Financing and Productive Capital Ecosystems:

  • Develop integrated, scalable capital ecosystems to mobilize productive and inclusive financing for Africa's 44 million MSME particularly women, youth, and informally owned enterprises;
  • Deploy value-chain financing models linked to market procurement, localized production clusters, and sectoral growth poles (Township Spark, agricultural export frameworks, creative economy hubs)'
  • Pilot dual-credit risk assessment architecture integrating Basel-aligned standards with alternative and community-derived scoring methodologies using transactional data, e-commerce integration, and supply chain traceability;
  • Support development of MSME risk-sharing platforms facilitating blended finance, partial guarantees, and fintech-enabled underwriting;
  • Design tailored financial products.


C.    STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP AND CAPACITY BUILDING

1. Build Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships:

  • Cultivate strategic alliances with African Union, Regional Economic Communities, government finance ministries, central banks, securities regulators, and national development banks
  • Build enduring relationships/partnerships with private sector champions—banks, institutional investors, insurance industry, corporates, business associations, and entrepreneurship networks.

2.    Thought leadership, advocacy and lead knowledge generation:

  • Position ASFH as Africa's authoritative voice on transformation finance through high-impact publications, media engagement, and conference participation;
  • Lead knowledge generation and sharing on: MSME financing ecosystems, risk financing and insurance, carbon markets and Article 6, critical minerals sovereignty, diaspora capital, sovereign wealth strategies, digital economic infrastructure;
  • Participate and generate content to represent UNDP/ ASFH at global and regional forums (G20, AU summits, BRICS+ dialogues, WEF, Climate and nature-based Conference of parties (COPs) OPs, investor conferences, UN General Assembly and other strategic conferences).

3.    Facilitate Capacity Development & Institutional Strengthening  

  • Provide technical assistance to Country Offices on transformation finance tools, MSME financing, risk finance, carbon markets, and digital infrastructure;
  • Design and deliver training programmes for government officials, financial sector professionals, insurance industry, and UNDP personnel.


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 Senior Advisor – Africa Transformation Finance will be based within the Africa Sustainable Finance Hub (ASFH) and will report directly to the Director of the UNDP Africa Sustainable Finance Hub. 

On a day-to-day basis, the Senior Advisor will work in close coordination with other team leads across the ASFH’s team, contributing to joint planning, knowledge exchange, and the coherent delivery of the Hub’s transformation finance agenda. 

Additional collaborations involving other hubs, such as the Regional Service Center for Africa (RSCA), UN agencies, central bureaus, country offices as applicable will be required, to deliver financing support to regional development priorities, and global UNDP colleagues operating across the region and within the areas of priority. 

Competencies

Core Competencies

  • 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 site.


Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Business Management: Customer Satisfaction/Client Management          

  • Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs. Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy. Look for ways to add value beyond clients' immediate requests. Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.

Business Management: Working with Evidence and Data            

  • Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making

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: 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 

Partnership Management: Multi-stakeholder Engagement and Funding     

  • Knowledge and ability to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships, and remove any obstacles to resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder funding platforms 

Business Development: Knowledge Generation  

  • Ability to research information and to turn it into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need. 
  • Ability to apply existing concepts to new situations, and to develop new concepts to generate workable solutions and new approaches. 
  • Knowledge of relevant concepts, conceptual models, and theories that can be useful in addressing new situations

Partnership 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

Education:

  • Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Economics, Finance, Development Studies, International Relations, Business Administration, or related field is required. Or
  • A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas stated above in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree. 
  • A PhD or professional qualifications (CFA, CPA) are advantageous.

Experience:

  • Minimum of 10 years (with master’s degree) or 12 years (with bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible experience in development finance, MSME financing, investment banking, private equity, risk finance/insurance, or institutional asset management.

Required Skills

  • At least 10 years working in or on Africa, with demonstrated understanding of the continent's financing challenges and opportunities;
  • Demonstrated expertise in at least two of: MSME financing, risk financing/insurance, carbon markets, digital finance infrastructure, critical minerals, or sovereign capital;
  • Experience working with UN agencies, multilateral development banks, Regional economic communities or international NGOs required.

Desired Skills

  • Expertise in MSME financing ecosystems, including value-chain finance, alternative credit assessment methodologies, and financial inclusion approaches;
  • Specialized experience in risk financing and insurance instruments such as disaster risk finance, climate insurance, agricultural insurance, resilience bonds, beyond general transaction structuring;
  • Advanced technical mastery of carbon market mechanisms, including Article 6 implementation, MRV systems, and climate finance mobilization, beyond deal execution;
  • Strong technical grasp of digital public infrastructure and advanced financial technologies, including AI-driven market intelligence and fintech-enabled financial systems;
  • Experience and expert-level knowledge of development finance instruments, including blended finance structures, guarantees, first-loss capital and sovereign wealth structuring, at a design and implementation level;
  • Proven experience and deep understanding of critical minerals, economics, industrial policy, and sovereign investment strategies in Africa or elsewhere.

Language Requirements

  • Fluency in English required; 
  • Working knowledge of French is desirable; 
  • Additional African languages are an asset.

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.

Scam alert

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