The Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator Project (GGJAP) is one out of three projects under the Danish-Arab Partnership Programme’s (DAPP) which is funded and managed by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The GGJAP is part of DAPP’s programme for Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship. UNDP will implement the GGJAP which sits regionally as part of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States’ Regional Youth Project Portfolio.

GGJAP will be implemented in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia building on UNDP’s work and experience with implementing the SDG Accelerator for SMEs methodology which directly supports sustainable business development and commercial green growth in SMEs. The SDG Accelerator is a part of UNDP’s service offer UNDP Impact Venture Accelerators (IVA). The IVA is a practical approach to help businesses focus on delivering products/services, business models and business plans which contribute to the SDGs.

The objective of the Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator Project is to support established entrepreneurs and SMEs, of which a proportion will be youth-led, to accelerate green growth in their businesses and through this, support the local transition to a green and sustainable economy, and enable green jobs for youth.

Each year, in each of the four countries in mention, two 5-months Accelerators will be implemented, and each Accelerator will include a cohort of up to 25 carefully recruited SMEs. Each company in the Accelerator will develop one or more business plans for green growth also integrating relevant ways for the company to create jobs for youth, either as a result of the implementation of the business plan, as means to realize the business plan, or preferably both.

Under the management and guidance of the UNDP Arab States Bureau’s Regional Youth Project Portfolio and the UNDP Nordic Represenattive Office, the Country Offices (CO) in the four participating countries will implement the Accelerators at the country level and leverage their longstanding local networks of relevant stakeholders across sectors (SMEs). The implementation will be done in close collaboration with local management consulting firms in each country (or regionally), who will assist the CO team in implementation and deliver strategic business development consulting on green growth and business instruments to grow business. The strategic business development consulting will consist of, e.g., consulting on the development of business plans for new environmentally friendly products and services through the implementation of greener production or operational processes and/or through the integration of selected standards that can enable some companies to get access to new markets.

Institutional Arrangement

In this context, the Project Analyst (PA) will work under the UNDP Sustainable Green Pathways and Inclusive Growth Portfolio. S/he works under the guidance and supervision of the Inclusive Growth and Resilience Programme Analyst and in close collaboration with team members. The Project Analyst will also act as a supervisor to the project associate.

Under the direct supervision of the Inclusive Growth and Resilience Programme Analyst in the Jordan Country office, the GGJA Project Analyst is expected to perform the following responsibilities and duties:

General:

• Project management and oversight of local accelerators and country-level project teams. This includes monitoring the implementation of activities and the expenditure of funds and conducting monitoring visits at SME premises.
• Develop the necessary tools for the successful launch and implementation of the project, including mapping of stakeholders, stakeholder matrix, implementation work plan, budget tracking tool, monitoring and evaluation tool, SME onboarding plan, project messaging, and communication plan.
• Project management related to local management consultants will include project coordination with the management consultants on the country level and ensuring timely and on-target delivery of the output agreed on contractually with the consultants.
• Lead stakeholder dialogue with external partners relevant to the project implementation. The key stakeholder from the private sector is the local management consultancy firm, which will entail the majority of the stakeholder engagement. Other private sector stakeholders include the private sector outside the accelerators, business associations, innovation hubs, other accelerators, and risk finance, such as venture capital, angel investors, investment funds, and so on. The second stakeholder dialogue group is the public sector at both local and national levels, including local and national government, networks of academia, etc.
• Coordinate and liaise between the project partners and key stakeholders to ensure harmony in approach and consistency in implementation. Take part in a country-level coordination group consisting of partners in the DAPP to ensure on-the-ground coordination and collaboration, avoid duplication of efforts, and ensure maximum synergies between the three DAPP projects.
• Support in the review of consultancy firms’ deliverables as well as deliverables by main project partners in coordination with NRO and RBAS.
• Bring in and leverage existing project experience and capabilities relevant to this project, e.g., project management, understanding of and direct work with private sector/enterprise development/local investment landscape/green growth/innovation/digital transformation.
• Ensure structured progress reporting for SME cohorts.
• Support and feed into the development of a regional adaptive management framework with country-specific frameworks, which includes leading in collecting country-level project data, capturing results, and learning from project progress.
• Facilitate exchanging of knowledge and experience/success stories with/among the participating countries
• Contribute relevant cases and materials that can be turned into communication products and stories by RBAS (local and regional audiences) and UNDP Nordic (Danish audiences)
• Ensure that the Heart of Amman Hub is utilized as a central location for implementing project-related outputs and activities in line with overall objectives and main deliverables. Link with UNDP Jordan programme initiatives on SDG Impact and Financing, Social Entrepreneurship, and impact-driven support to SMEs
• Participate and coordinate with the Regional Youth Project Team as the project holder for work and strategic planning, delivering results, data, and sharing knowledge, and all work related to the three outputs listed below.
• Ensure the proper level of synergy, complementarities, and integration with other ongoing interventions under the Sustainable Green Pathways and Inclusive Growth Portfolio at UNDP CO.

Output1: 

Accelerators
Established entrepreneurs and SMEs, of which at least 10% will be youth-led enterprises, will be supported with green growth business instruments and advisory through an intensive 5-month business development process called the Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator. Youth-led enterprises will follow the same accelerator process as non-youth-led companies. The overall goal of Output 1 is to target companies that are able to grow their business and create green jobs for youth.

Duties and Responsibilities for Output 1:

• Lead on oversight and management of two 5-month Accelerators each year between 2024-2027 in tandem (close collaboration) with management consultant firms
• Lead on recruitment of SMEs to accelerators through their own channels and through partners with support from the Manager and Adviser from UNDP
• Take part in green growth consulting services to individual SMEs in accelerator cohorts together with management consultant firm
• Take part in weekly check-ins with UNDP (Regional and Nordic Offices)
• Take part in fortnightly learning sessions focusing on SME progress, methodology/tools application, and other items relevant to the project
• Deliver all joint sessions for SMEs, including Joint Kick-off workshop, IMM workshop, Showcase and Finale
• Lead on capturing results from SME progress against results framework
• Develop the necessary MEL tools to track progress and collect data and learnings after the graduation of every cohort.
• In coordination with the Regional Hub, organize a meeting with all project partners to evaluate the performance of every SME graduating cohort and suggest any necessary corrective measures.
• Establish partnerships with academic institutions to recruit relevant youth to serve as interns/consultants to deliver support to SMEs as partners.
• Supervise the coordination with youth that are part of youth4sustainability and their involvement in the accelerators and support to SMEs.

Output 2: SME Finance

Many of the target companies in the Accelerator are expected to need risk capital to realize their green growth business plans. UNDP will function as a connector between the target companies and relevant financial institutions, providing capital to SMEs in and outside the region. Here, UNDP will also make use of the SDG Investor Maps, if available, to identify the supply and demand of investment appetite in the countries. Through the Accelerator, target companies that need finance will also be offered some coaching aiming to strengthen their ability to pitch green growth business plans to potential investors and capital providers. The overall goal of Output 2 is to ensure that green business solutions of target companies are accelerated by increased access to finance.

Duties and responsibilities within Output 2:
Lead on mapping sustainable finance and risk finance providers in the country and the region, relevant for the SMEs in the accelerators.

• Lead on matchmaking SMEs with relevant investors and finance providers
• Lead on documenting progress from initiated dialogues between SMEs and investors and for capturing results

Output 3: Learning Modality

In the MENA region, young entrepreneurs and businesses using digital platforms and technology and taking advantage of digital payment opportunities are on the rise. Output 3 will work to strengthen the capacity of entrepreneurs and SMEs to take advantage of these new digital growth opportunities which will be delivered through a targeted learning modality. The learning modality will comprise different learning assets, including:

1. Digital learning on sustainable business development and innovation,
2. Impact Management and Measurement (IMM); and
3. Ecommerce.

The overall goal of Output 3 is for youth and companies to be capacitated to accelerate and manage green, sustainable growth.

Duties and responsibilities within Output 3:

• Participate in design sessions and provide input relevant to local contexts with the team responsible for the development of Learning Modality
• Lead on stakeholder dialogues with networks and entities such as business schools, universities, innovation hubs, already established accelerators and incubators etc., that have access to larger groups of youth that would benefit from the digital learning assets
• Lead on embedding learning materials into relevant channels, curricula, and outlets of stakeholders to ensure wide uptake and use of the e-learning materials
• Support in the design and setup of Green Growth Community to ensure local relevance
• Lead on onboarding SMEs alumni to the Green Growth Community
• Co-create and ideate on how best to use the Regional Youth Project Platform (NextGen Youth Platform) for creating a network, sharing knowledge, uploading assets, and connecting youth job seekers to SMEs.
• Map viable accelerators existing in the national-level ecosystems