UNCDF Jobs - 17058- Technical Advisor, Inclusive Finance

Technical Advisor, Inclusive Finance

Publié pour le compte de

UNCDF

Lieu :

Johannesburg, AFRIQUE DU SUD

Type de contrat :

FTA International

Date de commencement :

16-Aug-2010

Date limite de candidature :

20-Jun-10 (Minuit New York, États-Unis)

Niveau du poste :

P-5

Durée du contrat initial

1 Year

Langues requises :

Anglais

Durée prévue de la mission :

4 Years

Le PNUD s’engage à recruter un personnel divers en termes de genre, de nationalité et de culture. Nous encourageons de même les personnes issues des minorités ethniques, des communautés autochtones ou handicapées à postuler. Toutes les candidatures seront traitées dans la plus stricte confidentialité. Le PNUD ne tolère pas l’exploitation et / ou les atteintes sexuelles, ni aucune forme de harcèlement, y compris le harcèlement sexuel, et / ou toutes formes de discrimination. Tous/tes les candidats/tes selectectionnes /ées devront ainsi se soumettre à de rigoureuses vérifications relatives aux références fournies ainsi qu’à leurs antécédents.

Historique

In 2005, the United Nations Development programme (UNDP) and United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) developed a joint programme named "Building Inclusive Financial Sectors in Africa" (BIFSA) to support building inclusive financial sectors in the region, including the LDCs and non-LDCs. The programme had a one year (2004) start up to set the ground for phase I (2005 – 2008). The outcome of BIFSA II is to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) particularly the specific goal of poverty reduction in half by 2015, by increasing the sustainable access to financial services for poor and low income populations in general and for small and micro enterprises particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The specific outputs that the programme aims to achieve are: (i) at the Macro level: Effective Advocacy and improved regulatory framework: through supporting the African agenda on building inclusive financial sectors, creating synergies with other donors’ initiatives, in addition to supporting a more conducive legal and regulatory framework; (ii) at the Meso level: Strengthening the sector’s capacity and dissemination of sound principles and knowledge through supporting national strategies for financial inclusion in LDCs, building Financial Service Providers (FSPs) capacities, and strengthening UNDP, IFAD, Luxemburg and other contributing donors’ activities in LDCs and Non – LDCs; in addition to generation, publication and dissemination of knowledge and sound principles on inclusive finance and (iii) at the Micro Level: Improving sustainable access to financial service: through supported innovations and product diversification and building the FSPs’ capacities.

UNCDF pursues a sector based approach to microfinance and financial inclusion in 25 LDCs. Its approach and results have recently received strong external endorsement from CGAP’s SMART Aid index, a comprehensive independent evaluation of its work in Africa, and a $20 million co-financing grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for its new MicroLead programme.

The position of the Inclusive Finance Technical Advisor (IFTA) is to be the technical advisory post for UNCDF Financial Inclusion Practice Area (FIPA), within the BIFSA II programme. Under the supervision of the FIPA Senior Technical Advisor, the IFTA will have the function to provide: (i) portfolio management for the microfinance and inclusive finance programme and projects within the respective region; (ii) technical leadership and policy advice in the area of microfinance/inclusive finance; (iii) leadership in applying business development strategies ensuring an appropriate development and execution of investments and enhancing resource mobilization for microfinance and inclusive finance in the region; (iv) leadership in the active acquisition and sharing of business-sensitive knowledge in Inclusive Finance in the region (v) support to Inclusive Finance Unit and UNCDF management on corporate initiatives and activities.

At the corporate level, the IFTA receives overall technical leadership and policy direction from the FIPA director and the Regional Senior Technical Advisor in Inclusive Finance keeping him/her apprised of programme opportunities and relationship developments with key stakeholders. From the Regional Office s/he receives guidance on corporate operational issues; and regarding business development/resource mobilization strategies, intelligence and tools including disbursement of resources, financial and performance management and programme coherence at the country level.

Devoirs et responsabilités

The incumbent:

Provides technical management for the Regional Office and takes part to the Work planning process, the monitoring and the coordination of the activities with respect to the inclusive finance practice area;
Provides technical advisory services to the UNCDF Regional Office in order to optimize its efficiency and ensure its effective contribution to the development of inclusive financial sectors and the attainment of poverty reduction in the region;
Ensure the proper management of his/her portfolio in liaison with the CTA and the project teams;
Provides regional leadership in applying business development strategies, tools and intelligence to build and maintain strategic partnerships, capitalize on business opportunities and enhance resource mobilization for financial inclusion in the region;
Provides regional leadership in the active acquisition and sharing of business-sensitive knowledge in financial inclusion including promoting new financial products and services and facilitating their dissemination; contributing to the dissemination and the application of microfinance and inclusive finance best practices;
Promotes the comparative advantages and strategic niches of UNCDF and the financial inclusion line of business, enhancing UNCDF as a preferred partner in the area of financial inclusion and accelerating (non-core) resource mobilization;
Maintains an updated database on his or her portfolio and contribute to the FIPA database and ROAR management;
Provides support to financial inclusion Regional Unit and UNCDF senior management on corporate initiatives and activities;
Participates to UNCDF and UNDP activities in the inclusive finance field;
Undertakes any other task relevant to his or her position and competencies on behalf of the Head of the Regional Office.

Under the direction of the FIPA Senior Technical Advisor and the secondary guidance from the Regional Head of Office, the Inclusive Finance Technical Advisor will provide:

Portfolio/Unit Management: for Inclusive Finance Programming

Provides portfolio management for the microfinance and inclusive finance programme and projects within the respective region; and in areas of joint investment with UNCDF, matrixed management of the Inclusive Finance project staff in the region, focusing on achieving the following results:

Development and approval of sector assessments and programme documents, ensuring soundness of technical design and strategy;
Funding and implementation modality negotiated and resolved with UNDP, donors and governments;
Integration of regional Inclusive Finance activities into the annual work plan of the UNDP Regional Centre and in countries (in his/her portfolio) planning and programming processes (UNDAF, CPAP…);
Review of work plans of country project teams, ensuring clear performance targets are established;
Effective management of all financial, performance and operational aspects of portfolio, including facilitating project implementation according to annual work plan of the project, ensuring achievement of outputs;
Ensure and track quarterly portfolio reporting and inform management (UNCDF Senior Technical Advisor, FIPA Director, and UNCDF Policy Advisor) on a quarterly basis on overall performance including where targets are not met and proper reporting not done on time;Reporting on project achievements, delivery and other areas of accountability to Inclusive Finance Unit for input to regular performance monitoring and ROAR; financial reporting and reporting arrangements for non-core resources to donors;
Effective and efficient use of ATLAS in line with project cycle; Atlas approval authority at Level 2 and in compliance with UNCDF Internal Control Framework;
Management of decentralized evaluation.

Technical Leadership/Policy Advice: Provides technical leadership and policy advice in the area of microfinance/inclusive finance to key stakeholders in the region and country office networks, focusing on achieving the following results:

Technical leadership and support to the microfinance/inclusive finance portfolio within the region;
Effective and innovative programme strategies, formulation and design, involving sector assessment, dialogue and negotiations with key regional or national stakeholders, including donors and other investors, government officials, UNDP country offices, central banks and the microfinance and inclusive finance industry, building on UNCDF and UNDP’s comparative advantages and furthering UN goals and objectives;
Technical support to designing national policies, strategies and programmes, to developing enabling regulatory and legal frameworks and providing capacity-building of central banks;
Develop a list of Technical Service Providers (TSPs) including individuals and institutions that could be contracted on a long-term basis to provide technical assistance to Country programmes;
Technical leadership, advice and support to UNDP country office management to improve quality of UNDP’s microfinance and inclusive finance programme; effective regional coordination with relevant practice areas of technical support to countries; Advice on policy issues emerging from design and implementation of micro finance projects at the country office level.

Business Development/External Relations: Provides regional leadership in applying business development strategies, tools and intelligence, to build and maintain strategic partnerships, capitalize on business opportunities and enhance resource mobilization for microfinance and inclusive finance in the region, focusing on achieving the following results:

Expanded support to more countries in the region to develop financial infrastructures that will provide improved financial services to clients;
Identification of promising investment opportunities for UNDP and UNCDF in the region that meet established investment criteria;
Identification of key sources of financing (grants, loans, equity) in the region and developing strategic partnerships with these sources to ensure that national strategies and action plans to build inclusive financial sectors mobilize the required resources to achieve results;
Strong partnership with UNDP country offices and regional policy practitioners to support governments, central banks donors and other key stakeholders in the region to establish national strategies, policies and operations to develop an inclusive financial sector;
Effective working relationships with governments, central banks, the Bretton Woods Institutions and regional development banks, civil society and the microfinance and inclusive finance industry;
Dialogue and reaching out to key internal and external constituencies and partners, including UNDP regional and country office management, to increase visibility and awareness of UNCDF and UNDP comparative advantages and strategic niches in microfinance and inclusive finance.

Knowledge Management: Provides regional leadership in the active acquisition and sharing of business-sensitive knowledge in Inclusive Finance, focusing on achieving the following results:

Identification, documentation and incorporation of lessons learned from Inclusive Finance experience in the region, as input into portfolio management and planning at regional level, as input into Inclusive Finance Unit for enhancing policy and programme support to microfinance and inclusive finance and for knowledge management collaborations with key partners, particularly CGAP;
Identification and development of new products, tools and processes in UNCDF and UNDP niche areas to better employ comparative advantages of UNCDF and UNDP in the sub-region to serve targeted clients; review of existing products, concepts and tools in Inclusive Finance to ensure continued effectiveness and to increase awareness and dissemination of these products, tools, etc. among key stakeholders, adapting them to changes in circumstances and requirements in the region;
Collaboration with key partners and microfinance and inclusive finance practitioners in the region for research and development of innovative, cutting-edge strategies and approaches to sharpen delivery of Inclusive Finance products and services in order to better achieve UNCDF Business Plan objectives and UNDP (MYFF, Strategic Plan, RPD) corporate strategies and MDG goals; sharing of experiences with key partners and stakeholders in the region;
Development and contribution to knowledge-sharing networks on microfinance and inclusive finance initiatives globally.

Corporate Support: Provides support to Inclusive Finance Unit and UNCDF management on corporate initiatives and activities, focusing on achieving the following results:

Advice from regional perspective to support annual and cumulative Unit and UNCDF and UNDP ROAR analyses; substantive inputs into Unit work plan and UNCDF Business Plan;
Support to development of Inclusive Finance Unit and UNCDF programme and business strategies and to annual reviews;
Advice to UNCDF and UNDP senior management on technical issues and business development opportunities, including inputs into corporate presentations and reports;
Advice on technical issues, knowledge management and business development opportunities having inter-regional and corporate relevance on Inclusive Finance and/or UNCDF/UNDP programme;
Preparation of material related to the Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA) Inclusive Finance portfolio for UNDP participation in the CGAP SMART Aid index.

Impact of Results

Results of the Inclusive Finance Technical Advisor’s work have major impact on the overall effectiveness, efficiency and growth of UNCDF and UNDP’s Inclusive Finance programme in the region, as reflected in the ROAR, financial delivery, business development and resource mobilization, especially of non-core resources. They have a direct impact on the success of the Inclusive Finance Unit in achieving Unit and UNCDF Management Plan objectives, results expected in the UNDP and UNCDF Strategic Results Framework (SRF) and, finally, on achieving the MDGs. Results have a major impact on UNCDF and UNDP’s reputation as a preferred partner in Inclusive Finance and center of excellence within the region, and its success in engaging key actors in strategic partnerships and joint programming for Inclusive Finance projects in the region. Finally, results have a significant impact on resource mobilization (non-core).

Compétences

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modeling UN values and ethical standards;
Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly and without favoritism;
Shows strong corporate commitment;
Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNCDF and UNDP.

Functional Competencies:

Demonstrated strong technical knowledge in field of Inclusive Finance;
Proven practical knowledge of Inclusive Finance especially as applied in LDC context at both local and national levels;
Familiarity with UNDP and UN system and role of key institutions in the field of Inclusive Finance. Knowledge of UNDP field level organization;
Comprehensive understanding of the project management cycle and managing for results;
Knowledge of programme framework;
Knowledge of Atlas at level required for the position.

Managerial/Behavioral

Leadership

Focuses on impact and results for client
Takes initiative and calculated risks
Builds trust in interactions with others
Leads team creatively and effectively, and resolves conflicts
Displays positive attitude
Takes decisions

Managing Relationships

Builds strong client relationships
Builds strong relationships with partners
Communicates clearly and convincingly

Task Management

Provides quality outputs in a timely manner
Analyzes problems carefully and logically, leading to fact-based and practical recommendations

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

Masters degree in economics, finance, business or public administration or related field.

Experience:

At least 10 years experience in microfinance, inclusive finance, or related field of finance, development, research, or policy development.
At least 5 years of management experience.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English. Proficiency in French is an asset