Website Swisscontact
JOB OPPORTUNITY
Access to Finance Expert
Introduction
Swisscontact is a leading partner organization for the implementation of international development projects. The organization promotes inclusive economic, social, and ecological development to make an effective contribution towards sustainable and widespread prosperity in developing and emerging economies. With this objective in mind, Swisscontact offers the chance to economically and socially disadvantaged people to improve their lives on their own initiative. The independent, non‐profit, and private foundation was established in 1959 in Switzerland. The organization strengthens the competencies of people, improving their employability, increases the competitiveness of enterprises, growing their business, and fosters social and economic systems, promoting inclusive development.
About Sahaj – Nepal Agricultural Market Development Programme (NAMDP) Phase II
Nepal Agricultural Market Development Programme (NAMDP), also known as Sahaj, has been designed with a 12 years’ time horizon with successive phases. The objective framework of Sahaj is based on a long-term vision of thriving and inclusive agriculture markets. Sahaj operates under the bi-lateral agreement between the Government of Nepal (GoN) and the Government of Switzerland. Sahaj is implemented by a consortium of Swisscontact (as the lead agency) and the Centre for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development (CEAPRED).
Background
Sahaj Phase I (March 2016 – November 2020) aimed to increase smallholder farmers’ income by integrating them into commercial agriculture markets and networks. Using an approach that makes private sector markets work better for the poor (also known as a Market Systems Development or MSD), the programme supported market-based solutions around inputs and farming. The impact targeted smallholder farmers, including women and people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Sahaj Phase II (December 2020 – November 2024) works on forward production linkages1 and focuses on generating lasting impact in Province 1. As per the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2002), “Forward production linkages (or down-stream linkages) refer to the part of the non-farm sector that uses agricultural output as an input. “The distribution and processing of agricultural outputs are fundamental components of forward production linkages.” Sahaj phase II is designed to foster overall agriculture commercialisation, international and domestic trade, and employment generation; with an emphasis on support functions (services) and enabling environment for agri-businesses, particularly to SMEs. The project has three main pillars in phase II: agriculture service provision, non-agriculture service provision, and business enabling environment and federal state building. Under these pillars, interventions will identify and address constraints to innovative and sustainable products/service delivery by agriculture service providers (ASPs) and non-agriculture service providersm(N-ASPs). This also includes addressing policy bottlenecks and unlocking potential for closer collaboration between sub-national governments and the private sector.
Vacancy: Sahaj – Nepal Agricultural Market Development Programme (NAMDP) – Phase II
Swisscontact Nepal invites applications from qualified candidates (Nepali citizens) for the following position required for Nepal Agricultural Market Development Programme (NAMDP) Phase II.
Position: Access to Finance Expert
Place of Work: Swisscontact Office, Lalitpur with frequent travel (40-60%) to Province 1.
See section 4 for the detailed job description.
Application Procedure
Interested candidates who meet the requirements are requested to send their (a) dully filled in Job Application Form, (b) Updated CV (maximum four A4 pages) and c) a motivation letter to info.namdp@swisscontact.org latest by 11:59 PM Nepal time on 07 March 2023. The detailed Job Description, requirements and Job Application Form can be downloaded from the Swisscontact Official website – https://www.swisscontact.org/en/countries/nepal/jobs
Please mention the position applied for in the “subject” line of your email.
Swisscontact Nepal will not entertain any phone enquiries or other such solicitations for these positions. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for the selection process. Swisscontact Nepal reserves the right to reject any or all applications.
Swisscontact Nepal promotes workforce diversity and applies positive discrimination to candidates from discriminated groups (women, Dalit, Janajati, Madhesi/Terai and other minority communities)
Job Description
Access to Finance Expert
Start of employment: 01 April 2023
Place of work: Swisscontact Office, Lalitpur with frequent travel (40-60%) to Province 1
Reports to: Manager – Non-Agriculture Services
Tasks
The expert is responsible for identifying access to finance related opportunities and interventions in different programme components of NAMDP. Her/his major tasks include:
- Lead the design and implementation of interventions related to access to finance.
- Conduct rapid assessment of banks and other sources of SME finance to identify weaknesses in their understanding of the SME market potential, and their ability to design and implement SME financial service outreach. Identify and propose innovative ways to address gaps in SMEs’ capacity to engage with lenders.
- Assess minimum requirements for banks or other actors to lend to new client groups and
proactively map the entry points and most promising sources of capitals (e.g. investment
funds, banks, microfinance institutions, impact or angel investors). - Explore opportunities to reduce the financial gap between agri businesses and relevant (non- agriculture service providers and financial intermediaries (banks, MFIs, social investors and other financial institutions) through facilitating relevant awareness raising and capacity building services to both the demand and supply side and through strong coordination with the legal expert of the team.
- Serve as the principal liaison between programme teams (ag, non-ag components) and financial intermediaries.
- Develop clear briefs and material that foster understanding of the situation of SME borrowers, constraints of lenders, and the government regulatory framework that affects lending.
- Coordinate and exchange information/ideas on issues related to finance with the other service provision teams (Ag services and FSB/BEE).
- Ensure that the interventions are consistent with the market systems development (MSD) approach.
- Ensure the quality of the work related to access to finance interventions.
- Ensure relevant activities are progressing according to annual work plans and timeframes.
- Provide relevant input to Yearly Plan of Operations (YPOs) and (semi-)annual progress reports.
- Contribute to Federal State Building/ Business Enabling Environment (FBS/BEE) initiatives as per project approach.
- Implement approaches and interventions that foster gender and social inclusion.
- Support timely monitoring and streamlining of data collection and analysis in collaboration with the Monitoring and Results Measurement (MRM) team.
- Comply with the Project Manual of NAMDP and other relevant requirements of Swisscontact and SDC.
Requirements
- Minimum 5 years of relevant working experience in the financial sector.
- Master’s degree in relevant field (degree in Finance or Business), or at least 3 years additional relevant work experience.
- Excellent knowledge of Nepal’s banking and financial services industry. Excellent networks with banking and financial institutions, associations and/or projects working on access to finance issues.
- Proven experience in best practices for SME financial access strategy approaches and tools.
- Demonstrated capability to carry out analyses of lending and diagnosing prevalent problems and obstacles to effective lending.
- Experience of working on issues related to access to finance from a ‘development challenge’ perspective.
- Good knowledge on agri businesses, and agriculture and non-agriculture services for agri businesses will be an added advantage. Good knowledge of market systems development approach desire