This is an advertisement for the Request for Expressions of Interest for the Development and Coordination of the Pacific Ocean Finance Fellowship. Requests for Expressions of Interest may be downloaded from the program website.
Expressions of interest are due February 1st by 4pm Solomon Islands time.
The REOI brochure is available here for download.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is seeking candidates for a paid conservation finance internship with CIMA, a Peruvian NGO (http://www.cima.org.pe/en). The finance specialist will work from the CIMA office in Lima, Peru, and help to develop an internal business development, capitalization, and financial management plan, with a specific focus on building long term financial capacity for the management of the Cordillera Azul National Park (http://www.cima.org.pe/en/cordillera-azul-national-park). The finance specialist will also visit the CIMA field headquarters near the park, and receive backstopping and technical support provided by a U.S. based specialist working with the IUCN Conservation Finance Incubator (INC) (https://www.iucn.org/theme/environmental-law/our-work/protected-areas-pa/incubator-nature-conservation). The finance specialist will work directly with the CIMA team for a period of six months starting in Feburary 2019, with a fixed stipend of U.S. $12,000 paid for all services provided. A detailed Terms of Reference with requirements and formal application procedures for this work can be obtained by sending a concise note to jtolisano@gmail.com. Applications for this position must be delivered to Justine.Brossard@iucn.org, with a closing date of January 25, 2019. An ability to read, write, and converse confidently in Spanish will be essential.
Do you need to make a stronger business case for biodiversity conservation? Do you want to become more skilled at developing financially sound and politically feasible solutions to conservation and development challenges? Do you need to know how to develop an effective biodiversity finance plan? Do you want access to more tools to assess the policy, institutional, and economic context for biodiversity finance, and to conduct a financial needs assessment to achieve a country’s biodiversity goals?
BIOFIN is offering a FREE seven-week Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) called Biodiversity Finance. It will be facilitated in English, French, Spanish and Russian, and will run from 15 April to 31 May 2019. The course is aimed at conservation planning and biodiversity finance practitioners and policymakers, but is open to everyone.
View the full invitation here, or click here to register.
Katy Mathias, manager of the Conservation Trust Investment Survey (CTIS) Project and co-author, with Ray Victurine, of the CTIS annual report, conducted two webinars for CFA members on December 18 to share results of the CTIS report for Calendar Year 2017. The presentations were held 12 hours apart to accommodate a range of time zones. A webinar audio recording and Powerpoint slides, as well as a link to the 2017 report, are available on the CFA website.
The webinar highlighted key findings from the most recent study. The participants' organizational and endowment nominal investment returns for calendar year 2017 were higher than those from 2016, while sinking fund returns were slightly below 2016. In general, however, CTF returns were lower than might be expected given global investment performance in 2017. This may be attributed to, on average, the CTFs' tendency to under-allocate equity, relative to fixed income and cash.
Clarmondial is pleased to confirm that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the Bureau for Food Security (BFS) and the Development Credit Authority (DCA), will support the Food Securities Fund with a USD 37.5 million credit guarantee. The agreement covers a portfolio of up to USD 150 million.
After extensive due diligence, USAID approved significant support to the implementation of the Food Securities Fund. In addition to its investment objectives and strategy, the Fund was selected based on its alignment with USAID’s impact priorities, in particular on sustainable agriculture and food security in Feed the Future countries. USAID and Clarmondial are planning an invitation-only signing ceremony with key partners in Washington DC this November.
The Food Securities Fund combines an innovative investment strategy with a standard and liquid fixed-income fund structure in Luxembourg to deliver change at scale. The Fund addresses the gap in season-long loans for agriculture production in emerging markets, thereby contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals – notably SDGs 1, 2, 8, 12, 13 and 15 – by promoting climate smart agriculture and responsible, deforestation-free supply chains.
The fund offers investors access to growth markets. The use of blended finance significantly reduces risk, while partnerships with leading international companies grant access to an extensive pipeline at low transaction costs.
The Food Securities Fund is supported by the blended finance platform Convergence (announcement available here). It has also received support from Climate-KIC, as well as from leading companies in the agricultural sector.
The Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas program (M2PA) launched a request for proposals (RFP) for a study on Mediterranean marine protected areas financial needs assessment and management effectiveness monitoring. This RFP is funded by the GEF as part of M2PA’s project “Long term financial mechanism to enhance Mediterranean MPA management effectiveness.” The results will inform, among others, the capitalization targets and the financial structure of the environmental fund and will be used to monitor the impact on the grants awarded to MPAs.
The deadline for receiving proposals is November 16th 2018. The request for proposals and terms of reference are available for download in French and English. Please share this request with your professional networks.
Conservation International (CI) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) are collaborating as the proponents of The Cloud Forest Blue Energy Mechanism (CFBEM). CFBEM aims to mobilize commercial finance to reforest and conserve cloud forests in Latin America that provide crucial benefits to the hydropower industry. CFBEM will employ “pay for success” contracts in which a hydropower plant pays for measurable ecosystem benefits provided by cloud forests within the plant’s catchment – principally reduced sedimentation and improved water regulation. Please see background video here.
CFBEM aims to develop pilot projects in three different locations over a nineteen month period. Three key phases until anticipated financial closure of the pilot projects, will consist of (1) site selection, (2) business case development, including ROI analysis, and (3) pilot structuring / negotiation of transactions.
CI is seeking a Spanish speaking Project Manager for a senior position based at CI’s office in Bogotá, Colombia. The PM’s role is to ensure the overall success for the CFBEM project through to financial closure.
To view the full job description in Spanish, please see the description on CI's website. The ToR is also available for download.
All application materials must be submitted before November 2, 2018 at 5pm.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is seeking candidates with interest in financing nature conservation for a paid internship with CIMA, a Peruvian NGO (http://www.cima.org.pe/en). The specialist will work from the CIMA office in Lima, Peru, and help to develop an internal business development, capitalization, and financial management plan, with a specific focus on building long term financial capacity for the management of the Cordillera Azul National Park. The specialist will also visit the CIMA field headquarters near the park, and receive backstopping and technical support provided by a U.S. based specialist working with the IUCN Conservation Finance Incubator (INC). The specialist will work directly with the CIMA team for a period of six months starting in January 2019, with the contract potentially renewable for another six months, with a fixed stipend of U.S.$12,000 for each 6-month period. An ability to read, write, and converse confidently in Spanish will be essential. A detailed Terms of Reference with requirements and formal application procedures for this work can be obtained by sending a concise note to jtolisano@gmail.com. Applications for this position must be delivered to Justine.Brossard@iucn.org, with a closing date of November 23, 2018.
The Conservation Finance Alliance was pleased to participate in the CAFÉ Assembly held in Kasane, Botswana in early September, 2018, hosted by Forest Conservation Botswana.
Nearly 60 CFA members and potential members gathered for a CFA-hosted networking dinner on
the second day of the Assembly. Constance Corbier-Barthaux spoke about FFEM’s commitment to CFA and why the network plays a vital role in convening experts and fostering collaboration and innovation. Karen Price, President of CAFÉ, and Rosa Montanez, President of RedLAC, shared the history of the collaboration and partnership between CFA and their respective networks, including the CTIS, the Practice Standards for CTFs, and the original Conservation Finance Guide.
In addition, Kathy Mikitin and Katy Mathias gave a presentation on Innovative Finance for CTFs, organized by the CFA, as part of the Assembly. They presented on Biodiversity Offsets, PA Finance through Tourism, Impact Investing & Incubators, and Project Finance for Permanence. In addition, Katy presented the preliminary results of the CTIS for calendar year 2017.
The CFA held a Members and Partners meeting in North America at World Wildlife Fund’s offices in Washington DC on October 12th. The meeting and networking event was a great opportunity to share the CFA’s activities and strategy as well as hear from a range of members and partners and build on the CFA’s outreach. This event comes as part of our effort to energize the network and build momentum for the wide range of conservation finance initiatives we are all working on.
In addition to a presentation from the CFA Executive Director (that can be found here) we heard from a range of partners including Melissa Moye who spoke about WWF’s many conservation finance initiatives including their Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) which recently closed on the Bhutan for Lifeproject. Chris Stone and Romas Garbaliauskas from Conservation International respectively shared their efforts to support over 30 Conservation Trust Funds (CTFs) through the Global Conservation Fund and implement a range of innovative approaches to engage the private sector in conservation finance – in part through the Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation (CPIC). Frank Hawkins of IUCN presented a detailed overview of CPIC’s initiatives including work on blueprints to replicate and scale private investments in conservation. Forest Trends and Ecosystem Marketplace were represented by Kelly Hamrick and Michael Jenkins who shared their work on tracking market mechanisms for conservation and a publication last year on The State of Private Investment in Conservation. Katy Mathias of the Wildlife Conservation Society explained a range of activities being implemented by WCS including work on biodiversity offsets, coral reef finance, and the Conservation Trust Investment Survey(CTIS) that is a collaborative annual report on CTF investment strategies and results. Active discussions and questions continued through a short networking session. As well, the Protected Areas Finance Working Group was officially relaunched by Charles Besancon as Chair (see related news).
