UNCDF Jobs - 51768- Consultancy: Outreach and Advocacy

Consultancy: Outreach and Advocacy - Better Than Cash Alliance

Advertised on behalf of

UNCDF

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

12 months

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

About UN Capital Development Fund and its Inclusive Finance Practice Area:

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 49 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, 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 programmes help to empower women, and are designed to catalyze larger capital flows from the private sector, national governments and development partners, for maximum impact toward the Millennium Development Goals. Additional information on UNCDF may be found at www.uncdf.org

UNCDF is supporting 26 LDCs (20 in sub-Saharan Africa and 11 in Asia) and serving approximately 8 million active clients through the Financial Service Providers (FSPs) in which it invests. UNCDF has focused on supporting savings-led FSPs, given the dual benefit of FSPs using local sources to fund growth and positive findings from client impact studies on the benefits of savings. Sixty-five per cent of clients are women. FIPA follows a sector-based approach and, more recently, has been implementing its programmes through a series of thematic initiatives. A detailed explanation of the approach of the Inclusive Finance Practice Area is described in: http://uncdf.org/en/our-approach-if

About The Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA)

Of the 2.5 billion people who live on less than $2 per day, an estimated 80 percent lack access to formal financial services. As a result, most poor households operate almost entirely in the informal and cash economy. This means that they use cash, physical assets (e.g. jewelry and livestock), or informal institutions (e.g. money lenders and payment couriers) to meet their financial needs – from receiving wage remittances, to saving up to buy fertilizer, to insuring against illness. These informal tools, however, tend to be insecure, expensive, and hard to use. And when large problems arise, such as a major illness in the family, the tools often break down completely, leaving households exposed.

One of the reasons it is too costly to provide poor people formal financial alternatives is because most poor households conduct most or all of their financial transactions in cash. The best way to reduce the costs of reaching poor people with financial services is to help shift the majority of their cash-based financial transactions into digital form through mobile phones or other digital interface. The digitization of cash also creates opportunities for delivering value beyond cost savings.

Electronic payment technologies offer a more effective, efficient, transparent and often safer means of disbursing payments while also promoting financial inclusion and advancing aid effectiveness. Notwithstanding these benefits and success in a few countries, such as Kenya, electronic payment technologies have not been globally adopted especially in countries where a large percentage of the population has no relationship with the formal financial services sector and remains “unbanked”.

Through its public-private partnership the Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) brings together a broad cross section of private sector companies, host country governments, multilateral and bilateral donors, U.N. Agencies and international NGOs to create a global alliance.

In addition to raising awareness of the benefits of replacing physical cash with electronic payments, the Better Than Cash Alliance accelerates the transition for governments, the development community and the private sector by:

Advocating for organizations to commit to transition their distribution of government benefits, humanitarian aid assistance, payroll and supplier payments from cash to electronic;
Providing policy, technical and financial assistance to identify and implement the most effective approach for local market conditions that maximize the benefits at each stage of the transition;
Developing cutting-edge research products, best practices and case studies in order to drive the effective shift from cash to electronic payments globally.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Government and Corporate Relations Specialist, the incumbent will support the implementation of BTCA’s global advocacy strategy and outreach to governments, multilateral organizations, development partners and companies, including the following duties:

BTCA Membership:

Conduct research on governments, companies and development partners including political context and political economy issues;
Draft talking points, background briefs, briefing notes for missions, meetings and press engagements;
Draft and follow up on correspondence with BTCA corporate contacts and high ranking government officials internationally;
Provide administrative support to membership outreach including mission preparation, scheduling meetings, conference calls etc.;
Research and identify relevant contacts at NYC-based permanent missions to the UN and liaison organizations and support outreach to them.

Advocacy:

Conduct thorough background research on partners work on the digitization of payments and financial inclusion including in focus countries and business operations;
Collaborate closely with media and communications teams on the organization of events, conferences, side-events and specialized workshops;
Monitor and keep ahead of advocacy opportunities for the Alliance, including conferences and UN events;
Coordinate and/or support production of research-based partnerships and initiatives;
Keep record of BTCA’s events calendar, track all outreach activities and collaborate on donor reporting;
Manage the advocacy and outreach contact database;
Support the Advocacy unit with budgeting, reporting, and procurement activities as needed;
Other activities as requested

Competencies

Good analytical, and diplomatic skills;
Strong inter-personal skills and a demonstrated capacity to forge effective relations with colleagues and counterparts from different backgrounds essential;
Excellent attention to detail, a proactive approach to achieving key results, a high level of thoroughness in a complex multitasking environment and a strict adherence to deadlines;
Builds strong relationships, focuses on impact and results;
Establishes and maintains relationships to understand needs and gain support;
Consistently approaches work with energy and positive, constructive attitude;
Ability to work under pressure; and
Proven networking and communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master’s level) in international affairs, development, political science, or other relevant field.

Experience:

Minimum 2 years of relevant professional experience, including at the international level;
Demonstrated experience in advocacy / external relations essential;
Experience with multilateral, government relations or inter-government processes desirable;
Demonstrated excellent writing, editing and communications skills to an international standard including correspondence, reports. talking points and briefing material essential;
Sound knowledge of development issues – knowledge of financial inclusion and/or digital payments – an asset;
Experience in event management and supporting the organization of high-level meetings desirable;
Previous experience building partnerships and liaising with Member States desirable;
Computer literacy, including familiarity with spread sheets and power point presentations essential.

Language:

Fluency in English, both oral and written, is required. Working proficiency in French, Spanish or other UN languages 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%.

Application Requirements:

Cover Letter (maximum 1 page);
Updated CV;
Breakdown of Costs (daily fee).

Note:

Please upload all documents as one file under "CV";
Applicants not complying with the requirements described above will not be considered for the position.