Intern, Financial Inclusion, UNCDF

Background

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)’s mission is to reduce poverty in the world’s 48 least developed countries (LDCs) by focusing on local development and financial inclusion.  UNCDF provides investment capital and technical support to both the public and the private sector. It provides capital financing -- in the forms of grants, soft loans and credit enhancement – and the technical expertise to unleash sustainable financing at the local level.

In Lao PDR, UNCDF has implemented the joint programme Making Access to Finance more Inclusive for Poor People (MAFIPP) with the central bank, Bank of Lao PDR (BoL).MAFIPP’s objective is to increase access to financial services to low income households and micro-entrepreneurs on a sustainable basis. To achieve this, the 2010-Sept. 2018 programme has adopted a deliberate market development approach to deliver change at the macro, meso and micro levels.

• Macro level: a comprehensive financial diagnostic survey to provide market information on financial inclusion in the Lao PDR. Assist BoL in developing a comprehensive and operational strategy for Financial Inclusion.
• Meso level: the programme builds capacity of financial service support organizations so that they can support the retail sector.
• Retail level: provides technical assistance and financing support to market players to strengthen institutional capacity and advance financial inclusion with the financial support from DFAT and UNCDF. It aims to increase to +266,000 users of financial services by Sept. 2018, equivalent to +6% of the adult population.

Main achievements so far:

Roadmap for Financial Inclusion: UNCDF started off assistance to BoL using the UNCDF MAP methodology to derive an actionable strategy from an evidence-based diagnostic and participatory engagement with a large array of stakeholders. Major milestones:

• 03 July 2015: dissemination workshop of the results of the nationwide FinScope survey on the use of formal and informal financial services by adults;
• 17 September 2015: plenary workshop to share results from supply-side and regulatory analysis after discussions with stakeholder at 5 sectorial workshops
• 03 November 2016: socialization workshop of the advance draft of the Laos Roadmap for Financial Inclusion 2016-2020 towards line ministries and Donor Partners, following extensive central and 4 provincial consultations over the 2nd quarter of 2016.
• Q4 2017: official sign-off of the finalized Roadmap by the Governor of BoL and release of the related action plan

Immediate next steps: drafting of the action plan, M&E framework and resourcing plan of the Roadmap.

Digital Financial Services (DFS): An interagency (Bank of Lao PDR, Ministry of Post & Telecoms) regulatory group was setup in December 2013: it unveiled a piloting framework end 2014, shared a first draft of regulation with the industry in March 2015, and granted 3 pilot licenses over Q3 of 2015.  The National Payments Systems Law due for passation in Q4 2017 will provide the umbrella framework for this development and further entice fintechs

3 DFS projects are funded by UNCDF:

• BCEL Community Money Express (BCOME) operational since June 2015: agent-banking to offer closer access to rural residents to banking services. As of Q3 2017, 160+ active agents (independent village shop owners and branches of 5 MFIs) covering the 18 provinces of Laos and 6,200+ active users with a monthly transaction volume of $1.4+ mn. 70% of transaction value is initiated from rural areas, ¾ of transactions are of amount below $200. BCOME?BCEL mobile-banking app BCEL One bridge developed in June 2016 enabling full P2P transactional capacities for the 100,000 BCEL One users (transfer to other BCEL account via BCEL One, otherwise send money from BCEL One for cashing-in through BCOME).
• Unitel U-Money for launch piloting in Q4 2017: telco-led mobile wallet linked with the Unitel SIM card with full P2P functionalities embedded. UNITEL very aggressive commercially: aiming for 100,000 registerd users within 6 month. Cash-in/out point through its own distribution network of 240 business centers and showrooms and the on-boarding of 50 agents in pilot phase.
• Banque Franco Lao (UNCDF SHIFT investment) on the back of a leading consumer goods distribution chain: launch due in Q1 2018 with an objective of digitizing payments of 5,000 resellers (70% women) paving the way for working capital refinancing and additional financial services.

UNCDF has initiated in 2014 the Fund for Inclusive Finance (FIF), a challenge fund to channel all support (grants and loans) to meso and micro-level players and seeks to crowd-in private investment to support financial inclusion. FIF had disbursed cumulatively by end 2016 $1.6mn of loan, grants and direct TA to a total of 17 projects. The leverage required by FIF has been progressively lifted from a minimum grantee’s contribution to the funded project cost of 25% cash/in-kind, to 50% in the case of BCEL and even 66% cash only in the case of Unitel.

UNCDF is finally supporting the two important sectorial meso-level organizations to develop capacity-building services: the Microfinance Association has delivered since October 2015 five batches of its new Microfinance Masters Certificate Course supported by UNCDF to a total of 170 professionals, while the Banking Institute has enrolled 100 freshmen each year since September 2014 in its 3-year Higher Diploma of Microfinance.

For more details kindly refer to MAFIPP mini-website www.mafipp.org and also to http://mm4p.uncdf.org/where-we-work/lao-pdr (and browse Publications & Videos sections)

Objectives of the assignment

The Intern will assist the UNCDF Financial Inclusion Lao PDR team in sharing the results and lessons learnt from the MAFIPP Programme to stakeholders in Laos, particularly the Donor Partners.

He will also help the Team presenting the programmatic avenues of UNCDF following the MAFIPP Programme, towards new interventions

This may include assisting the SHIFT team in the organization of financial inclusion (FI) conferences, in depth policy research, data analysis and conducting case studies on a variety of financial inclusion topics, reviewing and editing existing market assessments,  gathering Donor Partner intelligence, developing argumentations for new interventions. Furthermore, the intern will support the  UNCDF Financial Inclusion Lao PDR team in undertaking other tasks on ad-hoc basis depending on current needs.

Duties and Responsibilities

The intern will be responsible for:

• Conduct case studies, analysis and policy research on financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment: topic areas may include digital financial services, SMEs, agricultural value chain financing, financial product and services innovations, remittance, etc.;
• Support the UNCDF Financial Inclusion Lao PDR team in the organization of FI conferences/events;
• Support in-depth data analysis to inform MAFIPP’s programmes and policy publications.
• Undertake internal data analysis to develop insights into the drivers and barriers of usage of digital financial services;
• Support the UNCDF regional office with administrative, promotional or communicational duties;
• assist MAFIPP staff in revamping the MAFIPP mini-website www.mafipp.org and feeding the corporate www.uncdf.org website with Laos content;
• Provide support to other ad-hoc assignments directed by the supervisor.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Commitment to UNCDFs vision, mission, and strategic goals;
• Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty;
• Excellent organizational, inter-personal, communication and administrative skills;
• Able to work effectively in a team and in a multi-cultural environment.

Functional Competencies:

• Demonstrable skills in research, analytical thinking, and communication;
• Excellent writing and editing skills in English;
• Either big data analysis skills ideally involving GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and data visualization
• Or external communication skills involving document layout skills and/or video editing skills and/or internet communication (website, FB, e-mails)
• Proven ability to manage diverse and complex tasks, with tight deadlines;
• Able to take initiative and work independently, with minimum supervision;
• Strong organizational, communication and interpersonal skills with ability to work under pressure within an international setting;
• Interest in the UN system and general knowledge of development issues is a plus;
• Prior working experience in the financial system or the mobile telecoms industry is a strong asset.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Candidates may be enrolled (or one year after graduation) in a Master’s or Post grad degree or equivalent studies.

Experience:

• Demonstrated experience, part or full-time, paid or volunteer, in economics, policy related work, finance, inclusive finance or related fields;
• Demonstrated research and analytical capacity;
• Excellent computer capabilities.

Language:

• Strong writing and speaking abilities in English.
• Knowledge of Lao or Vietnamese or Chinese is a strong asset

Duration of Assignment:

Please note that this is an open call for applications, please indicate your availability from 01-Nov-2017 to 01-Feb-2018.

Conditions:

Interns are not financially remunerated by UNCDF. The costs associated with the latter must be borne by the nominating institution, related institution or government, which may provide the required financial assistance to its students; or by the student, who will have to obtain financing for subsistence and make his/her own arrangements for travel, accommodation, etc. Proof of medical and life/accident insurance valid for the location in which the internship will be carried out (i.e. Bangkok, Thailand);The purpose of the Internship Programme is not to lead to further employment with UNCDF but to complement an intern’s studies; therefore, there should be no expectation of employment at the end of an internship.Please submit your Resume/CV and an application using the UNCDF Internship Application form: http://uncdf.org/download/file/127/2509/internshipdoc

Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file.