Portfolio Coordinator – Financial Inclusion job at GOAL

Program Background

The Agrifood System Transformation for Youth Employment (ASTYE) Uganda program

ASTYE is a 5-year transformative initiative designed to enable dignified and fulfilling work opportunities primarily for financially disadvantaged young women, refugees, and vulnerable groups by addressing structural barriers in Uganda's Agrifood system. Aligned with Uganda’s Vision 2040, the National Development Plan and Government of Uganda Agriculture Value Chain Development Strategy, the program will contribute to national efforts toward poverty alleviation, economic growth, as well food and nutrition security. Additionally, ASTYE is part of the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy in Uganda, which aims to empower 4.3 million young Ugandans, particularly young women, by addressing structural barriers to employment and providing them with the skills and resources to succeed.

Specifically, GOAL will implement component one to reach 500,000 financially disadvantaged young people, with 400,000 transiting into work and 320,000 securing dignified and fulfilling work. As the program is young women-centric, 80% of the total outreach target will be young women within Uganda's agrifood ecosystem. Furthermore, 3% of the total youth in work target will be refugees, and another 3% will be people with disabilities.

General Description of the Role

The Portfolio Coordinator – Financial Inclusion is a position reporting directly to the ASTYE Program Lead and will be part of ASTYE Programme team. The PC Financial Inclusion will lead, facilitate partner management processes and coordinate with multiple Partner Financial Institutions to design and deliver robust, high impact financial inclusion programming and strategies to expand access to financial services for youth; development of interventions, tools and resources in the financial services sector; and the empowerment and upskilling of other Programme team members to successfully and seamlessly implement financial services interventions, while ensuring timely and accurate reporting. He/She will contribute to strategic and technical direction for the ASTYE programme.

The key responsibilities of the role will be:

Strategic Technical Leadership

• Bring a broad range of knowledge, experience and networks in the financial sector in Uganda, to inform program strategy, programmatic partnering opportunities including a comprehensive knowledge of all the financial service providers and their products and services, including savings, loans, asset financing, insurance, mobile money and wallets, digital trading platforms and business capacity strengthening providers.
• Keep abreast of and document the opportunities that exist through global entities e.g., EU, World Bank and commercial banks etc for MSMEs.
• Lead the research, mapping and documentation and implementation of the ASTYE financial and digital inclusion and BDS strategies and represent and integrate these strategies across other program strategies and the PMU.
• Identify and champion innovative interventions (including ICT), in financial services targeted towards improving the inclusion of youth, women, refugees and PWD.
• Take the lead in the relationship management of financial service provider partners, building skills, confidence and experience of team members to do the same.
• Using GOAL Private Sector Partnering (PSP) toolkit, identify a portfolio of financial service partners and lead the development of co-designed and cost shared initiatives to increase access to a broad range of appropriate financial products and services for youth in the agri-food system as well as agrifood system actors.
• Work with the Finance / Partnership team to ensure the appropriate due diligence assessments are undertaken and completed to a high standard, approved and filed.
• (See MEAL below for monitoring, adaptive management and measurement)
• Work closely within the PMU and lead the development of program work plans that relate to financial services and BDS.
• Overseas the development and verification of partners milestone, approval of milestone payments within the scheduled timeframe, and timely payments to financial service partners.
• Work closely with CSO partners to strengthen the technical capacity and measurement of financial literacy programing and linkages to financial inclusion program with access to a range of financial products and services.
• Work closely with the Partnership team to ensure that all partnering documents are completed and approved correctly and documented in the Global Partnership Centre (GPC) management information system.
• Work with the ASTYE Program Lead, MEAL Coordinator and PMU to provide high quality timely reporting in line with the program documents and donor requirements.

Budget management

• Work closely within the PMU and lead the development of program budgets that relate to work plans for financial services and BDS.
• Be responsible for the monitoring and adjustment of the financial inclusion components of the budget in collaboration with the PMU and ASTYE Program Lead.

Program Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning

• For each partnership with financial and BDS providers, ensure that an appropriate[1] short list of business facing KPIs are built into partners proposal and review these with the team and partner on a 1-2 monthly basis.
• Based on the KPIs, lead the adaptive management of partnerships with a broad range of financial service providers and provide the leadership and documentation on adaptations over time by partner.
• With the PMU and MEAL team contribute to and monitor data from the case management system.
• Provide technical direction and input to monitoring and evaluation tools for the financial and business inclusion components of ASTYE.
• With the PMU, MEAL Coordinator and ASTYE Program Lead, and using program data and evidence, plan and conduct regular reflection and learning events with relevant stakeholders and revise financial inclusion strategies as required.
• Develop at least one learning brief a year
• Develop a financial inclusion project brief and update every year.

People Management

• Inspire and empower when managing relationships up, down and horizontally.
• Build skills and confidence in financial inclusion using a MSD approach across the program team.
• Develop effective professional technical relationships with the PMU and MEAL teams responsible for design implementation, management and measurement of the program.
• Provide technical training and mentoring in all aspects of financial inclusion programming

External Stakeholder Engagement

• Network, coordinate, and cooperate with key agricultural market systems actors at national, regional and district level, including government ministries, their departments and agencies, ensuring buy-in for interventions to maximize impact and affect system level change.
• Represent GOAL Uganda in a range of external fora and building strategic relationships and partnerships.

Job Level Specifications

Essential Criteria

• Master’s Degree in Agricultural Finance, Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics and Development Studies
• At least 7 years’ experience in the financial service sector and a broad knowledge of local, national and international financial service providers and their products and services.
• Experience of financial products and services that support agrifood system development.
• Demonstrated experience in promoting financial inclusion for underserved groups, including youth, women, refugees, and persons with disabilities (PWD).

Desirable Criteria

• Experience in formally partnering with financial

• Bring a broad range of knowledge, experience and networks in the financial sector in Uganda, to inform program strategy, programmatic partnering opportunities including a comprehensive knowledge of all the financial service providers and their products and services, including savings, loans, asset financing, insurance, mobile money and wallets, digital trading platforms and business capacity strengthening providers.
• Keep abreast of and document the opportunities that exist through global entities e.g., EU, World Bank and commercial banks etc for MSMEs.
• Lead the research, mapping and documentation and implementation of the ASTYE financial and digital inclusion and BDS strategies and represent and integrate these strategies across other program strategies and the PMU.
• Identify and champion innovative interventions (including ICT), in financial services targeted towards improving the inclusion of youth, women, refugees and PWD.
• Take the lead in the relationship management of financial service provider partners, building skills, confidence and experience of team members to do the same.
• Using GOAL Private Sector Partnering (PSP) toolkit, identify a portfolio of financial service partners and lead the development of co-designed and cost shared initiatives to increase access to a broad range of appropriate financial products and services for youth in the agri-food system as well as agrifood system actors.
• Work with the Finance / Partnership team to ensure the appropriate due diligence assessments are undertaken and completed to a high standard, approved and filed.
• Work closely within the PMU and lead the development of program work plans that relate to financial services and BDS.
• Overseas the development and verification of partners milestone, approval of milestone payments within the scheduled timeframe, and timely payments to financial service partners.
• Work closely with CSO partners to strengthen the technical capacity and measurement of financial literacy programing and linkages to financial inclusion program with access to a range of financial products and services.
• Work closely with the Partnership team to ensure that all partnering documents are completed and approved correctly and documented in the Global Partnership Centre (GPC) management information system.
• Work with the ASTYE Program Lead, MEAL Coordinator and PMU to provide high quality timely reporting in line with the program documents and donor requirements.
• Work closely within the PMU and lead the development of program budgets that relate to work plans for financial services and BDS.
• Be responsible for the monitoring and adjustment of the financial inclusion components of the budget in collaboration with the PMU and ASTYE Program Lead.
• For each partnership with financial and BDS providers, ensure that an appropriate[1] short list of business facing KPIs are built into partners proposal and review these with the team and partner on a 1-2 monthly basis.
• Based on the KPIs, lead the adaptive management of partnerships with a broad range of financial service providers and provide the leadership and documentation on adaptations over time by partner.
• With the PMU and MEAL team contribute to and monitor data from the case management system.
• Provide technical direction and input to monitoring and evaluation tools for the financial and business inclusion components of ASTYE.
• With the PMU, MEAL Coordinator and ASTYE Program Lead, and using program data and evidence, plan and conduct regular reflection and learning events with relevant stakeholders and revise financial inclusion strategies as required.
• Develop at least one learning brief a year
• Develop a financial inclusion project brief and update every year.
• Inspire and empower when managing relationships up, down and horizontally.
• Build skills and confidence in financial inclusion using a MSD approach across the program team.
• Develop effective professional technical relationships with the PMU and MEAL teams responsible for design implementation, management and measurement of the program.
• Provide technical training and mentoring in all aspects of financial inclusion programming
• Network, coordinate, and cooperate with key agricultural market systems actors at national, regional and district level, including government ministries, their departments and agencies, ensuring buy-in for interventions to maximize impact and affect system level change.
• Represent GOAL Uganda in a range of external fora and building strategic relationships and partnerships.

• Broad knowledge of local, national and international financial service providers and their products and services.
• Knowledge of financial products and services that support agrifood system development.
• Experience in promoting financial inclusion for underserved groups.
• Innovative thinking and ability to champion new interventions.
• Relationship management skills.
• Due diligence assessment skills.
• Budget management and monitoring skills.
• Monitoring and evaluation skills.
• Adaptive management skills.
• Data analysis and reporting skills.
• Mentoring and training skills.
• Networking and stakeholder engagement skills.

• Master’s Degree in Agricultural Finance, Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics and Development Studies
• At least 7 years’ experience in the financial service sector.
• Demonstrated experience in promoting financial inclusion for underserved groups, including youth, women, refugees, and persons with disabilities (PWD).
• Experience in formally partnering with financial institutions (Desirable).