Microfinance Training Officer

The Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) is a multi-donor trust fund established in 2009 to address food insecurity and income poverty in Myanmar. LIFT has received funding from 14 donors – the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, Switzerland, Denmark, the United States, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Luxembourg, Italy, New Zealand, Ireland and Mitsubishi Corporation. The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is the Fund Manager to administer the funds and provide monitoring and oversight.

The overall goal of LIFT is to sustainably reduce the number of people living in poverty and hunger in Myanmar. LIFT’s purpose is to improve the incomes and nutrition status of poor people in Myanmar by promoting resilient livelihoods and food security. LIFT’s designated outcomes are improvements in income, resilience, nutrition, and pro-poor policy developments.

LIFT works with implementing partners that include international and national non-government organisations, United Nations agencies, the Government of Myanmar, private sector organisations, academic and research institutions.

LIFT is active in the four main agro-ecological zones of Myanmar: the Ayeyarwady Delta, the Rakhine State, the central dry zone (including Mandalay, Magway and the southern Sagaing region), and the upland areas of Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin and Shan States and Tanintharyi Region.

So far, LIFT has reached more than 7.2 million people, or roughly 20 per cent of Myanmar’s population; and is active in almost half the country’s townships. LIFT is funding projects through to June 2019. For more details visit www.lift-fund.org.

Objective of the Assignment

Microfinance interventions have been a key element of LIFT support to households, aimed at improving both agricultural and non-agricultural livelihoods in Myanmar. Up until now, LIFT has partnered with 17 microfinance institutions, reaching out to more than 1.6 million households. The efficiency of microfinance markets depend on effective regulations and supervisions; the Ministry of Planning and Finance thus formed the Financial Regulatory Department (FRD)[1] in October 2011 as the focal Government Agency for regulating and supervising microfinance markets (see more details about FRD at this link http://www.mof.gov.mm/en/content/myanma-small-loans-enterprise).

Since 2012, LIFT has been supporting FRD in its capacity development in the areas of policy development, supervision, and information management.

FRD recently issued a set of regulations that support microfinance markets by allowing microfinance institutions to provide higher loan amounts, borrow from any other financial sources, and take up deposit-taking licenses with increased paid-up capital. These regulations also hold institutions to client protection principles. This new set of regulations aims to promote operational efficiency, accountability, responsibility, and client protection among microfinance institutions when delivering financial services. In order to ensure that all microfinance institutions comply with new and existing rules and regulations, FRD is obliged to examine microfinance institutions on a regular basis.

Upon request of FRD, LIFT recruited a Senior International Adviser for microfinance examination with responsibilities of providing on the job training to FRD staff members in areas of on site and off site examinations of the microfinance institutions.  LIFT is now recruiting a Training Officer to  support  the Senior International Advisor. The position is based in the FRD offices in Nay Pyi Taw. 

Under the direct supervision of the Senior International Advisor and under the overall guidance of the LIFT International Officer of Rural Finance and in close coordination with FRD , the Microfinance Training Officer will be responsible for the following:

a)      Training program development

• Review microfinance legal documents and prepare checklist for onsite and offsite examination.
• identify training needs and provide technical inputs in designing the training curriculum
• Develop training plan/schedule through consultation with Financial Regulatory Department and implement them
• Maintain training records and prepare training reports
• Ensure availability of training resources and tools before the training

b)      Translation:

• Assist the Senior Adviser with translation during microfinance training sessions and during examination exercises.
• Provide translation to designing training curriculum.
• Translate training materials into English and Myanmar. 
• Assist FRD with translation of microfinance official documents into English and Myanmar.

c)       Logistic support to training activities:

• Assist the Senior Adviser for preparation of work plans.
• Support the Senior Advisor during the off and onsite examinations

• Coordinate with admin assistants/program assistants for organizing  travel arrangements such as preparation of travel authorization, purchasing tickets, hotel bookings, preparing field visit reports (or back to office report), and travel expense claims.
• Ensure that activities followed according to UNOPS administrative procedures by liaising  and coordinating with Program Support Team. .     
• Take a leading role for coordinating with FRD for class room and on the job training arrangements.

d)    Communication and Partnering

• Communicate with microfinance institutions and Myanmar Microfinance Association as requested by the Senior Adviser and FRD.
• Act as a liaison partner between LIFT and FRD
• Facilitate communication and sharing of information among the different stakeholders
• Perform any other tasks assigned by LIFT or the Senior Adviser.

Deliverables

• Training related documents translated into English and Myanmar
• Manual of microfinance institution examiner guide translated into Myanmar  

a.       Education

• A Master degree in business administration, accounting, finance or related field to the ToR  is required.
• A Bachelor’s degree in combination with additional two years of similar experience may be accepted in lieu of a Master’s degree.

b.      Work Experience

• Minimum 2 years of relevant working experience in Microfinance law and regulation is required.
• Experience in microfinance training and translation would be an asset.
• Experience in liaising, coordinating and communicating with Government and implementing partners is desirable.
• Hands-on experience in translation for workshops and during meetings is an asset. 

c.       Language

• Fluency in both English and Myanmar/Burmese languages are required (written and oral expression)

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

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