Overview
The role involves analyzing and operationalizing biodiversity finance policies and ecosystem services valuation within Armenia's public financial management system. The purpose is to improve tracking of biodiversity expenditures, support evidence-based decision-making, and align with national biodiversity priorities.
Key Responsibilities
- Review and analyze BIOFIN and other products to structure Biodiversity Budget Tagging (BBT).
- Consolidate needs on biodiversity budget governance, institutional responsibilities, and expenditure considerations.
- Review public budgeting, programme budgeting, MTEF processes, and expenditure reporting structures.
- Review climate budget tagging and related expenditure tracking systems.
- Prepare an analytical baseline note on technical compounds for BBT system structuring.
- Conduct consultations with government institutions and stakeholders on BBT implementation.
- Identify institutional roles, data availability, operational constraints, and entry points for BBT integration.
- Prepare an operational assessment report for BBT implementation.
- Outline institutional arrangements and coordination mechanisms for BBT integration.
- Contribute to user guidance, application instructions, reporting templates, and quality assurance materials.
- Organize and participate in technical consultations and validation of draft methodology.
- Provide analytical recommendations for BBT hierarchy, categorization, taxonomy, and attribution approaches.
- Review and provide recommendations to align BBT system structure with Armenia’s public finance management framework, NBSAP, GBF Targets, BIOFIN methodology, GLOBE and Armenia Green Taxonomy.
- Support the development of training and capacity-building recommendations for BBT application.
- Provide analytical inputs and recommendations on administrative and institutional arrangements for BBT implementation and sustainability.
- Support preparation of phased implementation pathways for BBT application.
- Develop recommendations for future scaling and integration of biodiversity expenditure tracking.
- Support the preparation of an outline on BBT institutionalization, sustainability and scale-up roadmap.
- Assess existing budgeting and monitoring frameworks for biodiversity expenditure.
- Examine current biodiversity-related budget planning, expenditure management, monitoring, and reporting systems.
- Identify opportunities and constraints for integrating biodiversity-related performance indicators into programme budgeting and sector budgets.
- Review biodiversity-related expenditures across relevant sectors.
- Identify expenditure bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and implementation barriers.
- Assess existing biodiversity expenditure tracking practices and proposed workflow for BBT.
- Support the design of a structure for assigning biodiversity specific indicators aligned with program budgeting framework.
- Support the establishment of a baseline for biodiversity expenditures and biodiversity-related performance indicators.
- Contribute to the preparation of options for a Biodiversity Results Framework.
- Support the development of a results chain, propose options for national and sectoral biodiversity performance indicators, and identify biodiversity expenditure-performance linkages.
- Provide technical inputs to baseline and target-setting methodology and data collection practices.
- Recommend possible roles and responsibilities of institutions in data collection.
- Adjust biodiversity expenditure tracking methodology based on BER report to RBB.
- Propose public disclosure and transparency mechanisms.
- Provide recommendation to lead institutions responsible for coordinating monitoring and reporting.
- Outline a practical Biodiversity Results-Based Budgeting Manual content.
- Develop a preliminary catalogue of indicators.
- Design monitoring and reporting templates.
- Map ES valuation existing approaches and assess their alignment with international frameworks.
- Identify opportunities for methodological harmonization.
- Contribute to production of a Summary Report on locally used valuation models and best practices.
- Estimate human, financial, and institutional resources required for biophysical assessment and monetization of ecosystem services at pilot implementation level.
- Prepare a resource assessment outlining human, financial and institutional requirements for pilot implementation.
- Develop targeted communication materials to engage multi-sectoral institutions.
- Conduct a comprehensive review of Armenia's existing legislative, regulatory, and strategic framework.
- Identify gaps, inconsistencies, and entry points for policy amendment to enable systematic integration of ES valuation.
- Identify specific barriers preventing the integration of ES valuation into national planning, public investment, and environmental impact assessment processes.
- Provide completed legislative inventory and annotated mapping of relevant legal instruments.
- Propose policy recommendations and identify potential options for regulatory or legislative amendment.
- Contribute to development of the report on legal analysis of the existing framework regulating ES management.
- Prepare a report analyzing synergies between institutional mandates and the strategic scope of the National BES Platform.
- Organize and facilitate science-policy-practice dialogue workshop(s) under the BES Platform framework.
- Support coordination and facilitation of the National BES Platform's structured review and feedback process.
- Compile, synthesize, and present stakeholder timely feedback to the project team.
- Contribute to the development of report on BES Platform feedback on biophysical assessment and monetization methodological approaches.
Required Experience
A minimum of 2 years (with master’s degree) or 4 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of relevant professional experience in environmental protection or governance, policy analysis, public finance, biodiversity finance, budget analysis, institutional development, or related fields. Demonstrated experience in developing analytical reports, methodologies, frameworks, guidelines, policy instruments, or institutional recommendations related to environment, biodiversity, public finance, or sustainable development. Experience in working with government institutions and facilitating stakeholder consultations, technical discussions, and validation processes.
Qualifications
Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Environmental Policy, Economics, Public Finance, Public Administration, Environmental Economics, Biodiversity Finance, Natural resource and ecosystems management, or related field is required, or a first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience.
