Historique

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 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 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 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 its 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. 

Devoirs et responsabilités

Outputs and Deliverables

This role will accountable to the Head of Member Services.

Work with Better Than Cash Alliance members and partners in India to lay the foundation for an inclusive digital payments ecosystem in India:

  • In collaboration with BTCA’s Member Services Team and BTCA’s contracted partners, plan and organize events, workshops and other meetings as required. This will include a successful digital Ecosystem Convening that brings together key stakeholders in the Indian digital payments ecosystem, including government, international development organizations and private sector to discuss key barriers to a digital ecosystem and identify actions that can be taken individually and collaboratively to enhance India’s digital ecosystem;
  • Build and manage relationships with the key local actors to promote the development of an open and innovative digital payments ecosystem including continuous communication between public and private sectors. Develop relationships with government members including Ministry of Finance and Reserve Bank of India, C-suite executives and senior members of BTCA partners, both diplomatically and effectively;
  • Coordinate between the various players of India’s digital payments ecosystem, to drive collaborative, mutually reinforcing and beneficial action addressing jointly identified barriers to a digital payments ecosystem in India;
  • Provide effective leadership and coordination to help BTCA members and partners In India to accelerate the shift from cash to digital payments and boost the efficiency of digital payments ecosystems and digital financial services;

Ensure the delivery of Better Than Cash Alliance services to members in India with a focus on the Government of India:

  • Contribute to the delivery of BTCA’s Member Services in India, including the organization of and follow-up from key events such as the Ecosystem Convening, toolkit training events and other events that BTCA has been asked to organize in partnership with the Government of Indian Government;
  • Help elaborate an overall strategy for BTCA’s activities in India, in collaboration with the Member Services team and with the BTCA members and partners to support the Government of India’s work to shift from cash to digital payments;
  • As requested by the Indian Government, provide high quality technical inputs  on matters such as a roadmap and action plan for digitization, digital finance project design, priorities, partnership opportunities for technical collaboration, and quality control of deliverables;
  • Design, advise and/or contribute to the implementation of 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 input and strategic advice for knowledge and research products;
  • Support efforts by the Indian government, state governments and/or consultants in developing strategies to design, implement, monitor and evaluate cash and liquidity management strategies;
  • Gather intelligence and provide reporting on activities and progress within the digital payments ecosystem in India, and share key learnings or developments with other BTCA team members. Provide feedback from BTCA partners, including the Indian government, on ways in which BTCA could continue to provide support;
  • Track progress towards digitization of payments by Indian entities and support ongoing monitoring and reporting on activities in India;
  • Manage and oversee the work of additional BTCA team member that may be based in India as required to provide support to the national effort to digitize payments.

Contribute to the global Better than Cash Alliance team as requested by the Member Services Programme Manager:

  • Undertake speaking and representation engagements for the Better Than Cash Alliance and UNCDF as directed. Ensure that BTCA’s messages and knowledge products are communicated in an effective manner;
  • In collaboration with  the Member Services Programme Manager, contribute to advocacy and representation efforts for the Better Than Cash Alliance to build support from funders, policy makers and other stakeholders;
  • Help position the Better than Cash Alliance as a key strategic partner in the transition from cash to digital payments for Government, private sector and development organizations;
  • Help involve other BTCA members to contribute to advancing PMJDY;
  • 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, Member Services related activities;
  • Support the BTCA with different day-to-day activities relevant to its mission and objectives;
  • Support the Member Services Team with other activities relevant to Member Services or more broadly the BTCA.

Compétences

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;
  • Creates networks, manages relationships and promotes initiatives with partner organizations;
  • Managing conflict;
  • Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others;
  • Effective spokesperson, engaging stakeholders and groupings, both government ministers and private sector senior corporate leaders, to advance the development of non-cash payments and transfers;
  • Excellent presentation and representation skills in multicultural contexts;
  • Ability to translate complex technical ideas to a non-technical audience in both verbally and in writing.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education

  • A Master’s degree in economics, public/business administration, social sciences, or related discipline or the equivalent experience;
  • Additional training related to digital financial services is highly 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;
  • Extensive experience working on digital payments and/or financial services in India required
  • Experience in working with the highest levels of government;
  • Experience in effectively leading or managing services to a very diverse group of clients or members and maintaining positive relationships with peers;
  • Working knowledge of current developments including innovative payment methods (e.g., mobile financial services, pre-paid cards, etc.) essential;
  • 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;
  • Understanding of issues related to financial inclusion in India, highly desirable
  • 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;
  • Excellent MS Office skills are required;
  • Experience in project management.

Languages:

  • Fluency in English and Hindi.

Application process

Both individual consultants and individual employed by a company or institution are welcome to apply.

Interested individuals must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

  • Detailed and up to date CV and/or P11 outlining the work experience.

Evaluation process

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the Best Value for money approach, where Technical Criteria weight is 70% and Financial Criteria weight is 30%.
 
Step I: Screening
 
Applications will be screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

  • Education: A Master’s degree in economics, public/business administration, social sciences, or related discipline or the equivalent experience;
  • Experience: A minimum number of years of experience required as indicated in the Qualifications Section;
  • Language: Fluent in English and Hindi (written and oral);
  • Mandatory submission of CV and/or UNDP Personal History form (P11).  The link to P11 is posted at the bottom of this vacancy announcement.

Step II: Shortlisting by Desk Review
 
UNCDF will conduct a desk review to produce a shortlist of candidates. The short list will be composed of individual consultants whose offer have been evaluated and determined as:

  • Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
  • Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points on technical part will be considered as technically qualified.

Criteria for Technical evaluation (100 points maximum)

  • Adequacy of Competencies for the Assignment: 35 points;
  • Relevance of Local Experience:25 points;
  • Years of Relevant Experience:15 points;
  • Relevance of Education/ Degree:10 points;
  • Language:15 points:

Step III: Interview

As a final step the top 5 shortlisted candidates will be requested to participate in a competency-based interview.

Step IV: Final Evaluation   100 per cent:

  • Desk Review of CV/ P11 - 20%;
  • Interview– 50%;
  • Review and assessment of Financial proposal - 30%.

Contract award

The highest ranked/ highest scored candidate in the final evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into an Individual Contract (IC) with UNCDF or Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) if a successful applicant is employed by a company or institution.

Application Information: