Background

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries. It 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 microfinance institutions 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.

Established by the General Assembly in 1966 and with headquarters in New York, UNCDF is an autonomous UN organization affiliated with UNDP.

Despite the rapid growth of the microfinance industry in the past ten years, it is estimated that between two and three billion people still lack access to a broad range of financial products and services on a sustainable basis. The situation is particularly dire in the LDCs, where often more than 90 per cent of the population is denied access to financial services from the formal financial system. UNCDF focuses its strategy on Financial inclusion, which is universal access, at a reasonable cost, to a wide range of financial services, provided by a variety of sound and sustainable institutions. The range of financial services includes savings, short and long-term credit, leasing and factoring, mortgages, insurance, pensions, payments, local money transfers and international remittances.

UNCDF manages a number of initiatives related to digital financial (DF).  It is in discussion to  consolidate the technical assistance and research aspects of these programmes into a single team.  This team will serve UNCDF’s needs in regard to DF, particularly for two programmes:  Mobile Money for the Poor and the Better than Cash Alliance, but DF also requires support in a number of UNCDF country and global programmes.

Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P)

With support from Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (“DFAT” formerly AusAid) and by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UNCDF launched Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P) in March 2012, a global thematic initiative to address the opportunities and challenges of implementing branchless banking and mobile money in challenging markets in Africa and Asia.  MM4P’s long-term mission is to help low income and rural households in LDCs increase their financial security through appropriate, affordable and secure means to receive, manage and save money through these “digital financial services” (DFS).  To do so, its intermediate goal is to help build inclusive digital financial sectors such that a wide range of digital financial services are provided responsibly, and at reasonable cost, by sustainable institutions in a well-regulated environment.  UNCDF’s starts by defining the different stages of a market’s development and the range of interventions needed at different levels (i.e. macro, meso, micro, client) to move it across the stages.  This combines a making markets work for the poor approach with UNCDF’s traditional operational model of directly supporting the most crucial level – retail service providers.  UNCDF is currently implementing this in five countries (Laos, Nepal, Liberia, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia).

In July 2014, MM4P secured a partnership with the MasterCard Foundation (MCF) for the roll out MM4P activities in three additional countries in sub-Saharan Africa for a period of five years (2014 to 2019), including Francophone (Benin, Senegal) and Anglophone (Zambia) Africa. The MCF agreement supposes a significant increase of workload for MM4P.  MM4P is in the process of streamlining and standardizing its procedures and will create a full time Project Management Associate post in Brussels.  This consultancy is to help finalize this process and train incoming staff on policy and procedures. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the MM4P Operations Associate, the consultant will:

Support MM4P in finalizing key project management policies and procedures including:

  • Procedures related to: Project Cycle, Conferences, Research and Reporting;
  • MM4P Procedures manual, customizing for each country as needed;
  • Templates for the procedures manual.

  Assist in reviewing the quality of the project cycle with UNCDF partners:

  • Advise current and new team members on the Digital Finance technical assistance policies and procedures;
  • Review submissions from current and potential partners, including business plans, pilot plans, etc.
  • Create project files and checklists for new projects, ensuring steps are completed;
  • Drafts project endorsement requests and project appraisal documents with inputs from the technical teams;
  • Sets up project tracking schedule for key benchmarks, milestones and reports and Monitors tracking schedule to ensure timely receipt of reports;
  • Monitor project indicators and monthly health check of the supported projects, reporting back to Management Team;
  • Manage and consolidate country project logs for semi-annual reporting.

Works with technical team to develop and update annual work plans:

  • Consolidates country and global work plans;
  • Sees synergies in work plans (including travel, technical assistance) to ensure most efficient use of resources;
  • Consolidates Monthly Updates from the team for Programme Manager;
  • Compiles country and global information to draft (1) short quarterly reports for investment committees, (2) semi-annual reports for investment committees and (3) country dashboards;
  • Helps establish new Results Management System for the project;
  • With the Brussels Management Team, helps set up regular data collection methods, processes and procedures;
  • Helps implement the baseline study of markets;
  • Coorindates the inflow of reports and data for results measurement system;
  • Helps develop a quality control system for data and reports;
  • Assists in the synthesis of results for reporting purposes.

Provides support to the operations with DF providers:

  • Based on project descriptions, provides technical inputs to Terms of Reference (ToR) for required inputs in the projects (staff, individual and institutional consultancy services, procurement of professional services for of training, seminars, etc.) with Technical Team support;
  • Helps the Operations Associare in long-listing, ranking and selection of technical proposals from consultants;
  • Tracks contract deliverables, expiry dates and limits;
  • Provides monthly consolidated update on contractors;
  • Assists the Operations Associate with the launch of new long-term agreement process.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Professional:

  • Takes on innovation and new approaches and fosters innovation in others;
  • Creates an environment that fosters innovation and innovative thinking;
  • Conceptualizes more effective approaches to programme development and implementation and to mobilizing and using resources.

Management/Client Orientation:

  • Anticipates constraints in the delivery of services and identifies solutions or alternatives;
  • Proactively identifies, develops and discusses solutions for internal and external clients, and persuades management to undertake new projects or services;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities, and resolve problems;
  • Focus on impact and results for clients and stakeholders;
  • Builds trust in interactions with others, facilitates partnerships;
  • Approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude and responds positively to feedback;
  • Committed to team work, working with other stakeholders.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • A Master’s degree in Project Management, technology, economics, public/business administration, social sciences, or related discipline or the equivalent experience.

Experience: 

  • A minimum of four (4) years’ experience Project or programme implementation experience, preferable managing specific project implementation;
  • Managing implementation of relevant organizational policies and procedures;
  • Experience in creating detailed work plans or implementation plans;
  • Experience managing work flow of large projects;
  • Experience in designing and overseeing direct technical or financial (grant) assistance;
  • Experience in donor projects, developing proposals, corresponding budgets, and monitoring and evaluation plans;
  • Working knowledge of concepts in to financial inclusion and preferably knowledge and exposure to branchless banking, mobile phone banking, or other efforts using technology to reach rural and poor populations is desirable but not mandatory.

Language:

  • Fluency in  English, Proficiency in French preferred but not required.

Consulting fees, standard travel costs and living expenses:

  • This is a local possition UNCDF will only accept standard fees based on the local market rates (Belgium)and the experience of the consultant. UNCDFwill not provide relocation expenses. Should the consultant be required to travel, UNCDF would apply.    

Application

Please refer to application date above. Applications will be rated on both technical and financial submissions.

 The best proposal that will be awarded the contract shall be selected through the following method: 

  • Highest rated proposal using the combined scoring method, which assigns the weight distribution between the technical and financial proposals as set out in the Request for Proposal. The weight distribution shall be 70% technical and 30% financial.

All applications must contain the following information in one word or PDF document combining the following:

Other

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

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a procurement notice for Individual Contractor must do so in their individual capacity (providing a cv so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly). Please not that in such case the company institution will be asked to issue a Reimbursable Loan Agreement.   http://www.vn.undp.org/content/dam/vietnam/docs/Legalframework/Reimbursable%20Loan%20Agreement.doc

Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.