Economic Recovery Assistant - SDACKED Project at Danish Refugee Council

Overall purpose of the role:  
The overall purpose of the role: The overall responsibility of the Economic Recovery Assistant- SDACKED Project; Mandera is to support the Economic Recovery Coordinator to provide sound technical expertise to a financial inclusion project funded by Sweden and led by DRC in collaboration with KCB Bank, KCB Foundation, and a digital financial technology company. The role will be technically supervised by the Economic Recovery Coordinator under the overall management by the Project Manager and support the day-to-day implementation of the economic recovery related activities in the project. In addition, the holder of the position shall undertake other duties as assigned by the Project Manager in a matrix management arrangement with the Base Manager to ensure the project expectations are met

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Project Management/Development, Monitoring & Evaluation
• Manage a cluster, consisting of a number of assigned CSLAs (Community Savings & Loans Associations).
• Support to plan, oversee and implement economic recovery/financial inclusion activities in DRC Mandera office.
• Support in community mobilization, sensitization, formation and training of CSLAs on the methodology, Entrepreneurship, Sharia-compliant Financing and Financial Literacy. 
• With the support of the Ministry of Labour & Social Protection, train entrepreneurs on Pre-registration (Group Dynamics, Leadership & Conflict Management) as a precursor to formalization of the CSLAs. 
• Remain abreast of topical developments related to economic recovery and financial inclusion that will promote community participation in the financial sector, hence improving their economic well-being.
• Contribute to promote sector learning and knowledge management in the economic recovery sector through: collating findings/ information from the field as well as routine monitoring to draw lessons.
• Contribute to develop and or adopt sector guidelines and tools in support of financial inclusion.
• Submit timely and high-quality activity, and internal progress reports.
• Assist in ensuring the sector adheres to CHS (Core-humanitarian Standards) in project implementation; participating in CHS audits and support in the MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning) plan.
• Support the Economic Recovery team in project closure including periodic project review, planning and attending external meetings as often and as requested by the supervisor.

Technical Implementation

• Contribute to implementation of technical activities related to financial inclusion including building the capacity of CSLAs as well as work with the digital partner and KCB Bank, to ensure the groups are digitized.
• Support to conduct training in Financial Literacy, Entrepreneurship and Sharia-compliant Financing; working with micro-entrepreneurs to strengthen their operations.
• Mentor and coach the participating entrepreneurs to ensure they practice what they learn.

Coordination & Partnership

• Support to develop and maintain effective working relationships with all stakeholders, including community members and leaders in Mandera, NGOs, UN agencies, FSP (financial ervice Providers) and other DRC team members including partners and collaborators, to enhance multi-agency and multi-sectoral cooperation and coordination on response activities.
• Actively participate and engage in relevant coordination meetings and collaborate with other agencies of relevance/value add to DRC’s agenda in Mandera.

Budget Management

• Provide support to ensure sound budget expenditure, adherence to DRC financial procedures and donor requirements as related to the project.
• Contribute to draft spending plans, procurement plans, and work plans based on scheduled activities and budgets.
• Assist & contribute to the Budget Follow-up (BFU)meetings, to ensure the budget is tracked and over/under expenditure is addressed in time in consultation with the Economic Recovery Coordinator and the Project Manager

Experience and technical competencies:  

• Minimum 2 years of field experience in implementing economic recovery/livelihoods programmes in an international NGO or other relevant agency.
• Experience in financial inclusion interventions and models (CSLA/GS&L, Sacco, microfinance) is an added advantage.
• Good technical experience in financial inclusion programming including working with CSLAs, developing the capacity of micro-enterprises, working with informal and formal financial institutions; providing financial inclusion training.
• Experience working with Sharia-compliant financing is an added advantage.
• Experience in working with digital service providers and digital financial services including provision of digital solutions to community financial structures.
• Experience working in multi-sectoral interventions.
• Good planning, organizational and problem-solving skills, with ability to work both independently and within a team in a demanding work environment.
• Good analytical and strategic planning skills.
• A demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with the national and county governments, donors, partners, local organizations, and other stakeholders.
• Good level of communication and interpersonal skills.
• Experience in business mentorship and coaching is a plus.

Education

• A university degree in a relevant field (Business Management, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Microfinance or Community Development or its equivalent).
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Swahili is essential.
• Knowledge of any of the local languages spoken in the project area is a plus.

Language: 
English, Swahili, Somali