Financial Literacy Support Officer

In 2017, UNDP Bangladesh is focused on building collaborative partnership with private sector organizations. Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Innovation-hub manager, the UNV Volunteer will assist in implementation of financial literacy training programme as part of a Financial Inclusion project in partnership with Bank Asia. The project seeks to develop a new model to digitally facilitate social-safety-net payments, thereby increasing financial inclusion.  This new model will feature a new Payment Gateway Product (Mobile App) which will enable willing and capable entrepreneurs (shopkeepers, volunteers, etc.) to offer a set of financial services. Entrepreneurs will become “Rural financial services” with their Bank Account and phone. Any mobile banking customers of Bank Asia will be able to access these Rural financial services, thereby expanding financial access points to any area of Bangladesh with 3G coverage.

The aim of the project is to enhance access to financial services but also to raise the level of financial literacy to further facilitate inclusion. The UNV Volunteer will assist the Financial Literacy & Inclusion Specialist to develop the framework of financial literacy training programme and implement the activities. With the progression of the project the UNV Volunteer will be expected to monitor and evaluate the suitability of Payment Gateway and collaborate with Programme Officer to improve the efficacy of the project. As part of the project implementation, the UNV volunteer will secure partnerships with external training organisations as well as with projects under the UN umbrella and any other entities in private and public sector relevant to the project.  The Specialist may supervise/will be part of a team comprised of UNDP, UNV and Bank Asia Staff along with international and national consultants and volunteers.

The UNV Volunteer will work in the framework of the UNDP’s programmes and projects and will work closely with the Programme Officer to ensure that training and other outputs are developed in an approach that is appropriate for the national context in Bangladesh.
 

Under the direct supervision of the Programme Officer, the National UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

• Compilation and analysis of context – such as global best-practices for financial inclusion, and critical country-specific requirements– through stakeholder consul-tations, data analysis, and input from strategic documents and other relevant sources;
• Outline of desired outcomes, in measurable and specific goals;
• Establishment of content standard in compliance with global education initiatives in financial literacy;
• Development of curriculum in mobile and paper version complete with topics, themes, modules from reputable sources, and educational material for distribu-tion;
•  Organisation of curriculum based on level of income and level of existing knowledge to be deployed for suitable groups accordingly;
• Development of timeline complete with details such as expected numbers of hours for training sessions, number of participants, possible venues, and any lo-gistical aspect of the programme;
• Procurement and management of resources – human, material, and otherwise – for delivery of training sessions;
• Timely delivery of training and educational material to recipients followed-up by measures to ensure recipients access and retain transferred knowledge;
• Launch of virtual platform, in whichever most effective format, for beneficiaries to connect, network, interact, hence expanding peer learning opportunities;
• Raise awareness of general concepts in the subject of finance, comprehend methods to use Payment Gateway, and apply the tool in conjunction with concep-tual knowledge for their desired goals;
• Provision of any resources or initiation of supplementary programmme to bolster the impact of the programme;
• Conduct surveys to collect data on satisfaction level, practical benefits, any changes in income generation activity, among other relevant benchmarks;
• Collate direct feedback from programme participants and modify user interface and content alike;
• Document individual case studies of best practices for future reference and presentation to stakeholders;
• Analysis of abovementioned quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate the effi-cacy of the programme;
• Identify community partners including but not limited to community based organi-sations, civil society networks, and small business associations for assistance;
• Identify institutional partners such as learning centres, educational institutions, ICT companies;
• Identify convergence of interest with related UN projects and pursue collaboration for mutual benefits;
• Maintain a network of above mentioned for timely provision of advice and re-sources.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Excellent interpersonal skills;   
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;  
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional competencies:

• Demonstrates understanding of research fundamentals (testing and evaluating procedures, data validation and interpretation);
• Able to analyses context  independently by designing stakeholder consultations, data interpretation and taking input from strategic documents;
• Familiar with statistical and graphical analysis of data – to ascertain efficacy of the programme;
• Excellent skills in content creation – preferably in curriculum content;
• Takes advantage of learning opportunities provided (e.g. courses, feedback from supervisor or peers) to meet requirements of current tasks;
• Adaptable in managing a virtual platform towards peer learning opportunities;
• Solid knowledge in financial resources and resource management, Programme implementation strategy, Programme logistics management, information and communication technology, general administration;
• Plans, coordinates and manages internal and external resources to accomplish assignments within the given deadlines.

Behavioral Competencies:

• Good interpersonal skills;
•  Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships to facilitate work goals;
• Demonstrable capacity to build knowledge through using various sources;
• Exhibit strong teamwork skills in a complex environment;
• Ability to promote learning environment, human rights and gender friendly work environment;
• Demonstrated capacity to work in a multicultural environment including the training and development of national colleagues.

Education:

• Master’s degree in relevant to finance, economics, or business administration;
• An additional three year relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the higher university degree.

Required Experience:

• A minimum 3 year professional experience, with particular experience in education, vocation training, or capacity building;
• Familiarity with the use of digital payments and financial technology is desired;
• Experience with or knowledge of with financial institutions such as banks is an advantage;
• Working with rural or underprivileged sector of community is valued;
• Expert in financial literacy and vocational training

Language Skills:

Fluent in both English and Bengali.

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme which welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture.

United Nations Volunteers reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this opening for other openings with United Nations Volunteers with similar assignment description, experience and educational requirements.