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.

Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

 

Office/Unit/Project Description   

 

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.

 

The UNCDF digital agenda for migration and remittances falls within the organization’s broader global strategy, set forth in 2019, of “Leaving No One Behind in the Digital Era.” This vision is to empower millions of people by 2024 to use services daily that leverage innovation and technology and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. Through a market development approach, UNCDF continuously seeks to address underlying market dysfunctions. The Programme contributes to, and benefits from, this overarching corporate mandate. The Programme is administered by UNCDF with funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, or SDC, and Sida, the Swedish International Development Agency.

 

UNCDF’s Migration and Remittances for Development Programme, or the Programme, aims at contributing to sustainable development by making remittances more accessible and affordable, while helping build resilience for migrants and their families. For both sending and receiving countries, the Programme seeks to increase the share of migrant remittances flowing through formal channels, thereby giving policymakers at both ends greater visibility into the true picture of inbound and outbound financial flows. For remittances service providers, the Programme seeks to build the capacity to understand the financial needs and preferences of migrants and their families, and to design and deliver responsive products accordingly. For migrants themselves, the Programme aims not only to lower the costs and increase the safety and convenience of sending money, but also to link remittances to a broader suite of financial services—including insurance, savings, pensions, investments, and credit—that can help them reach their goals. The Programme recognizes digitization as the key to achieving these objectives.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

  • Manage and oversee inclusive innovation and implementation activities of the programme in Bangladesh, including research, partner management, scoping for strategic networking and reporting for results measurement and management.
  • Oversee and manage initiatives on human centric design towards contributing to the programem objectives
  • Support activities in the migrant financial resilience domain, including research, networking with stakeholders, supervision of implementation through inclusive innovation partners, curation of technical assistance projects, knowledge management and project management functions for performance measurement and management, as well as timely reporting, quality delivery, partner engagement, and relationship management. 
  • Create networks with think tanks, policy platforms, donors and other stakeholders to explore their role in policy advocacy, capacity building of private sector players and supporting inclusive innovation in migrant financial resilience.

 

Institutional Arrangement

The direct supervisor of the Senior Financial Sector Specialist will be the Regional Digital Finance and Remittance Specialist, Migration and    Remittance portfolio at UNCDF.

 

Competencies

Core

Achieve Results:

LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work

Think Innovatively:

LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking

Learn Continuously:

LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning

Adapt with Agility:

LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process

Act with Determination:

LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously

Engage and Partner:

LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion:

LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making

People Management: NA

 

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Thematic Area

Name

Definition

Digital and Innovation

Innovation ecosystem curation

Ability to identify key players in an ecosystem, engage with them and mobilise them to build a community and over time a movement around a common mission that can bring about changes at the system level. Ability to give sense of purpose and build trust, develop programmes of activities and platforms to build and strengthen relationships.

Digital and Innovation

Digital Inclusion

Knowledge of how digital inclusion works, opportunities and challenges for governments and society

Digital and Innovation

Digital product design

Ability to design digital products which are usercentred, intuitive, functional and achieve desired outcomes

Partnership management

Private sector engagement

Ability to identify, conduct outreach, and manage relationships with the private sector

Partnership management

Emerging partnerships

Ability to engage with emerging partners, develop and manage a strategy and develop approaches to developing and managing these new strategic partnerships

Business direction and strategy

System thinking

Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system

 

Required Skills and Experience

 

Min. Education requirements

 

  • Bachelors degree in business, technology, commerce, business/public administration, economics, finance, or any related discipline

Min. years of relevant work experience

  • Nine years of dedicated experience in financial services, financial inclusion or digital financial services
  • Previous proven experience working on the areas of remittances

Required skills

  • Working knowledge of current developments in including innovative payment methods (e.g., mobile financial services, pre­ paid cards, fintech, blockchain, etc.)
  • Knowledge of the development field in South Asia or South East Asia is required

 

  • Excellent understanding of key issues and international good practices relating to remittances, digital payments, and digital financial inclusion and migrant financial resilience
  • Previous experience with the UN/UNDP is considered an advantage

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section

  • Integrity and professionalism: demonstrated expertise in area of specialty and ability to apply good judgment; high degree of autonomy, personal initiative and ability to take ownership; willingness to accept wide responsibilities and ability to work independently under established procedures in a politically sensitive environment, while exercising discretion, impartiality and neutrality; ability to manage information objectively, accurately and confidentially; responsive and client-oriented.

 

  • Commitment to continuous learning: initiative and willingness to learn new skills and stay abreast of new developments in area of expertise; ability to adapt to changes in work environment;

 

  • Teamwork and respect for diversity: ability to operate effectively across organizational boundaries; ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and harmonious working relations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity and gender

Required Language(s)

  • Proficiency in English

Professional Certificates

NA