Title: National Expert on Access to Finance and Corporate Engagement
โRequisition ID: 6860
Grade: ISA-NOC
Country: Pakistan
Duty Station: Karachi
Category: National Consultant
Type of Job Posting: Internal and External
Employment Type: Non-staff Regular
Contract Duration: 6 months (with the possibility of extension)
Application deadline: 06-Jan-2026, 11:59 PM (Vienna, Austria time)
Vacancy Announcement
TEMPORARY APPOINTMENT OF PROJECT PERSONNEL
Only nationals or permanent residents of the country of the duty station are considered eligible.
Female candidates are encouraged to apply.
UNIDO welcomes applications from qualified persons with disabilities. Reasonable accommodation will be provided to applicants and employees with disabilities to support full participation in the recruitment process and in the performance of their duties.
ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. The mission UNIDO, as described in the Lima Declaration adopted at the fifteenth session of the UNIDO General Conference in 2013 as well as the Abu Dhabi Declaration adopted at the eighteenth session of UNIDO General Conference in 2019, is to promote and accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) in Member States. The relevance of ISID as an integrated approach to all three pillars of sustainable development is recognized by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will frame United Nations and country efforts towards sustainable development. UNIDOโs mandate is fully recognized in SDG-9, which calls to โBuild resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovationโ. The relevance of ISID, however, applies to a greater or lesser extent to all SDGs.
The medium-term programme framework (MTPF) is UNIDOโs core strategic document. As the Organization moves from the 2022โ2025 cycle to the 2026โ2029 MTPF, it sets a renewed vision to support Member States shape their industries for development. The new priorities include renewable and clean energy, sustainable access and climate action, ending hunger through innovation and local value addition, and fair and sustainable global and regional supply chains. Cross-cutting priorities focus on industrial and economic policy advice, skills development, fostering digitalization and artificial intelligence, gender equality and the empowerment of women, supporting youth, promoting cleaner production and circular economy, and leveraging private sector investment and development finance.
Each of these programmatic fields of activity contains a number of individual programmes, which are implemented in a holistic manner to achieve effective outcomes and impacts through UNIDOโs four enabling functions: (i) technical cooperation; (ii) analytical and research functions and policy advisory services; (iii) normative functions and standards and quality-related activities; and (iv) convening and partnerships for knowledge transfer, networking and industrial cooperation. Such core functions are carried out in Divisions/Offices in its Headquarters, Sub-regional Offices and Country Offices.
Under the overall direction of the Director General, and in close collaboration with all relevant organizational entities within UNIDO, the Directorate of Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Industrial Development (TCS), headed by a Managing Director, ensures the Organization's application of strategies and interventions for sustainable industrial development related to environment, energy, Micro, Small and Medium-Enterprises (MSMEs), and digitalization. The Directorate also oversees the Organization's normative contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through industrial policy advice and capacity development. Through coordination in-house and with Member States and industry stakeholders, it ensures that the services provided in these areas contribute to effective and appropriate technical, business and policy solutions and are focused on results, scaling up and positioning UNIDO as a leading platform for industrial development in developing countries and global fora.
The Directorate is responsible for the Division of Industrial Policy Advice and Capacity Development (TCS/IPC), and technical Divisions of Circular Economy and Green Industry (TCS/CEG), Energy and Climate Action (TCS/ECA), Climate Innovation and Montreal Protocol (TCS/CMP); MSME Competitiveness, Quality and Job Creation (TCS/SME); and Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence (TCS/DAI). Leveraging the diverse skill sets of UNIDO personnel and the services provided by the two TC directorates, TCS collaborates closely with IET to develop and implement programmes and projects, aiming at enhancing synergy and complementarity and maximizing UNIDO corporate performance and impacts on the ground. The Directorate also ensures close coordination and collaboration among the Divisions as well as with relevant entities in all Directorates across the Organization.
The Division of MSME Competitiveness, Quality and Job Creation (TCS/SME) works towards increasing the competitiveness of industries in developing countries and countries in transition, especially emphasizing business development of MSMEs engaged in manufacturing and creating jobs therein. It aims at increasing competitiveness among MSMEs in two interconnected ways: first, by modernizing businesses through the transfer of advanced technologies adapted to local conditions, product innovation, productivity improvement and upgrading, developing market and value chain readiness as well as improved access to finance; and second, by improving the quality of MSME manufactured products and their compliance with market requirements through capacity building for the development of industrial production and trade-related quality infrastructure including for standardization, metrology, accreditation and of conformity assessment service institutions (testing, certification, inspection and calibration) and the strengthening of their capacities.
The position is located under the MSME Development and Job Creation Unit (TCS/SME/MDJ) which supports micro, small and medium manufacturing enterprises (MSMEs) in Member States to take advantage of new technologies, business and organizational support, investment promotion, cluster development and partnerships to improve their businesses for advancing the overall economic competitiveness.
The Competitiveness, Quality and Compliance Unit (TCS/SME/CQC) builds national and regional production and quality infrastructure systems, with an emphasis on providing internationally recognized services, facilitating MSME participation in regional and global value chains; strengthening institutional quality infrastructure capacities; building conformity assessment capacities; and supporting market access and quality awareness with the public sector, economic operators and consumers, placing a special emphasis on capacitating MSMEs.
PROJECT CONTEXT
Poverty alleviation and inclusive development across rural Sindh (PAIDAR) is a five-year programme funded by the EU to support the Government of Sindh (GoS) in implementation of its Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS). The long-term objective of PAIDAR is to contribute to sustainable poverty reduction and improvement of livelihoods of poor women, men and young people across Sindh province. The PRS has three pillars: 1) Community Driven Local Development 2) Addressing Urban Poverty including Urban Economic Clusters and 3) Rural Growth Centers.
PAIDAR has been conceived to mainly focus on fostering the economic development dimension of the PRS, and targeting the most vulnerable, in particular through support to enterprise development, focusing on the development of Rural Growth Centers and Urban Economic Clusters under PRS implementation. To this end, the programme will:
Provide necessary financial and technical support to a significant number of micro and small enterprises; Contribute technically and financially to building and upgrading public infrastructure for improvement in basic service delivery; and Assist the GoS to strengthen internal coordination and monitoring and to optimize provincial public resources allocation towards meeting PRS objectives.
PAIDAR will deliver on the above objectives through utilization of three key mechanisms:
Co-financing public investment projects of the GoS aiming to build and/or upgrade centralized and decentralized public infrastructure for delivery of basic services with high impact on livelihood improvement and poverty reduction, as well as for delivery of services with high potential to contribute to economic development of the target Rural Growth Centre and foster enterprise development. Provision of grants to support MSMEs investment projects which demonstrate strong potential for enterprise development, income generation, job retention and creation. Technical assistance to the GoS and the MSMEs to ensure investment projects (both co-financed public infrastructure development projects and financially supported MSME investment projects) are designed, planned and implemented to deliver results in line with the objectives of the PRS; and to strengthen GoS capacity to plan, implement and monitor results PRS.
FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Under the overall guidance of the Project Manager and direct supervision of National Programme Coordinator and National Technical Advisor and close cooperation with the project team in the HQ and field location, the expert will be responsible for the performance of the following main duties:
Planning /coordination/advice
Develop and execute a comprehensive plan to cover the following:
Undertake exploratory research to build a greater understanding of the financial ecosystem, the lender-borrower relationships, the de jure vs de facto nature of these contracts, and the impact these financial support lines have had on poverty in the region. Develop, in collaboration with the Government of Sindh (GoS), instruments that can help improve utilization of public schemes such as the Youth Loan Scheme. This includes capacity building and supporting individuals and businesses (especially women) to access these concessionary loans. Develop working groups with banks, microfinance institutions, and rural support organizations to discuss and develop hybrid joint financial products suited to the needs of selected districts to enhance access to credit and finance. Provide overall coordination with relevant government and private sector stakeholders for the establishment of financial service platforms. These investment platforms will directly target high-impact investment opportunities aligned with PRS results areas (economic development, sustainable livelihoods, and poverty reduction). Establish online investment promotion platforms together with relevant government institutions to promote investment opportunities, attract potential investors, and facilitate matchmaking partnerships. The investment promotion efforts will be aligned with the PRS vision and principles such as environmental sustainability, poverty reduction, and gender equality.
Programme/project implementation
Organize business-to-business (B2B) events and promotional campaigns to link businesses with potential public and private investors. Provide technical content for the overall framework for the Corporate Sector Grant Window. Provide input on the corporate sector grant window term sheet, including eligibility criteria, investment structures, matching grant mechanisms, and co-funding requirements. Provide technical input on the design the call for proposals (CfP) document for the corporate sector grant window.
Programme/project promotion and outreach
Hold information sessions, roundtable meetings, and strategic engagement for potential corporate sector partners. Establish and maintain a database of potential corporate partners, financial institutions, and grantees. Provide feedback on due diligence on financial sustainability and corporate co-investment models. Provide input on the refinement of digital tools for monitoring grant utilization and impact assessment.
Capacity building of the project partners/beneficiaries
Organize training sessions and knowledge-sharing events for grantees and corporate partners. Foster collaboration between financial institutions, businesses, and government entities to scale financing solutions. Advocate for policies and regulations that enhance corporate engagement in inclusive finance initiatives.