UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 48 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, 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. All UNCDF support is provided via national systems, in accordance with the Paris Principles. 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.

The Inclusive Finance portfolio in the Asia-Pacific region is composed of sector-based programmes that provide support to building inclusive finance sectors at the macro (policy), meso (financial infrastructure), and micro (retail) levels, as well as new thematic regional and global programmes.

Shaping Inclusive Finance Transformations (SHIFT) in the ASEAN region is a newly developed programme to contribute to facilitating the transition, by the year 2020, of at least 6 million low-income people and micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the ASEAN region, from using informal financial mechanisms to formally regulated higher-value financial services.

Output 1: Enabling Conditions for market development: Developed of enabling conditions for adoption of coherent strategies and prioritizing transformative mechanisms for more integrated pro-poor financial markets, supported by responsive regulation and supervisory arrangements.

Output 2: Regional Hub of Excellence for Financial Inclusion Data and Analysis: Delivered high-quality financial inclusion data and analysis on demand, supply and regulation, applied through regionally standardised methods.

Output 3: Financial Market-Interconnection and Access Fund Facility: Developed and promoted new, replicable and scalable partnerships and service delivery models that lower the cost of financial intermediation at client and retail levels, thus expanding the scale of access.

Output 4: Financial Usage Innovation Facility: Developed and promoted highly innovative client acquisition approaches to increase use of formal financial services, at a modest cost, for people that are fully, partially or intermittently excluded. The Innovation Facility will maximize usage within prevailing scales of access (i.e. without necessarily seeking to expand the scale of access).

The Programme Analyst will work under the direct supervision of the IF Senior Regional Technical Advisor based in Bangkok.

Functions / Key Results Expected

Programme development: Support research, development and inception of new inclusive finance initiatives under the SHIFT projectto ensure that there is a constant pipeline of investments in the ASEAN region.

Substantive communication, stakeholder engagement and policy advocacy

Strengthen communication and partnerships-building with key internal and external stakeholders on the latest issues emerging from IF programmes so that UNCDF positions itself as an important technical ‘go-to organization’ in the ASEAN region.

Strengthen knowledge, learning,  and accountability

Supporting the gathering and analysis of data and reporting from projects and programmes at regular intervals so that UNCDF strengthens its ability to learn to improve development practice, as well as enhance its ability to be more accountable for project performance and the achievement of development results.

Maintain effective management systems

Supporting the Senior Regional Technical Advisor to follow-up on programmatic/operational issues emerging from missions and discussions with projects and country governments.

Detailed Scope of Work:

Programme development

Support research, development and inception of new inclusive finance initiatives under the SHIFT projectto ensure that there is a constant pipeline of investments in the ASEAN region.

• Monitoring, evaluating and analyzing trends and policy issues relevant to Financial Inclusion and larger regional efforts for greater Financial Integration in ASEAN;
• Assist in identifying technical partners that can support the delivery of SHIFT programme outputs and associated activities (these duties involve assisting with the formulation of the Terms of Reference and  participation in the selection of consultants/ partners);
• Support the development and drafting of the full programme document for the SHIFT programme;

Substantive communication, stakeholder engagement and policy advocacy

Strengthen communication and partnerships-building with key internal and external stakeholders on the latest issues emerging from IF programmes so that UNCDF positions itself as an important technical ‘go-to organization’ in the ASEAN region.

Writing and producing briefs and other communication materials on key programme related issues for both internal and external circulation.

Identifying opportunities for the development of strategic alliances to further the objectives of the SHIFT programme;

Maintaining key partnerships with individuals and organizations in both the public and private sector to enhance implementation of programme strategies.

Acting as a point of contact for identified stakeholders, including grantees, donors, multilaterals and other development partners, government agencies.

Identify research institutes or experts with strong research capacity to document processes and knowledge generated from SHIFT activities.

Support the development of an advocacy strategy that supports open discussion to secure financial and political support by leveraging its existing and new relationships with governments, policymakers, foundations and multilaterals, and  other partners to identify and  maximize new relationships and opportunities for advancing Financial Inclusion in ASEAN.

Research global trends in Financial Inclusion and funding opportunities, using strategic thinking to identify invitees and develop agendas and presentations for advocacy events.

Provide support to organizing events (logistics, drafting proposals and documents necessary for these efforts) including workshops, conferences and other types of forums to promote dialogue and knowledge.

Strengthen knowledge, learning,  and accountability

Supporting the gathering and analysis of data and reporting from projects and programmes at regular intervals so that UNCDF strengthens its ability to learn to improve development practice, as well as enhance its ability to be more accountable for project performance and the achievement of development results.

• Provide timely and selective support to the implementation of Annual Work Plans (AWPs);
• Supporting the gathering and analysis of data and reporting from projects and programmes at regular intervals so that UNCDF strengthens its ability to learn to improve development practice, as well as enhance its ability to be more accountable for project performance and the achievement of development results;
• Support the integrated monitoring of all financial, performance and operation aspects of the programme and the drafting of quarterly and annual progress reports and preparation of annual reviews;
• Liaise closely with relevant units in the UNCDF Regional Office and HQ for advice and support on programme management (M& E and reporting) and operational issues (HR, Procurement and Finance) to ensure compliance with UNCDF programme and operations policies and procedures;
• Effectively utilize ATLAS in all stages of the project cycle.

Maintain effective management systems through planning, monitoring and evaluation and reporting

Supporting the Senior Regional Technical Advisor to follow-up on programmatic/ operational issues emerging from missions and discussions with projects and country governments.

Establish M&E systems for SHIFT.

Maintain and follow-up on meeting minutes and action-plans, reporting back on progress and offering support where requested.

Impact of Results

Results of the work will have a significant impact on:

• Financial inclusion in the ASEAN region;
• High quality programming, project performance and development results.

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;
• Serves and promotes the vision, mission, values and strategic goals of UNCDF;
• Serves and promotes the vision, mission, values, and strategic goals of the Programme;
• Plans, prioritizes and deliver tasks on time;
• Able to work under pressure and multiple demands;
• Participates effectively in a team-based, information-sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others;
• Responds flexibly and positively to change through active involvement;
• Establishes clear performance goals, standards and responsibilities, and manages them accordingly.

Functional Competencies:

Results-orientation:

• Plans and produces quality results to meet established goals;
• Generate innovative, practical solutions to challenging situations.

Partnering and networking:

• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside the programme;
• Strong networking capabilities and ability to associate him/herself with a range of actors with a view to building relations and facilitating links.

Nature of interactions:

• Active and continuous engagement with programme partners to generate knowledge on financial inclusion;
• Contribute to building strong working relationships with donors through an effective communications strategy;
• Contribute to building strong networks with international and regional institutions and programmes involved in inclusive finance in the Asia-Pacific region.

Innovation and judgment:

• Conceptualizes and analyzes problems to identify key issues and how they relate;
• Contributes creative, practical ideas and demonstrates sense of entrepreneurial initiative to deal with challenging situations;
• Strives for quality client-oriented services (internal and external) when making decisions and taking action.

Communication:

• Demonstrates excellent written and oral communication skills.

Job knowledge and expertise:

• Knowledge of microfinance and inclusive finance, more broadly;
• Uses ICT and web-based management systems effectively as a tool and resource;
• Experience in the conception, design and management of strategies, initiatives and/or programs related to motivating an enhanced response from wide range of stakeholders (governments, donors, private sector);
• Is motivated and demonstrates capacity to pursue personal development and learning, as well as overall knowledge of inclusive finance.

Education:

• Advanced degree in economics, finance, business, social sciences, public administration, mass communication, or related field.

Experience:

• A minimum of 2 years relevant working experience in programme management and development related to development finance and/or microfinance and/or larger development public policy;
• Experience working for governments, donors or other development agencies with similar assignments in LDCs and developing countries in Asia;
• Awareness of key and emerging issues related to finance and/or microfinance;
• Experience in developing research/project proposals and/or delivering research/project reports, with an ability to distill key elements/findings into concise, coherent language;
• Comfortable in presenting information in charts or other graphic forms and in making executive-level presentations;
• Experience in building different kinds of networks through excellent inter-personal and communication skills;
• Highly proficient in using ICT tools, including MS Office, and document formatting software such as Adobe Acrobat;
• Demonstrated capacity in using web-based management tools and systems;
• Familiarity with UNCDF/UNDP rules and procedures is an advantage.

Language:

• Excellent command of the English language, with outstanding written and oral communication skills.

Preferences:

• Preference will be given to qualified women candidates.

Note:

Applicants are strongly encouraged to upload (as a *pdf attachment) the completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.docx. Completion of all the fields is required.