INTRODUCTION TO GGGI

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. To learn more please visit about GGGI web page.

OVERVIEW

• Duty Station: Castries, Saint Lucia
• Contract Duration: July 24 2023 – March 1 2024, Full time
• Consultant Level: Level 5
• Total Fees: up to US$ 73,500 (US$ 550 / day), depending on experience level

GGGI is recruiting a consultant to lead coordination and support development of Saint Lucia’s Resilient Green Affordable Housing (GAH) project. The consultant will work closely with the GGGI team, as well as the Saint Lucia Department of Housing and Local Government, Department of Economic Development, Department of Finance, and other project stakeholders to advance the project. The consultant will be responsible for leading project coordination and stakeholder engagement, leading completion of the socio-economic analysis of beneficiaries, and supporting collection of project data, including cost estimates for the project. The consultant will work on a full-time basis under the supervision of the Caribbean Program Representative, and engage closely with government counterparts and other members of the GGGI team including staff and consultants. The contract may be extended upon completion of work based on availability of funds.

GGGI supports and promotes a model of economic growth known as “green growth”, which targets key aspects of economic performance such a poverty reduction, job creation, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. GGGI works with countries around the world, building their capacity and working collaboratively on green growth policies that can impact the lives of millions. The organization partners with countries, multilateral institutions, government bodies, and private sector to help build economies that grow strongly and are more efficient and sustainable in the use of natural resources, less carbon intensive, and more resilient to climate change.

GGGI has a diverse portfolio of programs in developing countries around the world. These in-country programs, together with global products and services, focus on delivering results through an integrated approach of evidence-based green growth planning and implementation aligned to countries’ development priorities.

GGGI is implementing a technical assistance project to the Government of Saint Lucia titled “Mobilizing Climate Finance and Private Investments for Low-Carbon Development in Saint Lucia”. The project aims at building the Government of Saint Lucia (GoSL) institutional capacity, frameworks and projects pipeline to enable the mobilization of climate finance and private investments for NDC implementation and low-carbon development in Saint Lucia.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Saint Lucia relies heavily on grant funding and concessionary loans from development partners to finance its development and climate change objectives. The achievement of Saint Lucia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets is conditional on external financing. Although international climate finance and ODA offer some relief to Saint Lucia’s growing debt to GDP ratio, the decreasing level of international aid undermines the long-term sustainability of this approach. Consequently, the GoSL is pursuing efforts to diversify the country donor engagement, access under-utilized climate funds and develop new and innovative finance mechanisms to de-risk mitigation projects to attract private sector investments.

Given the above, the Government of Saint Lucia has developed a Private Sector Engagement Strategy and NDC Financing Strategy to develop an enabling environment for private sector investments, with the goal of having the private sector contribute an estimated US$ 218 million in mitigation investments by 2030 (that is 90% of the total). GGGI’s technical assistance project supports these efforts by delivering technical assistance across 5 workstreams:

1. Supporting Saint Lucia’s capital market’s readiness assessment for a sovereign green bond issuance

2. Providing technical assistance to the Government of Saint Lucia to pursue the implementation of a debt for climate swap transaction to raise long-term funds earmarked to climate change adaptation and mitigation projects.

3. Providing technical assistance to local financial institutions to integrate environmental and social standards into their processes, procedures, and instruments in order to increase the availability of green finance for private-sector led climate change adaptation and mitigation projects.

4. Increasing the Government of Saint Lucia’s institutional capacity to design and structure Public-Private Partnerships.

5. Advancing the development of a PPP flagship project: Saint Lucia Green Affordable Housing project.

Under workstream #5, GGGI is partnering with the Government of Saint Lucia among other stakeholders to advance the development of one of Saint Lucia’s flagship climate resilience projects, the Green Affordable Housing (GAH) project.

This project envisions the construction of approx 3,000 sustainably-designed resilient and affordable housing solutions primarily catering to vulnerable groups, including low-income families and youth, which currently reside in highly vulnerable areas. The project has been prioritized in the Saint Lucia GCF Country Program for funding by the GCF and aligns with principles espoused in the National Adaptation Plan (NAP). SLDB, the Government and Saint Lucia and other partners have developed a draft concept note for the project, and GGGI is working with the Government to define the project parameters, perform a pre-feasibility study, advance the concept note, complete a socio-economic analysis of the beneficiaries, and explore potential financing mechanisms for the project.

SCOPE OF WORK

Daily rate contract. Contract may be extended pending availability of funding.

• Lead project coordination and stakeholder engagement
  • Coordinate up to four meetings of the GAH Project Steering Committee (PSC) to update members on project status/progress, and facilitate decision-making on project parameters. Schedule, plan, and organize meetings; develop meeting materials and deliver update presentations; and facilitate discussions. Prepare and circulate detailed meeting minutes.
  • Coordinate meetings with other project stakeholders as needed to gather project information. Prepare and deliver agendas, attendees lists, and detailed meeting minutes. This engagement will include but not be limited to government, financial institutions, development partners and private sector stakeholders. Engagement will be aimed at data collection, latest project related research, and collection of other information that can help in advancing the project.
  • Develop initial stakeholder outreach materials for the project such as a pitch deck, investment teaser and project summary.
  • Lead regular (weekly or biweekly) project coordination meetings. Develop agenda in coordination with team members, lead meetings, prepare meeting minutes, document and follow up on action items.
  • Develop and deliver monthly reports in GGGI’s template summarizing task and project progress
  • Support engagement with potential Accredited Entities (AEs) to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Coordinate meetings, perform background research, support communications as needed.
  • Support GGGI team in soliciting, collecting, documenting, and responding to comments from PSC members and other stakeholders on the project concept note and other project documents.

• Lead completion of the socio-economic analysis of beneficiaries of the green affordable housing project
  • Review the data and information available in the secondary domain (Ex: Census data, published research, government reports etc.) and through primary research (Ex: interviews, focus group discussions, consultations etc.) to define demographics, income profile, challenges and vulnerabilities, and current housing status and needs of the beneficiary population. Based on the data collected, conduct an analysis on affordable housing demand and supply gaps in the country context.
  • Conduct initial vulnerability assessment of target beneficiaries in alignment with GCF adaptation indicators and past GCF-funded projects and programs

• • Develop socio-economic assessment report for the GAH project, circulate to project stakeholders, address comments and question, and finalize report.

• Support collection and assessment of project data. Working with Government stakeholders and the project technical lead, support the collection of project data as follows:
  • Collect data and information on the potential designated locations for the project as per the guidance from relevant government institutions and conduct site analyses on the site suitability, access to the nearest infrastructure facilities etc., based on project parameters.
  • Support the identification of the proposed housing typologies for consideration based on interactions from the targeted beneficiaries, current government priorities/guidance and market information. This would include the housing type and housing mix based on various income groups, size, density etc.
  • Support the development of preliminary cost estimates for the development of the project including housing and infrastructure components based on construction costs in Saint Lucia. This will include soft components such as detailed designs, supervision, project management, regulatory fees, applicable taxation etc.
  • Support assessment of project’s financial feasibility, project structuring, design of the project financial and implementation/delivery structure, defining the eligibility criteria for beneficiaries, designing the affordable housing ownership models relevant for the Saint Lucia context in close coordination with the Project Steering Committee members and concerned government stakeholders.

• Support with other project tasks related to the green affordable housing project as needed.

EXPERTISE REQUIERED

• Postgraduate degree in Urban Planning, Housing Finance, Economics, Development Economics, Engineering, or related areas
• At least 10 years of professional experience in project development/implementation related to sustainability/climate change/adaptation/green building. Experience developing affordable housing projects is an asset.
• Background/experience in leading and developing socio-economic analysis of development projects. Familiarity with the Saint Lucia housing and urban development ecosystem and policies is an advantage, as is knowledge of green building technologies and experience developing blended finance projects.
• Experience and demonstrated competency in project management, including stakeholder relations, managing expectations of project partners/beneficiaries, and lead/managing teams as deemed necessary to support the advancement of the project. A professional project management certification would be an advantage.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and a proven ability to develop, maintain and enhance relationships with a variety of internal and external contacts
• Ability to work with a range of stakeholders, including banks, non-bank financial institutions, capital market authorities, government officials, project developers and investors
  • Proficiency in written and spoken English
  • Prior experience and knowledge of GCF procedures is an asset.
  • Ability to be located in Saint Lucia for the duration of the assignment.

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Please note application deadline is listed in Korean Standard Time (KST). Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered Application. Applicants are requested to provide a cover letter, CV (resume), and writing sample in English. A consortium, or a firm may not be engaged for this individual consultant assignment.