Project Management Support Specialist (Rural Finance)

UNOPS Myanmar has been selected by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MOALI) to provide “Project Management and Technical Assistance” for the implementation of Eastern States Agri-business Project (ESAP) which is financed by IFAD and implemented by IWUMD. The project’s goal is to improve the economic status of poor rural women and men in selected areas of Kayin and Shan states. Its objective is to increase the incomes of smallholder and agroforestry households in these areas in an environmentally sustainable manner. It will promote commercial smallholder agriculture linked to agribusiness, improve living standards of the rural communities, and reverse the environmental degradation. Economic benefits will be generated for 62,400 households consisting of 315,000 people of Karen, Shan, Pa-oh, Inn and Mon ethnic groups.

The Project components are (1) Strategic Investment (2) Enabling Investment and (3) Project Management. Under the Strategic Investment Component, there are two sub-components namely Land Development and Agro-forestry. Under the Enabling Investment Component, there are two sub-components namely Investment in Knowledge and Micro Finance Services. The lead project implementing agency is the Irrigation and Water Utilization Management Department (IWUMD) of the Ministry of Agriculture Livestock and Irrigation (MOALI) Myanmar. The Project Implementation cooperating agencies are the Department of Agriculture (DOA), Department of Rural Development (DRD), Department of Agriculture Land Management and Statistic (DALMS), Department of Agricultural Mechanization (DAM), Department of the Agriculture Research (DAR) under the Ministry of Agriculture Livestock and Irrigation. ESAP Project Management Unit (PMU) is located in Naypyitaw while the Project Implementation Offices (PIOs) are located in Taunggyi (Shan State) and Pha-an (Kayin State). The total project cost is USD 65.2 million over a six-year implementation period. 

The Rural Finance Consultant will be assigned to the Sub-Component 2.2 Services.  He/she will be working closely with the Department of Agriculture (DOA) and the Department of Rural Development (DRD) who are the implementing departments of the Rural Finance activities. 

The consultant will be working closely with the Saving and Credit Group (SCG) service providers assigned to Shan and Kayin State; state-level Saving and Credit Group Implementation Teams of Shan State and Kayin State; and township-level Saving and Credit Group Implementation Teams operating in 8 project townships (four in Shan state and four in Kayin State).  

The key functional responsibilities of the Project Management Support Specialist include: 

• Identify underlying constraints for business transactions all along the product value chains. 

• Providing the farmers with essential information on the crop market and on desired quality, packaging and processing practices help them to choose the most appropriate and profitable crops, crop varieties, production methods, and post-harvest and processing technologies. 

• Reduce the risks of lost incomes due to the market instability, low prices, and poor quality of agro-produce. 

• Strengthen the links between the farmers and the agri-businesses and improve trust among the farmers, agri-businesses and financial institutions for sustainable production and co-operation.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant is responsible for the successful implementation of the Saving and Credit Group activities of ESAP and ensure strong links of the SCG activities to the project supported production activities, value chain activities, Sloping Land Agriculture Technology (SALT) Implementation, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Climate Resilient and Gender mainstreaming. 

The Project Management Support Specialist will be in lead of designing the ESAP Credit Guarantee Scheme mechanism through consultations with MOPF and local banks and other financial Institutions who are pioneers in operating credit guarantee schemes in Myanmar. 

In Project Management Support Specialist’s work, post-project sustainability of the SCGs and Credit Guarantee Scheme will be of focal importance when designing and supporting the start-up of the schemes.

The details of the duties and responsibilities are:

The Project Management Support Specialist reports to the PMU and the Project Management Advisor. The duties and responsibilities of the Rural Finance Consultant include but are not limited to:

1. Review the SCG approaches and practices of the private service providers and ensure that they follow the best practices in community-based finance. 

2. Ensure that the SCG approaches used by each service provider can fully accommodate the planned ESAP grant-based operations to increase the SCG lending capacity and impact.

3. Produce, working together with the SCG service providers, the Saving and Credit Group Operations Manual for ESAP the internal use.

4. Conduct the training need assessment of the SCG implementation teams at the state and township level and produce the capacity building plan with training materials and conduct the TOT (Trainer For Training)  training for the key staff members. 

5. Study continuously the SCG operation, identify the risks for successful operations and post-project sustainability of SCGs, and propose improvements and mitigation measures.

6. Ensure that the SCG activities support the extension and success of the project-introduced production technologies for both irrigated land and upland.

7. Produce, after the SCG operations of ESAP are well established in the field,  ESAP Credit Guarantee Guidelines through consultations with the Financial Regulatory Department (FRD) of the Ministry of Planning Finance and Industry (MOPFI), Private Micro-credit and Savings Development Supporting Committee, and Microfinance Business Supervisory Committee and especially the operational  Credit Guarantee Schemes run by the local banks and organizations (CB Bank, JICA, LIFT, WSAP, etc.).

8. Make sure that SCG and Credit Guarantee activities are well linked and support the value chain activities, post harvesting activities, GAP, Climate resilient activities and gender mainstreaming of ESAP. 

9. Produce the training materials for the Credit Guarantee Scheme and conduct training for PMU, MOPF and bank officials. 

10. Assist the PMU in forming the Credit Guarantee Scheme Committee. 

11. Provide technical backstopping to the operation of the credit guarantee scheme. 

12. Conduct other duties assigned by the Project management as required. 

Scope and Work Start-up

The rural finance activities of ESAP cover eight townships and two states: Hopong, Sisieng, Kyauktalonegyi, Taunggyi townships of southern Shan state and Pha-an, Hlaing Bwe, Kawkareik, Thandaunggyi in Kayin State. At the start-up of the consultancy, the consultant will meet the rural finance institutions and organizations and banks in Nyapyitaw, Yangon and in the two project states, Shan and Kayin. He/she will also have close consultation with MOPFI, DOA, DRD and the Department of Cooperative overproducing of the SCG Guidelines as well as the Credit Guarantee Mechanism and capacity building plans. The Consultant will: 

• Study the rural finance activities and credit guarantee activities operating in Myanmar 

• Meet with the relevant departments under MOPFI, DOA, microfinance institutions, and local banks involved in SCG and Credit Guarantee Schemes. 

• Visit Shan and Kayin States, meeting with the SCG service providers and SCG Implementation teams at the states and townships. 

• Conduct a workshop to present the Consultant’s findings and proposals for SCG guidelines to the relevant officials for review and comments. 

The Consultant shall:

• Interact actively with other ESAP staff and groups to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices.

• Provide feedback to Practice Leads on policy, supporting continuous improvements of UNOPS policies

• Complete lessons learned as per reporting format

• Incorporate lessons learned from others as per planning format

• Understand and respect UNOPS sustainability principles

• Look for ways to embed UNOPS sustainability principles.

• Seek opportunities to champion gender equality at the workplace.

• Understand and Respect National ownership and capacity

• Understand the principles of the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness and mainstream them into the project plans

• Look for ways to build capacity of local counterparts

Partnerships and Coordination 

• Understand the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and UNOPS, the project’s place in the UN system

• Strive to build strong partnerships and effective coordination among relevant project actors (e.g. United Nations, governments, and non-governmental organizations or other relevant partners) 

Accountability for results and the use of resources

• Service agreements, contracting, procurement of the works are in line with the role and regulation of the donor and transparent. To report to the project management in case of any doubt arising. 

Excellence

• Contribute to innovation and the adaptation of best practice standards of sustainability and quality. 

• Inception report

• Value chain capacity development plan including production of the training materials. 

• Value chain advisory report, Pro-poor value chain strategy. 

• Technical Protocol for demonstration of the recommended value chain activities. 

• Review and edit value chain study report produced by National Value Chain Specialist. 

• Master’s Degree Microfinance, Banking, Agricultural Business, Business Administration or equivalent is required.

• A Bachelor’s degree in the same fields with additional two years relevant experience can be accepted in lieu of Master’s degree.

• Minimum 5 years in rural finance, including senior level experience in support and/or management of community-based.

•  Savings and credit operations, together with relevant experience with Credit Guarantee Schemes, Agri-business development, and Agricultural Finance is a strong asset .  

• Working experience in developing countries, preferably in Southeast Asia is an asset.

• Fluency in both written and spoken English is required.

Contract type: ICA Contract level: I-ICA 2
Contract duration: maximum 100 working days

• 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.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• 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.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

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Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.