The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries (LDCs). With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers ‘last mile’ finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

UNCDF leverages digital finance in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve the vision of promoting inclusive digital economies. On that basis, the Inclusive Digital Economies Practice Area (IDE) of UNCDF adopted the strategy of ‘Leave No One Behind in the Digital Era’, which is based on over a decade of experience in digital finance in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. The goal of UNCDF is to empower millions of people by 2024 to use digital services, which improve their quality of life and accelerate our progress towards sustainable development goals (SDGs) and offer partnerships in innovative financing.

Recently, UNCDF has formulated its strategy ‘Leaving no one behind in the digital era’ based on over a decade of experience in digital finance in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. UNCDF recognizes that reaching the full potential of digital financial inclusion in support of the Sustainable Development Goals aligns with the vision of promoting digital economies that leave no one behind. The vision of UNCDF is to empower millions of people by 2024 to use services daily that leverage innovation and technology and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. For further details on UNCDF strategy, refer to; https://www.uncdf.org/article/4931/global-strategy-leaving-no-one-behind-in-the-digital-era

UNCDF has been operating in Malawi since 1982 through its different programs focused around expanding access to financial inclusion. As part of UNCDF’s Inclusive Digital Economy Program (IDE), UNCDF is implementing the Digital Financial service for resilience program in Malawi with two broader objectives: 1) To improve digital finance policies and regulations to provide early response to emergencies and create an enabling environment to economic recovery; 2) To create and strengthen digital finance ecosystems that support low income individuals in particular women and youth; and MSMEs to mitigate immediate shocks of emergencies and seize economic opportunities. In Malawi, UNCDF has partnered with government and private sector players in the country to implement the program. UNCDF is in the process of implementing various digital finance innovation projects to meet the needs of marginalized individuals while increasing adoption of digital financial services.

The PSA Holder will support the achievement of these goals as a Digital Finance Innovations Officer to support the project implementation with the selected project implementing partners. The PSA Holder will support the implementation of the digital financial innovation projects in Malawi.

The Digital Finance Innovations Officer (the “Officer”) will be responsible for the project management of inventive digital finance projects. This will entail assessing project proposals for quality and consistency. Identifying project delivery issues and ensure effective coordination of project resources. The Officer will be expected to work closely with national counterparts to build cooperative relationships and establish UNCDF as an effective partner. The PSA Holder’s responsibilities will cover the following broad functional areas:

1.Collaborate with various public and private sector partners and provide technical guidance on inclusive digital finance innovation solutions:  

• Explore and propose potential innovation prospects within the Malawi market by researching emerging trends and technologies and staying up to date with the latest developments in the digital landscape;
• Create and execute plans for capitalizing on innovation opportunities. This could entail suggesting ways to develop novel digital finance products or services, enhancing current offerings, or implementing fresh technologies, use cases, or processes;
• Conduct initial assessments of potential collaborators and feasible interventions aimed at boosting access and utilization of inclusive digital financial services;
• Foster the development of Malawi’s Digital Finance Innovation Ecosystem by providing support to both new and established innovators and developers, as well as new inventive solutions.

2. Provide technical assistance to implementing partners, digital finance service providers and FinTechs to develop or scale products that contribute to the increase of digital financial inclusion of the marginalized market segments: 

• Design activities and projects, pilots and scale recommendations on inclusive innovation with a focus on growing the digital finance ecosystem;
• Oversee project execution, which includes managing project activities, monitoring progress, keeping track of the budget, identifying risks, and developing strategies to mitigate them;
• Engage with stakeholders, including project partners, donors, beneficiaries, and other relevant stakeholders to ensure their needs are understood and incorporated into the project planning and implementation.

3. Share best practices with Malawi’s financial sector to inclusively innovate digital finance products for traditionally underserved stakeholders, like women, youth and those in rural areas:

• Engage with various ecosystem stakeholders to share key insights from UNCDF’s market analyses and case studies, scorecards, and lessons learnt from the field;
• Develop knowledge and learning documents, resulting in stronger messages and increased UNCDF visibility and thought leadership in the inclusive digital innovation space:
• Work closely with cross-functional teams (in country and regional) to ensure the success of innovation initiatives.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of  the Office and the Organization.
Institutional Arrangement

The Digital Finance Innovations Officer, NPSA will join the IDE team in Malawi, based in Lilongwe, and will contribute to the effective delivery of the activities by the practice, reporting to the Digital Finance Country Specialist – Malawi while working in close collaboration with the regional team. The contract is initially for 12 months with the possibility of renewal based on programmatic needs, fund availability, and satisfactory performance.

• Knowledge of how they work, understanding of the opportunities and challenges for governments and society

Digital & Innovation: Digital business analysis

• Ability to support digital business processes across a range of digital projects, programs and activities.

Digital & Innovation: Facilitation of digital innovation

• Ability to facilitate groups and individuals through a digital innovation process

General (across the functions): Public relations

• Ability to build and maintain an overall positive public image for the organization, its mandate and its brand, while ensuring that individual campaigns and other communications and advocacy initiatives are supported in reaching the public

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

Business Management: Project Management

• Ability to plan, organize prioritize and control resources, procedures, and protocols to achieve specific goals

Business Management: Digital Awareness and Literacy

• Ability and inclination to rapidly adopt new technologies, either through skillfully grasping their usage or through understanding their impact and empowering others to use them as needed.

• Fluency in English and Chichewa is required