UNCDF Jobs - 55693- Programme Manager, Member Services (Better Than Ca

Programme Manager, Member Services (Better Than Cash Alliance) UNCDF

Advertised on behalf of

UNCDF

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

01-Jul-2015

Application Deadline :

09-May-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

One year (renewable)

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 is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries (LDCs). 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.

The Better Than Cash Alliance is an alliance of governments, private sector and development organizations committed to replacing the use of cash payments with electronic payments, where appropriate and to promoting a `cash-light’ economy.

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, remittances, 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 payments are often part of the 2 billion excluded from the formal financial sector. This means they are excluded from access to a range of appropriate and affordable financial services to help them save safely, take advantage of economic opportunities and reduce their vulnerability to risk.

Shifting these payments from cash to electronic has the potential to improve the lives of low-income people, particularly women, while giving governments, the development community and the private sector a more transparent, time and cost efficient, and often safer means of disbursing payments.

The Better Than Cash Alliance:

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 and 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.

The Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) is looking to hire a Programme Manager for BTCA Member Services. For more information on BTCA, please visit the website:

http://www.betterthancash.org/

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions

Strategy:

Provide the direction, implementation and management of Member Services of the Better Than Cash Alliance resulting in an efficiently-implemented, managed, monitored and evaluated services, meeting or exceeding all targets.

Operations and Reporting:

Manage the Member Services Sub-Committee, including recording of their decisions on disbursement of funds; ensure complete and transparent reporting to the Member Services Sub-Committee according to Better Than Cash Alliance goals and UNCDF protocols.

Knowledge Management:

In collaboration with the Communications Specialist and Knowledge and Research Specialists integrate knowledge sharing into all aspects of Member Services.

Advocacy and Fundraising:

Under direction of the Managing Director, contribute to advocacy and fundraising efforts for the Better Than Cash Alliance to build support from funders, policy makers and other stakeholders.

Backstop Managing Director:

Backstop the Managing Director of the Better Than Cash Alliance as needed.

Strategic Advice

Provide strategic direction for Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) Member Services to deliver demand-driven technical and other services to governments, private companies, and development organizations that increases their capacity to move from cash to digital payments:

Build on the strategic direction provided by the BTCA Executive Committee (ExCom) into a Strategy and Work plan for Member Services;
Develop the policies and procedures for Member Services in accordance with the strategy agreed by the BTCA ExCom;
Prepare annual work plans with performance targets and budgets for ExCom approval;
Develop Terms of Reference, organize, coordinate, supervise and administer the Member Services resources to catalyze effective action by the BTCA members.

Operations Management

Manage BTCA Member Services to achieve BTCA goals and comply with UNCDF protocols, including recording of Member Services Sub-Committee decisions and disbursement of funds. Establish an efficiently operated, monitored and evaluated fund, meeting or exceeding all targets including complete and transparent reporting to the Member Services Sub-Committee:

Determine the approach to using Member Services resources that is appropriate for BTCA strategy and available resources;
Develop pipeline of potential countries and members to benefit from member services to help the BTCA achieve its outcomes;
Develop and implement processes for managing delivery of all types of member services managing consultants to support delivery, and ensuring members are applying learning to their shift, and assessing member satisfaction;
With the Managing Director, prepare and present recommendations to appropriate Member Services Sub-Committee for award of grants and/or technical assistance to successful applicants;
With the Managing Director, prepare, negotiate and finalize performance-based agreements (PBAs) and / or contracts as appropriate, with recipient institutions;
Seek opportunities for coordinating and co-funding projects with other funders, ensure the programme’s efforts complete those of other initiatives with shared focus;
As part of the BTCA team, develop and manage quantitative and qualitative monitoring, evaluation and reporting requirements for members;
Prepare mid-year and annual progress reports, narrative as well as financial reports and progress and results achieved for the ExCom. Assure, track and analyze quarterly portfolio reporting;
Report project achievements, delivery and other areas of accountability to FIPA, for input to regular UNCDF performance monitoring and reporting.

Knowledge Management: In collaboration with the Better Than Cash Alliance team and particularly the Knowledge and Research Specialist, manage Member Services to contribute to the BTCA knowledge hub about the shift from cash to electronic payments and integrate knowledge sharing into all aspects of Member Services:

Develop and roll out processes and tools to support the collection and consolidation of members’ performance, including indicators and lessons learned;
In collaboration with the Knowledge and Research Specialist, design and implement a peer learning agenda and a knowledge sharing strategy among Alliance members;
In collaboration with the Knowledge and Research Specialist, maximize the development of knowledge products generated through Alliance members to support the capacity building of the Alliance and the wider sector;

Advocacy and Fund Raising

Under the direction of the Managing Director and with the Advocacy Specialist, undertake advocacy and fundraising to ensure the programme is adequately funded and has the support of funders, policy makers and other stakeholders:

Develop strategies as part of the team to mobilize additional resources to fully implement the Member Services strategy and annual work plans;
Proactively manage relations with current and potential funders, ensuring the funders are informed and supportive of the BTCA;
Co-lead fundraising and relationship management for non-core resources (i.e. non-UNCDF) to the BTCA;
As part of a team, build effective and efficient partnerships at the operational level with major donor agencies to coordinate BTCA related activities globally and in host countries;
Undertake speaking and representation engagements as a representative of the Better than Cash Alliance and UNCDF as directed;
Ensure financial and performance reports are issued to development partners on time as per Cost-Sharing Agreement requirements with funding partners.

Act as a backstop to the Managing Director, and other duties and tasks as assigned:

Undertake duties to backstop the Managing Director of the Better Than Cash Alliance as needed and as directed by the Managing Director and/or UNCDF FIPA.

Impact of Results

The key result expected is the successful implementation and attainment of targets of the Better Than Cash Alliance programme, including coordination with/reporting to all stakeholders, the Financial Inclusion Practice Area (FIPA) in UNCDF and the funders of the programme.

The Programme Manager, Member Services will pursue the following key results of the programme:

Broad acceptance by governments, development agencies, NGOs and private sector that electronic-payment solutions are superior to cash;
Commitments from these actors to implement electronic-payment solutions instead of cash;
Delivery of member services to governments, private companies and development organizations that increases their capacity to deliver end user-focused payment technologies;
BTCA members make a significant improvement globally in the number of low-income and poor people served by innovative payment technologies, including those that were previously unbanked.

Easily accessible knowledge products generated from BTCA member services activities that demonstrate how to implement electronic-payment solutions so that:

Electronic payments to the mass market can be offered on a profitable and thus sustained basis by financial service providers;
Electronic payments are an affordable means for governments, development agencies, and other mass payment providers to distribute funds;
Poor recipients benefit from increased options for financial inclusion afforded by the transition from cash to e-payment solutions.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Results-Based Programme Development and Management:

Starts up new programmes, able to act quickly to create necessary structures;
Ensures the full implementation of a project and the financial resources to obtain results;
Conceptualizes more effective approaches to programme development and implementation and to mobilizing and using resources;
Proven ability to manage projects, teams and global policy efforts.

Building Strategic Partnerships:

Makes effective use of UNCDF’s and other BTCA member resources and comparative advantage to strengthen partnerships;
Creates networks and promotes initiatives with partner organizations.

Innovation and Marketing New Approaches:

Creates an environment that fosters innovation and innovative thinking;
Conceptualizes more effective approaches to programme development and implementation, and to mobilizing and using resources.

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

Promotes the Member Services as a learning/knowledge sharing programme.

Advocacy/Advancing A Policy-Oriented Agenda:

Dialogues with counterparts and other stakeholders to strengthen advocacy efforts, incorporating various perspectives. Advocates for and advances a policy agenda related to BTCA objectives;
Effective spokesperson, engaging stakeholders and groupings, both government ministers and private sector senior corporate leaders, to advance the development of non-cash payments;
Excellent presentation and representation skills in multicultural contexts;
Ability to translate complex technical ideas to a non-technical audience.

Client Orientation:

Anticipates constraints in the delivery of services and identifies solutions or alternatives;
Proactively identifies, develops and discusses solutions for internal and external clients, and persuades management to undertake new projects or services;
Advises and develops strategic and operational solutions with clients that add value to UNCDF and UNDP programmes and operations.

Core Competencies:

Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents;
Building support and political acumen;
Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
Building and promoting effective teams;
Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking;
Ability to mainstream Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women into the programme cycle.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree (or equivalent) in economics, finance, public/business administration, social sciences, or related fields.

Experience:

Minimum of 7 years of professional experience in progressively responsible positions in relevant field;
Professional experience in private sector, particularly in payments, technology, or telecommunications;
Experience working on financial services for poor people and understanding of key issues and international good practice relating to financial inclusion; Working knowledge of current developments in payment technologies, including innovative payment methods (e.g., mobile financial services, pre-paid cards, etc.);
Working knowledge of policy, legal and regulatory issues related to inclusive payment technologies;
Experience in managing a technical services or equivalent with evidence of goals achieved.
Experience in managing projects, corresponding budgets, as well as monitoring and evaluation plans; experience within the UN system desirable;
Working knowledge of international donor organizations desirable;
Experience in analysis of gender disaggregated data and using the analysis for programme planning and implementation desirable;
Strong IT skills, including ability to work in MS Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.

Language:

Fluency in spoken and written English is required;
Professional competency in French and/or Spanish desirable.

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 fromhttp://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.docx Completion of all the fields is required.

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