Background

Instructions to Applicants:

Click on the "Apply now" button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. Please ensure that CV or P11 and the Cover letter are combined in one file.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.

A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.

Travel:

This is a home-based assignment, therefore no travel costs to duty station shall be covered, however in the event of a travel requested by UNCDF, the cost of travel will be covered by UNCDF.

Office/Unit/Project Description

UNCDF makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

The UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015. The 2030 Agenda recognizes migration as a core-development consideration, marking the first time that migration is explicitly integrated into the global development agenda. It also recognizes a major relevance of international migration as a multidimensional reality of and for the development of countries of origin, as well as transit and destination, which requires coherent and comprehensive responses.

Migration is also considered key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The adoption of the SDGs and explicit references to migration in 76 of its 17 goals, mainstreamed migration into global development policy. Migration can reduce poverty (SDG 1), improve health and education outcomes (SDGs 3 and 4), gender equality outcomes (SDG 5), foster growth and innovation (SDGs 8 and 9) and reduce inequality (SDG 10).

Remittances, on the other hand, can also contribute to reaching the SDGs in a variety of ways:

•Household level: by recognizing the positive socioeconomic impact of remittances on families and communities
•Community level: Benefits associated at sub-national or municipal levels including reduced rural poverty, lower income inequality, increased micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) activity, and strengthen resilience to adverse effects of climate change or disaster risks
•Government level: Benefits for public sector institutions including greater transparency, better communication with citizens, and increased private sector development and entrepreneurship as a result of access to capital and domestic credit
•Macro level: At macro-economic level, remittances can foster much needed foreign currency exchange, stabilize BOP, reduce dependency on government aid, and re-allocate capital resources into more productive investments and other financial services – moving money from international to domestic, consumption to investment, and from urban to rural.

UNCDF aims to improve the functioning of the remittance market in order to improve the financial health of migrant families while strengthen economic development efforts of the origin and host countries. In doing so, UNCDF
 
engages with public and private sector stakeholders to strengthen the capacity of the regulators to monitor and analyze the remittance transaction data towards evidence-based policy making, enable a conducive policy and regulatory environment, and deliver financial and technical assistance to a wide range of financial institutions (e.g. banks, cooperatives, microfinance institutions, money transfer operators, and mobile networks operators) to improve the digital remittance ecosystem and design migrant-centric financial products and services (e.g. savings, credit, insurance, payment services, remittances, pension, and investment).

Institutional Arrangement

The Economist reports to the Lead Data and Research of the Migration and Remittances portfolio. https://intranet.undp.org/unit/UNCDF/MSU/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=/unit/UNCDF/MSU/Shared
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Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

• Conduct deep-dive research on digital remittance and migration and related financial inclusion and economic development with specific reference to migrant and remittances, women, youth, MSMEs, using demand side and supply side data.
• Support in data pipeline and coordination, curation, acquire and mine datasets for remittance service providers and/or regulators;
• Act as economist for UNCDF’s remittance and migration portfolio, including coordination and development of policy work, macro- and micro-economic remittance estimation modelling using a variety of micro, macro-economic and big data research.
• Offer and lead technical support research and training initiatives to Remittance Service Providers in product development and data analytics and usage. To track customer journeys over time and improve human centric design through data using a gender and migrant lenses.
• Offer and lead technical support research initiatives and trainings with regulators on the use of data for remittance strategy and policy design and monitoring and evaluation.
• Author and review knowledge products including academic and working papers, dashboard, blogs, presentations, research and communications materials. Represent UNCDF at webinars, public forums and conferences for private and public sector stakeholders.

Competencies

Professionalism:  Shows pride in work and achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

Communication: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; Asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience; Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be "clients " and seeks to see things from clients' point of view; Establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; Identifies clients' needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; Monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients' environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; Keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; Meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client

Required Skills and Experience