Financial Sector & Innovation Consultant, FINB
WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status, physical or mental disability.
Job Title: Financial Sector and Innovation Consultant
Type of Contract: When Actually Employed (WAE) Consultancy
Division: Business Development Cash-Based Transfers (CBT) Unit, FINB
Duty Station (City, Country): Remote Working from Permanent Place of Residence
Duration: 11 months
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
Cash-based transfers (CBT) represent an increasing share of WFP’s total humanitarian assistance (34 percent in 2021), and include assistance distributed as physical banknotes, e-money, mobile money, vouchers or debit cards. In 2021, WFP transferred US$2.3 billion to 41.8 million people in 69 countries, empowering them to meet their essential needs.
In support of WFP’s global scale up of cash-based transfers, the Finance function through the Business Development and Cash Based Transfers Branch (FINB) is developing corporate tools and guidance, providing day-to-day technical advice and assistance to Country Offices (CO) while also undertaking a range of other strategic activities and engagements internally as well as with external service providers.
The consultant will be supporting the development and enhancement of corporate tools and guidance, and provide strategic advice based on market intelligence and financial technology insights to the Financial Sector intelligence and Innovation team within FINB. The consultant will be supporting Country Offices and Regional Bureaux with rollout, guidance and tool enhancement for completion of the mandatory Financial Assessments and work on Innovation projects for CBT.
ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Consultant will undertake the following tasks:
- Support strategic engagements and relationship building with stakeholders of the financial sector, Central Banks, Ministry of Finance, Switch Providers, Treasury Banks and others.
a. Identify relevant target audiences for engagement
b. Develop engagement protocols, supporting documents and guidance as well as training material
- Implementation support for piloting the novel beneficiary-centred WFP payment solution plugPAY for CBT
a. Enable COs for beneficiary centred implementation of plugPAY operations in joint
collaboration with all relevant cross functional stakeholders and project team members on CO, RB and HQ level to foster financial inclusion in CBT
b. Enable CO in finance related aspects of plugPAY implementation, payment initiation and accounting requirements
c. Implement plugPAY standard SOP and provide operational support in payment creation, accounting and reconciliation
d. Monitor performance of external Financial Service Providers for plugPAY service delivery, assess their performance and support collaboration forums per country
e. Take ownership of standard document creation, guidance and communication material and presentations
- Provide COs with guidance and support during the various stages of CBT implementation
- Other duties as required.
DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:
- Strategic engagements with Central Banks and other Financial Sector Institutions
- Pilot results of global beneficiary-centered CBT payment solution plugPAY delivered in project KPIs
- Expanded landscape of plugPAY connectivity scenarios
- Built and maintained standard document repository
- Various analytical study outputs and market insights as requested
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education:
University Degree in Economics or Finance, Business Administration or related fields.
Experience:
At least 4 years of related work experience in WFP Country or Regional Office and/or Headquarters or other public sector institution at national or international level with a focus on financial services, digital payments, process design and solution development for financial institutions or financial sector consulting.
Knowledge & Skills:
- Strong conceptual and analytical skills, competency in strategic and innovation centred thinking
- Experience in workstream and project management as well as business process design
- Demonstrated ability to work both independently and as part of a diverse international and cross-functional team
- Knowledge of financial service provider operations, payment systems, Fintech developments and financial technologies
- Understanding of global financial markets, sub-sectors and its institutions and stakeholders
- Comprehension of payment instruments, respective features and functionalities in developing markets
- Ability to perform data analysis in excel, craft management reports and concept papers as presentations and/or text documents
Language:
Fluency in oral and written communication in English and intermediate knowledge of French and/or another additional UN language.
Terms and Conditions:
WFP offers a competitive compensation package which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.
Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP: http://www.wfp.org
Click on: “Our work” and “Countries” to learn more about WFP’s operations.
Qualified female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply. WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status
Deadline for applications: Friday, 21 October 2022
Please note that the deadline is at 11:59 pm Rome time (GMT + 1)
Ref.: VA No. 173421
Kindly note the only documents you need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter. Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time.
All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.
