UNCDF Jobs - 61877- Consultant - Membership and Advocacy

Consultant - Membership 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 :

03-Dec-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

12 months

Languages Required :

English Spanish

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 inclusive finance 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 can provide seed capital both grants and loans as well as technical support 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. 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 SDGs. 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 a partnership of governments, companies and international organizations that accelerates the transition from cash to digital payments in order to reduce poverty and drive inclusive growth.

Billions of dollars in cash payments and transfers 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 digital 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 partners with governments, companies, and international organizations that are the key drivers behind the transition to make digital payments widely available by:

Advocating for the transition from cash to digital payments in a way that advances financial inclusion and promotes responsible digital finance;
Conducting research and sharing the experiences of our members to inform strategies for making the transition;
Catalyzing the development of inclusive digital payments ecosystems in member countries to reduce costs, increase transparency, advance financial inclusion-- particularly for women-- and drive inclusive growth.

For more information on BTCA, please visit the website: http://www.betterthancash.org/

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:

Draft talking points, background briefs, briefing notes for missions, meetings and press engagements;
Accompany the Government and Corporate Relations Specialist and/or other members of the team for in-country missions as required and needed;
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:

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;

Research:

Conduct research on governments, companies and development partners including political context and political economy issues;
Conduct thorough background research on partners work on the digitization of payments and financial inclusion including in focus countries and business operations;
Conduct in-depth research on topics related to digital payments, digital financial services and financial inclusion in specific markets (e.g. Government to Person Payments, Responsible Digital Finance, Financial Inclusion trends);

Communications and Events:

Support the Member Services team with the organization of ecosystem convenings and knowledge-exchanges as needed;
Support the communications team managing social media channels 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;
Ability to work collaboratively and effectively as part of a team as well as individually;
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;
Comfortable working with senior level management and officials;
Establishes and maintains relationships to understand needs and gain support;
Consistently approaches work with energy and positive, constructive attitude;
Ability to work under pressure;
Proven networking and communication skills;
Computer literacy, including familiarity with spread sheets and power point presentations essential;
Strong knowledge-base of international development issues and ability to synthesize knowledge to drive results;
Knowledge of financial inclusion and of digital payments essential;
Knowledge of the main research sources and development partners working on digital payments and financial inclusion.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

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

Experience:

Minimum 3 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;
Experience engaging with senior government officials;
Demonstrated excellent writing, editing and communications skills to an international standard including correspondence, reports, talking points and briefing material essential;
Experience in advocating for the role of financial inclusion in the broader development agenda;
Experience conducting research and synthesizing it for policy briefs on digital payments, digital financial services and financial inclusion;
Experience in event management and supporting the organization of high-level meetings desirable. Experience organizing events within the UN system an asset;
Experience working with the UN and/or international organization, essential;
Previous experience building partnerships and liaising with Member States desirable;
Experience working with mailchimp and salesforce or other contact data bases desirable.

Language:

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

Evaluation:

The award of contract will be made to one individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as being:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
Achieving the highest combined score (financial and technical);
Technical evaluation based on online submission (Desk review of CV and cover letter) 40%;
Interview 30%;
Financial evaluation based on daily fee quoted by applicant: 30%;
Total score: 100%.

Application Requirements:

Cover Letter (maximum 1 page);
Updated CV;

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.