Background

Candidates who previously applied need not re-apply.

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries. It creates new opportunities for poor people and their communities by increasing access to microfinance and investment capital.  UNCDF focuses on Africa and the poorest countries of Asia and the Pacific, with a special commitment to countries emerging from conflict or crisis.  It provides seed capital – grants and loans – and technical support to help microfinance institutions reach more poor households and small businesses, and local governments finance the capital investments – water systems, feeder roads, schools, irrigation schemes – that will improve poor peoples’ lives.

UNCDF works to enlarge peoples’ choices: it believes that poor people and communities should take decisions about their own development.  Its programmes help to empower women – over 50% of the clients of UNCDF-supported microfinance institutions are women – and its expertise in microfinance and local development is shaping new responses to food insecurity, climate change and other challenges.  UNCDF works in challenging environments – remote rural areas, countries emerging from conflict – and paves the way for others to follow. Its programmes are designed to catalyze larger investment flows from the private sector, development partners and national governments, for significant impact on the Millennium Development Goals, especially Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger, Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women, and Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability.

Established by the General Assembly in 1966 and with headquarters in New York, UNCDF is an autonomous UN organization affiliated with UNDP.

Despite the rapid growth of the microfinance industry in the past ten years, it is estimated that between two and three billion people still lack access to a broad range of financial products and services on a sustainable basis. The situation is particularly dire in the LDCs, where often more than 90 per cent of the population is denied access to financial services from the formal financial system. UNCDF focuses its strategy on Financial inclusion, which is universal access, at a reasonable cost, to a wide range of financial services, provided by a variety of sound and sustainable institutions. The range of financial services includes savings, short and long-term credit, leasing and factoring, mortgages, insurance, pensions, payments, local money transfers and international remittances.

UNCDF manages a number of initiatives related to digital financial (DF).  It is in discussion to consolidate the technical assistance and research aspects of these programmes into a single team.  This team will serve UNCDF’s needs in regard to DF, particularly for two programmes:  Mobile Money for the Poor and the Better than Cash Alliance.

Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P)

With support from Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (“DFAT” formerly AusAid) and by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UNCDF launched Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P) in March 2012, a global thematic initiative to address the opportunities and challenges of implementing branchless banking and mobile money in challenging markets in Africa and Asia.  MM4P’s long-term mission is to help low income and rural households in LDCs increase their financial security through appropriate, affordable and secure means to receive, manage and save money through these “digital financial services” (DFS).  To do so, its intermediate goal is to help build inclusive digital financial sectors such that a wide range of digital financial services are provided responsibly, and at reasonable cost, by sustainable institutions in a well-regulated environment.  UNCDF’s starts by defining the different stages of a market’s development and the range of interventions needed at different levels (i.e. macro, meso, micro, client) to move it across the stages.  This combines a making markets work for the poor approach with UNCDF’s traditional operational model of directly supporting the most crucial level – retail service providers.  UNCDF is currently implementing this in five countries (Laos, Nepal, Liberia, Malawi and Uganda).

Better Than Cash Alliance

The Better Than Cash Alliance is an alliance of governments, private sector and development organizations committed to accelerating the shift from cash to electronic payments. 
Billions of dollars in cash payments are made daily in emerging and developing economies, including payment of salaries, social welfare and relief, payments to suppliers, etc. The problems with these cash payments include a lack of transparency, accountability and security, as well as inefficiency. Furthermore, the individuals who receive the cash are excluded from the formal financial sector. There were approximately 2.5 billion people excluded from the formal financial sector in 2012.

Shifting these payments from cash to electronic has the potential to improve the livelihoods of low-income people by advancing financial inclusion and enabling people to save, while giving governments, the development community and the private sector a more efficient, transparent and often safer means of disbursing payments.

The Better Than Cash Alliance seeks to leverage the leadership of governments, the networks of development organizations and the expertise of the private sector in payment technologies to replace the use of cash in their programming and payment streams with electronic payments, where appropriate.

It also seeks to build the financial capability of low-income clients who will benefit from electronic payments and a wider range of financial services.  BTCA: 

• advocates for the use of all forms of electronic payments where they provide a preferable payment option to cash;
• collaborates with program partners to mobilize available technical expertise and resources to identify;
• implement the most effective approach to make the transition from cash to electronic payments;  and
• conducts research, documents good practices and produces knowledge products to address the barriers to adoption and drive the effective shift from cash to electronic payments globally.

BTCA is in the early days of its technical assistance facility implementation.  These two UNCDF programmes are together more frequently.  The MM4P team is overseeing the implementation of one of the first BTCA performance-based agreements with a partner in Malawi.  UNCDF is also in the process of concluding an agreement with USAID for joint funding of BTCA and MM4P for work in Malawi.

In February 2014, UNCDF signed an agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) for $5.9 million to implement its programme in that country. Uganda is the most advanced of MM4P countries with the greatest opportunity for learning, and for UNCDF it is very high profile because of the BMGF funding. It is also a high priority country for BTCA. In July 2014, MM4P secured a partnership for $24.9 million with the MasterCard Foundation (MCF) for the roll out of MM4P activities in three additional countries in sub-Saharan Africa for a period of five years (2014 to 2019), including Francophone (Benin, Senegal) and Anglophone (Zambia) Africa.

The MCF agreement supposes a significant increase of workload for MM4P.  To address this workload, MM4P has put forward a new staffing strategy and plan which has been approved by UNCDF and the funder, MCF.  This includes placing most technical positions in MM4P countries, with emphasis on the most high profile and advanced in each region. It also takes into consideration the high availability of funding in certain countries.

This new phase of the MM4P programme and cooperation with BTCA requires a Technical Specialist in Digital Finance to implement DF activities in Francophone Countries and other assigned countries. The Technical Specialist in Digital Finance (TS DF) will have the primary responsibility for the implementation of MM4P’s country strategies in the assigned countries (Benin, Liberia and Senegal) and potential additional assigned countries in the future,  recruiting and managing a small local team complemented by a range of technical service providers (TSPs). S/he will also oversee or provider technical input to other DF technical assistance in Francophone Africa or other assigned countries.

Specifically, the TS DF will conduct country diagnostics; recruit local teams in MM4P countries; develop country strategies; develop annual work plans and budgets; implement annual work plan activities; manage TSPs working in the countries; develop a pipeline of DFS projects for direct technical and financial support; monitor the performance of partners;  provide direct assistance or oversee contracted technical assistance to partners.

The Technical Specialist will report to the Lead Technical Specialist, DF based in Kampala, Uganda. On a daily basis, s/he will report to the UNCDF Regional Technical Advisor, based in Dakar.  This position will be based in the UNCDF office in Dakar, Senegal.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

• Contribute to the recruitment of a small support team in the assigned countries to provide financial, administrative and knowledge management support;
• Develop country strategies for Digital Finance based on UNCDF’s agreement with MCF for current assigned countries (Senegal, Benin, Liberia), develop annual work plans and budgets per country;
• Oversee ecosystem activities in assigned countries (workshops, research, key meetings, etc.) and take active role in some of these key activities;
• Develop a pipeline and portfolio of scalable branchless and mobile financial services projects that reach underserved clients, including women and rural users;
• Select partners based on MM4P and BTCA policies, including completing due diligence and project appraisals as needed;
• Develop technical assistance plans and terms of references to support partners and other key stakeholders, including market research, and oversee their implementation;
• Oversee partner performance and provide the necessary assistance to ensure their achievement of outcomes;
• Provide all technical input for procurement, drafting TORs and reviewing and evaluating technical proposals;
• Assist in managing relationship with key stakeholders in focus countries;
• Conduct branchless banking and mobile money scoping missions  in other countries;
• Train local UNCDF and UNDP staff in focus countries to assist in DF project oversight;
• Contribute to knowledge generation and sharing activities of the programme;
• Support the Project Manager in annual planning and reporting, as well as corporate and fundraising responsibilities.

Recruit and manage a small in-country implementation teams in the assigned countries / a well-trained project team in the assigned countries effectively implementing a wide range of DF activities and projects (15%):

• Works with existing UNCDF national staff in the assigned countries (Benin, Liberia, Senegal) to train them on the MM4P and BTCA programmes;
• In Senegal, recruits and hires DF National Officer, Knowledge Management Associate, and finance and administrative assistant;
• In other countries, recruits DF National Officer and finance and administrative assistance, as needed and budgeted;
• Supports the recruitment of a contracted DFS Expert for each assigned country;
• Provides technical training as well as training on all MM4P and BTCA policies and procedures related to Direct Technical and Financial Support;
• Works with in-country teams to develop annual performance plans, provide mid-term and annual review;
• Provides advice and technical input to in-country team, ensuring quality of their work and deliverables;
• Maintains daily contact with in-country teams, organizing regular calls and meetings;
• Identifies, design, and manage cross-country technical efforts to ensure consistent quality.

Develop and implement Country Strategies for DF Development / a broad and effective range of activities that designed and implemented to move the markets into the solid expansion phase (10%):

• Based on agreements with funders, develops a 5 year country strategy for Digital Finance supported by work plans and budgets to achieve the targets in assigned countries;
• Secures no objections from governments to implement DF activities and projects in assigned countries;
• Works with stakeholders to get input and win acceptance for the Country Strategies, building a common approach with others;
• Provides technical input to all procurement activities of TSPs, drafting project descriptions, technical TORs, and conducting technical reviews of the same;
• Manages all aspects of implementation of the strategies, coordinating all MM4P and on-site consultants to complete annual work plans;
• Acts as primary resource person for DF in the assigned countries for UNCDF, UNDP and other funders, helping to provider information, make introductions, coordinating efforts around the plan.

Oversee ecosystem activities in assigned countries (workshops, research, key meetings, etc.) and take active role in some of these key activities / a range of activities involving main stakeholders and high quality information (current trends, market conditions and focused topics) is shared within the ecosystem (25%):

• Plans, write/review TORs and implement ecosystem activities (workshops, researches, conferences, trainings, exposure visits, etc.);
• Develops a market research support strategy, draft TORs, procure and manage consultants for market research to identify clients’ needs, demands, behaviors and attitudes;
• Develops and maintain partnerships with relevant regional and national stakeholders including the central banks, telecommunication companies, financial service providers and donors;
• Takes active role in some key activities to support work done by TSPs (animate workshop, participate to meetings, etc.);
• Prepares/ reviews workshop materials, research documents, learning documents, etc. to insure high quality level information in assigned countries;
• Travels on a regular basis in assigned countries to meet with key stakeholders, TSPs;
• Identifies learning, training, and knowledge sharing opportunities for partners and key stakeholders and provide scholarships for attendance;
• Drafts research and short notes to share experience and lessons learned from partners.

Identify, vet, and assess DF projects and monitor their progress / a diverse mix of strong DF projects that meeting their targets, including the underserved, women and rural users (20%):

• Collaborates with key partners and stakeholders for research and development of innovative, cutting-edge strategies and approaches to sharpen delivery of mobile financial services;
• Develops a pipeline of potential projects that help the DF programmes achieve its outcome;
• Works with partners and technical consultants to design and develop projects;
• Develops project descriptions, including all activities, deliverables, timelines and targets that meet key programme objectives;
• Develops project appraisals for IC consideration based on partners submissions and interactions;
• Maintains regular contact with partners, identify issues and assist them in overcoming them;
• Reviews and respond to quarterly reports, ensuring partners are reporting accurately;
• Monitors progress under performance-based agreements, verify milestones and targets for disbursements;
• Seeks opportunities for coordinating and co-funding projects with other funders, ensure the programme’s efforts complete those of other mobile financial services initiatives.

To ensure the success of projects, provide or secure targeted technical assistance for partners and other relevant stakeholders and actively foster partnerships in the assigned countries / Partners and other stakeholders have necessary support to build a successful DF ecosystem (20%):

• Provides on-going technical advice to partners on the implementation of their projects, including sharing of information and updates on innovations;
• Provides advice as needed to other stakeholders in assigned countries, including central banks, on mobile money to build overall awareness and acceptance of services;
• Assists partners in identifying opportunities with others, including recommending or fostering strategic, financial or technical partnerships;
• Contributes to legal and regulatory stocktaking efforts in host countries and share with others;
• Working with partners and DF technical team, drafts technical terms of reference for TSPs to support partners;
• Provides all technical input for procurement, drafting TORs and reviewing and evaluating technical proposals;
• Manages TSPs for on-time, quality provision of services to UNCDF and partners;
• Reviews all deliverables by TSPs to ensure quality.

Provides support to UNCDF management on corporate initiatives and activities, focusing on achieving the following results:  (10%)

• Builds effective and efficient partnerships at the operational level with major donor agencies to coordinate financial inclusion, including financial literacy, activities in country;
• Provides technical input on some cross-countries areas (agent management, regulatory, payment, product development, high-volume, etc.) based on lessons learned in assigned countries;
• Participates to key DF conferences;
• Provides inputs for annual work plan and budget;
• Provides inputs for semi-annual reporting;
• Assists in implementation of mid-term and final evaluations of the programme;
• Supports the development of UNCDF programme and business strategies and to annual reviews;
• As requested, assists in fundraising and relationship management with donors.

Impact of Results

The key result expected is the successful implementation and attainment of targets of the Mobile Money for the Poor programme in the assigned countries.

The DF Specialist will pursue the following key results of the programme:

• DF team in assigned countries are established and serving all required technical needs of UNCDF;
• Sustainable, scalable, replicable DF providing access to affordable, demand-driven, appropriate, cost-effective financial services, particularly savings and remittances, to low income people in underserved areas;
• Well supported partners with access to the necessary technical knowledge and oversight to ensure the timely achievement of results;
• Knowledge generated, including market research, and disseminated among providers, host country regulators and  policy makers, donors and other stakeholders related to mobile money.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates ethics and integrity;
• Demonstrates political acumen and calculated risk-taking;
• Builds confidence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
• Builds and promotes teams and partnerships;
• Creates and promotes open communication;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Conducts fair and transparent decision making;
• Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all persons fairly without favoritism;
• Shows strong corporate commitment.

Functional Competencies:

• Strong knowledge on the technology of Digital Finance;
• Knowledge of national payment systems and technical infrastructure of payment and clearing systems;
• Familiarity with the concepts in to financial inclusion, a broad knowledge of related disciplines, as well as an in-depth knowledge of relevant organizational policies and procedures;
• Adequate understanding of legal and regulatory issues related to DF, such as know your customer and bank agency rules;
• Exposure to telecommunications platforms, including mobile money platforms;
• Strong client orientation, recognizing the importance of providing appropriate, user-friendly and affordable services;
• Familiarity with low income households in developing countries, comfortable working in very low income areas;
• Understands how to build strategic partnerships and alliances;
• Takes on innovation and new approaches and fosters innovative thinking;
• Proactively identifies, develops and discusses solutions for internal and external clients, and persuades management to undertake new projects or services;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities, and resolve problems;
• Comfortable advocating and advancing an agenda, including with high level counterparts and other stakeholders;
• Approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude and responds positively to feedback;
• Comfortable forming, leading or being part of teams, working with other stakeholders to achieve common goals.
• Excellent analytical skills;
• Excellent communication skills;
• Proven ability to manage projects;
• Strong general IT skills, including ability to work regularly with MS Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint;
• Proven cross-cultural communication, able to function effectively in an international, multicultural environment and manage a team consisting of multiple nationalities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• A Master’s degree in technology, economics, public/business administration, social sciences, or related discipline or the equivalent experience.

Experience:

• A minimum of five (5) years’ experience in progressively more responsible positions in the financial services and/or telecommunications field of which 2 years working with with digital finance, preferably in Africa region;
• Working knowledge of international donor organizations and preferably experience in preparing proposals for funding;
• Experience working with the mass market, including rural or low income communities, preferably related to financial services;
• Experience managing or conducting research, particularly related to product development or client demand;
• Working knowledge of current developments in microfinance, including mobile financial services and one or more of the following: savings, microinsurance, remittances, financial literacy;
• Experience in working with the implementation of digital finance projects, including banks and mobile network operators;
• Experience in developing and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs);
• Experience managing small teams or consultants, including recruiting, hiring and evaluating;

Language:

• Proficiency in English (comprehension, verbal communication) is necessary;
• Excellent speaking and proficient writing skills in French are necessary.

Note

Applicants are strongly encouraged to upload (as a *pdf attachment) the completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.docx  Completion of all the fields is required.

Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.