Consultant – Financial Inclusion Advisor – Remote with travel to Iraq

Background:

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.

Mercy Corps has worked across Iraq’s 18 governorates since 2003, providing support to more than 5 million people affected by war, violence, and displacement. Mercy Corps Iraq focuses on (1) a relief-to-resilience pathway to meet the needs of conflict-affected communities leveraging agency expertise in conflict management and civil society development (2) a humanitarian response that empowers conflict-affected populations to meet their own needs (3) partnering with conflict-affected adolescents to address their diverse needs, promoting leadership and linkages with civil society, as well as access to education, psychosocial support, and economic opportunities; and (4) promoting reconciliation and foster trust across community divisions by strengthening conflict management and prevention mechanisms and enhancing social cohesion.

Mercy Corps Iraq is implementing Promoting Economic Revival of Microbusiness and Agriculture (PERMA 2), an agriculture program that aims to improve the business environment and improve access to financial services as well as reactivate agriculture value chains in Salah al-Din and Ninewa governorates. Efforts toward agricultural and rural economic recovery must target the rehabilitation of both the public and the private (at micro and small enterprise levels) infrastructure through an integrated approach, while also taking into account the social and cultural complexity of Salah al-Din and Ninewa. In response, PERMA 2 has outlined three main objectives aimed at supporting rehabilitation, reconstruction, and overall economic recovery of the agriculture sector in Salah al-Din and Ninewa:

• Financial institutions are providing appropriate and affordable financial services to enable MSMEs to start, re-start and grow agricultural activities;
• Small-scale farmers have improved access to services, inputs, information, infrastructure and markets that increase their productivity and profitability; and
• Local institutions and leaders are promoting intra- and inter-community interactions that contribute to the reintegration of returnees in the agricultural sector and conflict-resolution.

Consultant Objectives:

• Provide strategic technical support to the Financial Inclusion team to expand and scale key activities under the Financial Inclusion Pillar. This includes:
  • Designing activities to support business development of MFIs, including product diversification and expansion of the Agriculture Investment Fund and SME Investment Fund
  • Developing sustainability plans for SILC groups
  • Identifying opportunities with key stakeholders to pilot digital financial services
• Provide mentorship to team members on the design and implementation of access to finance activities to ensure maximum sustainability and impact
• Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.
• Contribute to impact measurement and identifying and documenting critical learnings and adaptations of financial inclusion activities throughout programme implementation

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will conduct the following activities:

• Review PERMA progress in financial inclusion and identify potential recommendations for scale up of activities, in line with the MSD approach. Develop an inception report covering the first 1.5 yrs of programming, including milestones, deliverables and workplan for the final 1.5 yrs of implementation.
• Develop intervention design concepts note, following Mercy Corps templates to outline areas for project expansion. Activities should be codesigned with relevant stakeholders and intervention leads.
• Once activities are agreed, provide training to the team to implement scale up activities.
• Develop systems, tools and resources such as budgets, SOWs and workplans as needed to support project implementation
• Develop monitoring tools to ensure impact is measured and prepare impact measurement reporting where possible.

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant will complete the following deliverables:

• Inception report
• Intervention design concept notes for activities that will be scaled up
• PERMA program staff oriented on scale up activities
• Tools and resources as outlined in the inception report

Timeframe / Schedule:

60 working days over nine months, February-November 2024

The Consultant will report to:

PERMA Team Leader and Regional Market Systems Advisor – Middle East

The Consultant will work closely with:

PERMA Team Leader, Mercy Corps Iraq DoP, Regional Market Systems Advisor (Middle East)

Required Experience & Skills:

• 5-10 years of experience in relevant technical field (required)
• Bachelor degree or equivalent in development, economics, finance, banking, or related field. Masters is a plus.
• 5 years professional experience with a financial service provider working with varying market actors (particularly MSMEs or those in the Ag sector)
• Previous experience structuring guarantee facilities with formal banks.
• Experience in capacity building with financial institutions such as microfinance institutions or banks.
• Experience in MSMEs and Ag sector lending activities, specifically in organizing and delivering bank and/or SACCO product development and diversification programs.
• Familiarity with savings-led microfinance, savings group approaches and SACCOs.
• Team management and/or coordination experience Excellent writing, presentation and communication skills.
• Fluency in spoken and written English. Arabic is preferred.
• Computer literacy including ability to use the advanced functions of MS office to create reports and customized spreadsheets for financial analysis and management reporting purposes.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity
We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our stakeholders and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.