Result of Service

Inception Note – Methodology, analytical framework, SDR channeling approach, and consultation plan. - SDR Rechanneling Assessment – Mapping opportunities, readiness, constraints, and country-level analysis. - Draft Technical Study – Assessment of how SDR rechanneling can support climate action and resilience in Africa. - Revised Study & Policy Brief – Updated report and concise policy recommendations incorporating stakeholder feedback. - Final Study & Outreach Materials – Final study, presentation slides, and support for policy engagement and dissemination.

Work Location

Remotely

Expected duration

5 Months

Duties and Responsibilities

Background The Africa High-level Working Group on the Global Financial Architecture (HLWG-GFA) is coordinated by ECA and comprises African ministers of finance, planning and economic development, the African Union, the African Development Bank, the African Export–Import Bank and the World Bank Group and includes the participation of staff and executive directors of the International Monetary Fund. The role of the HLWG-GFA has been to monitor and respond to the economic consequences for African countries of continuous shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and cuts in official development assistance (ODA). The HLWG-GFA has functioned as a platform for building consensus among African policymakers on specific requests and proposals for reforming the global financial architecture. The HLWG-GFA has been convening since early 2022, both in person and online, in consultation with African finance ministries. ECA has produced the report The IMF and the Future of the Global Financial Architecture to advocate for IMF reforms that empower low- and middle-income countries. To continue strengthening its support to the HLWG-GFA and its secretariat, ECA is seeking the services of a specialized consultant to undertake a policy-facing, data-backed analytical study mapping SDR rechanneling opportunities/readiness and operational pathways and assessing how rechanneled SDRs can support climate action in Africa. The assignment will identify countries that are willing and able to re-channel SDRs, under what conditions, and how these flows can realistically benefit climate action in Africa. The analysis aims to recognize that SDRs are reserve assets, not direct climate finance, and will examine how rechanneled SDRs can support climate action indirectly through liquidity support, concessional financing, fiscal space and MDB leverage. The study will map both sides of the rechannelling equation. On the contributor side, it will assess the willingness, legal capacity and fiscal conditions of SDR-holding members, principally Group of Twenty and other advanced and emerging economies, to pledge, commit and actually disburse SDRs, distinguishing clearly between political willingness, legal and central bank readiness, and executed transfers. On the recipient side, it will assess the readiness of African countries, regional institutions and prescribed holders to receive, absorb and deploy those resources, including institutional capacity, project pipelines and debt sustainability constraints. Geographic coverage is all 54 African member States, with in-depth case studies of not fewer than eight countries selected to reflect income group, debt distress classification, IMF programme status and climate vulnerability. The final country sample and the contributor group to be examined will be agreed with ECA at inception. Scope and Key Questions The study will answer the following questions:

What has actually been pledged, committed and transferred? A reconciliation of pledges, commitments and executed transfers since the 2021 general allocation, distinguishing announcements from resources that have reached borrowers, and identifying the sources of the gap between them.
Who can rechannel, and what prevents them from doing so? An assessment of the legal, central bank and fiscal constraints on the principal holders, including the reserve asset characteristic requirement, the liquidity buffer arrangements that accompany rechannelling to multilateral institutions, and the treatment of rechannelling under national law and monetary union rules.
Through which channels, on what terms, and at what cost to the borrower? A comparison of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, the Resilience and Sustainability Trust, hybrid capital instruments at the multilateral development banks and transfers to prescribed holders, on a common basis of effective cost to the borrower, including the SDR interest rate and any applicable margins, leverage achieved, access conditions, conditionality and speed of disbursement. The study shall distinguish the policy-based balance-of-payments function of the Resilience and Sustainability Trust from project-level climate finance and shall not treat the two as equivalent.
How much of the effect is flows, and how much is fiscal space? A separation of direct lending flows from fiscal-space and cost-of-capital effects, with the latter bounded quantitatively where the evidence allows, for example by estimating the implied change in sovereign borrowing costs associated with stronger reserve positions and expressing it as a fiscal-saving equivalent.
What determines achievable leverage? An examination of how the credit rating agencies treat SDR-based hybrid capital, whether such instruments receive full or only partial equity recognition under prevailing methodologies, and what that implies for the leverage multiples assumed in current proposals. Leverage assumptions used in the study shall be stated explicitly and tested for sensitivity.
What should Africa ask for, and of whom? A prioritized set of asks for the HLWG-GFA, distinguishing what can be secured through the international financial institutions from what requires decisions by individual contributing members. The analysis shall treat Special Drawing Rights as reserve assets rather than as climate finance, and shall state, for each pathway examined, whether and how the reserve asset characteristic is preserved. At inception the consultant shall review existing and ongoing ECA analytical work on Special Drawing Rights, the fiscal space agenda and the mobilization of climate finance at scale, which ECA will make available, and shall set out how the study builds on that work rather than duplicating it. Duties and Responsibilities Under the overall guidance of the Deputy Executive Secretary (Programmes) or her mandated representative, the consultant will undertake the following responsibilities:
Map country opportunities and readiness for SDR rechanneling, distinguishing between political willingness, legal readiness, and actual implementation.
Identify preferred channels such as the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST), Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) hybrid capital, and prescribed holders; assess key constraints (legal, central bank, institutional).
Evaluate how rechanneled SDRs can indirectly support climate action (adaptation, resilience, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), climate-resilient infrastructure, agriculture, debt-sensitive investment).
Produce a clear mapping framework of opportunities, constraints, and positioning strategies for African countries.
Conduct structured consultations with relevant institutions, including the IMF, the African Development Bank, the African Export–Import Bank, the World Bank Group, selected African ministries of finance and central banks, and prospective contributing members. The consultation list will be agreed with ECA at inception.
Present the draft findings at a validation session convened by ECA and respond in writing to peer review and stakeholder comments through a documented comment-response matrix.
Provide substantive support to the HLWG-GFA secretariat, including preparation of briefing materials, presentations, key messages and other advocacy tools derived from the study, up to five such products over the period of the assignment;
Support ECA in socializing the study, including participation in up to three presentations, virtual or in person;
Submit monthly progress updates to the Deputy Executive Secretary (Programmes) or her mandated representative, and undertake related tasks directly connected to the deliverables set out below.

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Economics, Finance, Environmental Economics or a related field is required. A first-level university degree combined with a minimum of two (2) additional years of relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree. A PhD in a related field is desirable. A minimum of fifteen (15) years of progressively responsible experience in macroeconomic policy, development finance or economic research is required. A record of published analytical work, peer-reviewed or institutional, on the international financial architecture, sovereign debt or climate finance is required. Relevant work experience in developing countries is required. Experience in policy advisory roles for inter-governmental organizations, governments, or regional institutions is required. Demonstrated ability to produce high-quality, policy-relevant reports on economic, debt and climate finance issues for senior government or institutional audiences is required. Demonstrated work on international financial architecture and on the instruments of the International Monetary Fund or the multilateral development banks is desirable. Experience in legal and governance issues related to IMF instruments is desirable. Experience in macroeconomic forecasting, econometric modelling or development programme analysis is desirable. Direct experience of the design or negotiation of SDR rechanneling arrangements, whether on the side of a contributing member, an international financial institution or a prescribed holder, is desirable. Familiarity with debt sustainability analysis and with the design of IMF programmes is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations. For this position, fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of French is desirable.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

TECHNICAL STUDY ON MAPPING SDR RECHANNELLING OPPORTUNITIES, READINESS AND CLIMATE ACTION PATHWAYS FOR AFRICA