Job Vacancy In UNDP,Job Vacancy For National IDE Project Officer,

National IDE Project Officer (NPSA8)

Job Identification: 3071
Locations: Kathmandu, Nepal
Apply Before: 04/15/2022, 11:59 PM
Degree Level: Advanced/Postgraduate Degree
Job Schedule: Full time
Agency: UNCDF
Grade: NB4
Vacancy Type: National Personnel Service Agreement
Contract Duration: 1 Year
Education & Work Experience: Master’s Degree
Required Languages: English and Nepali

Background

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

UNCDF makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 46 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. UNCDF’s financing models work through two channels: financial inclusion that expands the opportunities for individuals, households, and small businesses to participate in the local economy, providing them with the tools they need to climb out of poverty and manage their financial lives; and by showing how localized investments — through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance — can drive public and private funding that underpins local economic expansion and sustainable development. By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small enterprise, and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes to SDG 1 on eradicating poverty and SDG 17 on the means of implementation. By identifying those market segments where innovative financing models can have transformational impact in helping to reach the last mile and address exclusion and inequalities of access, UNCDF contributes to a number of different SDGs.

UNCDF’s new “Leaving no one behind (LNOB) in the digital era” Strategy (2021-2025) leverages the work we have done in the country since 2016 and expands the use of digital solutions to further tackle the main development challenges of the country. UNCDF-IDE Practice Area is currently providing the following support to the development of inclusive digital economies in Nepal:

Innovation workstream: UNCDF’s work in Nepal is based on a decade of experience in improving access to financial services and building the digital rails essential for the development of new business models to support inclusive growth. In Nepal, during the past 5 years, UNCDF has supported 600,000 people (47% women) to register for digital payments and 120,000 people (54% women) to access digital financial services that go beyond payments. It has also built the financial capabilities of 15,000 people. In total, we have supported to pilot and scale up 20 different business models with private sector partners. For example, we supported Prabhu Management to digitize 20 cooperatives of dairy and to pilot a digital credit product. We supported Khalti to start onboarding almost 2,000 MSMEs (focused on women) onto their e-commerce platform.

Policy workstream: UNCDF continues working with government and regulators. For example, it has supported the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to develop the Nepal Payment System Strategy and the Nepal Financial Inclusion Portal that improved the oversight of the market reducing data reporting and analyzing time from 10 to 2 days. With a focus on the key building blocks of a digital economy (Policy, infrastructure, innovation, and skills), progress is tracked through our Inclusive Digital Economy Scorecard (IDES) which in Nepal was implemented for the first time in 2020. The tool measures the development and the evolution of the digital economy and because of its consultative nature, it supports UNCDF and its partners to set priorities in the dynamic context of the digital era.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the IDE Country Lead and in consultation with the IDE Regional Manager, the National IDE Project Officer will:

• Asist in the development of an investment pipeline and ensure projects & investments in Nepal are producing the desired results in the project timelines
• Support in Resource Mobilization
• Support in increasing visibility: Learning, Communication and Knowledge Sharing
• Operations and project management support

Objective 1: Asist in the development of an investment pipeline and ensure projects & investments in Nepal are producing the desired results in the project timelines

• Support the IDE Country Lead to provide technical assistance to private sector partners and ensure achievement of results of IDE portfolio (Regional challenge fund grants, Agritech grants and MSME project grants )
  Conduct analysis and research of the political, social and economic situation in the country and preparation of substantive inputs to the country strategy
• Support to develop regular contact (e.g. monthly) with partners, monitoring overall progress and satisfaction with UNCDF support
• Participate in weekly project progress meetings for projects with partners;
• Assist the IDE Digital Country Lead to 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
• Support IDE Digital Country Lead in the implementation of country assessments like IDES
• Organize workshops, meetings and visits as per needs of ongoing projects as per plan;

Objective 2: Support in Resource Mobilization

• In consultation with the IDE Digital Country Lead, update on a quarterly basis the donor map
• Prepare donor briefs for the use of the IDE Digital Country Lead
• Maintain updated the corporate UNCDF presentation of activities in Nepal
• Ensure financial and narrative reports are issued on time as per Cost Sharing Agreement requirements with donors
• Update and manage UNCDF Nepal stakeholder list

Objective 3: Support in increasing visibility: Learning, Communication and Knowledge Sharing

• Ensure UNCDF’s-IDE learnings in Nepal and results are disseminated in a way that helps UNCDF in effectively implementing IDE Strategy in the country
• In consultation with the Regional KM and Communications Specialist, develop and implement the knowledge management and communication strategy of the country
• Assist to plan and support IDE’s Country Lead to conduct quarterly webinars with partners
• Ensure webinars, online workshops and knowledge sharing sessions are happening with partners
• Support Regional team on knowledge management of Nepal reports, publications, and strategy documents
• Ensure all documents are properly stored in sharepoint
• Ensure information on Airtable for Nepal is up-to-date

Objective 4: Operations and project management support

• Assist in preparing grants and performance-based agreements, track progress and take lead in quality assurance for approved partners and for donors
• Assist in developing all required systems, tools, reports and indicators, required for efficient, effective reporting of ongoing projects in Nepal including periodic reports/projections to UNCDF HQ, UNCDF Regional team, Nepal Rastra Bank, MoF and any relevant stakeholder/Ministries
• Assist in on-boarding, managing and guiding project interns to ensure high quality deliverables

Arrangements:

• The incumbent will work under the supervision of the IDE Country Lead in Nepal in collaboration with IDE’s Regional Manager
• The country weekly meeting with team member will be arranged on weekly basis, the incumbent is required to provide work arrangement and update of projects’ activity to the team.
• The Regional call will be conducted on monthly basis, the incumbent has to be involved on updating and presenting the projects’ progress on each month as well as providing the plan for the following month and potential risks to regional team.
• The National IDE Project Officer will be part of the existing IDE team in Nepal and work closely with UNCDF partners to achieve the project results by providing regular technical assistance and facilitating partnerships within the eco-system.

Competencies

Core:

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making

People Management: UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

• Knowledge Generation: Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need
• Human-centered Design: Ability to develop solutions to problems by involving the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving process
• Results-based Management: Ability to manage programmes and projects with a focus at improved performance and demonstrable results
• Project Management: Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals
• Working with Evidence and Data: Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making
• Monitoring: Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results
• Risk Management: Ability to identify and organize action around mitigating and proactively managing risks

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Finance, Public Administration, Economics, Development Studies, Political Sciences, Social Sciences or related field.

Experience:

• At least 2 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in the development finance domain, especially related to digital financial services, including providing programmes support, hands-on experience in design, and monitoring and evaluation of development projects
• At least 1 year of relevant experience in digital finance
• Working knowledge of financial inclusion and digital financial services
• Experience of stakeholder engagement, preferably related to financial inclusion applying market systems approaches
• Prior experience in implementing advocacy and communications campaigns
• Prior experience in implementing development projects and use of advanced project management concepts and tools would be an advantage
• Prior experience working with the private sector on Financial Inclusion would be an advantage
• Familiar with softwares used by PSPs and FinTechs
• Previous experience with the UN system

Language Requirement:

• Fluency in written and spoken English and Nepali

Disclaimer

Important information for US Permanent Residents (‘Green Card’ holders)
Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment.

UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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