Antecedentes

The Better Than Cash Alliance is a UN-housed 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 and transfers are made daily in emerging and developing economies, including payment of salaries, social welfare and relief, payments to suppliers, remittances, 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 payments are often part of the 2 billion excluded from the formal financial sector.  This means they are excluded from access to a range of appropriate and affordable financial services to help them save safely take advantage of economic opportunities and reduce their vulnerability to risk. Shifting these payments from cash to digital has the potential to improve the lives of low-income people, particularly women, while giving governments, the development community and the private sector a more transparent, time and cost efficient, 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 our 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.

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.

UNCDF works to enlarge peoples’ choices: it believes that poor people and communities should take decisions about their own development. 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 SDGs.

Established by the General Assembly in 1966 and with headquarters in New York, UNCDF is an autonomous UN organization affiliated with UNDP. The Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) is looking to hire the Senior Technical Experts in the fields of digital payments and financial inclusion. For more information on BTCA, please visit the website: http://www.betterthancash.org/.

The Better Than Cash Alliance would like to enter into a non-exclusive Framework Agreement, also known as Long-Term Agreement (LTA), with one or more individuals that will perform the services described below on a need-basis.  In UNCDF, an LTA is a framework agreement by and between UNCDF and a company or individual where the latter may, at any time within the duration of the LTA, be required to render the agreed services at the agreed and fixed unit prices for a minimum period of 12 months, with potential extension for up to two (2) additional years, depending on satisfactory performance of the company.

Under an LTA, BTCA does not guarantee that any specific quantity of services shall be purchased during the term of this agreement.  The LTA does not form a financial obligation or commitment from UNDP at the time the LTA contract is signed and that such an agreement is non-exclusive.  

Call-Offs

Where a request for service arises, BTCA can engage the individual on LTA through a “call-off” of the LTA.  Every call-off shall have specific tasks, scope of services and outputs to be delivered within a specific period of time.  For this particular work, the call-off shall be formalized through the issuance of a Purchase Order, attaching thereto the TOR, and any other document relevant to the call-off.  Financial commitments will only be established each time a Purchase Order for the specific services/TOR for Individual Contractor is committed.

The LTA shall have a cumulative ceiling amount that may accrue to the individual contractor during the life of the LTA, but said amount shall remain as an upper limit, and must not and cannot be interpreted nor understood as neither a financial commitment nor guarantee of business volume.

The Senior Technical Experts on LTA will be called for specialized discrete consultancies to provide technical advice to governments, companies and international organizations based on their expertise and/or engagements to represent the Better Than Cash Alliance.    In coordination with the Better Than Cash Alliance Managing Director, Government and Corporate Relations Specialist and the Member Services Team the Senior Technical Expert will agree on an engagement strategy prior to the consultancy and on key follow up items after.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Key Functions

Advocacy

• Represent the Better Than Cash Alliance at high-level events and fora, when requested;
• Reinforce the importance of digital payments in the global agenda: Since its inception in 2012, the Better Than Cash Alliance has been successful in advocating for the importance of digitizing payments in the global agenda. The Senior Technical Expert will contribute to continue and reinforce this success.

Sharing Expertise

•  Share expertise and experiences from the Better Than Cash Alliance and from the Senior Experts own academic and professional work with governments, companies and international organizations;
• Translate complex technical ideas to non-technical audiences: In order to effectively reach senior decision makers, it is necessary to make complex technical ideas into easy to understand language;
•  Perform a leading role in Better Than Cash Alliance member peer exchanges drawing on extensive subject matter expertise and networks.

Strategic Advice to Better Than Cash Alliance Members

Based on an agreed strategy provide expertise and advice to governments to support their own strategy in digitizing payments and the development of an inclusive digital payments ecosystem.

Competencias

Professional

•  Proven ability in public speaking, specifically to senior-level audiences including governments, companies and international organizations;
• Strong professional spokesperson, technically able to convey messages on behalf of the Better Than Cash Alliance while respecting cultural contexts, political sensitivities and advancing national priorities.

Technical

•  Senior Level expertise of key related issues and international practices related to financial inclusion;
• Excels at engaging with the highest levels across government, and/or executives of business, international organizations and civil society;
• Experience working directly with national administrations including ministries of finance, national treasuries, central banks and/or other ministries relevant to the digitization of payments such as ICT, Social Development, Women, Welfare and other senior leaders and their staff, with a recognized leading role in specific topic areas such as payments infrastructure, public financial management, G2P payments, tax policy, tax collection digitization (both at the central and local levels), digital financial services, digitization of utility bill payments (i.e. water, energy), digital identification, financial inclusion policy, pay-as-you-go payment methods and business models, ecosystem development for keeping funds digital, pricing of digital financial services, gender and digital financial inclusion, APIs and platform/data integration, e-KYC and regulation of digital financial services, digitization of wages, agricultural finance, innovation and digital platforms, remittances or other related fields;
• Ability to translate complex technical ideas to a non-technical audience in both verbally and in writing as evidenced in authored publications.

Core Competencies

• Demonstrates ethics and integrity;
• Demonstrates political acumen and calculated risk taking;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education

• Master’s degree in economics, finance, public/business administration, law, social sciences, international relations or related fields.

Experience

• Minimum of 20 years of professional experience at the highest possible level in responsible positions in either government, international organizations, corporate or academia working on digital payments, financial services, financial inclusion or a relevant related field;
• Senior level expertise in driving the digitization of payments and expanding financial inclusion;
• Fully versed in policy and technical implementation issues of financial inclusion and the digital agenda at a global level and/or in G20 emerging market countries;
• Senior level expertise in policy, legal or regulatory issues related to inclusive payments systems;
• Expert knowledge in topics related to ICT4D, Digital Identity, Last Mile Delivery, Gender Issues or Digital Economy.
• Experience working with high level government officials and international organizations;
• Experience working with the United Nations and/or other multi-lateral organization, an advantage; 
• Recognized research and publications in relevant fields essential.

Language Requirements

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English or excellent oral and written communication skills in French or excellent oral and written communication skills in Spanish.

Proficiency in other languages an advantage.

Evaluation Process

Step I: Screening/ Longlisting

Applications will be screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum criteria will progress for further review:

• Education: Master’s degree in economics, finance, public/business administration, law, social sciences, international relations or related fields.
• Experience: Minimum of 20 years of professional experience at the highest possible level in responsible positions in either government, international organizations, corporate or academia working on digital payments, financial services, financial inclusion or a relevant related field
•  Language: Excellent oral and written communication skills in English, other languages an advantage.
•  Mandatory submission of CV with list of relevant publication.

Step II: Shortlisting by Review of a Profile

UNCDF will conduct a review of a profile (technical evaluation). Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 80 points in Step II will be considered as technically qualified.

Criteria for Technical evaluation (100 points maximum):

• Previous experience working directly with national administrations including ministries of finance, national treasuries, central banks and/or other ministries relevant to the digitization of payments such as ICT, Social Development, Women, Welfare and other senior leaders and their staff, with a recognized leading role in specific topic areas such as payments infrastructure, public financial management, G2P payments, tax collection, digital identification, financial inclusion policy, ICT, innovation or other related fields. - 40 points;
•  Extensive experience in driving digitization of payments and expanding financial inclusion, especially in emerging and developing markets – 25 points;
• Writing illustrates clear understanding and knowledge of substantive issues covered by the Better Than Cash Alliance and makes complex topics interesting and easy to understand – 25 points;
• Relevant education – 10 points.

Applications will be rated on both technical and financial submissions.  The following selection method will be used:  Highest rated proposal using the combined scoring method, which assigns the weight distribution between the technical and financial proposals.  The overall combined score will be 100 points, where weight distribution shall be 70% technical and 30% financial.  

Contracting Arrangement

Please refer to "Call Off" section above.

The top candidates that obtained  a minimum passing in the technical evaluation will be awarded a Long Term Agreement for the period of up to 3 years.

Where a request for services arises, the UNCDF office shall directly contact the consultant with the most appropriate experience with a specific Terms of Reference outlining the outputs for the assignment and a request for a lump sum price quotation. The regional/international consultant will notify the UNCDF unit/office of his/her availability within 3 working days and a Purchase Order will be issued to the consultant. Conditions of an assignment may be negotiable.

Payments

Payments will be made as specified in the TOR of the specific assignment and upon confirmation by UNCDF that the deliverables have been met in a satisfactory manner.

Application Procedure

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

•  Detailed and up to date CV;
• 3 examples of publications with maximum 25 pages or provide internet link to the publications. If internet links are not available, the candidate must otherwise submit the relevant content by email to uncdf.procurement@uncdf.org with the subject line "Sample Work for Senior Technical Expert, Financial Inclusion and Digital Payments, BTCA";
• Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into one single file.
• General Terms and Conditions for ICs is provided; here: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org.The consultant is requested to provide his/her daily consultancy fee.