Senior Advisor – Rural Financial Services 108 views0 applications

INTERNAL/EXTERNAL VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

Senior Advisor – Rural Financial Services

CARE is an international NGO with local staff and community partners in more than 90 countries. We create local solutions to poverty and inequality and we seek dignity for everyone every day and during times of crisis.  These solutions have a broad range, from clean water to access to education; from microfinance to ensuring that everyone has nutritious food; from agriculture and climate change to disaster response. CARE puts women and girls at the center of everything we do because they have proven to be the best hope for creating lasting change in the world.  Our staff live where they work, which makes us effective at understanding the challenges they face. We’ve been doing this for over 70 years, since World War II. It started with the world’s first CARE Package® of food for the post-war hungry in Europe.  Our work today is as important as ever, we believe that poverty and inequality are historic injustices that we can end within a generation, for good. If you share our core beliefs: poverty is an injustice; poverty is solvable; and together, we have the power to end it, join us.

Date of Announcement:            23/03/2020

Vacancy No.:                            XXX/XX

Position:                                  Senior Advisor – Rural Financial Services

Grade:                                      9E

Salary:                                     USD 2,112

No of positions:                        one

Duration of Employment:         Definite

Unit/Program:                          KKK      

Duty Base:                               Addis Ababa

Closing Date:                           10 calendar days from the date of advertisement

I.  JOB SUMMARY 

The purpose of the Senior Advisor – Rural Financial Services is to provide technical leadership to the Livelihoods for Resilience Activity consortium in the areas of financial inclusion and microfinance. The Senior Advisor will also provide technical assistance to partners and other projects within CARE Ethiopia on rural financial services and financial inclusion. S/he will serve as point person on capacity building support to village economic and social associations (VESAs), including coordination and collaboration with implementing partners in program implementation, data collection, and documentation of the savings groups’ performance. This position is also expected to provide technical support to implementing partners and CARE Ethiopia in establishing strong partnerships with microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other financial sector actors, such as the Association of Ethiopian Microfinance Institutions (AEMFI), the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), and Regional and Federal Cooperative Promotion Agencies. S/he will ensure that the financial services provided to PSNP houselds are appropriate, sustainable and inclusive for all target groups (women, men and youth).

II. RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS 

Job Responsibility #1: Program leadership, planning and implementation (25% of time)

·      Lead the development of strategies, approaches, and systems of the financial services of the project to ensure inclusive access to financial services for PSNP households

·      Guide implementing partners in the formation of VESAs to make them strong and attractive clients for financial service providers. Develop training plans and materials around group governance, VSLA methodology, financial literacy, etc. and provide training to implementing partner staff.

·      Ensure that the internal savings, lending and other financial activites are facilitated and implemented based on the minimum standards stipulated in VESA/VSLA methodology manuals.

·      Guide the VESA Specialist and implementing partners in VESA MIS data collection processes and support VESA mapping and quality control activities for CARE Ethiopia

·      Conduct, and build implementing partner capacity to conduct, VESA maturity/financial linkage readiness assessments based on VESA diagnostic tools

·      Support implementing partners and other CARE Ethiopia projects in negotiating memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with financial service providers, including advising on terms and conditions of loans for PSNP households

·      Supervise the VESA Specialist in his/her role in training and monitoring for VESA establishment and roll-out of savings and loan activities

·      Support implementing partners and financial service providers to faciliate value chain loans based on the linkage principles of CARE

·      Work with MFI partners to advise them, as needed, on developing reporting systems including formats, particularly portfolio reports, and systematizing information flows disaggregated by gender, and support financial service providers to enhance participation of women in access to financial services.

·      Regularly maintain project information on financial inclusion

·      Provide technical support to other CARE projects in implementing the VSLA methodology and linkages with financial service providers

·      Provide assistance and guide the VESA Specialist in developing annual performance objectives; provide close and continuous support, coaching and mentoring; and evaluate and monitor the VESA Specialist based on their job description

Job Responsibility #2:  Learning and networking (20% of time)

·      Review and keep current on Government of Ethiopia policies and practices in the field of financial inclusion, and ensure an active information flow regarding best practices

·      Keep up to date with developments in the sector, including best practice examples within the country and internationally, and ensure ongoing personal development and learning

·      Meet and work with policymakers such as government officials, MFI executives and managers, and donors, to facilitate better understanding and coordination among the actors in improving policy environment for microfinance and livelihood activities to promote financial inclusion for women, men and youth from PSNP households

·      Take a leading role in the organization of national and international level workshops on microfinance and other related areas, and participate in periodical regional learning events organized by CARE

·      Actively engage in AEMFI and Cooperative Promotion Agency activities, and create/participate in working groups dedicated to promote community based savings and lending modalities such as VSLAs. Represent CARE in AEMFI association meetings and conferences.

·      Initiate research/studies on relevant topics and share results with wider audiences inside and outside CARE to enhance program quality

·      Ensure the communication and application of concepts and cutting edge issues in financial inclusion and livelihoods/resilience within the organization, with partners and other stakeholders

·      Document the project’s lessons learned and best practices to share within and beyond CARE, including with other Feed the Future and PSNP stakeholders

·      Participate in technical working group meetings under the project, and assume leadership for the Microfinance Working Group

Job Responsibility #3: Training and capacity building (25% of time)

·      Provide training and capacity building support on VSLA/VESA methodology and microfinance/financial inclusion principles to CARE and partner staff

·      Organize and deliver training courses and/or arrange for the delivery of training programs aimed at Livelihood for Resilence Activity staff, partner staff including government and NGO staff, and project beneficiaries

·      Support Livelihood for Resilience Activity partner MFIs to include financial services policies and procedures that allow better opportunities for rural women in terms of accessing financial services tailor to their special needs and contexts

·      Advise the Chief of Party, Deputy COP, CARE Program Director, other consortium partners and field office managers on issues related to microfinance and livelihood issues

·      Organize and facilitate presentations, reports and other documentation on related training events and field program operations related to financial inclusion

Job Responsibility #4:  Monitoring and evaluation, information management, and quality assurance (25%)

·      Design and develop workplans for field office operations in financial inclusion, in association with field office staff

·      With support from CARE International, introduce and provide continuous capacity building support on the CARE Online VSLA MIS

·      Ensure that the implementation of field programs on financial inclusion proceeds according to approved plans and that immediate corrective actions are taken when required

·      Contribute to quarterly and annual donor reports

·      Support external and internal project reviews for higher-level reflective practices

·     Work with the project’s monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) team to develop appropriate indicators undertake project reviews, assessments and evaluations

·      Review project evaluation reports, compile and share lessons for future project design considerations

·      Review and validate final evaluation results conducted by external evaluators

Job Responsibility #5:  Other (5%)

·         Perform other duties as assigned

III.      PROBLEM SOLVING (Thinking Environment) 

All the three levels of problem solving needs apply to the incumbent. But category numbers two and three are most applicable to this position because the incumbent must use interpolative skills to pick and choose the right strategy to address a given problem and also has to deal with variable situations, which need analysis, problem definition and development of alternative solutions.