Major Responsibilities

•  Plan and implement the THRIVE program in West Africa.
• Support implementation of digital systems in MFIs.
• Monitor digitisation rate of WVS4T groups and beyond.
• Support MFIs in the implementation of FAST in Senegal, Ghana, DRC, and potentially Mali and Rwanda) in capacity building; product pilot development and roll out; monitoring of implementation; multi-year planning; and performance management of local FAST manager.
• Support FAST Business development activities as needed in West African countries.
• Provide advice on how training material can be improved and translation of existing and new training material into French.
• Liaise with World Vision and other NGOs in the sensitisation of WV and other stakeholders of FAST; increase in the pipeline of SGs to be linked; and increase in the number of partners VF works with.
• Coordinate with FAST business development manager on linking partnerships to other non-VF countries.
• Engage with external stakeholders through speaking at events, webinars, conferences to share lessons learned.
• Act as a liaison with Dreamsave in West Africa.

Knowledge, Skills and Competencies

Required Professional Experience

• At least 8-10 years of professional experience in development work internationally, across various countries and different cultural contexts.  (preferably with saving groups / livelihoods / microfinance, digital finance).
• Knowledge of Savings Group methodology.
• Business focused, with ability to improve annual operational plans and advise on product pilots, results analysis and workforce plans.
• Proactive and adaptable, with experience of introducing new products or services.
• Project management experience is required, including financial monitoring and reporting.
• Specialization in microfinance with majority of experience in group lending, proven experience in “down market” activities such as vulnerable populations e.g. refugees, rural remote communities etc.
• Must be fluent in French and English
• Must be able to travel for work in very remote/rural areas and potential high-risk areas such as Mali.
• Experience of delivering training virtually, as well as in person.
• Person must have experience and technical skills in using digital platforms or systems relating to either mobile money, saving groups digitisation, PowerBI or related.
• Must have a proven track record of engaging and influencing leaders externally and internally – e.g. building new partnerships, leading change, introducing new products/services and speaking at events, webinars and conferences.
• Experience of scaling innovations in international contexts is an advantage.
• Experience of grant applications or grant monitoring is an advantage.

Required Education, Training, license, Registration, and/or Certification

• University degree in relevant field (micro-finance, financial sector, or economic development, international development).
• Certification in microfinance is a plus; and or one for working with savings groups.

Travel and Work Environment
• The position requires the ability and willingness to travel up to 30% of the time.