Financial Inclusion Program Strategic Advisor

Location: Remote in the US

Reports to: Impact and Analytics Director

Term: Full-time

Start Date: May 2017

Job Overview

Nuru International is a social venture on a mission to end extreme poverty from rural remote places. Nuru International works with local leaders and cooperative societies to advance its mission in Kenya and Ethiopia. The Financial Inclusion Program is aimed at enabling farmers to cope with economic shocks and increase income opportunities through access to financial services as well as livelihood and income diversification initiatives.

The Financial Inclusion Program Strategic Advisor (FI PSA) supports the implementation of Nuru International’s Financial Inclusion programming across country projects. She/he is a primary contact person for Nuru International’s country projects on all matters related to the organization’s Financial Inclusion Program initiatives.

The position requires working closely with other Impact and Analytics Program Strategic Advisors and especially with the Agriculture Program PSA on cross-functional programming. This includes thematic areas such as cooperative businesses, financial services, mobile banking, and income and livelihood diversification initiatives. Expected travel is between 20-30% internationally. We are looking for an experienced professional with solid background and experience in microfinance, mobile banking, cooperatives development and income and livelihood diversification programing.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Program Leadership and Oversight:

• Serve as the primary technical expert in FI for Nuru International

• Provide technical assistance and monitoring support to Program Specialists and Program Managers in each country project to ensure the team on the ground is able to design and implement sustainable poverty solutions

• Provide substantive advice to country projects and Nuru International leadership to help maintain quality programming

• Track progress reports and maintain an in-depth understanding of FI performance in each country project via regular calls and updates with designated points of contact (local program managers, expat teams in the field, and M&E)

• Carry out periodic review visits to country projects to observe the execution of activities of the program and to give technical advice and support for the effective implementation of the FI and livelihood diversification programs (financial literacy, mobile banking, group savings and lending, and support to cooperatives)

• Support country projects in their livelihood and income diversification strategy through conducting market assessments and training on market oriented business plan creation

• Integrate into Nuru International’s Operational Advisory Group to advise the international organization and country offices on development of long-term strategy, operational plans, and budgets

• Maintain an in-depth understanding of cutting edge developments and best practices in FI, cooperatives, income and livelihood diversification

• Represent Nuru International FI Program in international conventions, conferences and public meetings

Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Collaborate closely with the M&E team to develop and review the FI and livelihood diversification initiatives and periodically review the progress towards impact

• Support country projects in designing and maintaining an effective database solution to collect and store periodic monitoring data in core FI activities and outcomes

• Collaborate with the M&E team in reviewing FI Program’s logic model and analyzing outcome indicators and write quarterly and annual performance reports to be shared externally

Training and Staff Professional Development:

• Assist country projects in the design and curriculum development of financial literacy training programs tailored to meet the demand and financial goal of the clients

• Provide direct or indirect training of trainers for country project field staff on training content, delivery, and adult learning methods

• Link country projects with local, regional or international training development resources

Impact Programs Integration:

• Work closely with Impacts and Analytics Programs team to find synergies and efficiencies across programming for effective integration

• Working with ad hoc groups to develop proposals to address major issues and challenges with respect to achieving the goals of Nuru International (e.g. systems development, benchmarking performance and cost effectiveness)

• Provide substantive contributions to the refinement of existing impact programs model for effective integration and programming around cooperatives

Field-based On-boarding:

• This is a career fast-track assignment available to competitive candidates under the conditions of a field-based training and on-boarding period. This entails three (3) months of on-boarding in the United States and field sites in Kenya and Ethiopia. This intensive assignment will be an opportunity for the candidate to train on the Nuru approach and model while immediately adding value to country projects.

Qualifications:

• Master’s or graduate degree in business administration, international development, economics, rural development or a related field

• Minimum five years of work experience in international development with emphasis on rural microfinance, entrepreneurship, agricultural lending and cooperatives development

• Minimum two years of experience living and working in a developing country

• Formal data management experience, solid quantitative skills, and advanced level of experience with MS Excel; experience with other database platforms such as Salesforce a plus

• Strong verbal and written communication skills including cross-cultural communication

• Crisis management and rapid, innovative problem solving in uncertain environments

• Great at listening, feedback, and showing empathy

• Adapts easily to rapidly changing work environments; operates effectively in high-stress situations

• Basic understanding of servant leadership

• Very personable – easily gains the trust and confidence of others

• High commitment to organization’s mission and theory of change

• Functions independently with minimal supervision

General Competencies and Behaviors:

• Fully comply with our Code of Conduct and policies – live our values

• Meet general professional expectations for all Nuru staff

• Become recognized as a model servant leader in the organization

• Deliver very high quality products in a timely manner

• Use feedback to grow as a professional

• Be proactive and independent – take initiative and be able to operate effectively on “commander’s intent” with little supervision

• “Getting the job done” – even if this means long/unusual hours

Please upload your resume and cover letter outlining how your skills and experience meet the qualifications of the position at our website here. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.