UNCDF Jobs - 51719- Consultancy - Digital Financial Specialist

Consultancy - Digital Financial Specialist - Better Than Cash Alliance

Advertised on behalf of

UNCDF

Location :

New York (USA) or Brussels (Belgium)

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

05-Dec-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months part-time

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

UNCDF

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries (LDCs). Established by the General Assembly in 1966 and with headquarters in New York, UNCDF is an autonomous UN organization affiliated with UNDP which 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 financial service providers 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.

UNCDF operates several global thematic initiative (GTI) programmes see http://www.uncdf.org/en/global-programmes) that are offering needed and innovative financial services. The Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA, see http://betterthancash.org/) is housed at UNCDF and works closely with these other programmes.

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.

MM4P

MM4P is 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 strategy to accomplish this goal is based on the financial sector development approach, adapted for DFS, which 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.

PFIP

The Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP) advances the goal of enhancing financial inclusion in the Pacific - one of the least banked regions in the world. To achieve this goal, PFIP focuses on four major programmatic areas: 1) policy and coordination; 2) scalable and replicable financial services; 3) knowledge generation, management and sharing; and 4) financial competency. Through this strategy of programming, PFIP constructed the mechanisms necessary to establish appropriate regulatory frameworks and funded the development and widespread introduction of new products and technology-linked delivery channels, since the beginning of the program. PFIP also introduced and scaled up the region’s first financial education initiatives and, through innovative research, became a thought leader in the region. In short, PFIP made financial inclusion an important agenda item in the Pacific.

The consultant will report to the manager of the Technical Assistance Facility of BTCA and will support the work of BTCA as well as other UNCDF programmes, including Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P) and the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP). Collaboration with other UNCDF programmes or UN agencies is possible.

Duties and Responsibilities

Support BTCA’s Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) by designing, implementing, monitoring and reporting on technical assistance projects:

Contribute to the development of effective tools and methodologies to help BTCA and its partners to accelerate the shift from cash to electronic payments and boost the effectivity and efficiency of digital finance ecosystems and digital financial services;
Provide high quality technical inputs on digital finance project design, priorities, partnership opportunities for technical collaboration, and quality control of deliverables;
Design, advise and/or implement diagnostic studies, surveys and interviews that will help identify risks and challenges in terms of national payment regulation, service providers, payment infrastructure, delivery channels, payment solutions, product design, marketing and communications;
Provide thought leadership on digital finance working in order to raise the discussions between stakeholders to more impactful and innovative business models;
Support elaboration of an informed and sound digital financial servicesecosystem strengthening strategy, globally as well as in individual countries; support, set-up and animate working groups focused on digital financial services that bring together key stakeholders;
Provide support, training and build capacity of main payment system stakeholders including support with the management of cash transfer, vouchers, salary and social protection delivery channels;
Build relationships with the key local actors including Ministries of Finance, Central Bank, etc, to promote the development of an open and innovative digital finance ecosystem including continuous communication between public and private sectors;
Help financial services providers ensure reliable delivery channels, including but not limited to: branches, mobile money, agent networks, ATMs, POS, microfinance institutions, and others;
Support efforts by local governments and/or consultants in developing strategies to design, implement, monitor and evaluate cash and liquidity management strategies;
Design, implement and monitor in-country user, agent and staff training as well as client enrollment strategies and programs;
Help elaborate and implement an overall strategy for the TAF;
Maintenance of internal filing and document management systems;
Provide input and strategic advice for knowledge and research products;
Maintenance of external knowledge library.

Participate in TAF in-country missions:

Participate or lead In-country partnership
Contribute to the preparation of missions, including, identifying key actors, establishing contacts, setting up meeting with key stakeholders, conducting background research;
Preparing post-mission reports, stakeholder maps, list of initiatives and proposals for TAF Committee.

Support the management of technical assistance support:

Manage andeffectively implement ongoing projects for payment solutions and overall payment system strengthening;
Support the Technical Assistance Facility in procuring consultants and consulting firms for digital finance projects, by drafting TORs, defining outputs and timelines;
Work closely with other consultants and consulting firms working with BTCA, MM4P or PFIP partners. Provide the necessary programme knowledge in order to have consultants aligned with programme objectives in country;
Coordinate and regularly follow-up work of consultants;
For selected partners, provide direct technical assistance to support project implementation. [E] Support the Better than Cash Alliance:
Help position the Better than Cash Alliance as a key strategic partner in the transition from cash to electronic payments for Governments, private sector and development organizations;
Provide strategic advice to ensure the BTCA’s meets its objectives successfully;
Help establish key indicators to evaluate BTCA’s performance, including, but not limited to, TAF related activities;
Support the BTCA with different day-to-day activities relevant to its mission and objectives;
Support the TAF with administrative work and other activities relevant to TAF or more broadly the BTCA.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
Self-development, initiative-taking;
Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
Creating synergies through self-control;
Managing conflict;
Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
Informed and transparent decision making;
Excellent attention to detail, a proactive approach to achieving key results, and a high level of thoroughness in a complex multitasking and matrix management environment.

Corporate competencies:

Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A Master’s degree in technology, economics, public/business administration, social sciences, or related discipline or the equivalent experience;
Additional training related to digital financial services is highly desirable;
A certificate or other course in project management (for example PRINCE2) is desirable.

Experience:

A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in international development at international level is required;
A minimum of two (2) years dedicated experience (more desirable) in digital finance, payment systems or electronic payments is required;
Knowledgeable about national payments infrastructure at a retail and wholesale level;
Knowledgeable about national payments regulation and supervision as well as the regulatory frameworks through which governments receive and make payments;
Experience working on financial inclusion and/or private sector development;
Excellent MS Office skills are required;
Experience in project management.

Languages:

Fluency in English;
Working proficiency in French and/or Spanish an asset.

Evaluation Scoring:

Technical evaluation based on online submission, interviews and a skill-based assessment: 70%.
Financial evaluation based on daily fee quoted by applicant: 30%.
Total score: 100%.

Other:

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a procurement notice for Individual Contractor must do so in their individual capacity (providing a cv so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly). Please note that in such case the company institution will be asked to issue a Reimbursable Loan Agreement. .

Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.