Background
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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, 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.
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.
Recognizing (i) the
importance of ‘market leaders’ to drive sector development and (ii) the
demand for safe, convenient savings products by low income populations,
in 2008 UNCDF launched, with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, the LDC Fund to Develop Savings-led Market Leaders
(MicroLead). In 2011, with the support of The MasterCard Foundation,
the MicroLead Expansion programme was launched which continues with the
focus on microsavings while also emphasizing outreach to rural areas and
women, technology innovations, responsible finance, and financial
education and broadens the programme’s target countries to include
non-LDCs as well as LDCs . MicroLead provides loans and grants to
leading financial service providers (FSPs) and technical service
providers (TSPs) on a competitive basis to facilitate their entry into
underserved areas, including in post-conflict contexts, where access to
finance is most limited. The Fund has provided support to some of the
leading FSPs from the South to expand their operations through
green-fielding or technical assistance provision to existing FSPs, with a
focus on saving-based models. To date, MicroLead and MicroLead
Expansion have made 15 awards with an additional 13 projects approved
(and moving to agreement) in 2012. In late 2012, UNCDF secured funding
to expand MicroLead into Myanmar. This position will be responsible for
implementing MicroLead in Myanmar .
Also recognizing the
changing environment around financial inclusion, in 2012 UNCDF initiated
a new diagnostic and programming tool called MAP (Making Access to
Finance Possible). A MAP exercise will be conducted in Myanmar starting
late 2012. This position will coordinate the MAP process in country
over the course of the first twelve months of employment . Key outputs
of the MAP process in Myanmar will be a national roadmap for financial
inclusion and a related action plan for Myanmar, which intends to both
define the financial inclusion agenda and align resources with key
priorities. The basis for national financial inclusion roadmap and
action plan will be formed by rigorous evidence-based and
demand-oriented diagnostics followed by an intense stakeholder dialogue
and decision making process.
Funding for this position comes from
the Myanmar-based Livelihood and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT), a
multi-donor fund that addresses food insecurity and income poverty in
Myanmar. LIFT is managed by the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
LIFT’s donors are the countries of Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands,
New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and the
European Union.
To manage the successful implementation of the
two LIFT-funded programmes, MAP and MicroLead in Myanmar, UNCDF is
hiring a Programme Specialist. Based in Yangon, the Programme
Specialist will join the MicroLead Programme Management Unit and report
to the UNCDF Senior Regional Technical Advisor Inclusive Finance (who is
based in the Asia and the Pacific Regional Office in Bangkok) for
issues related to MAP and general workplan, organization, administrative
processes, and coordination with the rest of the Financial Inclusion
Practice Area regionally, and to the MicroLead Programme Advisor (who is
based in the UN headquarters in New York) for all technical issues
related to the implementation of the MicroLead programme in Myanmar.
With
regard to MicroLead, the Programme Specialist will oversee issuance of a
Request for Applications for support in creating greenfield
microfinance institutions in Myanmar. Awards will be made based on
Investment Committee review and approval of applications and the
Programme Specialist will ensure grantees initiate pro-poor financial
institutions, with a focus on savings, which trend toward sustainability
during the programme tenure.
With regard to MAP, the
Programme Specialist will play a centrally important role in Local
Project Coordination (LPC) inside Myanmar in support of, and answering
and reporting to, the MAP’s implementers, South African-based Centre for
Financial Regulation and Inclusion (Cenfri) and FinMark Trust (FMT).
LPC will require continuous and intense communication and coordination
with financial inclusion stakeholders inside the Government, the
financial sector and in the donor community. LPC for MAP will be a joint
effort of the Programme Specialist and the UNOPS/LIFT Markets and
Microfinance Officer, further supported by a UNCDF local representative
to be hired. LPC will require regular communication and coordination
with, and reporting to, UNCDF’s Senior Regional Technical Advisor
Inclusive Finance.
During the initial twelve months following
appointment, the Programme Specialist will spend approximately 70% of
her/his programme time on the MicroLead programme and 30% on MAP. For
the subsequent years, 100% of her/his programme time will be spent on
MicroLead. Performance reviews of the Programme Specialist will be
conducted jointly by the Senior Regional Technical Advisor Inclusive
Finance, Asia and the Pacific Regional Office, and the MicroLead
Programme Advisor. The Myanmar Programme Specialist will work
collaboratively with the MicroLead Programme Management Unit (currently
consisting of a Programme Advisor (NY-based) and two Programme
Specialists based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) to support the expansion,
monitoring and evaluation and knowledge generation of
MicroLead/MicroLead Expansion.
This is a Development Project funded position:
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Duties and Responsibilities
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Functions / Key Results Expected
The
key result expected is the successful implementation and attainment of
targets of the MicroLead savings-led programme and MAP Myanmar,
including coordination with/reporting to all stakeholders, FIPA internal
team and the funders of the programme.
The Programme Specialist will pursue the following key results of the programmes in Myanmar:
MicroLead
- Sustainable
Greenfield Financial Service Providers (FSPs) providing access to
demand-driven, responsibly-delivered, savings-focused financial and
non-financial products and services to low income people in Myanmar;
- Knowledge
generated and disseminated among FSPs, policy makers, donors and other
stakeholders related to the financial behavior and preferences of poor
people, product development, management of financial services, and
Greenfield operations; and
- Resources well managed and lessons learnt documented.
Making Access to Finance Possible (MAP):
- An in-depth and strategic diagnostic on financial inclusion analysing demand, supply and regulatory issues;
- A
national roadmap, defining critical steps to accelerate financial
inclusion and enabling a programming framework that supports the
alignment of donor and investor support through a multi-stakeholder
dialogue, in the spirit of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness;
- An
online resource for presentation of financial inclusion data on Myanmar
that contributes to a database available to the Myanmar and global
financial inclusion stakeholder communities; and
- Resources well managed and lessons learnt documented.
Key Functions:
Key Functions Related to MicroLead Programme
Programmatic
Quality Assurance & Portfolio Management in Myanmar in Coordination
with/under guidance of MicroLead Programme Advisor (30%)
- Manage the delivery of programme purpose and outputs on time and to budget.
- Prepare annual plans and budgets.
- Manage
the request for application (RFA) processes and selection of grantees,
including managing consultants hired to review applications, undertaking
due diligence missions, and ensuring applicants meet minimum
eligibility criteria.
- Prepare recommendations to FIPA Investment Committee (IC) for award of grants and/or loans to successful RFA applicants.
- Support
Programme Advisor on FIPA IC presentations summarizing applicants,
scoring, and recommend conditions for funding. Communicate results to
applicants.
- Support preparation, negotiation and finalization of performance-based agreements (PBAs) with successful RFA applicants.
- Support process of obtaining government endorsement of (i) programme document and (ii) individual FSP/TSP awards.
- Prepare
quarterly, mid-year and annual progress reports (APRs), as required by
funders and/or UNCDF. Ensure financial and performance reports are
issued to development partners on time as per Cost-Sharing Agreement
requirements.
- Ensure vendor profiles are entered into ATLAS for selected FSPs/TSPs and payments effected in timely manner.
- Ensure FSPs’/TSPs’ smooth introduction to key local actors, start-up and constraints removed.
- Assure, track and analyze quarterly portfolio reporting.
- Report
project achievements, delivery and other areas of accountability to
FIPA for input to regular UNCDF performance monitoring and reporting.
- Monitor
FSP/TSP progress toward disbursement conditions, results, and targets.
Provide technical assistance to FSPs/TSPs as needed. Recommend actions
to be taken if FSP/TSP targets not achieved including
suspension/termination/extension of PBAs and/or loan agreements, as
necessary. Develop monitoring tool to ensure consistency in monitoring.
- Effective and efficient use of ATLAS in line with
project cycle with Atlas approval authority at Level 2 and in compliance
with UNCDF Internal Control Framework.
Knowledge Management (45%)
- Support
MicroLead programme knowledge generation and dissemination, including
case studies, briefs, research documents, client impact evaluations, and
mid-term and final evaluations. Draft TORs, manage consultants.
- Manage process of convening national stakeholders to share lessons learned.
- Contribute
to knowledge-sharing networks on microfinance and inclusive finance
initiatives regionally and globally either by direct participation or
via Teamworks by flagging important discussions to FIPA’s global
practice community.
- Collaborate with key partners and
microfinance practitioners for research and development of innovative,
cutting-edge strategies and approaches to sharpen delivery of
microfinance products and services in order to better achieve programme
objectives.
- Ensure key documentation is available on the UNCDF Intranet to facilitate UNCDF staff access to programme information.
- Develop
and provide annual Learning Plan to FIPA KM Specialist and attend
approved trainings; share debriefing and value of training with the
wider Practice community through Teamworks.
- Become
familiar with UNCDF KM Strategy and other relevant resources (KM
Strategy, HR Strategy, Learning Strategy, UNCDF Document Management
Policy).
- Develop an online presence by creating and updating a bio page on Teamworks.
Policy Support (20%)
Key Responsibilities, Functions and Activities Related to MAP
The
key responsibility is to keep MAP running smoothly. It includes setting
up meetings and liaising with key stakeholders, providing inputs on
analyses, and assisting Cenfri and FMT with:
Support in the formation of a MAP steering committee and working group (10 working days)
- Create list of potential Steering Committee (SC) and Working Group (WG) members;
- Draft a ToR for SC and WG;
- Invite and liaise with SC and WG members
Support the supply-side and qualitative demand research (40 working days)
- Organize, manage and provide overview of meetings and scheduling;
- Investigate the Myanmar financial sector context: initial desk research and interviews;
- Provide
guidance to desk-top research and an overview of resources documents
(survey reports, data sources and legal documents);
- Assist
in analyses including that of the microfinance market and MFIs; give
input to reports and the development of the action plan;
- Actively participate in and contribute to all team meetings;
- Prepare and attend workshop to share study results with relevant stakeholders.
Support the demand-side FinScope survey (100 working days)
- Serve
as focal point on the FinScope Consumer Survey Myanmar 2012. This
includes managing the contracted Research Supplier company, coordinating
stakeholders, participating in technical meetings, ensuring follow-up
on recommendations and agreements, monitoring the surveys
implementation, and building support among stakeholders
- Support
the Research Manager in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of
the FinScope Study, including communication and convening meetings with
relevant stakeholders (including significantly the Central Statistical
Organization), supporting questionnaire design by learning the FinScope
Study approach and producing a desktop-research based report of existing
research on financial inclusion in Myanmar.
- Assist in the
planning and organization of meetings and workshops, including all
logistical arrangements (hotel bookings, transport, etc.) in Myanmar
Corporate Support and Resource Mobilization (5%)
- Support
annual and cumulative UNCDF results analyses and substantive inputs
into Unit work plan and UNCDF and FIPA Business Plans.
- Support
efforts of UNCDF to mobilize additional resources, if required and
where there is demand in-country, for MicroLead and post-MAP
programming.
Impact of Results
- The
un- and under-banked low-income population of Myanmar have access to
financial services, particularly savings, in a responsible manner.
- Substantive
partnerships strengthened with leading Financial Service Providers and
Technical Service Providers to expand their savings-led methodologies in
Myanmar..
- An in-depth, comprehensive and evidence-based
understanding of demand, supply, infrastructure and regulatory issues
related to financial inclusion on a national level in Myanmar has been
achieved and made available to Government and all relevant stakeholders;
- A
national roadmap for financial inclusion and related action plan have
been elaborated in a joint effort by the Mynamar financial inclusion
stakeholder community, led and owned by the Government;
- Donor programs and funding are aligned to deal with key triggers and priorities for financial inclusion in Mynmar;
- Financial
inclusion data on Myanmar are made continuously available to the
Myanmar and global financial inclusion stakeholder communities in an
interactive manner;
- Planned programme outputs and outcomes
are fully achieved in a timely manner, consistent with the expectations
of the Government, funders (LIFT), donors, private sector actors and
other stakeholders involved in furthering financial inclusion in
Mynamar, and optimal output quality assured, through sound and efficient
internal business, quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation and
reporting processes.
- Profile of UNCDF and its development partners as leaders in financial inclusion strengthened.
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Competencies
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Functional Competencies:
Advocacy/Advancing a Policy-Oriented Agenda
Analysis and creation of messages and strategies
- Contributes to the elaboration of advocacy strategies by identifying and prioritizing audiences and communication means
- Performs analysis of political situations and scenarios, and contributes to the formulation of institutional responses
Building Strategic Partnerships
Identifying and building partnerships
- Effectively
networks with partners seizing opportunities to build strategic
alliances relevant to UNDP’s mandate and strategic agenda
- Sensitizes
UN Partners, donors and other international organizations to the
UNCDF’s strategic agenda, identifying areas for joint efforts
- Develops positive ties with civil society to build/strengthen UNCDF’s mandate
- Identifies needs and interventions for capacity building of counterparts, clients and potential partners
- Displays initiative, sets challenging outputs for him/herself and willingly accepts new work assignments
Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing
Developing tools and mechanisms
- Makes the case for innovative ideas documenting successes and building them into the design of new approaches
- Identifies new approaches and strategies that promote the use of tools and mechanisms
- Develops
and/or participates in the development of tools and mechanisms,
including identifying new approaches to promote individual and
organizational learning and knowledge sharing using formal and informal
methodologies
Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise
In-depth knowledge of the subject-matter
- Understands more advanced aspects of primary area of specialization as well as the fundamental concepts of related disciplines
- Serves as internal consultant in the area of expertise and shares knowledge with staff
- Continues to seeks new and improved methods and systems for accomplishing the work of the unit
- Keeps
abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job
knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally
- Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments
- Demonstrates
comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and
project management tools and utilizes these regularly in work
assignments
Creating Visibility for UNCDF/Supporting UNCDF’s Capacity to Advocate
Developing promotional projects and organizational messages
- Identifies and develops activities to enhance the visibility of UNCDF
- Develops promotional activities based on monitoring/evaluation information identifying areas requiring higher visibility
- Reviews
documents and materials intended for use within and outside the
organization in order to ensure consistency and validity of messages
- Creates and cultivates networks of partners to promote UNCDF’s image
- Conducts assessments of activities to improve impact and effectiveness
Global Leadership and Advocacy for UNCDF’s Goals
Analysis and creation of messages and strategies
- Performed analysis of political situations and scenarios, and contributes to the formulation of institutional responses
- Uses the opportunity to bring forward and disseminate materials for global advocacy work and adapts it for use at country level
Conceptual Innovation in the Provision of Technical Expertise
Developing innovative and creative approaches
- Leverages different experiences and expertise of team members to achieve better and more innovative outcomes
- Leverages
multi disciplinary, institutional knowledge and experience of other
countries and regions to promote UNCDF’s development agenda
- Participates in dialogue about conceptual innovation at the country and regional levels
Client Orientation
Contributing to positive outcomes for the client
- Anticipates client needs
- Works towards creating an enabling environment for a smooth relationship between the clients and service provider
- Demonstrates understanding of client’s perspective
Core Competencies:
- Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents
- Building support and political acumen
- Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation
- Building and promoting effective teams
- Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication
- Creating an emotionally intelligent organization
- Leveraging conflict in the interests of UNCDF & setting standards
- Sharing
knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge
sharing and learning. Promoting learning and knowledge
management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member.
- Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking
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Required Skills and Experience
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Education:
- Master’s Degree in Economics, finance, business or public administration or related field
Experience, skills and qualifications:
- 7 years of relevant experience at the national or international level.
- Extensive
experience in project management, coordinating large projects and
supporting stakeholder engagement related to financial inclusion and
financial sector development, with an emphasis on savings mobilization,
Greenfields and rural finance at formal financial institutions or
related fields of finance, development and research.
- Deep
technical knowledge and experience in (Micro) finance good practices
for industry building, and development of inclusive financial markets
and products in emerging markets, especially through private sector
partnerships.
- Strong networking capabilities and ability
to associate him/herself with a range of actors (including policy
makers, regulators, FSPs and TSPs and donors) with a view to building
relations and facilitating links.
- Strong programme
management experience with emphasis on monitoring, evaluation and
incorporating lessons learned into microfinance projects and programmes.
- Experiences with similar assignments in developing countries, including LDCs.
- Experience with, knowledge and understanding of the Myanmar financial sector.
- Excellent computer literacy, including research skills.
- Personal
commitment, efficiency and flexibility, teamwork spirit with the
ability to work independently or under minimum supervision.
- Excellent communication, presentation, written and verbal skills.
Language Requirements:
- Fluency in English is required.
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The
external 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.
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UNDP is committed to achieving workforce
diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from
minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are
equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the
strictest confidence.
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