UN Technical Specialist, Digital Innovation, MM4P Career Jobs – United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)
Job Title: Technical Specialist, Digital Innovation, MM4P
Organization: United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda
About US:
United Nations Capital Development Fund (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 and the Pacific, 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.
Job Summary: The Technical Specialist, Digital Innovation, MM4P will have the responsibility for overseeing the range of digital innovation work in Uganda. The position will directly report to the UNCDF Lead Technical Specialist (LTS) for MM4P program, also based in Kampala, Uganda and will receive technical input from other UNCDF & BTCA Technical Specialists. This position will be based in Kampala, Uganda.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
Lead Digital Uganda Programme and Team: The TS is the team leader in Uganda and responsible for implementing the strategy. This includes:
- Develop in-depth relationship and buy-in from digital stakeholders in Uganda at government, private & non-profit sectors & academics;
- Based on discussion with funders and input from stakeholders, update and win acceptance for the Uganda country strategy for Digital innovation & digital finance, identify priorities, strategies and key milestones to develop the Ugandan market;
- In October, November of each year, develop detailed work plan and budget for the following year, monitoring and updating quarterly using the country log book;
- Lead monthly progress calls on Uganda, preparing agendas, leading calls, updating plans and logs;
- Lead a team of 7-10 people in Uganda with various skills and background. Provide leadership and technical advice and strong management.
- Assign clear responsibilities to the country team, develop annual performance plans, providing regular meetings, feedback on performance, and provide mid-term and annual review. Provide the necessary structure and leaderships for the country team, organizing regular calls and meetings, maintaining a team schedule (including country calendar), monitoring daily work and activities;
- Ensure the proper planning, staffing and contracting through the annual staffing and procurement plan, and providing the necessary inputs for MM4P’s quarterly staff travel plan, and semi-annual budget revisions.
- Lead monthly calls with funders and manage quarterly reporting. Host monthly calls, responding to requests and draft quarterly reports for funders;
- Work closely with the Results Measurement Analyst to ensure the on-time and accurate reporting of results from partners and facilitating the annual survey to DF market growth;
- Participate in digital team meetings and events (2 – 3 times per year);
Lead UNCDF’s policy & regulatory and manage relations with key stakeholders
- The TS directly manages the in-country relations and activities with the government and manage stakeholder relationships and outreach efforts of the programme.
- Be a catalyst for digital solution & digital finance innovations in Uganda, seeking opportunities to empower people’s life with digital innovations, and develop the Uganda program as a flagship country in regard to digital innovation
- Under the guidance and with the support of the Global Technical Specialist, based in Brussels, advise the government in creating a more enabling digital environment.
- Oversee the implementation of UNCDF’s plan for policy and regulation; support the BoU,MoFPED and other governement bodies and organize technical assistance for policy and regulation;
- Support the Better than Cash Alliance member services team on ways to support the government in fulfilling its commitments to the alliance, such as: work closely with the MoFPED and recommendations to convert payment flows from cash to digital;
- Work closely with our funders and FSDU to coordinate policy work, developing consistent messages and collaborating on key initiatives;
- Participate in industry working groups, providing thought leadership and identifying opportunities to build partnerships;
- Assist partners in identifying opportunities with others, including recommending or fostering strategic, financial or technical partnerships;
- Act as primary resource person on digital for UNCDF, UNDP and other funders, helping to provide information, make introductions, coordinating efforts around the plan.
- On an ad-hoc basis, provide on-going technical advice to partners (providers, regulators, funders), including sharing of information and updates on innovations;
- Help to build awareness and build a consumer protection agenda with country stakeholders.
- Build effective and efficient partnerships at the operational level with major donor agencies to coordinate financial inclusion, including financial literacy, activities in country;
- Seek opportunities for coordinating and co-funding projects with other funders, ensure the program’s efforts complete those of other digital finance initiatives;
Build a robust project pipeline of scalable and innovative digital projects:
- The TS sets the direction and oversees the development of the project pipeline, and plays a key role in identifying innovative projects, appraising and monitoring for results, while the technical team manages the daily work or project identification and implementation.
- Investigate opportunities to expand digital work into finance, agriculture, education, health, transport, energy and water sector (People+) with projects focusing on empowering people’s life with digital innovations (low income people, women, youths, (im)mogrants and MSMEs;
- Leverage relationships with innovation accelerator/ hubs, start-up community, universities and entrepreneurs
- Oversee a DF technical team (4-5) of digital consultants and expert on key sectors, develop and manage of the existing pipeline of projects with the objective to reach project KPIs on time and reach scale.
- Help set priorities, provide advice and assistance as required, and ensure compliance with policies and procedures related to Direct Technical and Financial Support;
- Review, appraise and reject/endorse new project descriptions completed by the Expert and consultants; team and consultants;
- Draft technical terms of reference for consultants to support partners, provide all technical input for procurement, drafting TORs and reviewing and evaluating technical proposals.
- Develop regular contact (e.g. monthly) with partners, monitoring overall progress and satisfaction with UNCDF support;
- Participate in quarterly project steering committee meetings for larger projects with partners’ senior management, resolve problems and seek opportunities for improving, expanding relationships.
- As needed, schedule field visits to check projects’ progress together with consultants and partners;
- Review and respond to quarterly reports, ensuring partners are reporting accurately, monitor progress and reporting under agreements and contracts, verify milestones and targets for disbursements;
- Work with the funders and the Financial Sector Deepening Programme Uganda (FSDU) to coordinate project pipelines, ensuring the regular communication and systematic sharing of information on current and planned projects;
Lead UNCDF’s Digital Knowledge Generation, Learning and Sharing activities:
- The TS directly manages the range of activities that contribute to educating, strengthening and consolidating the sector as a whole with support from the KM Associate in Brussels and the KM Consultant in Uganda.
- In support of the country strategy, propose ecosystems activities (workshops, researches, conferences, trainings, exposure visits, etc.) needed to educate stakeholders. Write/review TORs and implement ecosystem activities;Prepare/ review workshop materials, research documents, learning documents, etc. to insure high quality level information;
- Identify learning, training, and knowledge sharing opportunities for partners and key stakeholders and provide scholarships for attendance;
- Manage country level research and data collection projects, support research and data collection firms in their work.
- Participate on project team of Mobile Analytics projects, managing UNCDF’s contribution to the project by working with identified Ugandan partners to use mobile data in decision making;
- Collaborate with FSD Uganda, Intermedia, Finscope and other key partners and stakeholders for research and development of innovative, cutting-edge strategies and approaches to sharpen delivery of digital finance;
- Work closely with the Knowledge Management Associate to plan and deliver knowledge management and learning outcomes;
- Help synthesize learnings from research and projects into short notes to share experience and lessons learned from partners;
- Lead one of the Digital key learning questions, planning and implementing activities for this area with other digital country teams;
- Each year, provide at least 4 blog posts for the UNCDF or other stakeholder’s websites highlighting lessons learned; Help draft press releases or short announcements of key UNCDF inclusive finance activities or achievements in country;
- Help drive the Uganda Community of Practice through multi-media (d-groups, yammer, etc.) and contributed to the overall digital social media presence;
- Participate in local knowledge sharing networks on inclusive finance;
- Participate to key DF conferences;
- Develop and provide annual Learning Plan for oneself and the team;
- Attend approved trainings; share debriefing and value of training with the wider Practice community;
Support the Programme Management Unit in Brussels to ensure compliance with procedures and the smooth flow of information and support other corporate needs:
- As Team Leader, the TS is responsible for the overall smooth and procedurally compliant implementation of activities, as well as supporting the PMU in reporting and results measurement so that they are consistent across countries.
- Work closely with the Operations Analyst (PMU) to manage the Uganda operations team. Support the Uganda Operations Associate and the operations team to manage all financial, administrative, procurement and results measurement activities to deliver the expected results from activities and projects;
- Work closely with the Operations Analysts to manage the country budget revisions, reporting and analysis;
- Work closely with the Research and Results Measurement Analyst (PMU) to coordinate and to contribute to the project monitoring and country data collection plan;
- Ensure country compliance and on-time delivery with policies and procedures (document storage, agendas, timesheet, meeting minutes, etc.)
- Assist in implementation of mid-term and final evaluations of the programme;
- Support the development of UNCDF programme and business strategies and to annual reviews;
- As requested, assists in fundraising and relationship management with donors
- As requested, conduct DF scoping missions in other countries;
- Raise funds: work with UNCDF on fundraising to support activities in Uganda, identifying opportunities and assisting in proposal development and agreement negotiation;
- Provide corporate support to UNCDF as it relates to Uganda and fully participate in UNCDF’s global planning, learning, communication and reporting activities;
Key Result Areas:
- UNCDF and Stakeholders are informed on current trends, market conditions, and special topics as needed, learning are shared cross-countries and UNCDF is viewed as a leader in inclusive digital economies in Uganda.
- Some flagship projects that have reached scale and a diverse mix of strong digital projects that meeting their targets, including the underserved, women and rural users.
- Regulators and Policymakers and other key stakeholders are empowered and supported to make decisions, develop policies and implement changes that both enable sector growth and protect consumers.
- Clear, prioritized country strategy for digital inclusion, with a broad and effective range of activities, that is well planned, implemented and monitored.
- An efficiently-managed, monitored and evaluated programme that is highly rated by its partners and is meeting or exceeding all targets.
- All well integrated programme contributing to overall UNCDF objectives, compliant with policies and procedures.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
- The ideal candidate for the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Technical Specialist, Digital Innovation, MM4P job placement should a Master’s degree in technology, economics, public/business administration, social sciences, or related discipline
- At least seven years’ experience in progressively more responsible positions in the financial services, telecommunications field and or digital field; out of which at least four years’ experience must be in area of digital services, preferably in Africa region
- Language: Fluency in English. Excellent communication skills (comprehension, verbal & written communication)
Competencies
Technical Competencies
- Possesses expert knowledge of advanced concepts in to digital and/or digital financial inclusion, a broad knowledge of related disciplines, as well as an in-depth knowledge of relevant organizational policies and procedures;
- Proven ability to get things done, managing multi-million dollar initiatives for results, preferably in digital and digital finance;
- Ability to lead a team for learnings, results, inspiring, leading, monitoring and getting results;
- Experience in the implementation of digital services for key segments (Low income people, Women, Youths, (Im)migrants, MSMEs) and/or key sectors (agriculture, health, education, water, energy, transport & finance) is required
- Experience in manging relationships with funders and fundraising is a plus
- Good understanding of legal and regulatory issues related to digital, such as know your customer and bank agency rules;
- Experience working with the mass market, including rural or low income communities, preferably related to financial services;
- Experience managing or conducting research, particularly related to product development or client demand, able to use research to foster change;
- Experience working with an international donor organizations is a plus, but not mandatory;
- A passion for digital and innovation
Professional Competencies
- Comfortable managing a project team, with appropriate motivation, delegation and oversight, sets and monitors key performance indicators (KPIs);
- Strong management skills, energizing and organizing small teams or consultants
- Strong personal skills with key stakeholders, understands how to build strategic partnerships and alliances, build relationships;
- Innovative and thoughtful, proactively identifies, develops and discusses solutions for internal and external clients,
- Results driven and willingness to always improve and innovate;
- Comfortable working in a developing country and within very low income areas;
- Comfortable advocating and advancing an agenda, including with high level counterparts and other stakeholders;
- Positive, constructive attitude and responds and gives constructive feedback
Functional Competencies
- Excellent speaking and writing skills in English;
- Excellent analytical skills;
- Proven ability to manage projects and teams;
- Strong general IT skills, including ability to work regularly with MS Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint;
- Proven cross-cultural communication, able to function effectively in an international, multicultural environment and manage a team consisting of multiple nationalities.
Core Competencies
- Builds confidence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
- Demonstrates ethics and integrity;
- Conducts fair and transparent decision making;
- Demonstrates political acumen and calculated risk-taking;
- Builds and promotes teams and partnerships;
- Creates and promotes open communication;
- Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure
- Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability
- Treats all persons fairly without favoritism
- Shows strong corporate commitment
How to Apply:
All suitably qualified and interested candidates who so desire to join the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) in the aforementioned capacity should endeavor to Apply Online by Clicking on the link below. Please further review job requirements and if competent Click Apply Now.
Deadline: 3rd May 2018
: List of Current Job Vacancies / Opportunities in Uganda
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