Sustainable Finance Senior Associate, Latin America and the Caribbean
Please note that the deadline is based on Korean Standard Time Zone (KST, UTC+9)
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.
GGGI operates across multiple regions, providing in-country technical assistance and global knowledge products to integrate green finance into national development strategies. Since 2015, GGGI has supported member countries in issuing green, social, and sustainability (GSS) bonds, mobilizing over USD 10 billion in sustainable finance for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and inclusive economic growth — including the world's largest sovereign sustainability bond.
CONTEXT
In 2023, with the support of the Government of Luxemburg GGGI established the Global Trust Fund (GTF) on Sustainable Finance Instruments: Scaling up Thematic Bond Markets in Developing Countries, offering a novel approach to closing the development financing gap by leveraging the capital market’s potential to promote climate change mitigation and adaptation by setting in place policy incentives and de-risking measures to direct bond proceeds towards low carbon resilient projects and initiatives. The bond market represents the main source of capital for sovereign governments and public and private financial institutions. Shifting only ~3% of global issuances towards development financing gaps of developing countries would be sufficient to fill the NDC and SDG USD 3.7 trillion gap.
In the last two years GTF successfully mobilized USD 2 billion of climate finance and is now scaling up. GGGI’s technical assistance will strengthen the national green finance ecosystem of 25 developing countries through the development of policy frameworks training 1,000 private and public sector sustainable finance experts. GGGI will deliver pre- and post-issuance support leading to thematic bond issuances raising USD 5 billion earmarked to NDC targets and SDG goals. The program’s direct capital mobilization will contribute to the avoidance of 324 MtCO2 emissions, enhance the climate change resilience of 5 million beneficiaries, and create more than 950,000 green jobs.
The program aims to deliver four interrelated outcomes:
- National policy frameworks are enhanced: supporting financial regulators across countries to develop regulatory frameworks and guidelines to mitigate perceived thematic bond risks, lift barriers to issuance and promote alignment with international standards.
- Capacity of prospective issuers enhanced: in collaboration with LuxSE deliver capacity building webinars training to an estimated 1,000 sustainable finance experts from issuers, stock exchanges and regulators, followed by bilateral on-the-job training to incentive and promote issuances. Country-level capacity building will be complemented by international learning networks, providing a platform for capital market actors across prioritized geographies to receive specialized training, share lessons learned, and recommendations.
- USD 5 billion mobilized for NDC and SDG activities via thematic bond issuances: delivering credit-enhancement, pre- and post-issuance support to prospective issuers. GGGI will support issuers from developing countries develop ambitious issuance strategies, bond frameworks, processes for projects evaluation and selection, impact reporting and management of proceeds. GGGI will assist the development, evaluation and selection of underlying project portfolios and support SPO processes to demonstrate issuances alignment with NDCs and SDGs targets. Following the issuance, GGGI will support issuers prepare impact and allocation reports to ensure transparent monitoring and reporting of environmental and social benefits.
- Program knowledge is shared: promoting knowledge sharing in collaboration with LuxSE through participation in events and development of case studies. The project will leverage its broad base of beneficiaries to collect recommendations and share these with ICMA’s members and other relevant stakeholders.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Sustainable Finance Senior Associate for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) will provide technical assistance on sustainable finance instruments, particularly thematic bonds, to public and private sector stakeholders across LAC in coordination with the Senior Sustainable Finance Officer for LAC.
The Senior Associate will assist the Senior Sustainable Finance Officer, LAC in capacity building, policy development, portfolio management and monitoring, thematic bond advisory, and investment mobilization efforts to enhance the adoption of sustainable finance frameworks and achieve the desired outcomes. This includes engaging with financial regulators, financial institutions, sovereign and corporate issuers, and development partners to promote green and sustainable investments.
PURPOSE
The Sustainable Finance Senior Associate will be responsible for the portfolio management of operations and activities under the Global Trust Fund (GTF) on Sustainable Finance Instruments: Scaling up Thematic Bond Markets in Developing Countries. In coordination with the Senior Sustainable Finance Officer, LAC and will support to deliver technical assistance to prospective issuers of sustainable finance instruments, particularly thematic bonds. This includes guiding issuers throughout the pre- and post-issuance process, including stakeholder engagement (regulators, arrangers, underwriters, stock exchanges, investors, guarantors), green bond framework development, green project pipeline development, roadshow organization and delivery, second party opinion negotiation, and development of impact reporting. S/he will support the development and implementation of pre- and post-issuance processes of thematic bonds, in coordination with the Senior Sustainable Finance Officer, LAC and relevant technical experts.
ENGAGEMENT
- Will report to the Senior Sustainable Finance Officer, LAC.
- Support stakeholder engagement, including government agencies, regulators, financial institutions, development banks, and climate finance entities.
- Support maintaining strong working relationships with various ministries (e.g., Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Environment), development institutions, and financial market players.
- Support participation in policy dialogues to advance green finance frameworks in prioritized LAC countries.
- Support engagement with donors and institutional investors to explore financing opportunities for sustainable finance projects.
DELIVERY
Portfolio Management:
- Track Progress Against project objectives.
- Measure implementation progress against planned activities, milestones, and timelines.
- Assess whether projects are delivering the expected outputs, outcomes, and impacts.
- Identify delays or deviations from project plans.
- Keep the portfolio management tool up to date.
- Support the identification and tracking of new potential opportunities.
Thematic Bond Advisory:
- Support issuers throughout pre- and post-issuance processes.
- Support the preparation ofthematic bond readiness assessments for prospective issuers.
- Support the identification and prioritization of eligible projects for thematic bond financing.
- Assist in developing thematic bond governance structures (e.g., impact monitoring, use-of-proceeds management).
- Contribute technical input on impact reporting and alignment with international standards and principles.
- Support issuers in obtaining Second Party Opinions (SPOs) from accredited verifiers and external verification for impact reports.
Policy and Market Development:
- Conduct research on barriers to thematic bond issuance in LAC and propose solutions.
- Provide technical input on sustainable finance policy frameworks in collaboration with regulators.
- Assist in the development of impact indicators for periodic bond reporting.
- Prepare presentations and external communication material for potential issuers.
Capacity Building & Knowledge Sharing:
- Develop capacity-building modules for public and private sector actors.
- Contribute to international learning networks to exchange best practices on thematic bonds.
- Publish case studies, reports, and policy briefs to support knowledge dissemination.
Program Management & Reporting:
- Assist in internal and external reporting on projects being implemented.
- Monitor and evaluate sustainable finance activities and outputs to ensure alignment with program goals.
- Assist in preparing concept notes to the GTF Board and monitor and track project deliverables and budget execution.
- Support the preparation of funding proposals for international climate funds (e.g., Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund, Global Environment Facility).
REQUIREMENTS
QUALIFICATIONS
Required:
- Must be a Colombian or Salvadorian citizen or have a valid work permit in Colombia or El Salvador.
- Bachelor’s degree in finance, Economics, Business Administration, Sustainable Development or related fields.
- At least 4-5 years of experience in financial institutions, development organizations, finance or economics ministries, stock exchanges or capital markets.
- Minimum 2 years of experience in sustainable finance (preferably in thematic bonds).
- Strong understanding of green finance instruments, sustainable investment frameworks, and impact reporting.
- Familiarity with sustainable finance taxonomies, standards (e.g., ICMA Principles), and ESG regulations.
- Fluency in English (written and verbal);
Preferred:
- Advanced degree (master’s degree in Finance, Public Administration, Business Administration, Economics, or Sustainable Development).
- Experience working with regulators, sovereign issuers, and institutional investors.
- Knowledge of sustainable banking initiatives and environmental and social safeguards (ESS).
- Strong data management and knowledge-sharing experience.
- Any other language proficiency is a plus.
- Data and knowledge management experience is a strong plus;
- Project Management knowledge and experience is a plus.
FUNCTIONAL
- Ability to analyze market barriers and propose practical solutions.
- Ability to work with high-level government officials and financial institutions.
- Ability to manage multiple workstreams under tight deadlines.
- Proactive in identifying new opportunities for sustainable finance development.
- Ability to work with cross-functional and multidisciplinary teams and with limited supervision.
CORPORATE
- Understand and actively support GGGI’s mission, vision and values.
- Promote the optimum use of public resources.
- Promote an organizational culture of trust, transparency, respect and partnership.
- Process and share information easily.
- Manage emotions and stress positively, builds rapport and resolves conflict easily.
- Promote creativity and innovation among staff.
- Be able to lead where needed and provide solutions to project-level challenges.
WORKING CONDITIONS
The Sustainable Finance Senior Associate is an X7 grade level in GGGI’s Colombia national salary scale or El Salvador’s national salary scale. The salary range for the position starts at USD 23,239 or USD 30,951 per annum, depending on duty station, qualifications, experience, and internal equity. GGGI provides 15% of base salary towards retirement plan/long-term savings, 27 days of annual leave, and private health insurance that covers dental and vision.
GGGI is committed to providing a work environment that is sufficiently flexible to accommodate diverse life-cycle challenges and assist Staff members in achieving a better balance between work and personal/family commitments, thus ensuring high performance, long-term productivity, and well-being.
Child protection – GGGI is committed to child protection, irrespective of whether any specific area of work involves direct contact with children. GGGI’s Child Protection Policy is written in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
