Senior Technical Advisor, Village, Savings & Loan (VSLA) - Food and Water System at CARE

Job Summary

• The Senior Technical Advisor, Food Security and Water System, will be part of a dynamic VSLA team that leads CARE's expansion of access to financial services across the globe. The team is made up of specialists who provide holistic support services to CARE initiatives working with CARE's trademark Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) model, including supporting country office and regional scale-up strategy development; co-creating programs and project designs; contributing to and/or leading proposal and fundraising efforts; providing technical support to project start-up and implementation; and supporting CARE's efforts to continually learn from and improve our initiatives; supporting connections between CARE's work in communities and regional, national, and international advocacy efforts.
• The position affords its occupant unparallel opportunities to influence the work of CARE and the financial inclusion sector as a whole. The primary responsibility of the position is to support the integration and expansion of CARE's VSLA work within the organization's broader programming, with a specific focus on food and nutrition security, climate change resilience programming, and the water systems portfolio. The position would also work with country offices across regions to further their integration of VSLAs within their programming and layering of other services on VSLA as a platform, develop strategies, and strengthen their advocacy and partnership work so that CARE remains at the forefront of the donor and policy landscape in each country. In addition, the position is expected to collaborate closely with other CARE USA departments (entire PSE, FSW, and Innovation) to ensure that the work aligns with the organization's larger objectives and takes into consideration the humanitarian-development nexus as well as managing major initiatives as required
• The Senior Technical Advisor, VSLA/FSW, supports the VSLA global team in leveraging the power of VSLA to improve the agriculture-based livelihoods of the majority of VSLA members and their households. He will collaborate with technical specialists across disciplines to advance evidence-based interventions that deliver meaningful change for low-income, food-insecure households. S/he will advocate for the transformative work and incremental impacts of our VSLA to both internal and external audiences and serve as one of the team's points of contact for VSLA integration, layering, and sequencing.

Responsibilities
Strategy and Programme Quality for Greater VSLA Scale and Impact

• Coordinate the formulation and conceptualization of CARE’s VSLA programming integration overarching strategy and road map in layering and sequencing activities that reflect organizational program quality ambitions for VSLA at different levels, taking into consideration women's voices through their VSLAs.
• Support the organization on new and active activities to integrate and/or layer VSLAs, with agricultural livelihoods, and develop tools and approaches that champion global VSLA scale-up strategy alongside other organizational strategies
• Serve as the primary VSLA/Financial inclusion contributor to CARE's various food and nutrition security strategies with VSLA as a core programming element.
• Work closely with other TAs and regional or country teams to identify and cultivate partnerships with the private sector that aligns with CARE's programming objectives.
• Lead the planning and implementation of new initiatives that advance the VSLA scale-up strategy, including identifying models, tools, and best practices and how to adapt or apply them across initiatives to achieve scale and measurable progress against the strategy and CARE 2030 Vision.
• Develop or adapt technical resources including guides, case studies and other learning tools to build capacity in financial inclusion, particularly as it contributes food and nutrition security.
• Collaborate across team functions to promote CARE’s approach of fostering gender equality, inclusive governance and resilience within all of our work
• Support in-country pilots and other VSLA programming by CARE in focal countries that gives learning points for scaling the strategy through testing and refining of digital solutions
• Lead and participate in the team's learning and research agenda(s) to define demonstrable program impacts and efficiency gain

Technical Assistance to Specific Projects and Initiatives

• Provide technical support and capacity building to CARE teams and partners (public, private, non-profit) to ensure projects are effectively delivered and continually improved with high quality outcomes.
• Potentially serve as project director on select grants, coordinating planning and implementation of project activities and overseeing all aspects of program quality (programmatic, financial, administrative, personnel). Ensure that flagship initiattives embed M&E best practices and generate evidence and lessons that can inform CARE and others globallly
• Represent CARE in discussions with current donors and ensure productive, suppotive donor relationshiops
• Develop tools, resources, and briefings to support CARE in integration and layering VSLAs alongside other financial inclusion linkages with food and nutrition security and WASH programs and initiatives.
• Working with multi project teams and strategic partners to collect, refine, and communicate key requirements for learning, linkages and technology based solutions

Drive learning and program quality throughout VSLA programming and integration.

• In collaboration with CARE global, COs, and other stakeholders, prioritize solutions to develop, test, and scale.
• Keep track of and disseminate VSLA integration, layering, and sequencing lessons learned, including current thought processes and best practices for use by both non-specialist and specialist colleagues' and to strengthen future work and inform CAR's evidence base.
• Lead the development and the roll out of the Global Best Practices /Standard Operating Procedures/Tools for VSLA integration and program quaity.
• Participate in monitoring and supporting supervisory field visits and evaluation activities, including process, market, and impacts monitoring, and collect learning and feedback to strengthen the CARES FSW work.
• Collaborate closely with CARE USA's FSW and COs to document the best practices and lessons learned regarding their FSW flagship programs and how to maximize best to deepen impact where VSLAs are used as service delivery platforms.

Resource Mobilization and New Business Development

• Support the design of new DFSA across CARE globally as deemed necessary
• Engage with colleagues across the region, particularly regional and country-level directors and assistant directors, to conceptualize new initiatives aligned with regional and national strategies and the financial inclusion learning agenda
• Lead and/or provide substantial input into the development of concept notes and proposals
• Build and maintain relationships with key fundraisers across the CARE network including but not limited to CARE UK, CARE France, CARE US, CARE Canada and CARE Netherlands

Management and Oversight

• Provide supervision, management and coaching for VSLA program teams at CO levels
• Ensure that TA is providing support to GVSLA-led and CO-based programs that is of high quality and leads to measurable impact.
• Provide direction and capacity building to TA to integrate promising and best practice models within GVSLA managed projects.
• Proactively address performance issues through regular, constructive and honest feedback and coaching to projects and initiatives supported and managed by GVSLA team.

Qualifications

• MA in development studies/economics/social science or related subject, or equivalent expertise.
• Deep awareness of and proven track record in applying market facilitation concepts, practices and principles
• In-depth understanding of key concepts in financial inclusion, experience applying these to development programmes.
• Deep, practical understanding of villages savings and loan associations or similar savings group modalities
• Ability to build relationships with private sector actors and quickly establish credibility and relevance
• Ability to build relationships with and navigate government agencies to identify and work effectively with key decisions makers
• Knowledge of financial services ecosystem in the region
• Knowledge of agriculture and food security programming, particularly efforts to support subsistence farmers to improve their resilience and livelihoods
• Ability to support and advise non-specialist colleagues, communicate complex ideas clearly, and facilitate learning and reflection activities.