Job Title: Financial Inclusion Specialist
Location: Hoima with travel within districts of operation
Reports to: Portfolio Coordinator Financial Inclusion

Application Deadline: 8th March 2026

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 456,000 transiting into work and 336,000 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, 5% of the total youth in work target will be refugees, and another 5% will be people with disabilities.

Job summary

The Financial Inclusion Specialist will lead the design, coordination, and implementation of financial inclusion interventions under the ASTYE Program in Kabarole and supported districts. The role focuses on financial literacy, digitization, access to financial services, insurance, value chain financing, and business development services for young women and youth-led agrifood enterprises.

The Specialist will work closely with Bank of Uganda, financial institutions, Civil Society Organisations, Business Development Services (BDS) providers, digital platforms, Private Sector Actors, and industry associations to remove systemic barriers and increase youth access to inclusive, affordable, and appropriate financial products.

Key Responsibilities

Financial Literacy and Capability Building

• Design and deliver financial literacy training for young women and youth groups, covering mindset change, cultural norms, money management, savings, budgeting, and business planning.
• Identify, profile, and support CSO staff and Master Youth Champions to participate in Bank of Uganda Financial Literacy Training of Trainers (ToT).
• Coordinate with the Bank of Uganda Financial Inclusion Department to conduct co-design meetings, sign and operationalize an MoU, organize and implement Financial Literacy ToTs.
• Support rollout of village-level financial literacy training delivered by trained Master Youth Champions and CSOs.
• Facilitate translation of financial literacy materials into local languages to ensure inclusivity and accessibility.

Digital Financial Inclusion and Record Management

• Promote and support adoption of digital record-keeping systems for youth groups and young women-led agribusinesses to enhance creditworthiness and visibility.
• Work with digital platform partners to integrate financial literacy content into their systems and upgrade platforms to host financial education materials
• Train group leaders on digital literacy, mobile platforms, and digital financial tools.
• Promote uptake and use of mobile money services and wallets, especially among young women in rural communities.
• Support digitization of enterprise and group financial records.

Access to Financial Services and Products

• Facilitate access to formal financial services, including savings, credit, insurance, agency banking, and value chain financing.
• Map and profile youth groups and enterprises for linkage to financial service providers (FSPs).
• Organize financial services clinics, stakeholder meetings, and business forums at district level to link youth with FSPs and off takers.
• Support youth participation in Youth Agro-Expos to engage aggregators, banks, and insurance providers.

Business Development Services and Enterprise Support

• Map and identify promising young women-led enterprises for targeted BDS support.
• Conduct capacity and needs assessments of youth groups and enterprises to determine technical, financial, and operational gaps.
• Coordinate tailored Business Development Services, including business registration, regulatory compliance and financial management strengthening.
• Support young women enterprises to prepare and organize documentation required for formal registration and compliance.
• Organize district-level business clinics and registration clinics in collaboration with BDS partners.

Insurance and Risk Mitigation

• Partner with Agro Insurance Consortium Ltd and other stakeholders to expand access to agricultural insurance products for young women and youth.
• Lead awareness campaigns through community engagements, media activations, radio talk shows and advertisements across program districts
• Promote understanding and uptake of insurance as a risk-management tool in agriculture.

Financial Ecosystem Partnerships and Systems Change

• Refresh and contribute to financial systems mapping to identify opportunities for women-focused financial products (including agriculture insurance and value chain finance).
• Co-design value chain financing solutions with financial institutions and private sector actors for selected value chains.
• Collaborate with Uganda Bankers Association (UBA) to develop a value chain financing strategy for young women, organize co-design and partnership meetings, secure buy-in from senior bank leadership and promote tailored loan products to youth enterprises.
• Support linkages between youth, Producer/Service Aggregators (PSAs), and financial institutions.

Monitoring, Learning, and Reporting

• Track progress against financial inclusion indicators and contribute to baseline and periodic assessments.
• Document lessons, best practices, and success stories related to youth financial inclusion.
• Prepare timely activity reports and contribute to program learning and adaptive management.

Documentation and Knowledge Management

• Develop and implement a documentation framework for all financial inclusion interventions under the ASTYE Program.
• Ensure systematic documentation of training sessions, partnership engagements, co-design meetings, financial clinics, exposure visits, and youth agro-expos.
• Compile case studies, human-interest stories, best practices, and evidence of impact related to youth financial inclusion, with a strong focus on young women and vulnerable groups.
• Maintain updated records of mapped youth groups, enterprises, financial service providers, insurance partners, and BDS actors.
• Support development of policy briefs, technical papers, and learning briefs to inform sector stakeholders and influence systems change.
  Contribute to donor reporting requirements by providing high-quality narrative and analytical reports.
• Establish and maintain a knowledge repository for financial inclusion tools, training materials, translated resources, and partnership documents.
• Facilitate learning review meetings at district and national levels to share emerging lessons and adaptive strategies.

Development and Implementation of the Financial Inclusion Sector Strategy

• Translate the overall program strategy into annual and quarterly operational plans for financial inclusion interventions at district level.
• Conduct sector analysis and financial ecosystem assessments to inform strategic priorities and intervention design.
• Identify systemic constraints affecting youth and young women’s access to finance and propose evidence-based solutions.
• Develop partnership frameworks and engagement plans with financial institutions, regulators, private sector actors, and digital platforms.
• Provide technical leadership in integrating cross-cutting themes such as gender equity, disability inclusion, refugee inclusion, safeguarding, and digital transformation into financial inclusion programming.
• Ensure alignment of financial inclusion activities with enterprise development, market systems strengthening, and youth employment outcomes.
• Monitor strategy implementation and recommend adjustments based on data, learning, and emerging sector trends.

Supervision and Team Leadership

• Provide direct supervision, mentorship, and technical guidance to Financial Inclusion Program Officers and district-based staff.
• Develop clear work plans, performance objectives, and deliverables for supervised staff aligned with program targets.
• Conduct regular performance reviews, coaching sessions, and supportive supervision visits across program districts.
• Ensure quality assurance of field-level financial literacy training, digital inclusion activities, BDS coordination, and financial linkages.
• Facilitate capacity-building sessions for Program Officers to strengthen technical expertise in financial literacy, digital finance, insurance, and value chain financing.
• Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and learning within the financial inclusion team.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and continuous professional development of financial inclusion staff where required.

Job Level Specifications

Essential Criteria

• A Postgraduate diploma in Financial Management
• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration
• At least 5 years’ experience in financial inclusion, youth economic empowerment, microfinance, or agrifood systems development.
• Demonstrated experience working with financial institutions, regulators, CSOs, and private sector actors.
• Strong understanding of financial literacy, digital finance, insurance, and value chain financing, particularly for women and youth.

Desirable Criteria

• Expertise in designing and implementing financial inclusion strategies.
• Ability to analyze market systems and identify barriers to access.

General Terms and Conditions

At GOAL we welcome people of all abilities and want to ensure that our hiring and interview process meets the needs of all applicants. If you require a reasonable accommodation to make your application or interview experience a great one, please just contact our Recruitment Team at recruitment@ug.goal.ie

GOAL Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:
GOAL is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to building an inclusive environment for all employees. We foster an inclusive culture where all voices are heard and valued. We know that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.

All employees share in the responsibility for fulfilling GOAL’s commitment to equal employment opportunity and equal treatment. GOAL does not discriminate against any employee on the basis of sex, race, color, ethnic background, tribe, birth, creed or religion or social or economic standing, political opinion, disability.

Code of Conduct and Accountability within GOAL

GOAL is an equal opportunities employer and has values and behaviours framework which defines our code of conduct. Any candidate offered a job with GOAL will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability.

• Comply with GOAL’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, Code of Conduct, health and safety, data protection and confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area.
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a GOAL staff or partner.

Safeguarding

Children and vulnerable adults a must be safeguarded to the maximum extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury, and any other harm. One of the ways that GOAL shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

GOAL 

Established in 1977, GOAL is an international humanitarian agency and works with the most vulnerable communities to help them respond to and overcome humanitarian crises, and to assist those facing poverty and exclusion achieve greater resilience and well-being. GOAL envisions a world beyond humanitarian crises where poverty no longer exists, where vulnerable communities exposed to shocks and stresses are resilient, where barriers to well-being are removed and where everyone has equal rights and opportunities.

General Description of the Country Programme 

First operational in Uganda in 1979, the current GOAL Uganda country programme focuses on Health, (including WASH, Health Accountability and Nutrition); and a market-based systems approach to improving agricultural livelihoods and WASH. GOAL Uganda mainstreams gender, child protection, social behavior changes and resilience strategies across all programming. GOAL uses a mixture of direct implementation and partnerships with national and international civil society organizations, local government, the private sector and communities to give effect to our mission.

GOAL Uganda has a skilled team of over 110 personnel and has a head office in Kampala and field offices in 7 locations across Northern, Southwestern and Eastern regions of Uganda.  GOAL Uganda’s donors include the Mastercard Foundation, charity: water, Irish Aid, The Kingdom of Netherland Embassy in Uganda (EKN) and other private donors.

Interested applicants who meet the requirements should apply through the link with at least 3 reference contacts (current or former Line Manager) from the last three employers and daytime contact number by 8th March 2026.