Programme Analyst, African Union Commission, WYFEI 2030 Financial Inclusion Cluster Full Time

United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries (LDCs). It creates new opportunities for poor people and their communities by increasing access to inclusive finance and investment capital. Established by the General Assembly in 1966 and with headquarters in New York, UNCDF is an autonomous UN organization affiliated with UNDP.

Based on UNCDF, the Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) is a partnership of 80 governments, companies, and international organizations that accelerates the transition from cash to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals 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, relief, payments to suppliers, remittances, etc. The problems with these cash payments include a lack of transparency, accountability, and security, as well as inefficiency. Individuals who receive cash payments are often part of the 1.7 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 people on low – income, 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 more information on BTCA, please visit the website: http://www.betterthancash.org/

Project Description:

Women and youth financial and economic exclusion poses a significant threat to the sustainable development of Africa and threatens to broaden and further entrench socio-economic challenges including poverty and inequality. In response to these persistent challenges, the African Union Assembly declared 2020 to 2030as the African Women’s Decade(AWD) for Financial and Economic Inclusion(FEI).

As a programmatic initiative of the AWD-FEI 2020-2030, the AU Women and Youth Financial and Economic Inclusion (WYFEI) 2030 initiative seeks to unlock key systemic bottlenecks that conspire to perpetuate poverty, deprivation and social injustice among women and youth in Africa. WYFEI 2030 seeks to unlock $100 Billion USD for at least 10 million women and youth by 2030 through leveraging and building on existing initiatives and financial instruments both in the public and private sector.

The implementation of the WYFEI initiative will be guided by the following principles:

1. Speed and scale: Delivering “at scale” initiatives and with speed to avoid leaving behind more women and youth.
2. Incremental and cumulative: Achieving the dreams of women and youth in Africa will take a step-by­ step approach, with each step building upon the other, while ensuring that mechanisms for addressing catastrophic shocks that could reverse progress are included.
3. Partnership leveraging: Creating and leveraging partnerships and networks to facilitate synergies, scale, and collective impact.
4. Innovations: Creating new innovative solutions as well as identifying, nurturing, and scaling existing financial models that target women and youth.

WYFEI 2030 uses a partnership framework for implementation that consists of 3 clusters, namely; Financial Inclusion, Entrepreneurship and Business Development, and Quotas. These clusters are communities of action that comprise an open network of organisations and stakeholders with complementary skills jointly delivering, leading and coordinating continental efforts towards enhancing women and youth financial and economic inclusion in Africa.

The Better Than Cash Alliance serves as the Cluster Lead for the Financial Inclusion Cluster of the WYFEI 2030 Initiative. The WYFEI 2030 Governance Structure comprises of four interfacing elements, these are:

1. The Cluster Lead;
2. The Cluster Convener;
3. The Steering Committee;
4. The Cluster Members;

The Cluster Convener forms part of the WYFEI Secretariat and supports the WYFEI Cluster Lead to achieve the cluster objectives and strategic priorities in accordance with the WYFEI 2030 Strategy and Workplan while ensuring linkages to AU priorities, political and institutional processes. The WYFEI 2030 Secretariat further serves as an advisory body to the Steering Committees as well as relevant partners at the national, regional and global levels in developing and implementing the initiative’s activities. Its main functions are as follows:

As a member of the WYFEI Secretariat, the Programme Analyst- WYFEI 2030 Financial Inclusion Cluster will work with the Financial Inclusion Cluster Lead, WYFEI Secretariat, and in collaboration with the entire Directorate staff to implement the following tasks:

1. Support the implementation of the Women and Youth Financial and Economic Inclusion (WYFEI) 2030 Initiative and the African Women’s Decade (AWD) on Financial and Economic Inclusion (FEI) 2020- 2030 Roadmap.
2. Facilitate the engagement of relevant partners and stakeholders, ensuring multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to the development, application and review of indicators and the monitoring of progress in the implementation of the WYFEI 2030 Initiative and the AWD on FEI.
3.  Provide administrative and coordination support to the Financial Inclusion Cluster Lead, Steering Committee and Cluster Members towards delivering annual activities and achieving cluster priorities in line with the WYFEI and AWD on FEI objectives.
4. Provide support in developing an accountability mechanism for the monitoring and evaluation of WYFEI 2030 commitments and AWD on FEI achievements.
5. Support the production and management of knowledge products in line with women and youth financial and economic inclusion including gathering knowledge on emerging issues and trends on achieving universal financial access for African women and youth to enable data driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting.
6. Support and participate in relevant activities to increase awareness, understanding and action by partners and stakeholders related to the monitoring, assessment of progress, in particular to promote cross-sectoral cooperation towards the achievement of the universal financial and economic inclusion of African women and youth
7. Support the implementation of the WYFEI 2030 Communications and Advocacy Strategy to ensure that WYFEI and AWD on FEI are cascaded at the Member State level, this includes providing information for social media platforms and website, quarterly newsletter production, and promotional materials development with focus on financial inclusion.
8. Provide operational support towards programming, research, policy and capacity building initiatives that seek to advance financial inclusion, including through synthesizing information on the implementation of relevant frameworks and AU Member State decisions and recommendations related to women and youth financial and economic inclusion.
9. Assist in preparing quarterly, mid-year and annual progress reports and in tracking expenditures and progress towards achieving the goals and objectives of the Financial Inclusion Cluster and of the WYFEI 2030 Initiative.
10. Perform additional tasks as requested by the immediate supervisor.

•  Master degree or Bachelor degree in Economics with specialization in gender studies, finance, international development, sociology or related social sciences.

• Master’s degree or 2 years of relevant work experience with Bachelor’s degree

Required  Skills:

• Experience working across different teams and projects at regional/ international policy level, with continental/ international organizations, such as the AU.
• Good knowledge of the African Union’s structure, processes, and priorities.
• Understanding and knowledge of the barriers for women in Africa to access financial services, and the opportunities financial inclusion brings in terms of women’s economic participation.
• Work experience in communications and/or advocacy, incl. on gender equality in Africa.

Language:

• Proficiency in one of the AU officials working languages (French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Swahili) and fluency in another AU language(s) is an added advantage.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

1. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
2. A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.