Advocacy and Partnerships Specialist at United Nations Capital Development Fund: (Deadline 27 June 2024)
Hosted by the UNCDF, the Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) is a partnership of governments, companies and international organizations that accelerates the transition from cash to digital payments to reduce poverty and drive inclusive growth by:
- Advocating for the transition from cash to digital payments in a way that advances financial inclusion and promotes responsible digital finance.
- 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; and
- Conducting research and sharing the knowledge and experiences of our members to inform strategies for making the transition.
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 1.4 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 Team’s Core Values are the following:
- Achieving together
- Striving for excellence
- Service oriented
- Results-oriented.
For more information on BTCA, please visit the website: http://www.betterthancash.org/
1. Ensure Strategy implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of BTCA in Africa:
- Under the supervision of the Lead, Africa Policy & Partnerships, deliver Alliance Africa strategy by integrating digitization of payments and digital public infrastructure into regional and national policymaking for Africa to accelerate attainment of Agenda 2063.
- Plan for and ensure the execution advocacy initiatives with regional partners, including AUC, AfCFTA Secretariat, AfDB, AUDA-NEPAD, regional economic blocs, the private sector, and civil society organizations.
- Collaborate with Alliance Africa Team members to embed continental agenda into national initiatives, particularly in implementing the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade and AUC WYFEI 2030.
- Collaborate with Africa regional colleagues to ensure member advisory services align with the continental agenda.
- Track and monitor milestones implementation of the Africa Advocacy Strategy. Monitor achievements and ensure those are integrated into Alliance regular reports to its resource partners and for the UN.
- Collaborate with Africa regional colleagues on quantitative and qualitative monitoring, evaluation, and reporting requirements when needed.
2. Lead the effort knowledge management and dissemination on digital payments across Africa:
- Coordinate with Alliance team members to develop digital and lead knowledge sharing on digital payments relevant to African members and distill lessons for the Global Alliance.
- Coordinate with partners to facilitate learning on digital public infrastructure as needed.
- Facilitate t Alliance Africa Members’ peer learning planning and execution with a focus on good practices on driving digital financial inclusion for financial equality.
- Liaise regularly with the Alliance communications team to ensure members achievements are highlighted and Alliance activities in Africa are regularly communicated
3. Strong partnership building for advocacy among African Stakeholders:
- Coordinate with Africa Alliance team members to position the digitization of payments as an essential action for governments, companies, and international organizations looking to achieve cost-savings, transparency, increase financial inclusion, and accelerate the achievement of the SDGs.
- Identify and engage potential partners in the public and private sectors who can be partners for implementing the Alliance Africa strategy.
- Identify and engage potential investors/funders in advancing the availability of digital public infrastructure to all Africans.
4. Effective management of partner relationships to ensure delivery of Africa strategy:
- Collaborate with Lead, Africa Policy, Advocacy & Partnerships to manage continental partners.
- Identify and nurture new opportunities to foster strategic partnerships with other UN partnerships and external partner institutions, including academia, CSOs, and others.
- Collaborate with the Alliance Africa team to manage member engagements where needed.
5. Mobilizing of African champions for Africa’s Agenda 2063 Digital Transformation Agenda:
- Collaborate with Lead, Africa Policy, Advocacy & Partnerships and the Communication Team to support current regional DFI champions to strengthen their efforts to advance Africa’s digital transformation.
- Identify public and private sectors and civil society champions from across Africa who can drive the creation or strengthening of supportive policies and investments to enable digital public infrastructure, including responsible digital payments at national and regional levels.
- Identify advocacy opportunities for the Champions at the national, regional, continental, and global levels and support them in utilizing them to benefit their priorities.
- Collaborate with Africa regional colleagues to identify and support national champions.
- Liaise regularly with the communications team to ideate media and communication opportunities
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization
Achieve Results:
LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have a 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 outstanding results.
Engage and Partner:
LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigating a complex landscape, championing inter-agency collaboration.
Enable Diversity and Inclusion:
LEVEL 3: Appreciate the benefits of a diverse workforce and champion inclusivity.
Cross-Functional & Technical Competencies:
Business Management: Resource Management
Ability to allocate and use resources in a strategic or tactical a in line with principles of accountability and integrity.
Partnership Management: Relationship Management
Ability to engage with various stakeholders in the payments ecosystem to build, sustain, and/or strengthen working partnerships, trust, and mutual understanding.
Business Direction & 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.
- Communications and Technology (ICT) Policy and Regulation, Economics, Finance, Business Administration, Public Policy, International Relations or Law, is required. Or
- A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the above area with two additional years of relevant work experience will be given due consideration in lieu of an advanced university degree.
- Minimum 5 years (with a master’s degree) or 7 years (with a bachelor’s degree) of professional experience in progressively responsible positions working on digital payments, digital financial services, and/or digital financial inclusion is required.
Required skills and competencies:
- Proven track record working with governments across Africa in supporting the execution of national plans/agendas for digital payments and managing government relations for the digital payment agenda – required.
- Professional experience working with the private sector across Africa, particularly in supporting corporates to develop and execute digitization of payment strategies – required.
- Experience and Working knowledge of current developments in payment technologies, including innovative payment methods, as well as of the policy, legal, and regulatory issues related to inclusive payment technologies – required.
- Demonstrated excellent advocacy and diplomatic skills – required.
Desired additional skills and competencies:
- Experience managing national/regional projects or services, corresponding budgets, and monitoring and evaluation plans is desirable.
- Working knowledge of regional organizations is desirable.
- Experience in analysis of gender-disaggregated data and using the analysis for program planning and implementation – advantage.
Languages:
- Fluency in spoken and written English is required.
- Knowledge in another language used in Africa, e.g., French, Swahili, Portuguese will be an advantage.
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