CIPFA and Humentum launch consultation on first ever international non-profit guidance

A public consultation, launched January 28 2021 by CIPFA and Humentum, gives non-profit organisations (NPOs) and their stakeholders the opportunity, for the first time, to contribute to the development of global financial reporting guidance.

The consultation, which is part of the International Financial Reporting for Non-Profit Organisations (IFR4NPO) initiative, will consider views from all over the world, including finance staff and NPO senior leaders, as well as funders, regulators, auditors, banks and members of the public.

While international reporting standards have been developed for the private and public sectors, the future IFR4NPO guidance will resolve the current absence of an international reporting standard specific to the non-profit sector.

The consultation will be open for comments on general financial reporting issues until 30 July 2021, and for sector-specific accounting issues until 24 September 2021.

Call for Tender: The MedFund

The MedFund, in collaboration with MedPAN, is issuing a Request for Proposals to prepare a Project Document/ CEO Endorsement Package for a Full-sized GEF funded Project entitled: Build back a blue and stronger Mediterranean.

The attached RFP contains all the necessary information for interested offerors.

Deadline to submit : 12:00 am CET on Monday, March 15, 2021.

Consultancy Opportunity - BIOPAMA, developing the Regional Resource Hub (RRH) Sustainability Plan

The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) Programme is an initiative of the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (OACP) Group of States funded by the 11th European Development Fund. The programme aims to assist the ACP countries in developing a framework for improving technical and institutional approaches to conserve biodiversity, particularly in protected areas, through regional cooperation and capacity building activities.

IUCN and the European Union’s (EU) Joint Research Centre (JRC) jointly implement BIOPAMA. In line with BIOPAMA programme objectives, a Regional Resource Hub (RRH) for Biodiversity and Protected Areas was established at the Regional Centre for Mapping Resources for Development (RCMRD), the regional implementing partner of the programme in the Eastern and Southern Africa Region. The RRH hosts the Regional Reference Information System (RRIS), which works as a platform to facilitate exchange of data/information among decision makers and managers of protected areas and supports regional priorities for decision support products. One such product is a regional “State of Protected and Conserved Areas” (SoPACA) report which was developed in support of Eastern and Southern African countries in 2020 and another will be developed towards the end of the project.

The BIOPAMA programme is a six-year programme, now in its 4 th year, beginning late 2017 and ending in 2023. The RRH developed under the BIOPAMA programme is intended to continue to operate beyond the end of the BIOPAMA programme. The work within the next years of BIOPAMA is to fully integrate the RRH into the host institution - RCMRD. Sustainability of the RRH is a means to continue to perform and deliver benefits to the primary target audiences after the funding from BIOPAMA terminates. This kind of sustainability includes

a. Programmatic sustainability of the RRH – products and services offered e.g. continuous development of State of Protected and Conserved Areas (SoPACA) report, as well as tool development and capacity building in response to regional needs.

b. Institutional stability – continued support for the work of the RRH within the organisation e.g. communication, human resources, computing and technological infrastructure.

c. Financial sustainability – financing of recurrent costs i.e. steady flow of funds for outreach, staff time, day to day running of the RRH, development of new features, etc.

Objective of the Consultancy

Working under the supervision of the BIOPAMA Regional Coordinator, the main objective of this consultancy is to develop a 10 year strategic plan for the sustainability of the Regional Resource Hub. This will take into account the current internal and external operating environment in order to enhance the RRH’s effectiveness and sustainability in the area of policy and decision making in the Eastern and Southern African region comprising 24 countries

Consultancy Opportunity: CFA Partnership Fund Feasibility Study

The Conservation Finance Alliance, together with strategic partners, seeks to establish the Conservation Finance Partnership Fund (CFPF) as an independent global Conservation Trust Fund (CTF). The Fund will have two principal objectives: 1) to support Conservation Trust Funds through a pooled fund architecture and 2) to build global conservation finance capacity by providing a source of sustainable finance for the CFA.

Application Process

Please send a CV and a cover letter highlighting relevant experience and daily rate to secretariat@cfalliance.org by EOB March 5, 2021.  Please include the subject line: Partnership Fund.

These Terms of Reference seek for a consultant or consulting group to work with the CFA leadership to achieve the following tasks:

1)      Work with the CFA Secretariat and Business Planning Task Force to clarify and expand the details of the concept of a Conservation Finance Partnership Fund (CFPF or the “Fund”).

2)      Review existing pooled Funds such as the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, Micronesia Conservation Trust, and Nature Trust Alliance to inform this study.

3)      Identify the appropriate locality for establishing the Fund that achieves the Fund’s goals at a minimum of administrative and tax costs.

4)      Determine how the investment management structure of the pooled fund concept would operate, outlining how such funds would be managed within an investment firm, and the reporting systems that would be available to meet the needs of the various member funds. Articulate the specific services that the CFPF would offer to the participating CTFs.

5)      Explore the key governance considerations in creating a pooled fund within the Conservation Trust Fund community, including considering implications for each participating CTF’s fiduciary responsibilities, and propose the governance structure for the Fund.

6)      Explore “Know your Client” and other anti-money laundering and Securities rules to assure that the Trust Fund is able to manage the endowments of other funds – and develop an appropriate asset transfer/management strategy in response.

7)      Expand the CFPF concept to include practical details that would go into an operations manual and include in final report.

8)      Identify 10-20 small to medium CTFs with under USD$10 million in assets and conduct interviews to ascertain their top priorities for pooling (building on Winter 2015, see below), as well as any legal or governance constraints that would need to be accommodated for them to participate.

9)      Develop a financial plan for the Fund, including capitalization levels, number and size of participating CTFs, costs and cost sharing, impact of foreign exchange, and net revenue projections. The plan should include sensitivity analysis and cost-benefit analysis.

10)   Conduct a stakeholder analysis to assess how the plan might be viewed by CFA stakeholders and key audiences.

11)   Prepare a short PPT presentation that identifies the benefits of the Conservation Finance Partnership Fund to potential client CTFs.

12)   Prepare a PPT presentation and spreadsheet that quantifies the overall value of this pooled approach to the CFA, Client CTFs, and other key stakeholders including donors. This is a fundraising document.

13)   Prepare a draft Trust Charter that captures the main conclusions of the study.

14)   Prepare a final report that summarizes the findings and includes the other work products as annexes.

CFA Webinar: Conservation Actions and Measurements Library (CAML)

Please join us on Friday February 19th at 11am Eastern Time to learn from Nick Salafsky about the Conservation Actions and Measures Library (CAML) under development by Foundations of Success.

CAML can help practitioners find generic theory of change pathways that serve as templates for their project’s specific conservation actions and strategies. It can also help managers and funders develop standard objectives and performance indicators to report on similar actions across a portfolio of actions. It is our hope that CAML will provide the basis for systematic learning about the conditions under which different actions work.

We will discuss how we could use the CAML framework to create theory of change pathways for conservation finance solutions as a tool to increase understanding and capacity to use these tools.

See this video for more information.

WHEN: 11am ET Friday, February 19th, 2021
WHERE: RSVP Below

Nick Salafsky is Executive Director and Co-Founder of FOS. In this role, he works with conservation practitioners across the United States and around the world to define clear and practical measures of conservation success, determine sound guiding principles for using conservation strategies, and develop the knowledge and skills of individuals and organizations to do good adaptive management. Nick is also product manager for the Miradi Adaptive Management Software program (www.miradi.org).


This webinar is hosted by the Marine and Coastal Finance Working Group of the Conservation Finance Alliance. Jos Hill will chair the discussion. If you have any questions, please contact Jos at jos@oceandesignlab.com

Job Opportunity: Restoration Insurance Service Company (RISCO) (CI)

Conservation International (CI) has been protecting nature for the benefit of all for over 30 years. Through science, policy, and partnerships, CI is helping build a healthier, more prosperous and more productive planet.  

POSITION SUMMARY

Conservation International Foundation (CI) is the proponent of RISCO, a first-of-its-kind sustainable business model for investing in mangrove conservation and restoration, generating revenue from insurance companies that pay to lessen their risk exposure, and from the sale of blue carbon credits. Specifically, RISCO aims to capture the economic value of threatened mangroves upfront (before they are destroyed) through two revenue streams: (1) insurance-related payments for the modelled flood risk reduction benefits of mangroves and (2) blue carbon payments for the validated climate mitigation value of mangroves. More information about the instrument can be found here:

https://www.climatefinancelab.org/project/coastal-risk-reduction/

CI aims to develop RISCO pilot projects in two to three sites over the next two years. Three key phases until anticipated financial closure of the pilot projects will consist of (1) site selection, (2) business case development, including return on investment analysis, and (3) pilot structuring / negotiation of transactions.

The RISCO Senior Director will be a senior position based at CI’s office in Manila, Philippines. The Senior Director will work with both a Development and Advisory Team which will be responsible for RISCO’s overall success and a Pilot Delivery Team which will be responsible for delivering the pilots in the Philippines (and potentially one other country in Asia-Pacific). Team members are based in the United States, the Philippines, and Singapore.

The position is a fixed two (2) year commitment.

Job Opportunity: Terranomics

Terranomics is a consultancy that focuses on using local and global financial systems to support sustainable land use, conservation and climate change solutions. The co-founders have spent the last 20 years working on public and private sector approaches to environmental challenges, and are based in London and Cornwall.

The services Terranomics specialise in are the following:

• Sustainable Land-Use Investment Structuring

• Support for Green Business Growth

• Finance Sector Analysis

• Measurement, Impact and Evaluation

• Proposal and Concept Note Development

The role

Terranomics has a growing portfolio of exciting global client assignments in the areas outlined above, and is seeking support for delivering these projects and further developing our pipeline of work. This is a good opportunity to join an early-stage consulting company with significant opportunity for career development in an environment where individual creativity and entrepreneurship are strongly encouraged.

The role will be full time and location is flexible, with a preference that once COVID restrictions have ended the candidate would be able to work in London or Falmouth for at least part of a typical working week.

Experience and skills required

• A post-graduate qualification with a business, financial or economic discipline looking to apply these skills to the world of sustainable land-use and nature conservation. Will also consider candidates with post-graduate qualifications in natural resource management, ecology, conservation who show a strong awareness and capability in financial and quantitative analysis

• Demonstrated passion for the topic of mobilising private finance for sustainable land-use and conservation objectives

• 6-10 years working experience in a field related to this topic

• Demonstrated ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder projects, ideally in a consulting context

• Entrepreneurial spirit with an interest in being part of a start-up environment with excellent growth potential

• Excellent research and analytical skills

• Ability to write in clear, business-friendly language

• Comfortable with working independently and either remotely or in-person

• Enjoys expanding their professional network and investing time in relationship-building

• Strong team-player with good verbal communication skills

• A strong sense of initiative and resilience

• Fluency in English

How to apply

Please send a copy of your CV to jim.stephenson@terranomics.org with a 1-2 page cover letter describing your motivation and suitability for the role.

Job Opportunity - Director of Conservation Funding, Africa Parks

African Parks (AP) is looking for a senior, strategic individual that is deeply passionate about Africa and committed to securing its remaining conservation areas for the benefit of her people. AP is searching for an experienced Director of Conservation Funding to develop and execute an overarching Global Funding Strategy that will secure reliable and adequate funding streams to sustain the current portfolio of 19 parks covering 15 million hectares and enable significant growth in line with organisational strategy. This role is core to African Parks’ objective of ensuring 30 of Africa's unique protected areas and spectacular wildlife are secured by 2030. The organisation’s current annual budget is $80m and it expected to rise to $150m by 2030. The successful incumbent will provide strategic leadership and expert management of the global fundraising teams located in USA, Netherlands, Germany, UK, Switzerland and Asia and will be based at its Head Office in Johannesburg, South Africa, with frequent travel as needed. The role reports to the CEO, is a member of the Exco and shall attend all Board meetings.

Job Opportunity: Project Development Manager

The Project Development Manager is a highly valuable and strategic leader in our organization who assumes responsibility for leading the Forest Resilience Bond development team to achieve our visions for scale. As the key and sole financial product of Blue Forest, the success of the Forest Resilience Bond is key to the success of the entire organization.

The primary goals of the Project Development Manager at Blue Forest are to (1) manage the development process of individual forest resilience bond projects from conception to execution, (2) coordinate a diverse mix of partner organizations, governmental entities, tribes, utilities, non profits, and research partners, (3) develop standardized approaches and strategies to support the project development process, (4) support and coordinate other team members in the project development process, and (5) advise the Executive Team regarding strategies to expand the Forest Resilience Bond.

Convergence - Design Funding Windows open!

Asia Natural Capital Design Funding Window is accepting proposals until February 11

The Asia Natural Capital Design Funding Window provides grant funding for the design and launch of catalytic blended finance solutions focused on natural capital in Asia. This Window is funded by the RS Group, a family office based in Hong Kong.

This Window will support blended finance solutions that find new ways to enhance and protect the world's stock of natural assets, including water, land, soil, air, plants and animals, by attracting private investment at scale. For example, solutions could be aimed at:

• Protecting biodiversity

• Reducing ecosystem degradation (e.g. deforestation)

• Mitigating and adapting to climate change

• Reducing unsustainable use of land and oceans

• Restoring and rehabilitating impaired terrestrial, coastal and aquatic ecosystems

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 Indo-Pacific Design Funding Window closes its current cycle for applications on February 18

The Indo-Pacific Design Funding Window provides grant funding for the design and launch of catalytic blended finance solutions in certain countries in the Indo-Pacific region focused on sustainable and resilient infrastructure and/or gender equality (sector agnostic).

This Window is funded by the Australian Government.