1. Background 

UN-Habitat is the coordinating agency within the United Nations System for human settlement activities and in collaboration with governments is responsible for promoting and consolidating collaboration with all partners, including local authorities, private sector entities and non-governmental organizations in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular, Goal 11 of “Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, as well as the task manager of the human settlements chapter of Agenda 21 and focal point for the monitoring, evaluation and implementation of the New Urban Agenda adopted during the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), in Quito, Ecuador 2016. The UN-Habitat Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) was established in August 1997 in Fukuoka. The Office serves countries in the Asia and Pacific region to implement UN-Habitat’s mandate. Part of ROAP’s strategic role is to foster international understanding and cooperation and to foster regional, national, city, and local capacity and cooperation to enable sustainable local solutions and constructive partnerships within and between various stakeholder networks. Technical cooperation projects coordinated by the UN-Habitat ROAP are geographically spread in the Asia and Pacific region, and span the entire spectrum of urbanisation and shelter development issues. For most parts, UN-Habitat ROAP implements country projects through its country offices. UN-Habitat has been actively supporting the Government of Lao PDR with technical assistance on issues related to urbanization, disaster mitigation, climate change, and WASH infrastructure.

2. Project Description

United Nations Coordinated Technical Assistance to the Government of Lao PDR on Green and Climate Finance (hereafter “Green and Climate Finance project”) 

Despite ambitious environmental and climate objectives, Lao PDR remains vulnerable to the impacts of the Triple Planetary Crisis and reliant on a growth model dependent on natural resource use. Recent economic and financial difficulties resulting from external and domestic factors have exacerbated the gap between Lao PDR’s ambitious environmental policy and resources available to implement this agenda. Lao PDR’s national objectives foresee ambitious environmental and climate action, as set out amongst others in the National Green Growth Strategy of the Lao PDR till 2030, in Lao PDR’s 2021 updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2016-2025), and in the 9th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP 2021-2025) Outcome 4 on environmental protection and disaster risk reduction, amongst others. The 9th NSEDP Financing Strategy is an inter-ministerial and multi-stakeholder-led set of policies and actions that aim to accelerate financing for the 9th NSEDP and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Accordingly, the 9th NSEDP Financing Strategy seeks to align public and private sources of finance, domestic and international, with the sustainable development objectives of the 9th NSEDP. Responding to a request from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the “United Nations Joint Programme on Coordinated Technical Assistance to the Government of Lao PDR on Green and Climate Finance” seeks to provide integrated support to addressing policy and resource allocation incoherences through the implementation of chapter 5.3 on “Green and Climate Finance” of the 9th NSEDP Financing Strategy. As per its theory of change, the joint programme foresees a two-fold approach to support sustainably financing green growth and climate-resilient development objectives of the NSEDP: i. expanding technical assistance to address current gaps in green and climate finance policy implementation; ii. enhancing coordination for greater policy coherence and effectiveness. This joint programme between the agencies UNDP, UNEP, FAO, and UN-Habitat in Lao PDR aims to achieve the 9th NSEDP Financing Strategy objective 5.3.1 on Green and Climate Finance: “Green growth and climate-resilient development are financed through sustainably increasing budget allocations, improved green budgeting, strategic mobilisation of ODA, and increasing private investments in an enabling business environment”. Through the joint programme, UN-Habitat aims to encourage public and private sector investment in green growth to accelerate the transition to a low-emission, climate-resilient urban development paradigm in Lao PDR. This will be carried out by closely collaborating with local governments and actively engaging private sector stakeholders to increase their capacity to access finance for climate change mitigation and adaptation, targeting Kaysone Phomvihane and Pakse cities and building on previous work on Urban Low-Emission Development Strategies (Urban LEDS) in those cities. The Urban LEDS project laid the foundation by conducting comprehensive greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, climate risk and vulnerability assessments (CRVAs), and by developing strategic climate action plans for both cities.

3. Objective and Scope of Work

Under the overall guidance of the UN-Habitat Head of Office/Regional Advisor SEA, the candidate will be expected to support urban green investments in Lao PDR by identifying climate mitigation and adaptation investment opportunities aligned with CRVA and LEDS and advising on financing mechanisms and policy instruments for green urban development. 

Some of the key actions in line with the assigned projects mentioned above are: 

• Project/Programme Management:

  • Support the project activities, including regular monitoring and reporting (substantive and financial) with partners and stakeholders to ensure a high quality of outputs being delivered within the agreed time frame.

  • Conduct diagnostic assessments of municipal revenue and finance systems (e.g., Own Source Revenue potential, budget allocations).

  • Identify climate mitigation and adaptation investment opportunities aligned with local CRVAs and LEDS.

  • Identify potential private sector actors and develop strategies for their engagement, including through blended finance and impact investment mechanisms.  

  • Provide advisory support on project finance options including public-private partnerships, green bonds, and concessional loans. o Develop financial models and investment cases for green infrastructure (transport, energy, waste, etc.).

  • Support dialogues with national ministries (e.g., MoF, MPI) to align city-level efforts with national fiscal reforms.

  • Advise on regulatory and policy instruments to improve the investment climate for green urban development.

  • Coordinate with the team on other climate change-related activities such as data collection on environmental and socio-economic indicators, data analysis, vulnerability assessments, capacity building activities, etc.

• Knowledge Management and Outreach o Contribute to communication and advocacy activities to enhance stakeholder relationships.

  • Prepare technical and financial reports and research papers related to climate change.

  • Provide presentations, share insights, and draft web articles on climate change and green/climate finance.

  • Represent UN-Habitat in relevant sector groups and technical group meetings.

  • Act as a focal point for climate change and green/climate finance issues.

• Relationship Building

  • Collaborate with other UN agencies by participating in various climate-related initiatives.

• Additional Assignments

  • Undertake other assignments as required to support urban development initiatives such as the Lao National Urban Forum (LNUF 2025), climate change initiatives, and green/climate finance objectives and/or project implementation.

For more informaton, find the attached file below.