Background

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 46 least developed countries. 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’s financing models work through three channels: inclusive digital economies, connecting individuals, households, and small businesses with financial eco-systems that catalyze participation in the local economy and provide tools to climb out of poverty and manage financial lives; local development finance, that capacitates localities through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance to drive local economic expansion and sustainable development; and investment finance, that provides catalytic financial structuring, de-risking, and capital deployment to drive SDG impact and domestic resource mobilization.

By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small enterprise, and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes to Sustainable Development Goal SDG 1 on eradicating poverty and SDG 17 on the means of implementation. In addition, by identifying those market segments where innovative financing models can have a transformational impact in helping to reach the last mile and address exclusion and inequalities of access, UNCDF contributes to a broad diversity of SDGs.

UNCDF _ Sierra Leone

UNCDF is in the process of implementing the Salon Access to Finance (SATF) programme in Sierra Leone, funded by the EU, with the overall objective of contributing to sustainable and inclusive economic development and job creation in the agricultural sector. As part of the EU-funded Jobs and Growth programme, “Salone Access to Finance” will promote financial inclusion, access to finance and risk management for agri-businesses. The component will specifically contribute to  two specific objectives:

1) Improved investment climate and business environment and 2) Agro MSMEs show improved performance and expansion.

The UNCDF _ SATF programme is designed around four pillars:

1. Investment

2. Insurance

3. Digital; and

4. Business environment

These will be complemented by a set of research and knowledge-sharing activities that will cut across the different workstreams. The four mutually reinforcing pillars aim at enhancing access to financial services and diversifying risks across agricultural value chains. The program aims at boosting food and nutrition security, jobs, and wealth creation. The program will target specifically youth, women, and people with disabilities. The innovative design approach combines technical and financial assistance for MSMEs in the form of grants from UNCDF and loans obtained from local financial institutions, together with technical assistance provided to financial services providers . This approach comes with the development of a digital platform to facilitate the delivery of services, reporting and credit scoring of MSMEs active in the agricultural sector.

Institutional Context

To lead its technical inputs in Digital and Insurance pillars, under the direct supervision of the UNCDF Country Lead and Programme Manager, the Digital Finance Specialist will be responsible for working closely with UNCDF partners at the national level to achieve the project results by providing regular technical assistance and facilitating partnerships within the eco-system linked to – policy and regulations, insurance, financial innovation and consumer empowerment. S/he will be responsible for managing the two pillars of the program, including setup, monitoring, reporting and evaluation.

Scope of Work 

The Digital Finance Specialist will provide technical expertise and strategic guidance in the design, implementation, and monitoring of digital finance initiatives while ensuring they are aligned with the broader programmatic objectives geared towards financial inclusion.

The Digital Finance Specialist will be responsible for: 

Lead in informing Interventions that enable and expand financial Inclusion.

• Lead the conduct of market research to inform financial inclusion interventions for the programme, including understanding the supply and demand side for digital and insurance innovations for key segments (smallholder farmers, women, youth and persons living with disability).
• Conduct technical analysis of UNCDF’s annual provider survey (APS).
• Advise and support the implementation of the Inclusive digital economy scorecard (IDES) to position it as a national tool to measure digital development in the country.
• Provide technical support to the working groups under the implementation of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.
• Writing publications (blogs, white papers, reports) on financial inclusion, DFS solutions, insurance in Sierra Leone and the findings of the research.

Provide technical expertise to programme interventions related to digital and insurance innovation.

• Design innovative digital and insurance projects and request proposals (RFPs) to select institutional partners to provide innovative solutions that unlock current market constraints.
• Provide project spot checks for selected partners, design project documents, appraisal documents, and workbooks.
• Design and develop the go-to-market plan, strategies and implementation plan with partner institutions.
• Design training materials and facilitate workshops on the progress made with projects and lessons learnt.

Facilitate the exchange of insight, experiences and technical expertise through workshops, peer-to-peer exchanges and meetings.

• Provide technical support and advisory services to the government, the central bank, and other regulatory bodies to create a more enabling policy environment for the digitisation of the economy in the context of the Salon Access to Finance programme.
• Facilitate in building effective and efficient partnerships at the operational level with major donors and sister UN agencies to work together in the field of financial inclusion, innovation, and insurance.
• Effectively utilise the insights obtained from project implementation, research, and stakeholder interactions to develop knowledge products and conduct knowledge-sharing and learning events.
• Facilitating the exchange of insights, experiences and technical expertise through hosted workshops, peer-to-peer exchanges, conferences, working groups and meetings within the country.

Ensure monitoring of financial products and end-of-year evaluation with Financial Service Providers (FSPs)

• Support the implementation of the annual work plan, ensuring that activities are implemented on time and within budget.
• Identification and selection of Responsible parties, preparation of investment dossiers to IDIC, formalization of agreements.
• Monitoring of FSPs, due diligence of FSPs, quarterly monitoring of progress made.
• Guide in report drafting, including annual quality assurance report and annual report.

Provision of Technical support on resource mobilization

• Support the development of Prodocs, concept notes, etc.
• Engage with potential donors and partners, including other UN agencies.

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 Specialist will work and report to the Country Lead and Programme Manager, working with the Jobs and Growth Programme team in Sierra Leone.

Competencies

Core

Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact.

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, and develop new ideas to solve complex problems.

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands.

Act with Determination:  LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate tasks/barriers and take action to achieve greater results.

Engage and Partner:  LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigating complex landscape, championing inter-agency collaboration.

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of a diverse workforce and champion inclusivity.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies 

Thematic Area Name   Definition

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 Development  –  Knowledge generation

• Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need.

Business Management – Project management

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

Business Management – Communication

• Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience
• Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.

Business Management – Monitoring 

• Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results.

Digital & Innovation – Digital ecosystems 

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

Partnership Management – Relationship management 

• Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust and mutual understanding.

Minimum Qualifications 

Minimum education requirements 

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Law, Economics, Social Sciences, International Development, Public Policy, Finance, or related discipline, or
• First level university degree (Bachelors’ degree) in the above areas with two additional years of relevant work experience will be given due consideration in lieu of advanced university degree.

Minimum years of relevant Work experience   

• A minimum of Five (5) years (with a master’s degree) or Seven (7) years (with a bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience in financial services and/or international development is required.
• Experience in project and program management, including developing work plans, supervising activities, and adapting to changing needs is required.
• Track record of closing and supervising transactions, including in developing markets, typically as a banker or developer, and ideally with both loan and equity experience is required.
• Experience with the UN and/ or international organization, Familiarity with its mandate and work, 2023 agenda and SDGs is required.
• Demonstrated project management experience, including multi-tasking to lead and execute multiple time-sensitive projects in parallel is required.

Required skills 

• Demonstrate the ability to design, organise and plan the activities necessary to produce results, a proactive approach to achieving key results is required.
• Experience and Functional understanding of payment systems, insurance, banking and other retail financial services is required.
• Demonstrated ability to engage and build consensus among actors is required.

Desired additional skills and experiences

• Experience engaging a diverse set of public and private sector stakeholders, regulators, government departments, and industry associations would be preferable.
• Experience in implementing DFS initiatives in UNCDF focus countries/emerging economies would be an asset.
• Familiarity with human-centred design and intersectional gender analysis is desired.
• Functional understanding of payment systems, insurance, banking and other retail financial services is an asset.
• Prior experience in West Africa is preferred.

Required Language(s) (at working level)

• Excellent speaking and writing skills in English is Required.
• Working knowledge of another UN language is desired.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

a)           Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.

b)           A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.