Senior Gender and Financial Inclusion Specialist at TechnoServe

Job Summary:

• The Gender and Financial Inclusion Specialist shall be responsible for tasks that are directly related to increasing access to finance for smallholder farmers in 5 northern states in coordination with the Project Manager.
• S/he will identify suitable financial institutions for this component and will coordinate the implementation of this component.

Program Overview:

The ALDDN program seeks to catalyze the Nigerian dairy sector in an inclusive way that improves the livelihoods, productivity, nutrition and empowerment of smallholder women dairy farmers and the communities in which they live. More specifically, the program seeks to:

• Advocate for an enabling environment for local sourcing through engagements with the government and relevant private sector stakeholders.
• Increase demand for locally sourced milk through partnerships with dairy processors currently or interested in sourcing locally.
• Improve smallholder dairy farmers’ productivity by increasing their access to technical support services and the right inputs.
• Empower women dairy farmers and enable them to improve their livelihoods and that of their households.
• Improve nutrition outcomes among smallholder dairy households through food systems entry points.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

• Conduct access to finance gap analysis for smallholder dairy farmers, particularly women.
• Collaborate with financial institutions and mobile money providers to provide dairy farmers, particularly women, with contextualized financial services and products such as savings accounts, micro-credit, Islamic banking, mobile banking etc.
• Work collaboratively with the project lead in deepening a positive behavioural transition of dairy smallholder farmers from cash payments to digital payments.
• Facilitate the provision of financial products tailored to the dairy sector such as input credit, equipment leasing or insurance.
• Coordinate the development and provision of literacy programs to dairy farmers on topics such as budgeting, basic bookkeeping, savings etc.
• Produce statistical and narrative reports for internal and external consumption, including success stories, challenges, case studies and impact results against selected indicators.
• Serve as the principal liaison between financial institutions, including banks, microfinance institutions, impact investors, and other financial service providers.
• Lead the analysis for farmer profit or loss, the economics of production and tracking of all activities related to input financing.
• Develop and maintain close working relationships with key partners and other organizations finance interested in finance access for smallholder farmers.
• Work with TechnoServe’s Access to Finance practice group to ensure best practices in the project are utilized.
• Monitor the contracts and agreements relating to financial services and products.
• Oversee the farmer literacy training content development and execution
• Strict adherence to the timeframe of assignments in project life-scope
• Any other tasks that may be assigned.

Basic Qualifications:

• A Bachelor's in the Social Sciences, Economics, Finance or any related fields and 5 years experience in similar capacities relating to banking, financial management and international development (or a Master's Degree plus 3 years experience)
• Ability to develop well-written, cohesive analyses and reports.
• Excellent communication, analytical and strategy skills.
• Confident with project management and reporting.
• Experience with relevant software packages, including Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word and so on.

Preferred/Additional Qualification:

• At least two years of experience in gender and financial inclusion in humanitarian development within Northern Nigeria.

Required Languages: Hausa

Travel: 30%

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Self-starter, energetic, and friendly
• Comfortable with new ways of thinking and working
• Engages people and empowers them to deliver on promises
• Maintains integrity and personal reputation
• Ability to analyze complex issues and propose solutions
• Reviews information quickly and does not hesitate to try out solutions
• Passionate about knowledge learning and sharing.