The ILO’s Social Finance Programme invites applications from qualified professionals with expertise in inclusive finance, microfinance, insurance and development for inclusion in its Fellowship Programme roster and for potential placements in three countries: Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands. The projects are expected to start at the end of third quarter of 2024.

The Fellowship Programme

The objective of the programme is to match qualified professionals with organizations working on the frontiers of financial inclusion, micro finance and impact insurance, bridge skill gaps and create a new generation of professionals with experience serving low-income populations.

Each Fellow will be placed with a host organization for a year to support an innovation project. The project could range from the implementation of a financial product, public-private partnership, digital solution, or distribution partnership.

Who can apply?

The ideal candidates for a fellowship should:

• have relevant expertise to contribute to activities related to financial inclusion, insurance, digital finance and/or public private partnerships;
• be proactive and ready to document learning experiences during the fellowship;
• be interested in working in developing countries on development issues;
• be seriously committed to providing inclusive financial and insurance services and practising in the field on an ongoing basis after the assignment;
• be resourceful and capable of arranging practical necessities related to travel, life and work in a new environment; and
• be ready to work in a developing country for the duration of the fellowship.

Financial inclusion, insurance or development professionals who are keen to apply their skills to promote social justice in emerging markets and who have worked in a technical capacity for at least five years may participate. Candidates with the requisite skills and experience will be included in the roster and considered for the aforementioned fellowship opportunity.

The fellowship helped immensely in giving me a taste of what it’s like to be a professional working in microinsurance in a developing country. It enabled me to specialise as a microinsurance actuary, focused on agricultural microinsurance. Taking up the fellowship was perhaps the best decision of my career. – Agrotosh Mokerjee, Fellow alumna

Terms of reference

Background

The informal economy is a significant part of the economies of ACP countries, comprising a substantial portion of GDP and employment. Despite offering work opportunities, it tends to be linked with low productivity, incomes, and high poverty rates. Workers in this sector often lack access to essential services and social protection, leaving them vulnerable to economic downturns and hardships. Challenges such as limited access to finance and inadequate business skills further hinder the productivity and growth of informal enterprises. Addressing these issues requires a holistic approach, involving various stakeholders to create an enabling environment for formalization and growth.

The Project “Supporting Informal Enterprises Transition Towards Sustainable Growth and Formalization in the Africa Caribbean and Pacific Regions” is an OACPS Group of States initiative, financed by the European Union and implemented by the ILO and UNDP. The project aims to support informal enterprises in Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Solomon Islands in transitioning to the formal economy via creating an enabling policy environment and incentives to formalize and strengthening the capacities of informal enterprises.

Access to finance if one of the major impediments for enterprise growth, development and progressive formalization. Due to their important reach and the influence that financial sector providers have over their clients, financial service providers can act as a major enabler of progressive formalization of informal enterprises, using such levers as improving access to finance and financial services, allowing to enhance enterprise productivity; providing financial products adapted to the needs of informal businesses and accompanied by incentives for step-by-step formalization; supporting development of capacities of informal entrepreneurs in business development and financial literacy; facilitating fulfilment of registration requirements, among others.

In order to support selected financial institutions in piloting and scaling up financial and non-financial services promoting enterprise formalization, the ILO is looking for 3 fellows to work with partner organizations in 3 project locations: Maputo, Mozambique; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Honiara, Solomon Islands.

Each of the fellows will be placed at the selected host-organizations (among banking and microfinance institutions, insurance companies, mobile money providers) and will support the implementation of the project during the period of 12 months.

Modalities

The fellow will be placed at the pre-defined host organization, selected among banking and microfinance institutions, insurance companies, mobile money providers, and will support the implementation of the project by interacting with the primary host organization as well as a number of partner financial institutions involved in the same project.

The number of entities supported by the fellow can vary from 1 (primary host organization) up to a maximum of 8, depending on the country and the project. The modalities of support to each of the host and partner organization is to be determined.

The objective of the project is to support piloting financial products suited for the needs of informal entrepreneurs and promoting progressive formalization of such clients, as well as to strengthen the in-country B2B partnerships to ensure efficiencies.

Duties and expected outputs

The fellow will be responsible for providing technical assistance to the host and partner financial institutions, in a manner that contributes to the objectives of the project connected to improving access to finance, rolling out of suitable financial services that incentivize and promote progressive formalization of informal businesses.

Specific duties included, but are not limited to, the following:

• Liaising with the ILO, host organization and partner financial institutions to ensure efficient and timely implementation of the project;
• Familiarization with regulatory frameworks to ensure alignment of recommendations with local financial sector and business formalization legislation;
• Development of approaches to client segmentation, aiming at identifying host and partner organizations’ clients most likely to formalize their activities;
• Visits and interviews of clients of host organization and/or partner entities to inform recommendations;
• Identification of incentives and capacity development needs, that can contribute to promoting progressive formalization of the targeted client segment (in connection with the type and the conditions of financial product, capacity gaps and needs of the target beneficiaries);
• Contribution to design of financial products and solutions, including tailoring the products to the needs of the target group; embedding relevant capacity building activities and incentives, leading to improved access to finance and promoting formalization of informal businesses;
• Review of internal processes, workflows, information systems and flows leading to efficient sharing and incorporation of data, required for client segmentation and treatment;
• Making the link between the host and partner organization’s clients with capacity and ecosystem building activities undertaken under current development cooperation project;
• Contribution to development of partnerships between the host and partner organizations, as and if required;
• Documenting lessons learnt in connection to development and piloting of financial products, approaches and/or internal processes that were developed and tested in the course of the project

Requirements

Education

• Bachelor or master’s degree in economics, management, finance, banking and insurance or other relevant fields

Professional experience

• 5-10 years of professional experience in financial services industry and knowledge of banking and insurance products and processes
• Experience in project management
• Experience in business analysis
• Experience in development cooperation
• Experience in design of financial product design and operations
• Experience in design of mass market distribution strategies
• Experience in digital technologies

Languages

• English
• Portuguese (pre-requisite for candidates applying for Mozambique)