Environmental Finance Lead at World Resources Institute (WRI)

Job Highlight:

You will report to Director, Cities, WRI Africa

The Environmental Finance Lead, Africa Cities Climate Resilience Program, helps mobilize finance for climate-resilient, nature-positive urban initiatives by working with partners to move high-potential NbS projects from concept to transaction. The Environmental Finance Lead will provide engagement, technical analysis, and advisory support to develop financing strategies, policy solutions, and institutional arrangements necessary to advance NbS projects on the ground. You will collaborates with investors, donors, government agencies, NGOs, and communities across multiple countries in Africa.

What will you do:

Research and Program Management (70% of time):

• Work with partners to co-create financing strategies and investment frameworks for NbS projects
• Support project preparation by conducting or overseeing feasibility studies, financial analysis, policy analysis, or institutional analysis
• Work with partners to build policy actions, outline legal and regulatory frameworks, and standards to support development of bankable NbS/water and climate resilience projects
• Establish and grow existing partnerships with investors, donors, development and private sector banks, and funders
• Support partners to incorporate gender, social, and equity (GSE) into NbS financing / funding strategies
• Design and implement trainings and knowledge exchanges with key stakeholders with the support of local partners
• Conduct outreach and communications including authoring or co/authoring reports and articles, presenting at meetings and conferences, etc
• Collaborate across WRI programs and ensure linkages with WRI Africa’s New Climate Economy (NCE), AFR100, African Cities Water Adaptation Fund (ACWA), and Cities4Forests Initiatives
• Coordinate different WRI technical teams inputs and liaise with WRI global Urban water resilience and Cities4Forest teams

Fundraising and Operations (30%):

• Work with senior staff on the strategic development and management of the urban resilience and financing work in Africa
• Cultivate new project opportunities and prospective donors, and contribute to prepare funding proposals
• Liaise with internal staff and project stakeholders to problem solve and generate solutions to project implementation issues

What will you need:

Education:

• You have a Master’s degree in finance, public policy, economics, environmental management, or similar

Experience:

• You have a minimum of 10 years of relevant, full-time work experience in the field of urban resilience, development finance, or sustainable infrastructure
• Subject matter expertise in at least one of these topics: urban climate resilience, water resilience, or nature-based solutions
• Demonstrated success in developing financing strategies and/or brokering deals for NbS or sustainable infrastructure projects (feasibility stage onwards)
• Experience leading early-stage project concepts to transaction
• Strong track record of engaging global funds and financial institutions such as the Global Climate Fund, Global Environmental Facility, World Bank, African Development Bank, or similar.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and partnership management skills, particularly with cities and subnational governments
• Understanding of methods for ecosystem (or natural capital) valuation and natural infrastructure cost-benefit analysis
• Proven ability to drive sustainability outcomes across multiple countries across Sub-Saharan Africa
• Strong written and oral communication skills, particularly when it comes to communicating technical concepts to non-technical audiences
• Experience consulting with public sector institutions, financial institutions, and/or private sector
• Willingness to travel 15-30% of the time

Languages: 

• Full fluency in English required and second language preferred

Requirements:

• Existing work authorization is required where this position. WRI is unable to authorize visa work authorization