Digital Financial Inclusion and Women’s Economic Empowerment Advisor

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, color, 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: Digital Financial Inclusion and Womens’ Economic Empowerment Advisor

Type of Contract: Consultants level II

Division: CBT / Cash-Based Transfers Division

Duty Station (City, Country): Rome HQ, Italy

Duration: 11 months

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

Money gives women and men greater freedom, choice, a sense of control over their lives and dignity. Both humanitarian cash transfers provided directly by WFP as well as Government-to-Person (G2P) payment schemes increasingly supported by WFP, can provide first time access to—and usage of formal financial services to unbanked and underserved populations and their businesses. When deliberately designed to do so, cash transfers can thereby contribute to longer-term objectives such as Digital Financial Inclusion (DFI) and Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE). Access to financial services such as payments, savings, credit and insurance- together with financial education and consumer protection—help women and men better cope with shocks, including shocks related to climate change, build their financial resilience and invest in their futures and aspirations.

Initiated thanks to the support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in 2020, enabling DFI and WEE through cash transfers has become a corporate priority reflected in our normative work, including the upcoming cash policy. WFP envisioned to support 10 million women through their own financial accounts by 2028.

WFP is therefore seeking to recruit Digital Financial Inclusion and Women’s Economic Empowerment Adviser to support the policy and design work around this overarching theme of WFP cash policy. The DFI WEE advisor will be the subject matter expert on why and how WFP can prioritize women to receive money on their accounts on behalf of their family. S/he will monitor the evidence base and accompany RBs and COs to prioritize women and ensure CBT contributes to DFI and WEE, , S/he will pay special attention to the intersectional vulnerabilities faced by youth and persons with disabilities.

The Advisor will work under supervision of the WFP DFI WEE Team lead within the Policy and Design unit in the Cash-Based Transfer (CBT) Division, in close collaboration with the WFP Gender Office. S/he will work with WFP employees, partners and financial service providers in selected operations. S/he will be based in Rome and will be required to travel to WFP countries of operations.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES / RESPONSIBILITIES (not all inclusive)

Global-level action:

The Digital Financial Inclusion and Women’s Economic Empowerment advisor will support COs implement of the DFI/WEE objectives of the cash policy. S/he will be :

1. Supporting COs’ and RBs’ capacity to conduct participatory qualitative analyses, including focus group discussions, key informant interviews and user journey mapping, to better understand preferences and experiences by women for digital financial products, services and delivery channels,
2. Supporting country offices to conduct qualitative analysis of socio-cultural practices to understand the social norm barriers that impede the uptake of digital products and services for women and build strategies to overcome them.
3. Supporting COs’ and RBs’ capacity to build an understanding of the national and regional laws and regulations that enable and/or impede women’s ability to access and use digital financial services as and build advocacy strategy to make changes, where needed.
4. Collecting and sharing practical guidance and best practices to increase digital financial inclusion for women,
5. Supporting country offices and regional bureaus to build a strong business case relevant to their markets, to incentivize private sector consider the women WFP serve as a valid client base, for which they should have specific digital financial products and services.
6. Supporting COs and RBs to design, review and implement digital financial capabilities strengthening programs for women as a way to increase their confidence and understanding of digital financial products and services. S/he will ensure that digital and financial literacy trainings are tailored to the needs of women at different life-stages or learning moments in terms of both content and channels; and
7. Advising country offices on how to identify and digitize channels that are used by women such as savings groups, as a way to increase women’s access and usage of digital financial products and services.
8. Advising country offices on how to increase the number of women working as mobile banking and mobile money agents, including advocacy with central banks, to increase women’s income generation opportunities and encourage more women in those communities to use digital financial services.
9. Supporting country offices to identify, train and manage community champions (men, women and youth) to address the social norms barriers and change belief that impede women from using digital financial services.
10. Identifying and connecting COs and RBs to public and private sector partners aimed at increasing mobile phone ownership for women at lower cost.
11. Advising country offices on interventions that support the needs and preferences of women and persons with disabilities on their path to digital financial inclusion
12. Advising COs on how best to measure DFI WEE taking into account the different impacts for women and men
13. Supporting COs and RBs in discussions on digital financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment with other stakeholders and strengthening WFP’s thought leadership in the topic at CO and RB levels.

Regional and Country-level action:

The Digital Financial Inclusion and Women’s Economic Empowerment advisor will support COs implement of the DFI/WEE objectives of the cash policy. S/he will be :

1. Supporting COs’ and RBs’ capacity to conduct participatory qualitative analyses, including focus group discussions, key informant interviews and user journey mapping, to better understand preferences and experiences by women for digital financial products, services and delivery channels,
2. Supporting country offices to conduct qualitative analysis of socio-cultural practices to understand the social norm barriers that impede the uptake of digital products and services for women and build strategies to overcome them.
3. Supporting COs’ and RBs’ capacity to build an understanding of the national and regional laws and regulations that enable and/or impede women’s ability to access and use digital financial services as and build advocacy strategy to make changes, where needed.
4. Collecting and sharing practical guidance and best practices to increase digital financial inclusion for women,
5. Supporting country offices and regional bureaus to build a strong business case relevant to their markets, to incentivize private sector consider the women WFP serve as a valid client base, for which they should have specific digital financial products and services.
6. Supporting COs and RBs to design, review and implement digital financial capabilities strengthening programs for women as a way to increase their confidence and understanding of digital financial products and services. S/he will ensure that digital and financial literacy trainings are tailored to the needs of women at different life-stages or learning moments in terms of both content and channels; and
7. Advising country offices on how to identify and digitize channels that are used by women such as savings groups, as a way to increase women’s access and usage of digital financial products and services.
8. Advising country offices on how to increase the number of women working as mobile banking and mobile money agents, including advocacy with central banks, to increase women’s income generation opportunities and encourage more women in those communities to use digital financial services.
9. Supporting country offices to identify, train and manage community champions (men, women and youth) to address the social norms barriers and change belief that impede women from using digital financial services.
10. Identifying and connecting COs and RBs to public and private sector partners aimed at increasing mobile phone ownership for women at lower cost.
11. Advising country offices on interventions that support the needs and preferences of women and persons with disabilities on their path to digital financial inclusion.
12. Advising COs on how best to measure DFI WEE taking into account the different impacts for women and men.
13. Supporting COs and RBs in discussions on digital financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment with other stakeholders and strengthening WFP’s thought leadership in the topic at CO and RB levels.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

The deliverables will be confirmed at the beginning of the assignment to ensure they match the latest project proposal and country-level action plans, and may include:

Global-level deliverables:

• Guidance, technical support and capacity development provided as needed, to ensure that DFI as a pathway towards women’s economic empowerment is clearly, strategically and effectively integrated into the Cash Policy Implementation Plan.
• Updated technical guidelines on how to send money to women through CBT and G2P- with a focus on digital financial delivery channels based on women’s user journeys.
• An overview report of the cross-cutting barriers and enablers for women’s economic empowerment- based on the analysis of the learning from the 7 countries of implementation and a best practices menu of options responding based on the BMGF investment in DFI for WEE.
• Strategic alignment on prioritizing women through digital financial inclusion for women’s economic empowerment with other teams, workstreams and departments at HQ level including the gender policy implementation plan, disability inclusion and the innovation team.
• Learning and best practices are shared across multiple platforms internally and outside WFP, positioning WFP’s thought leadership in digital financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment in Cash-Based Transfers and Government G2P response.
• Knowledge generation and representation in global discussions on digital financial inclusion for women’s economic empowerment and the unique role provided by cash-based transfer programs in increasing women’s access and usage of digital financial services.

Country-level deliverables:

CBT operations and Government (G2P) response supported by WFP in the countries selected are designed with a gender transformative lens and integrate DFI and WEE. The actual list of deliverables will be confirmed once country-level priorities and action plans are defined, and may include ensuring that:

• Developed tools, guidance, and other resources, that enable COs to independently collect and analyze information through user-journeys, focus group discussion and key information interviews and use the insights to inform their programs and strategies.
• Input is provided in the development of strategies and priorities at regional and country levels- including where relevant, in regional strategies and country strategic plans (CSPs) to ensure effective inclusion and integration of DFI as a pathway towards women’s economic empowerment.

• Support provided to country offices and implementing organizations to ensure that an inclusive lens (for women, youth and persons with disability) is applied when linking cash recipients to digital financial products including specific opportunities for digitalization of savings groups, access to formal credit from partner institutions etc.
• Support provided to country offices and implementing organizations to design and implement community engagement for digital financial inclusion interventions in a context-respecting manner in light of women’s priorities and needs.
• Developed guidance for country offices and implementing partners to ensure that digital and financial capabilities strengthening trainings are responsive to the needs of both women and youth in content and delivery channels.
• Support provided to country offices and implementing organizations to

ensure the impact of digital payments on the lives of recipients in various contexts is monitored and documented.

• Knowledge generation for regional and country level discussions on digital financial inclusion for women’s economic empowerment and the unique role provided by cash-based transfer programs in increasing women’s access and usage of digital financial services.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

A postgraduate qualification in development studies, gender, international development, sociology other development-related fields.

Experience:

• Between 8 and 10 years of progressively responsible experience in gender, of which at least 5 are focused on providing technical assistance, program design or implementation of savings groups projects, financial inclusion projects, inclusive digital finance, agent banking, and women’s economic empowerment among poor households.
• Strong experience designing, conducting, and supporting qualitative research for digital financial inclusion.
• Previous experience working in emergency and humanitarian settings and cash-based transfers is an asset.
• Experience in advocacy for digital financial inclusion for the stated groups with central banks and other government actors is highly desirable.
• Experience in working with global, regional and national partners including NGOs, CSOs, development financial institutions, commercial banks and mobile money operators– on digital financial inclusion for women and girls and members of (visible or non-visible) socioeconomically discriminated minorities is desirable.

Knowledge and Skills:

Proactive attitude, with initiative and a sense of accountability. Ability to provide technical advice that is actionable and can be understood by diverse stakeholders. Ability to develop user-friendly guidance. Team player. Excellent interpersonal, communication and facilitation skills (written and oral). Ability to work productively and in an organized fashion.

Languages:

English is required. Another WFP language – Arabic, French, Portuguese, Spanish – is a plus.

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.

Deadline for applications: 02 December 2022

Ref.: VA No. 178490

Qualified female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply

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.

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